by Bethany-Kris
Yeah, candy mouth.
Because it was too sweet and far too addicting to stop at just one.
Lily’s dress had ridden up, exposing the shape of her hips and a flash of black lace at the junction of her thighs. Her chest expanded and dropped fast with the harshness of her breaths.
“I was not expecting that,” Lily said, a heat coloring her words.
Damian grinned. “The best moments come when you’re not looking for them, Lily.”
“I didn’t say it was bad.”
“I wasn’t going for bad, sweetheart.”
Lily’s legs tightened around his waist. “Are you going to do that again?”
“Maybe.”
Lily swallowed hard. “I don’t—”
“Hush,” Damian demanded.
“Damian—”
“Lily, be quiet.”
His tone offered no room for argument. Damian wanted to enjoy the few moments he had with this defiant, interesting girl while she was giving them. He didn’t want her worries or second thoughts running away with her.
“Hush,” he repeated.
She nodded slowly. “Okay.”
“Yes.”
“What?” she asked.
“I lied. Yes, I’m going to do that again. I’m going to kiss you again because I like the taste of your mouth and I always take what I want. And I’m really looking forward to finding out if you fuck like you kiss because if so, I can’t wait.”
Lily’s eyes blazed with lust. “What game are you playing, Damian Rossi?”
“No game.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, but if I was, you should know I play for keeps.”
“And you always take what you want,” Lily said, throwing his words back at him.
“I absolutely do.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Damian’s fingertips came in contact with Lily’s lips and she jumped the moment he touched her. The simple action sent a lightning bolt of want and heat coursing through her entire body. The ache between her thighs increased as the tingling in her lips spread to her tongue.
Without a word, Damian leaned down and pressed a feather light kiss to Lily’s mouth. He didn’t claim her mouth with the furious, demanding strikes of his tongue like the first time. His teeth didn’t tug and bite on her bottom lip like before, either.
No, he just … kissed her.
Soft and sweet.
Gentle and quick.
When he pulled away, Lily’s tongue darted out to draw the taste of him into her mouth again.
Damian’s eyes darkened. “Every time you do that, lick your fucking lips, it makes me want to give you something to taste, Lily.”
She knew better than to poke at a monster when he was showing himself, but Lily couldn’t help it. “Does it?”
“Mmm, and I bet you would like that, too.”
Lily shuddered. From the tips of her toes in her pumps all the way up to her goddamn shoulders, she felt the promise lacing his words crawl over her skin and body with damning intent.
Damian stepped back from Lily and offered her his hand. “Get down from there and I will get you home so you can change out of that dress. You’ve probably got wine stains all over your skin, now.”
Her mind went to the dirtiest place possible. A place where his tongue, mouth, and lips cleaned all those wine stains off. Damian wasn’t even trying and already Lily was second-guessing what she thought she wanted.
Would a marriage with this sexy, dangerous man be such a bad thing? If he wanted her and would treat her like she mattered to him, what more could she want? Lily hadn’t been given much of a choice regarding who Dino picked for her to marry, but she was starting to think if he had, Damian might have made the top of her list.
Lily slid off the counter and fixed her dress just in time. The bathroom door swung open to expose a frowning Evelina.
“There you are,” her friend said.
Evelina didn’t act like the close proximity between Lily and Damian was anything unusual. She barely gave Lily’s obviously mussed hair, wrinkled dress, and smeared lipstick a once-over as she stepped inside the bathroom and let the door close.
“I wanted to see if you would like some company tonight,” Evelina said to Lily. “You know, bitch about your in-laws with someone or whatever.”
Damian snorted. “Careful, Serena’s ears burn when you talk about her.”
Evelina shrugged. “I hope they fucking fall off. She was awful today.”
“I don’t care about that woman,” Lily said.
She meant it, too.
“She was awful,” Damian agreed. “I’m sure if Laurent doesn’t put her in line, Terrance will. Serena knows her place, even if she didn’t act like it today.”
“Someone ought to take her damn wine away,” Evelina muttered, shooting Lily an apologetic look.
“Hard to believe you’re related to her,” Lily said to her friend.
“Damian is, too.”
“Imagine, Tommas, Lea, and Cara came from her,” Damian added.
That had to be fucking impossible. Those three were nothing like their mother. Actually, they were nothing like their father, either. Well, what Lily knew of the Rossi twins. It wasn’t a lot, but she doubted they were as awful as their mother. Especially if Damian talked about them with fondness.
“Anyway, when I noticed Damian’s car was still in the parking lot, I came looking for you.” Evelina smiled brightly. “I couldn’t help but follow the blood drops this way. Found you in here … together.”
Yeah, there it was.
Lily had the distinct feeling her friend wouldn’t leave her alone if she didn’t invite Evelina over for the night.
“I cleaned his cut.”
Evelina winked. “Sure. So, tonight?”
“Yeah, all right,” Lily said. “Damian’s going to take me home and then we can do whatever.”
“Sounds like a pl—”
Evelina’s words cut off as echoing pops followed the sound of shattering glass and screams. So many screams. Ice slipped through Lily’s veins, freezing her on the spot. Suddenly, her heart felt like it was hammering out of her chest and her lungs wouldn’t expand to bring in the air she needed to breathe.
Something was so wrong.
Lily’s mind screamed it.
She knew that sound. That pop, pop, pop.
Gunshots. Repeated and fast.
More screams followed.
Evelina reached for the bathroom door to open it and the moment she did, the sound of squealing tires screeched in the background of volcanic noise and panic out on the restaurant floor. Lily tried to step forward but Damian’s hand fisting into the back of her dress rooted her in place. Fear saturated her from the inside out.
“Don’t move,” she heard Damian order.
But …
Lily wanted to argue. Her friend was already running out of the bathroom back in the direction of her family and friends. Lily understood why Damian wouldn’t release his hold. Inside the bathroom, they were safe for now.
“Eve!” Lily yelled.
She finally snapped out of her shocked reverie. Jerking hard enough for Damian’s grip on her dress to slip, Lily fled the bathroom on Evelina’s heels. Damian’s shout behind her was a distant warning she barely heard.
“Lily!”
People moved in all directions outside of the bathroom. Patrons, in their panicked state, rushed for the exits of the restaurant as fast as they could move. Servers shouted for calm while others demanded someone get on the phone for emergency services. A distinct Chicago breeze, one that was felt even in the summer throughout the city, blew through the building. It was too much for it to be coming from the doors opening for the fleeing patrons.
So wrong.
She could feel it in her heart.
Lily moved as if she’d been placed in a bubble—a daze. Evelina was maybe a few steps ahead of her, but she could practically feel the fear radiating off her friend in thick waves.
“Lily, wait,” Damian said from somewhere behind her.
She didn’t stop.
Lily rounded the partition that separated the main floor from the private one where they had dined earlier. The breeze from the outside was stronger the closer she came. Lily’s gaze swept the carnage and confusion. People moved, people she recognized and knew, but she couldn’t discern what was truly happening in front of her. The large wall-to-wall windows were broken, the shards of glass scattered all over the floor and long table. Gaudy, terrible, morbid red stained the white table cloths and splattered up the wall.
Someone was screaming again.
Someone else was gasping a gurgling, terrible sound. Like they couldn’t breathe or speak. Like they were choking on something as words fought their way out.
Evelina was so close Lily could reach out and touch her.
“Jesus,” Lily whispered.
“Call nine-one-one!” Tommas shouted.
“Who the fuck was it?”
“White car, I think.”
“You fucking think?”
“Definitely white!”
“Dark windows. Too dark,” Tommas spat. “Shit, it’s not stopping. I can’t get it to stop.”
“Mia? Mia … baby …”
The gurgling continued, but it was becoming faint.
“No, breathe!”
Where was Tommas? He was talking but she couldn’t see him. Lily tried to discern the voices and the people, but the haze just wouldn’t clear no matter how many times she tried to blink it away.
“Lily …”
She felt the arms of Damian wrap around her waist and pull her back. She fought against his hold, seeing Evelina crumple into a heap of limbs and tears on the floor. Lily needed to help her friend—she had to.
“Let me go!” Lily cried. “Let me go, please!”
Damian kept pulling her backward. Lily fought harder.
“Move, move, move!” Ben DeLuca shouted. “Out, Boss. Now.”
Lily watched as her uncle pushed a stunned looking Terrance from the space. They brushed past Lily and Damian without so much as a single glance backwards at the devastation and pain they were leaving behind.
Protect the boss.
Always.
Lily felt sick.
She wasn’t the only one, apparently. Serena Rossi vomited in a corner while her husband backed against a wall, pawing at a bleeding wound on his shoulder.
“Through and through,” she watched him mutter to himself.
Joel Trentini was the second to leave the space, following behind his grandfather and Ben quickly.
Shock was a terrible place to be.
It ate away at everything. It debilitated worse than even fear did. At least with fear a person had a chance to fight or flee. With shock, there was nothing … just stillness, slowed reaction, and total uncertainty.
“We have to go,” Damian said in Lily’s ear.
She couldn’t let him drag her out of there, no matter how much her instincts screamed for her to leave. Her friends were inside that restaurant. Evelina was still a crying mess on the floor begging through sobs that Lily couldn’t understand.
“Please,” Lily begged, jerking against Damian’s hold. He was relentless in his intent to get her away. No matter how hard she struggled, he didn’t let go. “Damian, please!”
Lily blinked again and the haze began to clear. Under the table on the other side, where one of the table cloths had been ripped down, lay a body prone and bleeding. The one side of the person’s face was unrecognizable. Blood pooled in a dark puddle of red around the person’s head, staining the beige carpeting.
Tommas palmed the person’s face, tilting their head back as he shouted again for them to breathe. Riley Conti sat on the floor, his face in his hands and his shoulders shaking. Lily started to glance around at the faces, taking inventory, realizing who was still there, talking, crying … breathing and alive.
“Mia …”
“Mom,” Adriano said hoarsely.
Adriano’s voice came out croaking and aching. The young man’s body shook as tears spilled. He fell alongside his mother’s body, pushing Tommas aside and took over chest compressions.
“Lily, we have to go,” Damian said.
Her throat was tight, choking her silent. At her sides, Lily’s hands balled into fists until her fingernails cut into the palms of her hands and pain bit through her skin. She stopped fighting. Damian was warm, strong, and comforting. His arms felt safer and the further he took her from the screams and the blood, the better her chest felt. She let him drag her out and away from … that.
She didn’t want this.
Lily had never wanted this.
No matter how hard she tried, Lily couldn’t stop the shakes rocking her hands in her lap. Damian cut the engine on the car, blanketing the driveway to her brother’s home in darkness again. He watched her warily from the driver’s seat as she shook her hands and tried to get the dirty feeling off her skin.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Damian asked.
“No.”
That, she was most sure of.
“You were a guest at the restaurant, specifically of Terrance’s, so you should be aware—”
“I might be questioned,” Lily interrupted.
“Yes.”
She shrugged. What fucking difference did it make?
“I don’t know anything.”
“Stick to that,” Damian said quietly.
“Eve …” Lily wet her lips, feeling the dryness in her mouth. “What about Eve?”
Damian sighed. “Let’s go inside. You should lay down or something. It’ll give you time to think.”
Lily didn’t have the strength or desire to argue. A part of her wanted to demand he take her to Evelina so her friend had some form of comfort. Another part of her screamed to find her bed, hide in the blankets, and sleep the rest of this horrible, unbelievable day away.
“Okay,” Lily agreed quietly.
Damian got out of the car, walked around the front, and then helped Lily out like the gentleman he was. The man didn’t act like anything had happened just less than an hour before. He didn’t act like a woman was gunned down and had they stayed in that dining room, they might have been dead, too.
The front door was locked. Lily’s hands trembled too much for her to unlock it. Damian took the keys and opened the door, exposing the silent home within. Not a light was turned on. Lily thought that was odd considering Dino’s car was outside.
Hadn’t Damian said Dino was working somewhere?
And …
“Hey, look at me,” Damian said, his tone firm but gentle.
Lily glanced up at him cautiously, feeling unsettled and sick in her heart. “Yeah?”
“Do you want me to stay for a little while until you’re settled?”
Did she?
Lily didn’t know what she wanted except for this day to be over. “Who did it?”
Damian’s expression didn’t change as he said, “Someone with a goal, I guess.”
“But Mia isn’t … someone important, right?”
“Maybe they weren’t aiming for Mia, Lily. Besides, killing anyone at that dinner would have caused a stir given who they were married to or children of.”
“Oh,” she mouthed silently.
Damian’s hand found her wrist, his fingers locking around her hand tight before he squeezed just enough to make Lily feel like she had some form of solid ground to steady her.
“Stay,” she said.
“Sure, sweetheart.”
Lily walked through the quiet, dark foyer. She kicked off her heels, barely registering the ache in the soles of her feet as the coolness of the floor met her toes. The lingering daze still edging around her senses was a bitch to kill. It just wouldn’t go away. Damian followed behind in his usual quiet state, but she didn’t mind.
As she rounded the bottom of the stairs, Lily’s walk came to an abrupt stop. A light flicked off to the ri
ght, drawing in her gaze. The downstairs bathroom door opened and Dino walked out with a towel wrapped around his waist and another in his hands. He didn’t seem to notice his sister and Damian standing there as he ran the towel through his short hair with one hand while looking at the screen of his cell phone in his other. Then he hung the towel around his neck, padded further out of the bathroom, and kept looking at his phone.
“Dino,” Lily said, still confused about the darkness of the house and her brother’s presence.
Christ.
She wasn’t sure about anything.
Dino should know, though.
“Dino,” Lily said again, louder the second time.
Her brother finally looked up from his phone. “You’re back early.”
“Someone said you were working,” Lily said.
“Got the job done early.” Dino gave Damian a nod. “Thanks for the message.”
Damian didn’t say a thing.
Lily was confused. “What message?”
“I let him know I was bringing you home,” Damian explained.
Oh.
“Something happened,” Dino said, gracing his phone with all of his attention again. He didn’t seemed surprised or bothered at all. Why wasn’t he panicked? Why wasn’t he demanding answers and wondering what happened? “My messages are going crazy, nothing makes a lot of sense.”
“Mia was shot,” Lily said, feeling distant all over again.
“Killed,” Damian added lower.
Dino’s left brow arched high as he regarded his sister again. “When did you get the call?”
Damian shook his head. “We didn’t.”
“Didn’t?”
“We were there,” Lily whispered.
A brief flicker of concern crossed Dino’s features before it disappeared and the blankness returned. “Damian?”
The one word was laced with something Lily couldn’t decipher. It sounded a hell of a lot like a threat tangled in with a million and one warnings. Why would Dino look to Damian for an answer on that? Her brother damn well knew they had been at the dinner.
“Serena had a spell,” Damian said drily.
Dino still didn’t look all too pleased. “Oh?”
