Even in the restrictive control of his pants, he was too big for her to get her mouth around, his wide girth tantalizing. She wanted to taste him, to see how much of him she could swallow before she had to give up. Impatient and needy, she ripped at his slacks, yanking them down his legs when she got them open. She didn’t even wait for him to get them off when his cock fell heavily against her cheek.
She licked her way to the head, taking in his musky scent, his power, and sucked the head into her mouth. He groaned above her, but she didn’t stop there. She wasn’t going to stop until she was good and ready. And as far as she was concerned, it had been too long since someone had shown him just how amazing he was.
Silken flesh, heavy weight, a definitive scent. Everything about Romano sent Kalinda’s need higher. She wrapped her lips around his cock, sucking and hallowing out her cheeks, and slid as far down his shaft as she could.
It was hard going, even using her saliva to ease the way. He was so thick and long, nearly too much after just a few sucks. But Kalinda was nothing if not determined.
“It’s okay, baby.” He placed a soft hand on her head.
Oh, not even a little bit.
She was not going to let him do this. She wouldn’t let him put someone else above him. Not tonight. She gripped his balls tightly, a warning, and he let her go.
“Okay, I got it.”
Good.
Satisfied, Kalinda switched to a soft juggle of his balls, rolling them with her fingers as she worked him. After a few minutes, her jaw was warmed up, able to open up more, and she slid down another inch. Saliva dripped from her mouth, and she used her free hand to spread it over his shaft. Working with a twisting hand motion up and down where she couldn’t reach with her mouth, she stimulated his cock, pushing her way lower on him with each pass.
Her throat rebelled, tightening and making her eyes water, but she didn’t pull back. She let the him sit there, breathing slowly through her nose until the sensation settled. She had nearly three-quarters of him in. She could get the rest.
Bobbing faster, she worked him, her tongue dancing over his flesh and opening her throat wider. Slurping to suck in air, she pushed for the big one. Resistance met the head of his cock and then gave way, and she pressed her face to his groin.
“Holy. Fuck.”
That’s what I thought. Hmph.
Still playing with his sac, Kalinda swallowed around his cock, gargling for a moment to send sensations dancing over his flesh before pulling back. Taking another breath, she slid back down. It was a rhythm—down, gargle, slide back, breathe—but she found it, the swallowing of him over and over. He buried his hands in her hair, gripping the strands until they pulled over her scalp—hard pinpricks of pain and tightness—and he used his hands to guide her motions.
She allowed him, loving his pressure, the way he pumped his hips and made love to her mouth even as she pleasured him. She looked up his body as she sucked, watching as he tossed back his head and his muscles tensed.
Romano was beautiful. So beautiful.
Finally, she shook her head. He released her immediately, letting her take in her first full breath of air.
“Did I hurt you?”
She smiled. “I want you inside me when you finish. As much as I’d like to taste it, I need you.”
His nostrils flared, and he went still.
When he reached for her, she shook her head and fingered her silver bullet. “My show, buddy. Take a seat.”
His smile was wolfish, and she was sure she had one of her own to match.
Chapter Sixteen
Kalinda took the time to let him sit down, but that was all the time she let him have to breathe before she climbed onto his lap. His hands framed the globes of her ass, spreading the cheeks and squeezing them.
Man, was she happy for having way extra in that department.
She hovered over his cock, her arms wrapped around his neck, waiting to slide down.
Romano looked up at her. “You’re killing me.”
“Smalls.”
“What?”
“You forgot ‘Smalls.’”
“Who’s Smalls?”
She laughed and shook her head. His sex brain was cute. She palmed his cheek. “My mate.”
When he opened his mouth to respond, she slid down on his cock and kissed him instead of letting him answer. They groaned together as Romano stretched and filled her. Much like when she’d taken him in her mouth, she had to work her body down his turgid length. The man was big and, as cliché as it sounded, nearly too much for her to take.
But she worked her hips, rolling to take him easier. His hot mouth on hers helped, his tongue dueling with hers. With each pump of her hips, Romano pulled her down. By the time she was seated fully on him, his arms were around her back, clenching her against him. They moved as one, push and pull, up and down, wave after wave.
Kalinda’s core clenched, pleasure spiraling deep inside her, ratcheting higher and higher. She cried out, losing her motion, but he took over. He jerked his hips up toward her, fast and hard. Each pound slapped loudly. Every glide deep inside her was hot and poignant. Deep and profound. She held on to him because she couldn’t do anything else.
She ripped her mouth from his, trying to take back some control, to be able to move him where she wanted. It was supposed to be about him, and he’d taken over.
“Romano,” she moaned, “let me.”
“Love you.”
“What?”
“You forgot ‘love you’ at the end of that.”
“But—”
“It’s okay. I’ll love enough for both of us.”
Shocked silent, Kalinda let Romano take over. Romano lifted them from the bed and rolled them over until she was under him. His strokes were sure and hard, fast and furious, sending too much pleasure streaming over her to even think of the revelations of the evening. She let him send them both over the edge, over and over, through the night.
The bastard was playing with her. He had to be.
For three days since the “he may have said he loved me, but maybe not” incident, Romano stayed busy. Oh, not so busy he didn’t share breakfast, lunch, and dinner with Kalinda when he wasn’t on patrol or on a job for Dominic. Silva stayed with them in the guestroom so she could be there to continue to train Kalinda while they waited to hear back from the National Council.
The days were busy, and the nights were hard and hot, but Romano never broached the subject of love again. Instead, he acted like he’d never said it. Of course, that only made her wonder more about it.
Not that she was in love. They hadn’t been around each other long enough to feel that way—seriously!—but she still wanted to know if he’d said it. That was important, right? At least she’d thought it would be. But things were normal, oddly anticlimactic in the way things went. Zoey was flittering around being waited on by hand and foot. Giuliana was coming and going with her store and running it when she wasn’t on site.
Kalinda’s Katering, well, Silva seemed to have that running pretty well. What orders Kalinda had to fill, she cooked in Romano’s kitchen and had full range of some of his soldiers to ship them for her.
Okay, so she could get totally used to having men running around with her precious baked goods, trying to be so careful it was nearly comical. And she wasn’t sure if her threats or Romano’s death glare made them do it. Whichever, it worked, and she was still happy to be doing something.
Still … had Romano said he loved her?
Ugh! This was starting to get ridiculous. Entirely ridiculous. Kalinda shook her head, hands deep in dough. All he had to do was freaking say it again if that’s what he felt. How hard was that? Kalinda had opened the door for things to be different between them that night that started in the bathroom. They talked more, shared time just talking for hours, played and laughed. Hell, he even had her making jokes out loud.
He was not going to turn her whole damn life around and act like he hadn’t.
She couldn’t be. Okay, maybe a little. No, not even a bit. And that wasn’t the point. He’d said something pretty damn important and then hadn’t said it since.
Ugh. She couldn’t really understand herself right now, and that pissed her off some more. It shouldn’t be that hard to say what he felt and stand by it. He did it with everything else. Maybe he was waiting on her. Well, he could wait for a cold day in … Sigh. She was just talking herself into circles, and nothing was helping. He just needed to come out and freaking say it so she could go about her day.
“Uh, Kalinda? If you knead that dough any longer, it’s going to pulverize. In fact, you’re more beating it by now.”
Kalinda stopped and looked down at the mess of dough she’d ruined. It would most definitely be fluffy bread now. She’d have to toss it out and start all over again.
“I’m fine, Silva,” Kalinda retorted.
“I didn’t ask.”
“Have you gotten snarky after remembering you were royal?”
“Who, me? Of course not. I just say the stuff you wish you could. You’re just jealous.”
“I’m not jealous. I’m a princess, remember?”
“Yeah, but I’m a queen. I win. Boom!” Silva threw her hands in the air and cackled at her own joke.
Kalinda was tempted to throw the dough at her, and then decided being tempted was not enough. She picked up the dough, ready to belt Silva with it.
“If you throw that, I’ll tell Romano you’ve been in here moping all day.”
“I have not!”
“How many Raspberry Passions does The Daily Grind need?”
“They need Raspberry Passions?”
Silva rolled her eyes. “My point. That dough? It was supposed to be the Passions, but then you argued with me that they were bread treats and not pastries, so I left you alone.”
“They’re not even in the same class.”
“I know. As I said, moping. So what’s your deal?”
Kalinda sighed loudly. “I think Romano told me he loved me.”
All laughter stopped and Silva’s eyes grew wide. “You think?”
“I don’t know. We had this weird moment, you know. Like … I said, ‘Let me’ and then he’s like, ‘love you.’ And I’m like, ‘what?’ That’s when he told me I forgot to say, ‘love you,’ but it was okay he was going to ‘love enough for both of us.’”
Silva’s face twisted with confusion. “What the hell does any of that mean?”
“Exactly!”
“No, I mean, you really are confused about that?”
“Huh?”
“Jesus, Kalinda. You run a business, have been moving to grow it globally, and can keep orders in your mind like a steel trap. And you are confused about this? Of course, he said he loved you, in the way you’d be able to take it.”
“If you’re so smart, why hasn’t he said it again?”
“That’s what your problem is.” Silva gasped. “Oh my stars, you want him to say it again.”
Did she? She didn’t know. “It’s not like I love him or anything. I just want to know if that’s what he’s trying to say.”
“Okay, if you say so.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re scared. The mighty Kalinda, the Ice Princess, is scared shitless her man loves her and she just might love him too.”
“That doesn’t make sense. I don’t fear anything.”
“I think you’ve had a lot to fear these last few weeks, a lot you can’t control when you’ve been trying to.”
“Are you calling me a control freak?”
“If the shoe fits …”
“You’re just as bad as Zoey.”
“Good. You need friends who aren’t intimidated to tell you what’s on their mind.”
Kalinda shrugged. “Maybe you’re right. Doesn’t clarify this situation at all right now.”
“Why don’t you ask him?”
“Why would I?”
“Um, because you want to know. Look, men are stupid. He may not know you want him to say it. Or maybe he thinks he made you uncomfortable by saying in the first place and he’s not saying it right now so he doesn’t put pressure on you.”
Silva had a point, and Kalinda could even see that knowing what she knew of Romano’s personal story. Maybe he wasn’t willing to put on her what he thought she wasn’t ready for, and here he was again, making the decision to put her feelings before his. She could strangle the man. She thought they’d gotten past all that, but maybe they hadn’t.
She tossed the overworked dough into the trash, making a note to take it out later that night, and decided she may have to take Silva up on her suggestion. She wasn’t really on the team of waiting around to figure out. Not anymore. If that’s how Romano felt, they’d deal with it, but he wasn’t going to put that away for her. They were over that.
She untied her apron and headed toward the front door, already picking up her phone.
“Oh, Kalinda’s on the warpath. I’ve got to see this.”
Kalinda didn’t try to stop Silva. There wasn’t a point. The Fae was going to go anywhere she wanted, when she wanted. And when it came to Kalinda, she didn’t deal well being away from her. They’d already found that out. They’d tested it, now that she was restored to her memories and powers. When she was more than a few miles away from Kalinda for more than a short period of time, she started to get antsy, and it could turn painful.
Silva trailed behind Kalinda as she called the one person she knew would tell her where Romano was without blinking.
It took a couple minutes, but Zoey answered with a breathless chuckle. “Hiya, Kal.”
“I am not Superman. You know I hate that nickname.”
“It’s boss. I like it. I’m going to keep it.”
“It’s not for you to keep, Zoey.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Something about you loves it and that’s it. Why did you call?”
Kalinda prayed for the strength to not kill her friends. “Do you know where Romano is?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. How about we trade my info for five banana nut bread loaves.”
“Now I have to pay you?”
“The baby has to eat, and I’m totally shameless when it comes to food. I’ll even give you the scoop as a deposit. Deal?”
How was she going to say no to that? “I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
“Everyone learns so fast. He’s right next to me.”
“And where are you, Zoey?”
“That will be an extra pound cake.”
“Zoey!”
“Deal?”
“I’m going to kill you the minute you have that baby. I swear.”
“Threats will get you nowhere. I’m hanging up now.”
Way to mess up a girl’s steam. “Wait! Okay, one pound cake and five banana nut bread loaves.”
Zoey squealed. “Awesome. He’s about to leave and head home. He was just checking in with Dominic. Remember your promise. Loveyabye!”
She disconnected before Kalinda could threaten her with more bodily harm. Now she had baking to do when she hadn’t even had to go anywhere. She really wanted to punch that girl. Seriously.
“Are we going somewhere?”
Kalinda looked over at Silva. “It seems the target is heading here. All we have to do is wait.”
“Well, boo. You catch steam when you have to go get someone. Now you’ll calm down by the time he gets here.”
Kalinda wasn’t so sure about that.
She’d messed up baking, couldn’t remember her orders, and had been roped into making more. She figured she could use all that as fuel to stoke the fire. Not that she was pissed at him, of course. She just didn’t want his habit of making things about everyone else to take root to the point she never knew how he felt.
She knew Romano could be in pain, depressed, or hurt, and he wouldn’t tell her if he thought it would stress her
out or worry her. Kalinda didn’t want things to be like that. It wouldn’t be fair for him to take all of her shit and then not be taking care of himself. He’d have to stand beside her while she challenged the Trinity, ran her business, and navigate the new world of her powers, all while maintaining what he did for his pack and the Family. They needed to share this, or it wouldn’t work.
It didn’t take much time for him to show up. He came in like he always did, his nostrils flaring as he scanned the house for scents, and then his gaze sought her. Kalinda smiled at him, deceptively hiding what was about to happen. He came to her, a ready smile on his lips, and took her in his arms to kiss her. Right before their lips touched, she figured it was as good a time as any.
“Do you love me?”
Silva, the minx, sat to the side, wide-eyed and unabashed in her attention of the conversation.
Adorably, Romano went red, the blush spanning up his neck and across his cheeks. “Where did that come from?”
“That isn’t answering the question, mate.”
He cleared his throat. “I’m not sure why you’re asking.”
He wouldn’t meet her gaze now, and she didn’t like it. She gripped his chin and turned his head. Considering his strength, it wasn’t lost on her he could have ignored the pressure and kept his head to one side, so she appreciated he didn’t do that to her.
“Does it matter?”
“Look—”
Before he could start some asinine excuse or dance around the topic, she spoke. “No more putting everyone first. You deserve it too, Romano. Let me do this, for once.”
His smile was hot, filled with sexual promise and memories. She heated up just seeing it. “We could recreate that night, if you’d like.”
“Including the ‘love you’?”
He sighed. “You aren’t going to let this go, are you?”
“Not a chance.”
“What does it change, Kalinda? I could answer, and you and I both already know what I’d say. But will it make things different? Will it make you love me? You know, and that’s all that matters. And maybe, one day, when you’re ready, we’ll be at a place we can talk about it.”
Mated to the Enforcer (Mafia Wolf Shifters) (Encantado Shifters Book 2) Page 16
