by Soraya Naomi
I peek around the corner before running out of the bathroom, down the stairs, and to the dining room. With the warmth of his lips still dancing on mine, I take my seat at the table, and an unknown guy occupies the chair next to me.
As I’m about to ask who he is, my mom comes to me and introduces us, “Rosalia, meet Dominic. He’s Maria’s son.”
I have no idea which Maria because my mom has several friends named Maria, but I welcome him anyway. He’s studying me with a little too much interest as my mom darts away.
Oh, shit. Is she setting me up with Dominic?
“So, Rosalia, I hear you attend the University of Chicago,” Dominic says.
“Yeah, I do,” I respond absentmindedly.
Of course, now Logan is seated on my other side. This just got uncomfortable fast. My father is at the head of the table to my left, and Dominic is practically interrogating me, acting like this is a date and prying into my life. I constantly attempt to steer the conversation back to him.
While this is going on, Logan seems unfazed, talking with Fallon and Luca as turkey is being served, but when dessert arrives, he places his hand on my thigh and grips it when Dominic inches closer to me. Though Logan doesn’t turn his body toward me; it’s a clear warning.
I need to ditch this guy.
The heat of Logan’s palm scorches my skin, and as he traces his hand up and down, I notice the corner of his mouth tilting up when I’m forced to squash a moan.
“I’d like to take you out on a date,” Dominic comments.
I swallow a bite of my creamy limoncello gelato dessert as Logan’s hand shoots off my thigh, and he abandons his meal in favor of fixing me with an intense stare.
Fortunately, at this moment, my parents stand up, and everyone relocates to the living room to unwrap presents, and thank goodness, Dominic is distracted by a family member, who tugs him with her.
“Don’t forget what we just discussed,” Logan hisses into my ear before he rises and snatches his drink from the table.
“What am I supposed to do?” I defend in a panic, but my five-year-old cousin runs up to me excitedly.
“Let’s open gifts, Rosalia.” She holds out her arms.
I scoop her up and carry her to the tree where she wiggles down my body and rummages through the massive amount of presents.
“Look”—she thrusts a rectangular package into both my hands—“for you.”
“Thank you, sweetie.” I tear open the package and joy spirals through me.
It’s my customary perfume with a white rosebud cap. My old bottle was empty; Logan knew it. I search for him to find his gaze pinned on me from the living room while he takes a deliberate sip of his whiskey. I’m much more than another one of his women – I cling to that belief. Regrettably, we can’t celebrate together due to all these familiar faces around.
“Well, thank you, Santa,” I say to no one in particular and hold the bottle up. “This is just what I needed.” I thought that would make Logan smile, but no; his steadfast glare doesn’t change.
Then I feel a hand on the small of my back and crane my neck to be confronted with Dominic before stepping forward to create distance between us.
“Hey.”
When I cast a glance at Logan, his mood has plummeted, and I just want to be with him now, not all these people.
“Sorry, I have to go.” Irritated by Dominic, I brush him off and traipse away.
Logan gestures with his glass toward my clutch on the sofa and then glances at his phone screen in his hand, so I slide out my phone and read a message.
Logan: Pool house. Now.
When I look up, he’s already gone. It’s a risk to meet him there now. Still, I make my way through the kitchen anyway, crossing the garden to the pool house, which is unlocked, for a few stolen, illicit moments.
Once all the stars align, no power on earth can keep lovers apart.
CHAPTER 24
Logan
I march toward the kitchen, whiskey in hand, after sending Rosa a message.
As I pass Henry, he smirks. “Did you just try to impress her?”
“What?”
“I saw the present you gave Rosalia. When a guy like you tries to impress a girl like her, then you’re a goner. You just don’t know it yet,” he explains with prophesying words before I throw open the back door.
Contrary to what Henry said, I do know. Rosa barreled into my life and shattered my tightly scheduled plans. She’s the only woman who’s ever been able to hold my interest without having a sexual relationship. Well, not in the old-fashioned sense. It has turned into a relationship. I’m also aware that I haven’t been flirting with anyone else. Moreover, I fucking loathe the thought of another man touching her. She’s mine.
It’s refreshingly charming how honest she is about her own jealousy. How vulnerable she’s making herself. Yet I’m pissed off because the need to mark her is painfully profound.
With my credit card, I easily break into her pool house. The room is dark except for the moonlight and artificial lighting from the garden reflecting inside. I’m sitting in the lounge chair next to the bed, my ankle crossed over my knee, swirling my drink on the armrest as I wait when the door slithers open.
Rosa darkens the doorway in her gorgeous skirt. “Did you break into my house?”
“Yes.” One word comes out of my mouth, betraying how irritated I am.
“I didn’t know my mom was going to set me up,” she explains in a rush.
I rub my neck. “I know.” Then I inquire, “Does your mother know about us?”
“No, she would’ve talked to me if she knew. Why?”
“Why is she setting you up all of a sudden?” I ask.
“She sometimes does it because she wants me to meet a nice Italian man.”
“An Italian man,” I sneer.
My resentment makes her smirk. “Don’t worry about that.” She closes the distance and stops before me. “Thank you for my perfume.”
Uncrossing my leg, I set my drink on the nightstand beside the chair as she positions herself astride me, bringing us face-to-face.
The second I cup her jaw, my aggravation bursts out. “I don’t like other men gawking at you at every turn. If they knew you were mine, no one would dare to look at you. Or fucking set you up on dates! I’m beginning to hate this sneaking around.”
Uncertainty blankets her striking features. “Why are you saying it like that? Like it’s a burden?”
“It is at this point. We don’t date other people. Obviously, we don’t want to. But you won’t let me inside you,” I point out, “while I want you so fucking much.”
“But how can you want me so much when you’ve been with so many women?”
“Let’s not discuss that now. I can tell you this though, when it’s with someone special, it’s different. I’m wild to fuck you, and you’re the only woman who’s ever made me this way. I need to feel you where no one’s been before. To take that piece of you, to possess you,” I grind out.
She traces the line of my brow with her fingertip tenderly, calming my rampant emotions. “I never thought you were the possessive type.”
“I wasn’t.” Not before I met her. But this enigmatic beauty is mine, and I’ll take what I long for.
“I want you too,” she admits, “but I want you to choose me as well.”
“I’ve already chosen you, Rosa. I’m faithful to you; you know that. You need to give me something as well. Or am I just a distraction until you meet a nice Italian man to marry? The man you deem worthy enough to fuck. You always keep that part of yourself from me. How do you think it makes me feel that you’re holding back while I’m fucking in love with you!” I own up, framing her face in both hands.
Her palm rests on my chest. “Oh, Logan, Ti amo.” I love you.
“Say it again,” I growl and nip her lip.
“Ti amo. Sono tuo. I love you. I’m yours,” she whispers.
Her words slightly appease the anarchy in my sou
l. “Then let me fuck you, Rosa,” I state between frantic kisses. I’m too far gone and need her one way or the other.
Love can hurt so much. Yet it can also mend a person. She’s shown me that. The selfish part of me won’t let her be with another man – ever. I felt the inexplicable attraction between us from the start, and it’s developed into something greater before I’ve even fucked her.
“Um...”
Her indecision pulls at my heartstrings, so I say, “Let me fuck your ass then.”
She rears back, shocked yet intrigued.
“I’ll make it good for you,” I vow, letting her feel my stiffening cock.
She bites the inside of her cheek, considering my offer. “Okay,” she murmurs.
I palm the back of her head, pushing her into my kiss to prevent her from overthinking her decision. Forgetting the circumstances, I toss her onto the bed, rapidly locking the front door, and find a bottle of unscented oil in the bathroom cupboard.
Rosa’s lying on the white sheets and turquoise pillows when I return to the side of the bed and pitch the bottle onto the mattress, shedding my vest and dress shirt before taking off her shoes.
Kissing her ankle, I swipe the edge of her skirt up while nibbling a path up her body. Then I guide the skirt off her legs and pull her black top over her head. Rosa watches every second of my seduction with half-lidded eyes as I nuzzle her cleavage, and she bows her back so that I can loosen her bra, hurling it aside without bothering to check where it lands, and I remove her panties.
Rosa sits up, unbuckling my belt while I loosen the knot of her hair to sift my fingers into the strands. Impatiently, she shucks off my pants after I kick off my shoes.
At long last, we’re both naked. I clutch her hips and flip her onto her stomach effortlessly, running my tongue up the back of her thighs.
“Hmm, Logan...”
And I bite her rounded behind before moving up to rub my erection between her ass cheeks, the head of my cock spreading her wetness.
“I love feeling you on top of me like this,” she purrs, turning her face to me.
I dip my tongue into her mouth, rubbing my bare, feverish front over her irresistible curves while lust overrules my thoughts. It’s an astonishing kind of pleasure that scares me as I press inside her a little, groaning in devastating satisfaction.
“Don’t tempt me, cricket, or I’ll thrust inside your pussy.”
She laughs, enticing me by pushing back, causing me to grunt. Before I lose my resolve, I guide Rosa up on her knees and position her hands on the edge of the headboard, tracing my lips down her spine. Then I give her what she needs and mesh my mouth against her pussy and taste every inch of her until she’s circling against me. With the flat of my tongue, I ready her for my invasion. Relentlessly, I continue until she reaches for the pinnacle of bliss. Until she throws her head back, clutching the headboard.
“Ah, yes!” Rosa shoves herself against me, shivering and returning to earth.
Smoothly, I press her onto her stomach again while she catches her breath, watching me with an adoring gaze as I grab the oil and uncap it. Sitting up with a knee of either side of her thighs, I drizzle oil onto her ass so that it seeps down and toss the bottle aside to begin to work the tip of my finger into the tight clench of her ass.
“Relax.” I skim my palm down her spine, easing in and out until she starts whimpering from pain and pleasure.
In heady awareness, I fist my raging hard-on against her behind, replacing my finger with it.
Rosa tenses instantly, so I cover her body with mine, leaning forward on both forearms and tucking her hair behind her ear. Gently, I press my lips against her neck and push in with a hard shove.
“Oh, my God, I’m dying!” she protests.
I suck her earlobe and suppress a grin. “It’ll be better after the initial thrusts. I will fuck your ass tonight.” I spread more oil around before I shift forward again.
“Ah, shit!” she grouses.
“Shhh.” My hands are everywhere, stroking down her sides to soothe her, and I rest my cheek against hers, feeling her flesh give. Being inside her is the most incredible thing I’ve ever felt.
“I’m going to Hell for this,” she grumbles.
I chuckle and drop a kiss on her shoulder. When she turns her face toward me, I’m met with pure carnal hunger, so I entwine our fingers and rest them beside her head.
“I’ll be there to protect you,” I promise in a tender tone I’ve never used with a woman in the past.
With slow plunges, I enter her gradually, and it takes a while before she begins to move with me.
“I’m inside you all the way,” I utter against her ear, bottoming out. “You’re mine.”
“Yes. Ti amo.” She kisses me, filling me with a renewed sense of gratification.
“I love you.”
I relish in Rosa’s submission as our bodies grind together as one – finally. I rock on top of her, driving in deep, feeling her muscles milking me. Nosing her hair, I delve into her over and over.
“God, you’re so tight.”
“I feel so full,” she pants huskily, and I almost shoot my load.
There’s nothing of finesse in my touch. Only claiming, primal need. The overwhelming nature of my desire is a revelation, and I move faster, smacking her ass and rubbing the red skin. With every entrance and withdrawal, I possess her, tangling our hands to rest them beside her head as I take her ass.
“Look at me.”
She complies, her caramel gaze bursting with pleasure, and I indulge in her body while shoving my dick into her without reserve. Releasing one hand, I rub her slit and listen to the sweet sound of her moaning as she climaxes softly again, pulling a magnificent one from me as I pound into her, growling and shuddering with the force of completion, savoring in the sensations. I remain inside her as my labored breathing caresses her neck.
After I don’t know how long, I pull out but stay on top of her.
“Are you okay?” I smooth her hair away from her flushed face.
“Yes,” she replies lazily. “I feel different. And sore. But I loved feeling you inside me.”
A contented smile tugs at my lips, yet a knock on the glass door has Rosa firing up into a sitting position in panic. I simply roll onto my back, observing her olive skin that’s covered with a lovely sheen.
“Rosalia, are you in there?” Alessa asks.
“Just say you’re changing or something,” I whisper, raking my knuckles up her spine.
“Yeah, I’m just changing out of this top and loosening my hair because it was too tight. I’ll be back in five.”
“Okay.”
Rosa stays motionless until the sound of her mother’s heels clicking on the pavement fades. Then she looks at me. “We should go back.”
I yank her into the crook of my arm. “Just a few more minutes, cricket.” Being with her takes me to a place where my demons of regret vanish.
When a woman used to want affection by hugging or holding hands, I would bolt. But with Rosa, I crave it. She’s the first person I’ve opened up to and had a normal, peaceful relationship with. Nana and I had differences when I was a boy. Jenny died so young. Logan’s mother was an addict. As a soldier, I was always surrounded by death. As a CIA agent, I didn’t have personal relationships. Yet currently, I lay in silence, perfectly happy with my existence for the first time in my life.
While looking forward to becoming even closer to Rosa in the New Year, I forget how unfair life can be and how happiness always comes with a price.
CHAPTER 25
Logan
After being an official head Capo for three months, I’ve been fully accepted by all members by the end of February. The power of this organization is unequaled. Mentioning the Syndicate results in work getting done fast. It makes a person unconquerable.
Club 7 is flourishing. And with my help, the Syndicate has started to forge state-level alliances with a Chicago senator whose campaign Adriano has sponsored. In
return, the senator assists us when issues arise where I need someone more powerful than the DA to smother a case.
Fortunately, I work much fewer hours for much more pay, which was my initial goal. Despite the fact that the monetary compensation is certainly helpful, it doesn’t fulfill me in the slightest – like I thought it would. Only Rosa fulfills me. We’ve taken the time to build a relationship without outside interference, and I’ve stopped running from assignment to assignment and started living again, with Rosa.
One cold, windy morning, I decide to take her with me to visit my grandmother, wanting Nana to meet the woman I’m in love with. Entering the private room of her new nursing home, I immediately sense she’s having a bad day due to the Alzheimer’s, because she’s on the edge of her bed, ranting to a nurse who’s trying to calm her.
“No, I need to go to work. I’m already late. Get out of my house!” Nana bellows to the brunette.
She calmly says to her, “No, Mrs. Wade. You’re at the nursing home. You don’t have to go to work anymore.” She glances up to me. “Look, your grandson’s here.”
Nana turns her head and snarls, “I don’t know who that is. I just need to go to work.”
My heart fractures every time she doesn’t recognize me.
Rosa entwines her fingers in mine and whispers, “Let’s go, Logan. We’ll come back another time.”
Before sadness swamps me, she pulls me with her to my convertible outside and manages to dissolve my despondency with her chitter-chatter.
“We’ll go to your new penthouse,” she tells me, fishing my keys from my pocket so she can drive, expertly elevating my mood with her relaxed behavior.
***
Within twenty minutes, I’m strolling behind Rosa in the residential tower penthouse I purchased as she gabs about her decorating ideas. I’m not listening. Instead, I’m staring at her ass in a pair of tight dark-washed jeans.
Rosa, Rosa. Always so sexy without knowing it.
“So, I think taupe curtains would fit. Logan?”
“Yeah.” My gaze shoots up when she cranes her neck to see if I’m paying attention.
