by J. L. Beck
Each sound he makes amps me further. I’m so wet, just fucking him with my mouth. I feel so fucking powerful and sexy taking him like this.
Both of his hands spear my hair now, and I increase my pace. Using both hands and my mouth to work him faster and faster.
“I’m going to come, stellina. Would you like that? Want me to pour my cum down that pretty throat?”
I can only moan in answer as he gently helps me maintain my tempo. It only takes a few more minutes, and then he comes with a heavy growl, his hands fisting my hair, and his cum pulsing down my throat.
When he slumps flat on the bedding again, I pull off his still erect cock and lick the last beads of his cum from the tip. But it’s not enough for me. I want more of him, all of him, and I’m so ready to take it.
I peel off my panties and bra and toss them to the floor. He watches me with an amused look on his face. Then I crawl up to his thighs, throw one leg over, and run myself along the hard length of him. Not inside yet, not all the way. The moment I do, I know he won’t be content to let me stay in control.
“I like a woman with a plan,” he says, cupping my hips to steady me.
I fumble with trying to hold on to him and sink down his length, so he helps. He grips himself in one hand and helps me lower onto his length with the other. The stretch burns bright for a flash of a second, and then pleasure chases it away, spreading along my nerves until I’m fully seated on him.
His smile is warm as he watches me. “What now?”
I tentatively lift my hips so I can figure out the mechanics of this position. Each angle and way I shift my upper body causes a different sensation. I find the one that makes him choke out a moan and stick with that one.
I fist my hands on his upper belly as I use him to lift my hips up and down at a steadier pace.
His fingers dig into my hips as I chase my orgasm, looming on the horizon. Just as I’m about to tumble over the edge, he drags me onto him and holds me tight so I can’t move.
“What the hell?”
He laughs, then rolls me over in one smooth motion, so he’s on top of me, his cock still buried deep inside me. Not even missing a beat, he picks up the pace I had, but this time harder and faster. Each slam of his hips into mine sends me sliding up the bed toward the pillow mountain in front of the headboard.
“Your turn, stellina,” he whispers, staring down at my face.
We lock gazes as he pounds into me, and I arch my hips up to meet him. And then I shatter. Everything in me breaks open, bright and shining. Wave after wave of pleasure pours through my body, and all I can do is hold on to him and ride it out. When I come back to myself, he’s lying with his weight partially on me, his head on my chest, and his heavy breathing tickles the sweaty skin across my belly.
When I can finally form words again, I mumble, “I need water.”
He rises as if his entire world wasn’t just shifted on its axis and brings me a bottle of water. Once I sit up and down most of the bottle, he lifts me and carries me into the bathroom.
When I catch sight of where he’s about to place me, I let out a giddy laugh. A jacuzzi tub sits in the middle of the floor, and he lowers me into the bowl and turns toward the faucets. The water warms quickly, and he settles into the bathtub behind me as it fills.
There is a selection of bubble baths along the edge of the tub, and I open them all, choosing several to dump into the tub.
“You know when I turn on the jets, the bubbles are going to grow exponentially,” he says.
I nod. “Let’s do it.”
He hits the button, and the jets start with a rumble. Almost immediately, the bubbles multiply, creating a huge foam cap on top of the water. I slap at the bubbles, batting them down so they don’t overwhelm us.
I know my face must be goofy with the smile there. Bubble baths are one of my favorite things.
“I’ll get you bubbles for our house,” he tells me, whispering in my ear.
I shift so I can meet his eyes. “I would love that.”
“I can tell. You look happy right now.”
As if he admitted something he didn’t want to, his face clears to a neutral look. “I’ll make sure they stay on the shopping list for you. As I told you, it’s my pleasure to take care of all of your needs.”
He drops his mouth to my ear and slides his lips down to my neck.
“All my needs, huh?”
When he bites the side of my neck, I press back into him.
“All of them, princess. I can’t wait to learn them all so I can ensure I’m doing a good job.”
His fingers dip down my belly, into the folds of my pussy. I shudder and arch my hips forward, loving the way he teases me. I’m still sensitive from my last orgasm, but I don’t want to wait for more.
I turn in the water so I can wrap my arms around his neck. He brings his hands up to my waist to support me as the water threatens to float me to the other end of the tub.
“What about your needs?” I ask.
He smiles. A true smile, and it’s enough to melt things inside my chest. “What needs do you mean?”
I drop a hand and grip him. “Well, I’ve figured out one of them. How about you let me know if there are more I can assist with?”
His eyes grow dark, and his grin naughty. “Right now, I need to finish this bath so I can fuck you again. Let me wash you, and then we’ll see about the rest.”
21
Nic
Celia is settling into my house like she owns it. Sarah still gives her lip, and I can tell Celia likes it when she pushes back. It’s been a couple of weeks since the wedding, and the first few days, I worried she’d change her mind, walk out in the middle of the night, or demand to leave.
But she doesn’t. She buys new clothes, all approved by me, of course, and reorganizes our closet. When she picked out a new rug for the bedroom, she looked almost worried I’d revoke the credit card I gave her. But I’ve never been good with that sort of shit, and I told her she can redecorate the entire house if she wants to.
Now the doubt has eased. I should focus on Ricci and how to finally bring him down. Literally, kill the last barrier between Celia giving me her heart and both of us exacting our revenge. When I told her she can kill Ricci when the time comes, I wasn’t exactly honest. I have no intention of letting her be like me, her soul tainted, blood on her hands. She might hate me for a little while after it’s done, but it’ll be worth it to keep her innocent and safe.
Soo is waiting in my office when I enter in the morning. He’s sitting in the usual chair opposite my desk. But today, he looks a little more disheveled than usual. His usually tidy hair is brushed away from his face like he’s been running his hands through it repeatedly. Something is eating at him.
“You’re up early.”
He tosses a stack of paper on my desk, and I swing around, take my chair, and look at what he’s brought me.
“I never went to sleep last night. As you can see, I’ve gotten some disturbing news.”
Each sheet in the hefty stack is an individual email. Some of them from Ricci, some of them from one of the Gardello boys. Even a couple from the reclusive Bianci, who rarely leaves his lakeside mansion.
“Let’s pretend I’m going to read every single one of these. Can you give me the quick version? I’m assuming it explains why you look like shit.”
Soo leans his head back in the chair and closes his eyes. “Basically, they say the five families have been meeting in secret for a while via secure video chat, and right now, they have two targets: you and your new bride.”
I sit forward and spread the emails out on the surface of my desk. “Did they threaten her?” Threats to me are nothing. I’m used to it. But if they so much as breathe her name in the same sentence as a threat, I’m suddenly going to get a lot more motivated to rip their heads off one by one.
“No, but I assume any threat to you is a threat to her, too. I suggest we keep her indoors and secure, so we don’t give them a c
hance.”
Even though my heart is still pounding in my chest, I relax again. “Does your spy know anything about when these meetings occur?”
Soo shakes his head. “Nope, she would have told me. She’s very thorough.”
I don’t touch that comment. Especially since I witnessed him in her presence a while ago, and I know something is going on there. He hasn’t been ready to say anything yet, and I won’t push.
“Do you think Celia knows anything about these online meetings?”
This gets his attention. He pops one eye open and looks at me. “Maybe? You should ask her. I know she was unwilling to give us intel when she first arrived here, but her circumstances have changed, and she might know more than she thinks.”
I shove out of the chair and head toward the door. “Get some sleep. I’ll talk to her.”
“No, I’ll come too, so you don’t have to repeat things later.”
When I last saw her, she told me she planned to spend the morning in the library. Soo follows me down, and we find her lying on the couch with a book tucked against her knees.
She looks up when I enter, a smile on her lips that shoots straight into my chest. When Soo comes up behind me, she closes the book in her lap, keeping her finger between the pages to mark her place. “What’s going on?”
I sit beside her, and Soo stands nearby to watch us. “I wanted to ask if you know anything about the virtual meetings the five families have been having?”
She shakes her head and leans up to resettle her legs underneath her. “No, it’s news to me. My father hates using his laptop and used to get angry he couldn’t read his emails.”
Soo asks the next question. “Do you know anything that might help us get to him? Anything you might not have told us before, maybe out of spite, or to protect him?”
She narrows her eyes at him. “No, I would have said something. I was trained to be a trophy wife. They didn’t tell me anything. Why would they? Most of what I know about the five families revolves around dinner parties and wine choices. All pretty silly and mundane things. My mom used to quiz me on family tastes, food allergies, gossip that might affect seating charts.”
Soo drags the coffee table closer to the couch and perches on the edge, so he can focus his attention on her.
She watches him with wide eyes and glances back at me. I give her an encouraging nod. “Tell him what you know, don’t worry about it.”
When she focuses on Soo again, he leans forward to force her eye contact. “Tell me.”
She shakes her head. “You’re going to have to ask a question or be specific. My head is full of useless stuff, and I can’t just spew it all out to you.”
Soo nods. “Let’s start with the gossip, then. Most of that sort of thing is worthless, but it might give us something useful, and I can vet the info easy enough.”
“Well, they say the Gardello family is broke. That the sons have plowed through their trust funds and their family money trying to outfit their casinos and on hookers. It’s why I was supposed to marry into the family, they wanted to get their hands on my father’s money, and he was paying them a sort of dowry.”
I nod. “We knew that one already. But yes, stuff like that, what else do you have?”
She smiles and leans in conspiratorially. “There is talk that the Greco siblings, they are twins, are closer than they should be as twins. And they also say they are the reason the father is on home care and can no longer make his own decisions.”
Soo meets my eyes and shakes his head. Yeah, I hadn’t known this little tidbit either. “We knew the twins are running the family and that the father is an invalid, but we didn’t know that they might be the reason he’s dying. Or about the other side of things.”
“Weird, right? I don’t know if they are sleeping together, but the rumors say they might be.”
“What else?” Soo prompts.
She shrugs. “Well, my mom says the Marino family is one breath away from destruction. The father dotes on the daughter and ignores the sons. They resent him, even though they love their sister, and they might want to overthrow their father to take over the family. It was all threaded with ‘make sure you don’t sit the sons by the father,’ but yeah, it’s all very soap opera at their house, apparently.”
“That’s good,” Soo says, nodding.
She continues. “Bianci is the only one I haven’t met before. He’s reclusive, and he’s never been to any of the dinners. While they never all come to the house at once, I’ve at least met all the families individually, except him. When I was a kid, I met his father, but not the son, not after his father died. So, of course, everyone is curious about him and how he’s changed his territory since his father’s death.”
As she speaks, my heart squeezes tighter in my chest. I bounce my gaze between her and Soo, noticing how eager she is to help us. It’s a far cry from when I first brought her here, and she refused to give me any information about her father. But as we sit here, and she keeps talking to Soo, I realize she hasn’t given us any information about him yet. Just about the other members of the five families.
When she stops speaking, and Soo yawns, his eyes growing heavy, I wave at them. They both look my way, and I give Soo a nod. He stands and heads for the door without another word.
“Go get some sleep and come find me when you wake up,” I call after him.
He closes the door behind him, and I turn all my attention to Celia. She stares at me expectantly, as if waiting for my own questions, and I have them.
I reach out and grasp her by the waist to drag her into my lap. She resettles on top of my legs and leans her head against my chest. It’s a position we take often, as I know how much she likes to be held. And to be honest, I enjoy holding her like this; it comforts me. Cementing the fact that she belongs to me in every way.
After a moment, she lifts her face so she can look at me. “Are you angry with me?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m not upset with you. I’m just trying to figure out why you didn’t tell us any of this information sooner. Right now, I can’t say if it will be useful. But I also can’t say if it would have been useful sooner. Things have changed since you were originally taken. Things that were true then might no longer be true.”
“In my defense, I was held captive. Why would I help my kidnappers in any way?”
I run my hand down her back and resettle her against my chest. Something I also noticed, she shares more when she doesn’t have to meet my eyes when she does it. “I can understand that logic. I know you won’t do anything to deliberately hurt me. I also know you want your own revenge against your father. But you didn’t give Soo any information about him.”
Her breath fans across my neck, and I wait for her to answer.
“You were going to sell me. As far as I was concerned, you were just as much an enemy as anyone else.”
It’s further reasoning for why she didn’t share the other information with us, but again, nothing about her father. “Celia?”
She huffs. “It’s because of Lucas.”
“Watch the attitude, princess. What does my brother have to do with you sharing information about your father?”
When she doesn’t answer, I grip her hips and deposit her back on the couch so I can look into her eyes. She might share less, but she also knows when not to push me. And I need her to see I’m serious about getting an answer. “Celia, answer me. What does this information about your father have to do with Lucas?”
She tries to look away, but I capture her chin and drag her gaze back to mine.
“It’s because when he gets any sort of information that he can act on, he’s going to make a move on him.”
It’s hard for me to fault her logic. I’ve known Lucas wants to go after Ricci for a while. It was his entire plan by taking Celia before. However, I was not aware Celia had become so attuned to Lucas and his motivations. It makes me want to kill him all over again.
“You are right. If Lucas gets any kin
d of information he can use, he’ll go straight for your father. Which is why I’ve had Soo watching him since the moment you requested we release him. All his activities are under constant surveillance.”
She shakes her head. “Didn’t you have him under surveillance before, and he was able to kidnap me right from under your noses at your own auction?”
When she puts it like that, it makes my team seem incompetent. Something I neither like nor appreciate. My fingers tighten on her chin. “Well, what do you propose we do about him, then? And if you have any information that might help us get to your father, Soo, nor I, are dumb enough to share it with Lucas. Especially knowing how close to the edge of doing something irrational he is.”
We sit in silence for a moment, and I hate the look of worry in her eyes. I know it’s more about losing another family member than Lucas himself. She hasn’t had enough time with him to develop that sort of relationship. But I know she wants to, if Lucas will let her in. I also don’t have the heart to tell her it’s unlikely. Neither of us are the tender-loving types.
“I had a thought, but I know if I ask you to do it, he’ll hate me forever.” She’s wringing her hands as if she’s been worried about whatever it is for some time.
“Tell me, princess.”
A tear slips down her cheek. “I know the irony of me asking this, trust me, but will you and Soo lock him up again? It’s the only thing I can think of that might make sure he stays safe while we get into position to take my father down.”
I nod and drag her back into my arms. “You’re right. If he knew you asked me that, he would hate you. Even more so, if I do it, and he finds out you requested it.”
“I can live with the consequences if it means he’s alive at the end of all this,” she whispers.
My brave princess. I clutch her tighter. “We are all going to be alive at the end of this, don’t worry.”
I still haven’t had the heart to tell her that if she is the one who takes her father’s life, Lucas will also hate her. Either way it happens, she’s not going to get the relationship with him she craves.
