by Cecy Robson
“It’s late,” I say, my nails skimming along Sal’s back as I look up at him. “And we’ve troubled our hosts long enough.” My words are only partially true. I want to get out of here before something happens that we’ll regret. “I’m tired,” I add, when he doesn’t move, my voice pleading with him to walk away.
Salvatore stays fixed on Vincent when he answers. “All right,” he says. “Goodnight.”
As simple as that, it’s as if nothing had occurred. Vincent laughs again and Rita starts yapping about this bistro she’s dying to try in the city. They walk us out as I hold tight to Salvatore. It’s taking everything not to sprint to the SUV and drag him with me.
Rita waves as we pull out of their long driveway. “I’ll call you about lunch,” she yells.
It’s not until Sal turns onto the main road that he acknowledges anything close to what happened. “I’ll leave you some bills for your time with Rita. If it’s not enough, keep the receipt and I’ll reimburse you—”
“I’m not going out with Rita.”
“Vin won’t be there,” he responds in a way of an answer. “And that shit he pulled? It won’t happen again now that he knows who you are to me.” He keeps his attention ahead, but I notice his hands tighten on the wheel as if he’s remembering how Vincent touched me. “Rita’s different. She’s not like him. She’s just trying to be nice.”
I don’t agree. She plays this game as much as Vin. I’m ready to take my toys and go home. “Rita is lonely. She wants a friend who’ll quietly support her lifestyle.” My voice drops. “But I’m not her.”
“If you shun his wife, Vin will see it as a sign of disrespect.”
“Really?” I swivel in my seat. “So, it’s okay for him to disrespect his wife by sleeping with Donnie and God only knows how many other women? But if I say no to lies and the lunches, and disapprove of all this, I’m the one being disrespectful?”
Sal cuts his stare my way. But it’s not just my words or my tone that alerts him of my anger. “It’s cultural,” he says. “A man of Vin’s status and position is expected to take other women and to have the means to maintain a mistress.”
My face heats. “And as his friend, as someone in your position, is that expected of you, too?”
Sal stops the car at the light and turns to me, his gravelly voice as inflexible as his features. “Yes.”
His admission is like physical blow. My first instinct is to scream at him. But the hurt overtaking me is so crippling, it’s like a dam bursting. It’s all I can do to beat back my tears.
“Adrianna,” he says, curling his hands tighter around the steering wheel. “I would never do that to you.”
“Is that what Vin told Rita?” I ask, my voice quivering as my tears release.
He doesn’t answer me, kindling my sorrow, but also my anger. “In working for Vincent, you’re around him a lot. Are you also there when those women he cheats with arrive?” Again, he doesn’t respond, which tells me more than his words can then. “Salvatore . . . have you been with them, too?”
For the longest few seconds of my life, he remains quiet. When he answers, it’s as if he brings down an ax on my heart. “Not since you,” he tells me.
I turn to stare blindly ahead, breathing so hard, I swear I’m going to lose it. Damn it. God damn it.
I open my mouth, ready to demand that he tell me what exactly he means, only to shut it. As much as I feel I should know, the thought of some woman fondling him and expecting everything he does to me in our bed destroys what’s left of me.
I should never have been with him. But now I know I’m in too far.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Salvatore
Aedry won’t look at me, won’t talk to me. What I said, about not being with anyone since her, is the truth. I meant to make her feel better―to reinforce who she is to me. But in admitting my past deeds, I fed her more of my poison and now she’s dying before me.
She shrivels in her seat, like a wilting rose that once bloomed before I came along. I should let her go, back into the sun where she belongs and away from the damage I alone cause. But I can’t. I may be her poison, but she’s the one who gives me life.
When I pull in front of her building, I know she’s going to run. This time, she’s not going to slam that door in my face. I hit my seatbelt release before I finish pulling to the curb. I barely shift my ride into park before she storms away. I don’t bother reaching for her. Instead, I move quickly, around the front of my SUV, hitting my key fob just as she bounds up the stairs to the main entrance.
My hand shoots out, blocking the door when she tries to swing it closed. She doesn’t turn back, hurrying up the stairs. She knows I’m right behind her, keeping pace even when she pushes faster. At the top is where she flat-out runs, reaching her door and unlocking it. I’m not running, but I am hauling ass. I catch the door before she can shut it and prowl inside, slamming it behind me.
She whips around, backing away as I flip the deadbolt. “I’m not okay with this,” she says.
Her eyes widen as I shrug out of my coat and jacket and toss them over the back of the bar stool. “Not okay with what?” I ask, loosening my collar.
She knows what I want and what I’m after. I tug the buttons of my dress shirt open, popping one off with the speed and force I’m using to peel out of my shirt. “I’m not okay with you being with other women,” she stammers. She jerks her chin as I expose my bare chest. “Salvatore . . .”
I strip out of rest of my clothes, growing harder with each step I take toward her. She edges away, through the small living room, through the opening in her sheer curtains, and around the bed. I follow close, my steps relaxed, my posture easy, despite the heat searing its way through my groin. Her back smacks against the corner. There’s nowhere else for her to go.
The shit Vin pulled sparked a possessive trait fierce enough to make me want to tear his throat out. That lingering kiss was meant to tempt her into his darkness and to give her a taste of what he wanted to do to her.
He doesn’t get to have her. No one does.
I’ll destroy anyone who tries to hurt her.
“Sal . . .” she says, as I draw closer.
Her tone drips with sex, the same way it does before I make her come.
A primal need to claim her overrides my senses, blurring my vision in a lust-filled haze. I need her legs wrapped around me and her begging me for it, just like I need to pump into her deep and fill her.
My hands slap against the wall on either side of her. “I won’t be with you if you’re with someone else,” she stammers. “Do you hear me? I won’t put up with that.”
I take her hand in mine and kiss it, then slip it between us, gliding it over my stiff length. “Does it feel like I want anyone else?” I ask, my voice a hungry growl.
She trembles, but it’s not out of fear. As much as I need her body and as much as it’s killing me to wait, I’ll never force her. She knows it.
Again, she trembles when my lips pass along the curve of her neck. “You’re who I want. You’re who I need,” I whisper between flicks of my tongue. “Can you feel it, Adrianna? This is what you do to me.”
My hold is loose enough for her to break away, she doesn’t, keeping her strokes steady.
My hand leaves her, once again slapping against the wall as my head falls forward and my body curls around her. “I want you,” I grunt against her ear, as her grip tightens and her speed increases. “I want you forever . . .”
I grit my teeth, gasping when she abruptly releases me. “I’m sorry,” she says, her fingertips grazing along my chest, luring my focus toward her face. “I’m so sorry . . .” Her expression is stunned as she searches my features.
It’s what she asks that nails me hard in the gut, knowing that if I answer there’s no going back.
“Did you say ‘forever’?” she asks, so softly I barely hear her.
I struggle to speak, every breath I’m taking burning with how bad I need to be inside
her. “Don’t you know what you mean to me?” I ask.
She shakes her head slowly, biting down on her bottom lip. My fingers smooth across her jaw line as I tell her the truth, feeling each word down to my soul. “I love you, Adrianna,” I rasp. “You’re my fucking world.”
Tears flood her eyes, shimmering her dark blue eyes like jewels. “I love you, too,” she whispers.
Her arms coil around my neck as my body and lips meld with hers. We’re only kissing, but already she’s whimpering the way she does when she starts to peak. She wants me. But I need to prove exactly how much I want her.
She breaks our kiss as I grind against her, her head falling back against the wall as she shrugs free of her coat and she hikes up her skirt. My mouth lowers to her neck and my hands seek out her breasts, pulling down the front of her dress to expose the tightening tips.
Aedry jolts as I suck. The wait has been too much for me and for her. She moves the crotch of her panties aside and reaches for me, rubbing the thick tip of my erection against her folds. But for what I want to do to her, I need her panties off. I tear them from her hips in one quick motion and haul her up to my waist.
I rush us to the bed, tossing her legs over my shoulders as I lower her to the bed. Any other night, I’d fall to my knees, dip my tongue between her legs, and play. But tonight is not the night I can take things slow. I slide into her in one easy motion. But when I thrust, it’s deep, fast, and feral.
Aedry writhes beneath me, her body sliding against the sheets with each slam of my hips, swearing―screaming―moaning my name.
My hands grasp her ankles tight, carnal hunger increasing my speed. Each orgasm I give her causes her body to grip me tighter. I’m no match for the spasms clenching me. In one ruthless explosion I succumb, falling forward into her embrace.
I clutch her against me. “I love you,” I gasp, kissing her face, lips, throat. “I swear to Christ, I’ll never let you go . . .”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Salvatore
The night we had dinner with Vin and Rita was a turning point in our relationship. It could have ended badly and I could have lost Aedry forever. Instead, it bonded us and we spent the rest of the night making love.
I fought to keep from telling her how I feel, believing I’d somehow finish ruining her. Months later, we’re still going strong.
Things aren’t perfect. Not by a long shot. That night at Vin’s solidified Aedry’s suspicions that Vin isn’t the respectable business owner or philanthropist he pretends to be.
The cash she’s seen me carry, the gun I don’t leave my place without, and the bruises I’ve come home with following sit-downs, are putting a strain on our relationship. While I’m not lying to her, I’m being far from honest.
“Are you involved with drugs?” she asked me.
“No. I wouldn’t do that to you or to us.”
“Prostitution?” she asked, in a way that seemed to kill her.
“No,” I answered, putting enough force behind my words that she’d realize I’m not a part of that shit.
“What about weapons trading?” she pressed. “Sal, you need to tell me what Vincent does.”
“Vin is a man with questionable morals and legitimate businesses.” I snagged her waist and pulled her to me when she tried to walk away. “But I swear to you, I’m only in charge of security, making sure no one hurts him or Donnie.”
Yeah. Donnie. She got back on his good side, not that it’s going to last.
Aedry relaxed in my arms. She needed to hear that all of us, me, her, and my brothers, are safe.
They are. I’m not. But I couldn’t exactly tell her that. I make it like the people Vin associates with and encounter are the problem. She doesn’t know he’s Mafia. If she did, she’d walk away, taking my soul with her.
For now, though, she’s with me. And I’m going to make every day count.
The breeze sweeping in through the open taxi slaps against our faces, filling our noses with salty air mixed with the aroma of tropical flowers. To our right, the sun’s setting on the horizon, casting light along the clear blue water. Jesus, the Cayman Islands are like heaven on earth, almost too beautiful to be real. Very much like this woman in my arms.
Aedry pushes her dark hair away from her face and looks up at me, smiling. “Great day,” she says.
“Perfect,” I agree.
She, my brothers, and me, along with Aedry’s friend, Autumn, spent the day taking a private tour of the islands. When I asked Aedry what she wanted to do for Spring break, she said to spend time with me, Gianno, and Apollo.
“Let’s celebrate with them. They’ve worked so hard.”
She was talking a nice dinner out, maybe even a movie. I was talking a serious getaway. We did it my way, and we snagged Autumn along so she could watch my brothers, so Aedry and me could have some time alone. Aedry misses her friend, and for all she’s “quirky” like Aedry describes her, she’s a good friend to Aedry. Not like those skanks I saw her with at the club.
My hand sweeps over Aedry’s golden skin. Her tan isn’t as deep as mine, Apollo’s, or Gianno’s, but she’s surprised me by managing some decent color, considering how light her skin is. Autumn is a different story. That redhead has to be the whitest person on this planet. And don’t forget that she’s spent the two days we’ve been here lathering her skin with SPF 100.
I didn’t even know they made that shit.
“Laugh all you want, but I’m thwarting premature aging and skin cancer,” she insisted when me and my boys cracked up following Gianno’s offer to buy her a Mumu.
“Jesus, you look like a redheaded snowman with glasses,” Gianno told her. “If you’re ‘thwarting’ anything, it’s a chance to get laid.”
“Nah, some men like that igloo shit,” Apollo countered.
We all lost it on that one. In fact, we’ve laughed a lot, which is good. When Vin offered up his secluded vacation home, I didn’t want to take him up on it, sure there was a catch.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Can’t a guy do something nice for a friend?” I didn’t answer. Vin doesn’t do something for nothing. “Come on, Sal. I didn’t mean any disrespect. If I knew who Aedry was to you, I never would have put the moves on her. Let me make it up to you and your woman.”
Me and Vin, we’re all right. Not great, not bad, just all right.
He’s tried to make amends with this trip and by leaving me to solely guard Donnie lately. But I can’t let go of the shit he pulled with Aedry. He crossed a line that night. I can’t forget it and I can’t forgive.
“You okay?” Aedry asks, tracing my jaw with her fingertip.
“Fine. Just thinking it’s good to be here.”
“It’s amazing to be here,” she emphasizes. “Thank you for all of it.” She looks behind her. “And for inviting Autumn. She never gets to have fun.”
“She’s going to have fun tonight.”
“Why?” She tilts her head. “What are you up to, mister?”
“Mister?” I prompt. “What does that make you?”
“Someone who’s happy to love you,” she says.
My smile eases. I wish I could sit back and enjoy everything she gives me, but there’s that part me that knows this woman is too good for me, and that what we have can’t last. No matter how much I need it to.
Instead of complimenting her in return or maybe spewing some of that lovey-dovey crap pussies would say, I clasp her knee and rub it. It’s my way of feeling close to her and letting her know I like her with me. “I’m sending them to swim with dolphins.”
“Are you serious?” At my nod, she beams, but then she frowns. “Wait, then what are we doing?”
“You get to skinny dip with a shark.”
“A shark?” At my nod, she starts laughing. “Does this shark’s name happen to be Salvatore?”
“It’s like you can read my damned mind.”
I kiss her temple when she shakes her head. “They get dolphins and I get a naught
y shark?”
“A naughty shark who has something nice planned. Trust me,” I add, when she tries to argue.
She leans against my shoulder. “I do trust you,” she whispers.
I know that. Which is why if she ever knew the type of man I worked for, it would be over between us. But I don’t think about that now. I glance over my shoulder to where Autumn and Apollo are having it out over who made the best Spiderman.
“Christ,” Gianno mutters. “It’s like I died and went to Nerd Hell.”
He slips out first when we reach the villa. Aedry stays with me as I pay our guide. As much as we’re in paradise and have our own suite, our alone time hasn’t been enough and I’m finding it hard to keep my hands to myself around my brothers.
I lift her for a kiss as the driver pulls away, lowering her slowly before leading her down the brick walkway. She glances around the garden as we step onto the front porch. “This place is so beautiful. I wish we could stay here forever.”
To think what’s waiting back for me in Jersey, with how bad Vin has screwed up, I can’t say I don’t wish the same damn thing. We step into the tile-covered foyer. Goosebumps spread along her arms as the air conditioning hits us hard.
She huddles closer to me, shuddering. “I’ll admit, I miss the heat down South.”
I almost suggest we move back to where she’s from. Damn, I’m so tired of Vin and all the shit that comes with this lifestyle. But for now, the best thing I can do is keep putting money aside and investing like I have been.
In another year, I’ll have enough in Gianno and Apollo’s trust funds to get them through college. And the way my investments are taking off, one day, I’m going to take her and my brothers far away and open up my own MMA gym. But one day is still far away. And Vin isn’t letting anyone leave. For now, I have to keep doing what I’m doing until I figure a way out.
The family room opens up to a wall of glass leading out to the lanai. Her eyes widen. The crew I hired already placed lit candles to float around the pool, and set a table of with white linens with fine china. Two chefs, one preparing appetizers and the other the main course, are already working hard to finish the elaborate dinner, while a server rushes to fill glasses with champagne.
