by Bethany-Kris
“Doing work for him and getting paid isn’t the same thing,” he murmured against her hair. “It’s kind of equal footing, then. It’s when you owe Tuck something that it can be a problem.”
Lucia said nothing, and Renzo was grateful. He tapped the phone in her hands.
“Someone you wanna call?”
For a long while, she stared at the blank screen of the phone, clearly thinking his question over. He let her have her moment. He wouldn’t blame her if she did want to call her family. For the most part, the phones would be safe. They couldn’t be tracked if they didn’t stay on them too long, and since they were picked up at basically any convenience store, including the activation cards, that made it twice as hard to track them. Cheap as fuck, easily disposable and replaceable … yeah, it was mostly safe for her to call.
But did she want to?
That was the real question.
“Not really,” Lucia finally said. “Not yet, anyway.”
Renzo nodded. “All right. I need to call Rose.”
Lucia didn’t even question him on that. He hadn’t said much about Rose since they took off, but his sister wasn’t very far from his mind. Sure, Renzo had got her set up for a few months just in case. All those threats from Lucian Marcello had basically guaranteed Renzo would make sure his sister was fine even if he wasn’t. At least, for a while. But that didn’t mean his sister wouldn’t be worried as he hadn’t shown up to see her like he did twice a damn week typically. And if she headed down to the Bronx to find him, then she had no doubt gotten the news that he took off with Diego.
At the very least, he owed his sister a call.
Diego came out of the bedroom with a handful of cars. “Lucia, come see what I made!”
Renzo was grateful for the privacy when Lucia slipped into the bedroom with his little brother. Turning the phone on, he dialed a familiar number, and put it to his ear. It took three rings before a familiar voice filled the speaker.
“Hello?”
“Rose …” Renzo cleared his throat. “It’s Ren.”
A beat of silence passed, and then two. He waited his sister’s confusion out.
“Ren?”
“Yeah, Rose. Hey.”
“Oh my fucking God, where have you been?”
Renzo had to pull the phone away just to save his eardrums from the volume of his sister’s voice. He listened to her shriek at him even though the phone wasn’t anywhere near his head. He could still hear her crystal clear. It might be funny if it wasn’t so fucking sad, in a way. Finally, he put the phone back to his ear when he figured his sister had calmed down enough.
“Some shit happened,” he started to say.
“I saw Ma,” Rose replied just as fast. “She came around bitching about you—saying you hurt her, and took Diego.”
Renzo stared hard at the window. “Neither of those things are untrue.”
Rose sucked in a sharp breath. “But what happened?”
“A lot of shit,” Renzo muttered, “and all that’s important is that she threatened to take Diego away from me, and I couldn’t let her do that. I’m sorry I worried you—that I didn’t call when I left, or sooner than now. We’re fine, I promise. Once I get some shit straightened out, I will wire you whatever you need to get you through, okay?”
“I don’t give a shit about money, Ren! I care about you.”
“Hey, everything okay?”
Renzo glanced over his shoulder to see Lucia leaning out of the bedroom doorway. Little Diego poked his head out by her legs, too. He nodded. “Everything is fine, Lucia.”
She nodded, and headed back in the room.
“She’s there, too?” his sister asked.
Renzo chuckled. “Yeah, she’s here, too.”
Rose made a noise under her breath. “God, you scared the shit out of me, Ren.”
“Sorry.”
That’s all he could do.
Keep saying sorry.
“Well, where are you?”
Renzo watched the bright lights out the window. Despite it being daylight, Vegas remained lit up like fucking Fort Knox, it seemed. “That’s not important right now, all right? I just wanted to make sure you were good, that you knew we were good too, and that you knew I would take care of whatever you needed once I got—”
“I told you—”
“Yeah, yeah. You don’t care about the fucking money. But I do. I care that you’re able to keep going to school, and doing something with yourself, okay? That’s the end of it.”
Rose sighed heavily. “Well … could I talk to Diego?”
Renzo laughed. “He’d love that, Rose.”
SEVEN
It was the shifting on the bed that made Lucia’s eyes fly wide. She wasn’t used to sleeping with other people, but more often than not, Diego slipped into bed with her and Renzo. She never found it strange to be tucked into Renzo’s warmth throughout the night. If anything, she slept better that way. His arms would lock tight around her waist, pull her in close, and sleep came faster than it ever had before.
But Diego had gotten into the habit of climbing directly in between them when he woke up during the night. Once he slipped under the blankets, he didn’t make another noise until the morning.
Lucia turned in the bed to find Diego had rolled over onto Renzo’s side of the bed. He’d taken three-quarters of the blankets with him, too. The sight of the kid in his Batman pajamas with his leg hooked over the mound of blankets like he was determined to keep them right there with him would have been a cute picture, if Lucia wasn’t so fucking confused about where Renzo was at the moment.
Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, Lucia rolled to her back on the bed, and listened to the hotel room. The quiet thumps from up above told her someone was still awake and walking around. The faint flickering of lights behind the dark curtains said Vegas was still alive and well. It took her a second to recognize the late time staring back at her from the bedside table where the clock rested.
3AM.
Way too fucking early.
Lucia waited another minute, waiting to see if Renzo had simply gone to the bathroom and was now making his way back to the bedroom, but she heard nothing. Convinced Diego was going to stay right where he was, she carefully got out of the bed, and went in search of Renzo. Closing the bedroom door behind her, the first thing she noticed was the fact that the patio door had been slid open a couple of inches, and left just like that.
A quick check told her Renzo wasn’t out there. Or at least, not anymore. His pack of cigarettes and lighter still rested on the patio table, safe from any possible rain under the small enclave roof overhead. It wasn’t cold outside, and if anything, leaving the door open had allowed a bit of air to circulate in the warm hotel room. Which helped to keep it at a decent temperature. Still, Lucia closed the door and the curtains, too, blocking out the bright lights of a sign across the road advertising a live show with dinner.
Turning around, Lucia finally noticed the bit of light spilling out under the crack of the bathroom door. Closed up tight, she hadn’t really paid it much mind before. There wasn’t any noise coming from the bathroom—no water running, and no clanging of items, but she had been the one to turn the light off before going to bed. So, it had to be Renzo who turned it back on.
“Ren?” Lucia asked as she came up to the door. She kept her tone quiet, still not wanting to wake Diego up. Listening for a response, she heard nothing coming from inside the bathroom. The next time she spoke, she knocked softly at the same time. “Ren, you in there?”
That time, she did hear a shuffling and a rustle of fabric behind the bathroom door. She still wasn’t worried—not really. Of all the things Lucia had come to learn about Renzo, the fact that he was not like her in a lot of ways was the most prominent. She was a talker. No matter what. If something happened that upset her, she did not withdraw into her head and deal with shit silently. She needed to talk it out to figure it out.
Renzo was different.
Silent.
Stewing.
Private.
That was how he dealt with everything. Maybe it was because his life had taught him that no one cared to hear about his problems or feelings, and he was simply better off dealing with them quietly and alone. That way, he wasn’t going to be reminded time and time again that no, he wasn’t that important to the rest of the world. He wasn’t even a blip on their radar.
And that was fine, too. Perfectly fine if that’s what he needed. At the same time, Lucia still needed Renzo to know that he didn’t need to do any of that at all when it came to her. He could talk with her, and she wasn’t ever going to dismiss him or the things he was feeling. Ever.
That’s not what people did when they loved someone else.
“Ren?”
One more soft call of his name accompanied by a gentle knock.
Finally, he answered.
“Yeah?”
His gruff reply made Lucia smile. She recognized that tone—not that he was irritated or feeling way about being interrupted, but rather, he’d been sleeping. Or fucking close to it. She loved his voice the best when he was fresh off sleep. All throaty, hoarse, and deep.
Like his face buried between her thighs, it could make her shiver like nothing else. And damn, her mind had gone there quick, fast, and in a real hurry, too.
“What are you doing?” she asked, hating that there was a door between them now. “It’s three in the morning.”
“Is it?” Renzo’s words were mumbled that time, like maybe he’d scrubbed his hands down over his face as he spoke. She barely understood his words at all. “The door is open, baby.”
Lucia didn’t need to be told again. She turned the knob on the door, and pushed it open. Her gaze immediately searched out the man she wanted to see the most. Surprisingly, or maybe it wasn’t a surprise considering what he had once told her, she found him resting in the large, empty bathtub.
He wore nothing except his boxer-briefs, while the rest of his clothes rested in a pile beside the tub. Using one of his arms as a pillow, he smiled at her from the other side of the room. The sexy little grin almost came off as a little sheepish as he stretched one leg out in the bathtub, and bent his other at the knee to rest his arm over.
“You know,” she half-teased, “there is a bed in this room that you are more than welcome to use. Actually, I like you better in that bed with me.”
Renzo cleared his throat, and glanced downward. The action made his dark, long lashes fan over his cheeks, but it did nothing to hide his smile. “Oh, is that so?”
“Very much so, yeah.”
“I was going to come back to bed. Then, I went outside for a smoke, my head was full of nonsense, and I knew I was going to toss and turn until I did finally sleep again. Didn’t want to wake you or Diego up, baby. That’s all.”
Lucia’s smile softened. “There’s a couch, Ren. It pulls out into a bed, too.”
“I know.”
“And yet, you found yourself in a bathtub again.”
In fact, she could plainly see that he’d even gone as far as taking out the items in his pockets, and lining them up along the tub’s edge. A handful of change, some cash, an extra lighter he kept on hand, a herb grinder, pack of matches, and the face of a watch that he liked to use to check the time, but didn’t have a band on it. That all told her he had not simply made a decision to just come in and sleep in the bathtub, but rather, he’d taken time to relax in there and make it more comfortable for himself. How long had he been stuck inside his head in here instead of coming to wake her up?
“Just how long were you in here?”
“Since one,” he admitted.
Lucia sighed, and gave him a look.
Renzo only shrugged in response.
She hadn’t come further than where she stood in the doorway. Something about Renzo’s need to seek out familiar comfort made her feel like she was intruding, even if he didn’t give her that impression at all. She still couldn’t help but feel exactly that way.
“Lucia.”
“Hmm?”
Her head tipped up, and her gaze darted to find his. He was still looking at her the same way he had been before—unbothered, kind of tired, but entirely in love, too. Like no matter what, as long as he was looking at her, then nothing else in his world mattered. Everything was just fine because the two of them were together.
God.
More than anything she needed that to stay the same between them. Lucia could weather any storm that was thrown at her as long as Renzo kept looking at her like he was right then.
She just knew it.
“You’re too far away,” he told her simply.
Lucia laughed lightly. “I don’t want to interrupt your … time, Ren. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
He shrugged one shoulder like it didn’t matter to him at all. And you know what, it probably didn’t. For such an intense man, Renzo was also one of the most laidback, relaxed people Lucia had ever had the fortune of knowing, never mind loving. And if shit did bother him, it was hard to tell.
“I said,” he murmured, his dark gaze lifting to meet hers, “you are too far away. Come here.”
He hooked a finger in her direction, and Lucia had no choice but to follow his silent direction. It was a like a rope had been slung around her waist, and he was pulling on it with every bend of his finger. Before long, she was leaning down over the tub to meet his lips with a kiss that seared her from the inside out. There was something about the harsh lash of his tongue against the seam of her mouth that really made her crazy. The way his hand came up to slide under her throat, and hold tight to her jaw until he had gotten all of her mouth that he wanted.
He kissed her like he was hungry.
She loved it.
Grinning against his mouth, she murmured, “Wanna talk, or …?”
Renzo chuckled. “Just have a lot of shit on my mind, Lucia.”
“Like what?”
“Vegas. Us. Diego. Tuck—the fact he hasn’t called yet. Whatever job I am supposed to do for him tomorrow. You.”
“Me?” she asked softly.
Renzo kissed her again—faster and harder the second time. It was enough to take her breath away right then and there. God, she loved this man. More than he could possibly know.
“Not you, you,” he said, as if that was supposed to make sense. “I just don’t like leaving you alone, now.”
Ah.
She got it.
“Me and Diego will be fine.”
“I know,” he said, his words whispering along her lips. “That’s one thing I can count on with you, huh? You look after him.”
She always would.
As long as he wanted her to.
“Ren?”
“Hmm?”
“Stop worrying. At least, about me and him.”
Renzo grinned sinfully, and then kissed her again. Only this time, his teeth dragged along her lower lip in the best fucking way as he pulled away. “Yeah, not really thinking about that at all right now. Something else sounds—”
She interrupted his teasing by kissing him that time.
Renzo lifted from the tub, never once breaking their kiss the entire time. His tongue warred with hers; his lips worked fast and hard against hers, taking her breath away with each stroke. Their kiss only broke long enough for him to yank her shirt off, and for her to get her hands inside his boxer-briefs. His soft cock quickly hardened under the tugs of her palms against his smooth length. He backed her hard against the counter, his breaths coming out faster with each pull of her hands on his cock.
“Fuck,” he grunted against her lips. “Let me get these shorts off you, Lucia. Let me get a taste of you, huh?”
He waited just long enough for her to nod—always good like that; always waiting for her okay—before he grabbed the waistband of her cotton sleep shorts and yanked them down her legs. The fabric bit into her skin from the force of him pulling them off, and even her panties went down with them.
Lucia didn’t even care.
All she cared about in those moments was the fact Renzo was on his knees, and his palms felt like hot sin against her inner thighs. He pushed her legs open, and his tongue peeked out to wet his bottom lip when he got the first look at her pussy. She had no doubt she was already wet—just kissing this man could ruin a pair of her panties.
It didn’t take very fucking much, honestly.
“Jesus, look at you,” he rumbled.
There was something about the tone of his voice when he was turned on that really did it for Lucia. Something about the way it deepened, and roughened. It made her sex clench from just the sound alone.
His hand skimmed higher on her inner thighs, and just the sensation of his knuckles grazing along her bare pussy was enough to make her jerk against the counter. He chuckled at her reaction, stroking her again in the same exact way just to make her do it again.
“You better stop teasing,” she warned.
Renzo looked up, and cocked a brow. “Or what?”
Shit.
He had her there.
He knew it, too.
Just the sexy, sinful curve of his lips—wicked in a blink—told her that.
“Ask me, Lucia,” he murmured.
She swallowed hard. “Ask what?”
“Ask me to eat you. Ask for my mouth on your pussy. Ask me to bury my fingers in you while I eat this pretty pussy of yours. Open your mouth, and use those words I want to hear you say. Ask me, and I’ll give you exactly what you want.”
“You’re something else.”
Renzo licked his lips again, flashing his teeth in a grin. The tips of his fingers glided through the sensitive lips of her pussy, parting them and dragging along the seam of her sex. She felt the slick wetness he found there, and how cool his fingertips felt against the warmth of her pussy. He trailed those wet fingers of his up to her clit where he pinched her.
She swore the air was yanked from her lungs.
“God,” she hissed.
“Ask, baby.”
She would if she thought she could speak, but she wasn’t sure that she could do that at all. It didn’t help that now his fingers were tracing tight, small circles against her clit. Faster, and faster with each one. He watched her all the while, that grin of his deepening as she started to shake from his teasing.
