by L. A. Fiore
Carmine dragged a hand though his hair. “So you’re cleaning up after the fallout.”
That earned Carmine Gregory’s hard stare. “No, I’m taking out my fucking family. Lighting the fuse to watch it explode. I didn’t order those deaths, and I realize they aid in my wish to keep the past in the past, but they were someone else’s children. I’m not so heartless that I would order that.”
“Your father is heartless enough.”
“Defeats his purpose.” Gregory plucked a yellow flower from the stem, twirled it between his fingers. “Whoever is behind it has something to lose if the past is stirred up.”
It all came back to the same fucking person. “Jason Benjamin,” Carmine deduced.
Gregory replied, without taking a breath, “Which brings us full circle…a fucking ghost.”
Carmine was in unfamiliar territory, but tit for tat. He called Kade letting him know he was coming. When he arrived, his friend and girl were in the kitchen. She was sitting on the counter; he was standing between her legs. Kade looked happy; they both did. Kade’s eyes drifted to Carmine. “Hey, Brother. Want a drink?”
“Yeah,” Carmine said, crossing the room to them. “Detective.”
“Carmine.”
He glanced down, then looked up at her through his lashes. “Thanks for the heads up.”
He saw the unease behind her eyes, but she smiled and said, “You’re welcome.”
Kade handed him a whiskey; he drained the glass. “It’s why I’m here, to return it.”
Her blue eyes went wide.
“If you can sit on this information for a little, I’d appreciate it.”
“We were going away for a week, is that long enough?” she asked.
Carmine’s focus shifted to Kade. “I’m taking her home,” Kade offered, moving back into his woman. Carmine wasn’t a jealous kind of man, but he envied his friend that he’d found what he had with his detective. Carmine wasn’t sure he’d ever be so lucky. Gregory had found it, too, and it was taken from him. Carmine’s expression turned dark.
“Gregory Enzi, the son, and Katrina Dent were lovers. And he confirmed that Jason Benjamin killed Katrina on his father’s orders.”
It took a second for the news to penetrate, and when it did, Molly’s jaw dropped. “Shit.” Then she said again, “Shit. Enzi is Katrina’s baby’s father.”
“Yes, a son, but he won’t say who. His father is the one stirring shit up; Baker is acting on command from Enzi senior to get at Gregory’s son.”
“Why?” Molly asked, not hiding her horror.
“Because he’s a fucking vindictive dick.”
Molly’s face paled, as her detective mind worked it out. “It was Gregory junior behind Samantha, Frank and Emily’s death.”
“No. Those deaths work in his favor, but he would never order the death of the innocent. The one behind those deaths is the one player in this mess who still has something to lose.”
She answered immediately, “Jason Benjamin.”
“Yeah. You find him, you find your killer of not just those now, but Katrina as well.”
Her mind was working; he could see she wanted to share with her partner, even glanced at her phone, but as he watched, she reined it in. “That probably wasn’t easy,” she guessed, then said, “Thank you. I’ll wait until we get back to share with my partner.”
“Thank you.” Carmine started for the elevator.
“Are you hungry?” she called after him.
He glanced back. Kade added, “There’s plenty, man.”
He glanced at the elevators, then back at the two, and wasn’t ready to return to his empty apartment. “Yeah, thanks. I am.”
Molly kissed Kade, then jumped off the counter. “I’ll set another place at the table.”
Seventeen
Molly
“Oh, fuck.” My head dropped, my hips moving back into his thrusts. The fullness in my ass, as he fucked me there stung, but his fingers were curled into my pussy, hitting that spot. My elbows dug into the mattress, his fingers dug into my thigh, but it was his moans that had me matching his rhythm.
“You feel so fucking good,” he groaned, his cock pulling out and sinking back in.
I moaned, fisted the sheets, felt that knowing chill, and with his cock in my ass, the orgasm was mind blowing, his name ripping from my throat when I came. His hand moved from my pussy, grabbed my hips, as he fucked me deeper, before he stilled and came, the sound that came from him made me wet again.
He bent over me, and with his cock still in me, I whimpered because, fuck, he felt so good. “You okay?” he asked.
“Okay?” My head turned, our eyes met, and I grinned. “And you thought you had to soften me up for this.”
In reply, he kissed me. Gentle and savoring, and following that fucking, the contrast made my clit pulse. The many sides of Kade Wakefield between the sheets, I loved every one of them.
“I have a bucket list item,” he said, kissing me again, harder this time. “Keeping my woman tied to the bed, so I can fuck her whenever I want.”
I almost came just from the suggestion. I wasn’t going to survive this man. I liked when he bound me. He didn’t do it often, but I loved giving over that control to him. “Let’s do that today,” I suggested enthusiastically.
He grinned. “Got somewhere to be today. Tomorrow. You naked and tied to this bed.”
“Well, I’ll need to pee.”
He grinned. “Fine, but only for that.”
“And you have to feed me.”
He looked downright wicked. “Of course.”
Just the anticipation was causing my body to heat in all the right places. “Deal.”
His eyes narrowed, but I saw the hunger and the victory. “Deal. Hungry?” he asked against my lips.
“Yes, I could eat, too.”
He chuckled and moved his hand down my body, but it was how he did it. Unconsciously done, but he was claiming me with his touch, and I loved that he was, because I was his, absolutely all his. He pulled from my ass, and I moaned, missing the fullness, even the pain.
He climbed from the bed and worked off the condom; I watched him walk toward the bathroom gloriously naked. “I need a painting of that,” I called after him. We were in a luxurious hotel in Montenegro, one owed by Kade.
“Get your ass in here, woman. We need to shower.”
“Bossy,” I shouted back, but I was already off the bed and halfway to the bathroom.
Tingles moved through me, remembering earlier and wanting a repeat. What an introduction to Montenegro. I reached for my wine and took a long sip.
“Something on your mind, Detective?” Kade asked, but he knew exactly what was on my mind.
“Never done that before.” Took another sip of wine, before I added, “Want to again.”
There was that wildness banging to get out. “Noted.” Said so soft and low, heat settled between my legs.
“Am I ever going to have enough of you?” I thought out loud.
“Not if I can fucking help it,” he replied smoothly, but I heard the steel behind the words.
A comfortable silence settled between us, before I said, “I’m happy you wanted me to see your home.” I reached across the table and traced the vein in his hand. “But I suspect there’s more to it.”
He held my stare before he said, “You once said you didn’t read me so well. You’re wrong.”
The waitress returned with plates of appetizers, featuring prosciutto and local prawns. He waited for her to leave, served me some of the delicacy, before he reached for his whiskey, took a sip. “As you know, I grew up here. I don’t have a family outside of Carmine. He’s my brother. He’s proven that time and again.”
“The man,” I whispered, the monster he killed that had Kade believing he was a villain.
“Yeah, family,” he said. “I had a problem, and he stepped in. No questions asked.” He lifted my hand, brought it to his lips. “You’ve done the same.” He grew thoughtful, before he added, “This case of yours has brought back a lot of shit I buried. In a sense, I’m glad because I’ve been going through the motions for a long time. Always trying for more, so I didn’t find myself back in the gutter. But you think about Katrina, who had so much, but not what she wanted. My life has been one of reaction, everything I’ve done has been a reaction to how I grew up, the man who was fostered by this place.” He looked around, before those eyes came back on me. “But not you. You’ve opened my eyes that as rich as I am, I’m not as rich as I thought. Or at least I hadn’t been.”
Tears hit my eyes, but what a thing to say. “It’s that way for me, too,” I confessed.
“I know,” he said, then smiled, which turned devilish when he added, “I’m planning on stepping back.” He brushed his lips over my fingers, before he released my hand. “Letting those I’ve put in positions of power have more of it.” He looked every bit the villain when he added, “I’m going to become a man of leisure.”
That wasn’t possible. He might slow down, but he wouldn’t stop working. It wasn’t who he was, but I loved that he wanted to. “And what will you do as a man of leisure?”
“Ideally, fuck you all day.”
Those words had the effect he wanted, as more heat pooled between my legs. “That would mean I’d need to be a woman of leisure.”
“No, we’d just use your desk in the bullpen.”
That thought shouldn’t turn me on, but it did. “And your desk,” I added.
“Fuck, yeah.”
I took another long drink of wine to calm my libido. And as turned on as he made me, it was my heart that ached in the best possible way. He brought me here to show me his past, his beginning, but he also brought me here to let it all go, to move forward, to start a new beginning with me. It wasn’t a wonder that I was so totally and completely in love with him.
We walked through a section of Montenegro that was so different from the opulence of where we were staying. Poverty, an underbelly of it, that was as much weaved into the tapestry of the place as the magnificent views. “This is where I grew up. On these streets.”
Not in a home, not under a roof, but on the streets. My heart broke, my hand reaching for his, because I needed the connection. Looking up at him, his focus was on our surroundings, there was a touch of disbelief. “I forget sometimes what it was like,” he whispered.
“What was it like?” I asked, knowing he needed to purge.
“Hungry, all the time. Dirty, only bathing when it rained, or when I jumped into one of the lagoons. Ruthless as I got older. There’s a hierarchy, even on the streets. The bigger you are, the more people want to tear you down. You learn to fight in order to survive.” Bitterness touched his tone. “Miles away, people are tossing out untouched food, while here, there are those willing to kill each other for something to eat.”
But he’d overcome it. He hadn’t just gotten out; he’d thrived. “You got out, Kade.”
“So many don’t.”
He started to pull me away when I noticed the crowd ahead. “What’s that?” I asked.
“The community center,” he said.
“Can we take a look?”
He hesitated but led me to what was the hub of the area. Inside, people gathered to talk, some were reading, some knitting, but it was a community. There was a table setup in the back, mountains of food, and a steady line of people. My heart filled, as did my eyes. “You did this.”
“Someone had to.”
He grew up in hell, but he wouldn’t let others. “You weren’t going to show me this.”
“It’s not enough,” he said.
I looked around the room to the happy, smiling faces. “I think if you asked them, they would disagree.”
He took me to the dive shop, the place it all started. I was expecting a little shack, and maybe at one time it had been, but now it was a state-of-the-art diving facility with a fleet of boats, top of the line diving equipment, and all of it was affordable, not catered to just the rich.
“What was your job?” I asked, as we walked down the dock toward a boat.
“Took people to wrecks,” he said, as we reached a boat, and he held his hand out to me.
“Are we going to a wreck now?” He had asked that I wear a bathing suit. I figured we’d be swimming, but diving would be even better.”
“Not exactly,” he said, then grinned.
I went to the bow of the boat and took a seat on one of the cushions, while he spoke to the driver. Before long, we were cutting through the crystal blue water. It was beautiful, the freedom of flying over the water. I’d never been on a boat, even growing up in New Jersey, but I loved it.
Kade used the time to teach me everything I needed to know about the equipment.
When we reached our destination, we were so far out, you couldn’t see land. I looked around, before turning to Kade. “We’re here?”
“Yes.”
He tested my equipment before he helped strap it on me. Then he went through everything he taught me again and had me repeat it. He was an excellent teacher, but it was concern for me that had him being so thorough. It was the little things that had me falling even more in love with him.
He checked his equipment before he got suited up.
The diver’s flag went up. The kid who drove the boat helped me onto the diver’s platform. Kade hit the water first, then I followed.
“I want you to try breathing. I’ll go under with you. Remember slow, even breaths,” he said.
“Okay.”
He put in my mouthpiece, before his own, then we dove. I had a moment of panic that my air was completely dependent on the mouthpiece and tank, but seeing the beauty around me, I didn’t panic for long. Kade gave me the thumbs up, and I gave it back. And then we were diving deeper. The water was so clear, we could see for what seemed like miles. Schools of fish swam past, darting in patterns, like they were being chased. I noticed a sea turtle, pointed him out to Kade. We dove deeper, and I spotted a rock covered in bright pink anemone, little orange and yellow fish diving in and out of cover. Suddenly, all the fish disappeared. I looked around, just as Kade came up next to me, took my hand and pointed.
A shark. As I watched, he swam closer, close enough I could see his black eyes, but he didn’t attack. He swam around leisurely.
Kade had given me another bucket list item. I looked over at him. He was already looking at me. I squeezed his hand, and for the next half an hour, we swam with sharks.
Eighteen
Kade woke, turned to see Molly still asleep. The sheet had slipped, exposing her breasts. He tongued her nipple, a soft whimper escaping her mouth. His hand moved down her body, getting lost under the sheet. He grinned against her breast to feel she was wet. He tongued her nipple again, then sucked the peak into his mouth.
She moaned; her hips lifted into his touch.
He kissed down her stomach. Moved the sheet, as he kissed her pelvic bone, before moving lower. He felt her eyes and glanced up, she was looking down her body at him, her lip caught between her teeth. He kissed her, then lifted her ass and pushed his tongue into her pussy. Her taste exploded on his tongue. He growled and sucked on her clit, then ran his tongue through her folds, sinking back into her pussy. He worked her up to orgasm and then over it. He lingered between her legs to lick up every drop she gave him, and then he moved up her body and kissed her, sweeping her mouth with his tongue.
“So fucking sweet,” he whispered. “Now pee, cause you owe me the day.”
She wanted it as much as he did because she was in and out of the bathroom in minutes.
“On the bed,” he ordered.
Her eyes went wide when she saw the bindings.
“Been wanting to do this since the first day you walked into my office.”
He saw, as well as, smelled her arousal. “You wet for me?”
She dropped her head on the pillow. “This is going to kill me.”
“But you’ll die happy and very satisfied.”
He bound both her wrists, her eyes narrowed when he started on her ankles. He stopped, studied her and asked, “You okay with this?”
She swallowed, but it looked painful, before she nodded. The restraints were long enough for her to bend her legs, but he could tighten them if he wanted. He stepped back to appreciate his woman, spread eagle and bound for him. “Now that I need a painting of.” He moved around the bed, fisted his cock and started stroking. “So fucking beautiful.”
Her hot eyes were on his hand. He continued to stroke, her tongue ran over her top lip. He used the hand stroking his cock and touched her mouth with his thumb; her tongue swiped his finger. Using that wet thumb, he brushed her nipple. Her breath caught on a moan. Her eyes drifted to his cock again. Fisting the base, he moved his hand up and watched, as she pulled at her restraints. “I want you,” she whispered.
He climbed onto the bed, held himself over her, their gazes locked, and then he kissed her. Slow, deep and long. Her body was writhing under him when he broke the kiss. He turned his attention on her breasts, feasting on her like his favorite meal, because she was. By the time he reached her pussy, she was so fucking wet and sensitive that she came almost as soon as he touched her. He was so fucking hard, but he continued to feast until she was sated. Then reached for the condom. She squirmed because she knew what was coming next. He fingered her pussy, then moved lower to that tight ring.
“Oh god,” she moaned, and lifted her hips.
“You want me to fuck you here?” he asked.
Her reply was almost broken with want. “Yes.”
He didn’t need lube, used her own heat to prep her entrance. He lifted her hips, and she helped. He grinned at her enthusiasm. Holding his cock, he pressed into her, feeling the resistance. Her breathing was coming out in pants, her nipples were hard, her pussy wet and getting wetter. He pushed forward, breeched the ring and bit back a moan because, fuck, she felt so goddamn good, gripping his cock like a velvet vice.
