Now Or Never (Erotic Romance) Book 2 (The DeLuca Brothers)

by DuBois, Lucinda

  It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she couldn’t even be in her own apartment without thinking about Anthony.

  Nothing at all.

  Chapter 10

  For the past ten days, every time the door to Rizzo’s opened, Anthony had looked up, heart in his throat, hoping beyond hope that it would be Cecile coming to tell him that it didn’t matter what he did, she wanted to be with him. He tried telling himself that it was stupid to keep thinking that, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. This was definitely not like him. He wasn’t the one who fell hard and fast, who couldn’t get over someone. He didn’t believe in that kind of love. His mother had always said that that’d been the kind of love she and his father’d had. Problem was, he remembered all too clearly how his mother had been when his father had died. Even though he’d been a child, he’d told himself that if that’s what love was like, he wanted nothing to do with it. He wasn’t cold, but there was always a distance kept.

  Until Cecile. She’d crossed that distance without even trying and, despite his efforts, he couldn’t seem to close himself off again. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see her, smell her, taste her. She was the first thing on his mind when he woke up and the last thing he thought about before he fell asleep. More than once he’d thought about picking up one of the women at Rizzo’s who were always flirting with the family, hoping to snare one of them, but every time he’d tried to pick one, all he could think about was how she wasn’t Cecile. Even when he’d been attempting to relieve some of the tension himself, it was Cecile’s face, her body, that he pictured.

  A couple of days ago, he’d succumbed to temptation and asked one of his informants at Cecile’s precinct to keep an eye on her and report back if anything was wrong. He’d felt like an idiot after he’d asked it, but he couldn’t risk contacting his informant again so soon. All he was able to do was wait. When Ian came to see him, that’d be the end of it.

  The door to Rizzo’s opened and, this time, when Anthony looked up, it was Ian walking towards him. Anthony prepared himself to tell Ian that he could stop watching Cecile. It was over. Time to move on. And then Ian spoke and everything changed.

  “She’s transferring back to Ohio.” Ian gestured to the bartender who nodded and started to pour the older man’s favorite drink.

  “What?” Anthony hadn’t been expecting that.

  “According to my cousin, there’s this old cold case that’s been reopened, something she was involved with when she was on patrol.” Ian threw back the shot and asked for another.

  “Is she just going back to work the case or is she actually moving back home?” Anthony tried to keep his tone only vaguely interested. There was no need for Ian to know just how invested he was in the answer.

  Ian shrugged. “From what Fredericks told me, she’s transferring back. I guess that means moving for good. Can’t say I really blame her. Night shift sucks.”

  Everything went cold. “Did he say when?”

  “Said her last day was today.”

  Anthony jumped up and grabbed the front of Ian’s shirt before the smaller man could react. “And you’re just coming to me with this now?”

  “I didn’t know until like ten minutes ago. You said not to do anything that would make anyone suspicious, so I waited until I saw Fredericks at a family thing.” Ian’s eyes were wide, his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

  “We got a problem?” Little Marco called from his table.

  Anthony lowered Ian to the ground. “Just a little misunderstanding, right?”

  “Right.” Ian eyed Anthony as he spoke, as if the wrong word was going to make things worse.

  “We’re done,” Anthony said. He barely noticed Ian scrambling away.

  That was it then. Cecile was leaving. They’d be in two different states, separated by hundreds of miles and it’d be like this whole thing never happened. But it had happened, and Anthony knew he couldn’t forget it. If he was going to be totally honest with himself, he didn’t want to forget it. He didn’t want to forget her. He just wanted her.

  He shook his head. That wasn’t possible. She’d made it perfectly clear that she didn’t want to be with him because of his family, and he couldn’t choose her over them, not like his father had done. He looked over at his uncles and their sons. They’d embraced him, made him one of them. And in all the years he’d spent with them, he’d never heard his uncles or aunt bad-mouth his father. In fact, one time, not long after he’d started coming to Rizzo’s, Little Marco had made some rude comment about Angelo and Marco had backhanded his son so fast that Anthony’d never seen it coming.

  No, Anthony realized suddenly. That wasn’t loyalty. That was love. Marco, Ciro and Silvia loved their brother even though he’d chosen to give up this life for his wife, even though they rarely saw each other. They’d made different choices, but they loved each other. And now, all these years later, Anthony was in the same position his father had been in, choosing between his family and a woman. The only question was, what was he willing to give up?

  Chapter 11

  Even though no one had said a single negative word about her transferring, Cecile still felt like she was giving up, and she knew exactly why. It was because she was giving up. Not on her dream, not on the city or her work, but she knew it was giving up nonetheless. Still, she turned in her badge and gun, and said her good-byes. The lieutenant told her that if she decided to come back once the Espinoza case was completed, he’d be glad to have her. She smiled and thanked him, thinking that she doubted she’d ever be back in the city again.

  The air was crisp, the scent of autumn mingling with the usual smells of the city. She wondered if it would snow here before it did back home. They tended to get a lot off of the lake in Cleveland, but she wasn’t sure if it’d be the same near other bodies of water. Unlike a lot of people back home, she liked the snow, especially after it had just fallen and everything was still clean and white–

  “Cecile?”

  She froze halfway down the sidewalk. That wasn’t possible. She had to be imagining it, right? She looked up, her heart immediately taking off at a gallop. She hadn’t been hearing things. Anthony was standing just a few feet away, an unreadable expression on his face.

  “What are you doing here, Anthony?” She forced herself to start walking again. She couldn’t let him see how much his presence affected her.

  He waited until she was directly in front of him before answering her question. “I’m done.”

  Cecile blinked, pausing mid-step. He hadn’t said “we’re done.” He’d said that he was done. She tried to squash the flicker of hope that was telling her that he’d changed his mind. She asked, “What do you mean?” The moment the question came out of her mouth she almost winced at how childish it sounded.

  “I mean,” he said, face serious. “I chose you.”

  At first she didn’t understand. What did he mean he chose her? Had he really left the family? Was it really possible? She didn’t want to believe it. She didn’t want to get her hopes up only to have them dashed again.

  He took a step towards her, and reached out a hand. She considered taking a step back, but the need to feel his touch was too much. He paused before his hand reached her, and let it fall back to his side. “Do you know why I worked for my uncles?” He asked, his voice soft.

  Cecile shook her head, not trusting her voice to speak. She could barely breath, as if even the slightest movement on her part would wake her and she would find that this was all a dream. She didn’t think her heart could take it.

  “When my father died, I felt like I’d lost my whole world. My mother was busy with my three younger brothers and my older brother was trying to be a father to all four of us.” The expression on Anthony’s face said that this wasn’t something he shared very often. “Frank and I butted heads, a lot. Some of it was his fault, some of it was mine. We were brothers, but our father’s death made him the man of the house. One day, I finally had enough.”

/>   “And you went to your uncles,” Cecile finished the story.

  Anthony nodded. “They didn’t ask any questions, didn’t criticize the fact that my father had left the family business. They just loved me, and when I was older, they gave me a job.”

  Cecile shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She’d suspected something like that, but hearing him say it was different than just thinking it. She wanted to sympathize, say that she understood his loyalty. If they’d both been younger, she probably would have, but he was an adult and she just couldn’t condone the behavior. It tore at her heart.

  “But I realized,” Anthony continued. “I can’t let that one moment keep me from doing what’s right.”

  Cecile swallowed hard.

  “For years, it was just easier to not think about it.” When he reached out his hand this time, he didn’t stop, taking her hand in his. “And then you came along and said everything that I knew already, but didn’t want to admit.”

  “What changed your mind?” She asked, taking a step closer.

  “I heard you were leaving and I realized that I had to choose. I told my uncles that I was done. My family didn’t disown my father when he left to marry my mother and they aren’t going to disown me now.” He raised their linked hands and pressed his lips against the back of hers. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do to prove that I mean what I say. If you want me to give evidence against them…” he paused, a pained expression crossing his face. “I’ll do it.”

  Cecile shook her head. “No, I won’t ask that.” She closed the distance between them and raised herself up on her tiptoes to brush her lips against his. “Thank you.”

  Anthony wrapped his arms around Cecile, a smile breaking wide across his face. He lifted her off of her feet, spinning them both around. She let out a startled yelp and he laughed, a relaxed sound that she’d never thought she’d hear from him. He pressed his forehead against hers.

  “Now what?” he asked.

  “Now,” she said, “we go back to your place and try to make it to the bed this time.”

  Chapter 12

  He undressed her slowly, letting his fingers caress over each centimeter of exposed skin. When there was nothing left to hide her from him, he removed his own clothes, letting them join hers on the floor. She watched in silence as he stripped, her enjoyment at seeing his body enhanced by the fact that she knew this wouldn’t be the last time. This was a start, not a finish.

  He stretched out next to her, leisurely running his hands over her body. He caressed her breasts where he’d marked her before, dancing his fingers up over her nipples and then down between her breasts and across her stomach. He teased his fingers along her hipbones and down to her inner thighs, all the while staying away from where she really wanted him. She made a frustrated sound that brought a smile to Anthony’s lips and then he lowered his mouth to her body. He planted soft kisses across her breasts and nipples, barely a hint of tongue between parted lips. Cecile watched, fascinated by each gentle touch of his mouth. His tongue dipped into her belly button and she shivered.

  “I want you in my mouth,” she said, running her fingers through his thick hair. “And I want your mouth on me.”

  “I think that can be arranged.” Anthony grinned down at her as he shifted. He put one knee on either side of her head and leaned forward.

  Cecile parted her legs eagerly and opened her mouth. She couldn’t get more than two inches between her lips without lifting her head at an impossible angle, but she lifted her hand to wrap around what her mouth couldn’t reach. She felt Anthony’s fingers parting her folds, granting access to his tongue, and moaned. It always felt different from this angle. His tongue circled her clit, each pass sending a wave of pleasure washing over her. She began to mimic the movements of his mouth with hers, teasing his slit when his tongue brushed the top of her clit, sucking on his cock when he took the swelling bundle of nerves between his lips.

  She could feel her orgasm approaching, different than before. This was a slow and steady burn rather than an explosion and it rolled over her skin like a wave of molten lava, coating her body with heat. Anthony rolled off of her even as she was still climaxing, turning so that he was between her legs, lapping up her juices as they flowed out of her. Each pass of his tongue triggered another wave and Cecile cried out, her back arching, hands fisting in the sheets.

  And then his mouth was gone and he was leaning over her, his eyes nearly black. He kept his body suspended above hers, but bent his head so that he could take her mouth with his. She thrust her tongue into his mouth, tasting herself in every corner of the wet cavern. She ran her hands up his arms, feeling the muscles ripple under tanned flesh. Their tongues twisted together, a dance, not a duel, advancing and retreating in kind.

  When he finally pushed himself back up, both were breathless. He started to stand and Cecile knew where he was going.

  “No,” she said.

  He paused, turning to look at her, one eyebrow raised in question.

  “I don’t want anything between us.” Cecile considered telling him that they hadn’t used anything last time, since she’d thought she could trust him, but she wasn’t in the mood to have a full conversation. She trusted him now and needed him inside her. It had been too long. “It’s okay.”

  Anthony nodded and moved back between her legs. He propped himself up on his elbows, keeping their bodies pressed together, but not resting his full weight on her. One hand moved between them to position himself at her entrance and he paused, his eyes locking with hers.

  “I have to say this,” his voice was rough with emotion. “I can’t explain how it happened so fast, but I need you to know that I’ve fallen in love with you, Cecile.”

  Tears burned as she fought them back. What was it about this man that could make tough cop exterior melt away? She lifted a hand and put it on his cheek. “I’ve fallen in love with you, too, Anthony.”

  He slid into her slowly, his eyes taking in every detail of her expression. Cecile’s lips parted, eyelashes fluttering, as he filled her, inch by delicious inch. Her body quivered as it stretched, accepting him inside her. When he came to rest, his cock fully sheathed in her pussy, she sighed. It was like a piece of her had been gone, something vital missing for too long. She’d always dismissed the clichés that her friends had used when talking about being in love, but now she understood what they meant. With their bodies joined, she felt as if everything made sense and nothing that didn’t could be important. It was just him and her, and nothing else mattered.

  He stayed there for a moment, his face tight with concentration and she knew he was fighting his body’s desire to cum. When he started to move, his thrusts were shallow, never leaving her empty. His stomach rested against hers, her breasts crushed against his chest. She wrapped her legs around his waist, raising her hips to meet his. He moved slowly, stoking the fires inside her from smoldering ember to the first flicker of flame. His lips never rested, starting on her mouth before trailing down her jawline and to whatever parts of the neck he could reach without parting their bodies. He took the skin beneath her ear into his mouth, gently sucking on it until she knew she was going to have a mark. She pressed an open-mouthed kiss against his shoulder, licking the salt from his skin. He groaned as she worried at the flesh with her teeth, drawing blood to the surface until she was satisfied.

  A shudder passed through him and she could feel the tension in his body. He was close. He rolled his hips, his pelvic bone rubbing against her clit, sending sparks flying. She raked her nails down his back, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to make him suck in a breath.

  “Cum for me,” she whispered against his ear. “Cum for me, Anthony. You’re mine and I’m yours. Cum for me.”

  He cried out her name as his hips jerked, and he thrust into once, twice and then stilled. She could feel him pulse inside her, filling her. She rotated her hips, flexing her muscles as she milked every last drop out of him, seeking that last little bit of fricti
on she needed. Just the slightest shift and everything was rubbed the right way. His name was a prayer on her lips as her body stiffened.

  This wasn’t an explosion of light and heat, something to make her see stars and send her spiraling into unconsciousness. This was the bliss of totality, every cell in her body drawn to every cell in his until she didn’t know where one began and one ended. She rode the wave, clinging to him as he murmured declarations of love into her ear.

  Her body was still trembling as he rolled them onto their sides, their legs still tangled together. He pulled the sheet over them just enough so they wouldn’t get chilled and then wrapped his arms around her. He brushed sweat-soaked hair back from her forehead and kissed the tip of her nose.

  “So,” he said, “tell me about Cleveland.”

  Cecile gave him a puzzled look. “Cleveland?”

  “If you’re going to Ohio, so am I. It’s not like I have a job here.”

  “But your family’s here.”

  “Yes,” he said. “But I’m going wherever you’re going.”

  Cecile stroked the back of her hand across his cheek. “I don’t know. New York’s kinda growing on me.”

  “Oh really?” Anthony raised an eyebrow.

  Cecile nodded. “But we can figure all of that out later. First, we have promises to keep.”

  “Promises?” It was his turn to look puzzled.

  “Sure,” Cecile said. “Trust me, you can’t get a balcony view like that in Cleveland.”

  Her laughter was cut off as Anthony’s mouth came down on hers once more. It was a slow, deep kiss, thorough and unhurried. There was no need to rush. The sun was rising and the day was theirs.