I realized then that I wasn’t ready for this, that I’d never be ready for this. If only I could have spoken to Gabriel first and reaffirmed my lack of options.
I almost jumped when the jarring sound of a handle turning came from the doors to the left. I wanted to run, but the sight that greeted me stalled my steps.
“Jameson,” I said as his intense gaze bored into me. “What are you doing here?”
“Family business,” he answered.
“H-how...?”
“I chartered a flight and arrived a few hours ago.” Without saying another word, he lifted his T-shirt over his head and threw it on the floor. I itched to reach out and touch his sculpted flesh but instead averted my eyes.
“I thought you were sick of games,” I said, unable to keep the note of desire from my voice.
“I’m going to undress you,” he said, ignoring my remarks.
My feet remained rooted to the spot. He moved towards me slowly, his eyes never leaving my face. When he reached me and slid my jacket off, his eyes dragged down my body and rested on my chest. I shivered and told myself to push him away, but the needy part of my mind told me that I wasn’t married to Xander yet and if I could have one more time with Jameson then I should.
He flicked at my buttons with practiced ease, undoing each and every one at a slow and steady pace. His fingers traced over my shoulders and down my arms as he slid me free of my shirt. My shoes, jeans, and underwear followed suit.
Goosebumps stood out on my flesh as, once again, I stood before him completely naked.
He brushed the hair from my shoulder. My breath seized in my lungs and need pulsed straight to my core. My fingers itched to reach out and touch him, but I kept them firmly by my side.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“I was about to ask you the same thing?” He reached to the top of his jeans and unbuttoned them, setting free his thick, rigid cock. I imagined it pounding into me, filling me completely. Just the thought of what he could do to me had me gasping as my core clenched against nothing. Willing him inside, I licked my lips and instantly berated myself.
What the hell was I doing? No man had ever made me feel the way Jameson did, but strangely no man had ever hurt me the way he did either. I didn’t want to process what that meant about my growing feelings towards him. Not when this was all there could ever be.
He reached to the waist of his jeans and unthreaded his belt. I took a shuddering breath and relished knowing just how wet he was making me. The pulsing need between my legs intensified and Jameson gripped my hand and brushed his thumb over the pulse point on my wrist. A small smile played at the edge of his lips as though he was pleased to find my heart racing for him. Without a word, he pulled me into his body with my arms pressed behind me.
I felt small encompassed in the warmth of his arms, but also safe. My whole body felt alive. I lifted my head to look into his eyes. He stared back and his lips lowered to mine. Capturing me, he thrust his tongue inside. My legs threatened to buckle, but he held me tight. There was nothing soft or gentle in his actions. Only possessive. His kiss claimed me as his hands worked to fasten my arms behind my back.
“Do you want me?” he asked, his breath like fire against my ear.
“Yes,” I almost gasped. The memory of how good it felt for him to claim every part of me circled forefront in my mind. I wanted that again. Needed it.
He lightly brushed his hands down my chest and stomach, creating a trail of goosebumps wherever they touched. Heat soared through my body. I could barely breathe when they trailed over my mound. I shuddered in anticipation.
He flipped me around, guided me to the couch, and pushed me bent over the arm. My face pressed into the coarse material of the cushions. I wanted to use my hands to push me up, but they were wrapped tight in the belt behind my back with Jameson holding onto them with one hand. The other ran a trail over my folds.
Chapter Twelve
Jameson
Ever since speaking to Carina in the garden, I’d planned exactly what I wanted to do, and had set things in motion to ensure they were done. And right now, that plan involved stripping Carina naked... again.
She’d stood, strong and determined in the hotel suite and my cock had responded by becoming hard in an instant. I’d have fun reassuring myself that she was worth the sacrifices I’d decided to make. As if there could be any doubt.
Her bottom pointed in the air over the arm of the couch, giving me a perfect view of everything she had. She was so incredibly wet and begging for me to touch her. I obliged.
“How many men have you been in this position with?” I asked.
“Only you.”
She gasped and bit her bottom lip as I ran ruthless circles around her clit, pinching and teasing without mercy. She liked it rough and I liked giving her what she wanted. But on my terms. I softened my touch, knowing it would make her beg for more. With the gentlest of movement, I stroked her clit and teased her entrance with my fingers.
Carina squirmed and tried to push back onto them, but I lifted her bound arms and forced her deep into the couch, forbidding her to move.
“Please,” she said after a moment.
Before she could utter another word, I delivered a sharp slap to her pussy. She cried out and I delved my fingers inside, plunging them in and out and working her wetness around her throbbing clit.
“What did you know about me before you met me at the airport?” I asked and delivered another slap.
She screamed. This time I licked up and down her folds and sucked her clit roughly into my mouth. She tried to squirm, but I wouldn’t release the pressure on her arms.
“Answer the question,” I said and teased her swollen bud before pushing inside with my tongue. Fuck! She tasted so sweet like Halloween candy. Dangerous and delicious.
“N-nothing. I didn’t... I didn’t know who was coming?”
I heard the truth in her words. They made my heart sing. She hadn’t been sent to trap me, to drag me back to the life I’d left. And because of that, I’d return to it. For her.
Without another word, I released her arm and grabbed onto her hair, pulling her head back to make her look at me.
“You’re mine.” I claimed her lips with a brutal kiss and speared her with my cock. Pushing my way fully inside without waiting to see if she could take me. I already knew she could.
Chapter Thirteen
Carina
Fuck! I couldn’t hold back the scream that ripped from my throat. Jameson plunged into me again and again, fucking me hard. Each thrust went deeper and deeper, making me undone.
“Oh, fuck,” I screamed, as I exploded with pleasure, almost blacking out. My core clenching around him. He pulled out and pinched my clit, delving inside with his fingers, while his other hand worked to untie my arms. Another orgasm rocked me.
“You’re incredible,” he said and slapped my ass cheek, hard. “Your ass is made for fucking.” He ran his hand over the curve of my bottom and pumped his finger in and out of my pussy. “Has anyone ever fucked your ass?” he asked.
I closed my eyes and willed him to do it, even though I was afraid. “Never,” I answered.
“I’ll stop if you want me to.” His hands spread my cheeks, and he twirled my wetness around the entrance.
I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sensations.
I gasped as a cold sensation hit me and I realized it must be lube. Slowly, he pushed his finger inside. With my hands free, I dug them into the cushion on either side of my head.
“Relax,” he said. “Remember, I’ll stop if you want me to.”
I calm my breathing and try to relax. “Fuck!” I scream as his finger pushed all the way inside me while his thumb circled my clit.
He hooked his finger slowly and worked it in and out. “Touch yourself,” he said and grabbed my hand, pushing it beneath me and between my legs. I circled my sensitive nub and probed between my folds, all while Jameson worked his finger inside my ass.
> My eyes rolled in my head and my breaths came in desperate pants. Still, I worked my pussy while Jameson finger fucked my ass, soon we were working in unison, pumping inside me in time with each other.
“I-I can’t,” I said. “D-don’t stop. I’m going to come.” Just as I said the words, Jameson pushed in a second finger. My senses flipped into overdrive, and my whole body flared and pulsed with delight. I screamed as my orgasm struck, sending me over a chasm as shudders racked my whole body.
Jameson withdrew and grabbed onto my hips. He let out a deep groan and pushed his cock inside my pussy, pounding me through my release. “Do you think you can take more?” he asked and my fingers dug deep into the couch.
A strangled noise escaped my lips. I didn’t know if I could, but I did know, I never wanted him to stop.
He slowed but continued moving inside me as his hands worked a trail up my back. He rubbed the back of my neck before working them back down. I moaned as he moved his finger over my back entrance. He pushed his finger inside again while his cock filled my pussy. A second finger joined the first, but this time his movements were different. I felt like a powder keg set to explode, but sensed that Jameson was keeping me on the cusp of pleasure and making sure I was relaxed and loose enough to take what he wanted to give me.
My thoughts and emotions were all a muddle. Everything inside me wanted to stay here forever, but knowing that couldn’t happen, I wanted... no, needed to have Jameson claim every part of me. I focused on every sensation I felt, etched them into my memory.
After a moment, Jameson removed himself from me completely. I felt the tip of his cock touch my ass. He spread my cheeks wider and pushed inside. The pressure was blinding.
I jerked away but he clasped onto my hips and drew me closer to him. “Don’t stop. Please,” I screamed though I felt fit to burst. “Don’t stop.”
Jameson pulled me up, so my body was flush against him, and pressed all the way inside me. He moved in and out slowly at first, but faster as my body became accustomed to this delightful yet strange intrusion. He kissed and nipped at my neck. His one hand reached around and pinched my nipples, driving me delirious with pleasurable pain. The other pinched at my swollen clit. His fingers pressed inside my pussy and circled my bud.
“I’m gonna fucking come inside your ass,” he said as he pushed me closer and closer towards oblivion.
Lost in sensation, my head dropped back to rest on his shoulder. My eyes closed tight.
The orgasm that struck was unlike any other I’d ever experienced. Like a raging storm, it ripped through my being, unstoppable and relentless. Wave after wave crashed through me and a scream ripped from my throat. Every nerve ending in my body burned. I needed Jameson to stop, to set me free, but I couldn’t stand the idea of him leaving me. I was paralyzed as pleasure tore through my body with Jameson’s relentless actions.
He kissed me madly and muttered my name as he jerked, and his hot seed filled me.
Chapter Fourteen
Jameson
A call from Jordan pulled me from the bed the next morning. Carina lay sound asleep, so I quickly answered and left the room to stop her being disturbed. A smile edged onto my mouth at the thought of all we’d done. She’d earned her rest. For now. And I’d claimed every last inch of her, leaving no doubt that she was now mine.
“It’s time,” Jordan said.
“I’ll be out in five,” I answered, knowing it was time to claim something else.
I showered and pulled an Armani suit from the closet. I finished by straightening a tie for the first time in more than seven years, gave a quick look in on Carina, who was still sleeping, and stepped out into the hallway where Jordan was waiting.
“You sure about this?” he asked.
“Are you?” I answered.
He laughed and shook his head. We both knew there was a chance neither one of us would come out of this alive. Despite the situation. I couldn’t help but smile in response. We’d been close, once upon a time, maybe we could be again. If we lived.
A limo took us to a nondescript office on the lower east side. Jordan left me in a side office to wait until it was time for him to collect me. I spent the time wondering if Carina was awake and hoping I’d get the chance to see her again.
Voices sounded on the other side of the door. Dom Bianchi’s louder than all, even though I knew he wasn’t in the room, but rather displayed on a monitor on the wall via an online chat. I could tell when he’d made his announcement as the room erupted in a cacophony of voices. My cue to enter.
All heads turned to me as I stepped through the door. Xander Caruso stood from his chair and glared.
“Sit down,” Bianchi told him, his face larger than life on the screen. Small squares depicting the caporegimes who couldn’t be in New York in person lined the screen beneath him. Everyone present for the vote. Everyone, the head of their respective families.
It was plain Xander wanted to object, but nobody disobeyed the dom, and he wasn’t someone who liked to repeat himself. Xander sat, but the glare he shot my way couldn’t be clearer. It matched the glare that some of the other family heads shot me. Half of them had assumed me dead, the other half wished it was so. That was their way. Always wrangling for power and position.
“Jameson,” Bianchi said. “Sit.” I nodded to the dom and did as instructed. “Now,” he continued. “We are all here to vote on a replacement for the dearly departed, Manuel Caruso. My trusted friend for many years. May he rest in peace.”
“May he rest in peace,” everyone echoed.
“Two families have a valid claim, Caruso,” Bianchi said, “and Swash.”
Xander stood again, but Bianchi made him sit with a glance. “Forgive me, Dom Bianchi. Jameson Swash surrendered any claim he had to the position of underboss more than seven years ago. He has no claim.”
Bianchi’s eyes flashed to me through the screen. He sat back in his chair and opened the large wooden box on his desk, pulled a cigar from it, and chewed on the end. Xander gulped. That was never a good sign.
To save the dom repeating himself Espsotio, the man to Xander’s right growled. “If Dom Bianchi states that both Swash and Caruso have a claim to the position of underboss then Swash and Caruso have a mother-fucking claim to the position of underboss. You understand? Now shut the fuck up.”
Xander eyeballed him but wasn’t capable of keeping quiet. “I understand. My apologies again, Dom Bianchi. I spoke out of turn.” His gaze flashed to both me and Jordan sat beside me and a triumphant glint appeared in his eyes. “As only the caporegime of a family can be present under such circumstances as these, I had been momentarily confused. As you have stated, Jameson Swash has every right to stake a claim to the position of underboss. His brother, Jordan, however, is unwelcome at these proceedings and as such is in forfeit of his life.”
Murmurs of agreement echoed around the table and through the chat link, but the dom only continued to chew on the end of his cigar.
I kept my face straight, but inside, I smiled. I’d spoken to Dom Bianchi at length regarding Xander’s suitability for the role. He was far too full of his own self-importance to stay within the bounds of his role, and I had no doubt he would eventually try to usurp the dom’s power. With my presence in the vote and Xander’s overriding need to have his own way, he had already shown a lack of respect.
“If I may, Dom Bianchi,” I said and continued when he nodded. “You are correct Xander, I do have every right to claim my father’s position as underboss. A claim which supersedes your own.” When he opened his mouth to object, I raised my hand to silence him. “However, you are also correct in stating I surrendered that claim more than seven years ago when I handed my family over to my brother.”
“Then the matter is fucking settled,” Xander said.
“It is not,” Bianchi said, and all eyes returned to the screen. “I have spoken to Jameson at length and the time he has spent away affords him a unique perspective. I have therefore decided his t
alents are best suited in the role of consigliere. From now on, he will be my most trusted adviser, and any disputes you have will be mediated through Jameson.”
A few shocked gasps and curses sounded around the room. Manuel had ended the position when he became underboss and undertook the role as a second duty for himself. No doubt, Xander had thought to do the same. Underboss may be second in command and consigliere third, but the consigliere’s loyalty was only to the dom and had his ear in all matters. From the way he stared at the desk, Xander was running through the implications of this in his mind.
“Enough,” Xander said after a moment, slamming his hand down on the desk. “Fine, Jameson is fucking consigliere. We are here to vote on the position of underboss.”
The dom told us when to speak, when not to speak, and who to fucking kill. We certainly spoke to him the way Xander just had. Everyone listening knew his days were numbered. They were just waiting for Xander to realize it himself. Manuel was no saint, but he knew his place. It was clear for all to see, he hadn’t passed that knowledge onto his son.
Dom Bianchi spat the end of his cigar out and waved the remains at Xander. “For someone who likes to tell others about procedure, you are forgetting one very important one yourself.” The dom motioned for me to continue.
“Thank you, Dom Bianchi,” I said. “As is custom, to ensure a fair process, any disputes against the Caruso family must be ruled on before the vote. Does anyone have an issue with Xander Caruso they would like to raise?”
On cue, Gabriel smiled, thanked the dom for his wisdom in appointing me, and gave Xander a pointed look. “Xander Caruso has demanded the hand of my sister in marriage. Given our family’s history, I feel the demand is outrageous.”
“How does your sister feel?” I asked, knowing the answer.
“She is very much against the union.”
“Then much as your mother was free to make her own decision in this matter, so too is your sister.”
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