by Sophia Reed
“I purchased this establishment from Ian a few months ago, so he could attend to some business overseas.”
“Overseas.” My brother articulated the word slowly and with so much incredulity that I started to grow afraid. He was behaving like he might accuse Marco of something or even arrest him outright, and I sincerely didn’t know what I’d do if that happened.
No longer able to merely stand by, I decided I needed to distract them. “So, have you set a date?” It was a lame attempt, I knew that, but I had to act before things got out of hand.
“Stay out of this, Kelly,” David snapped at me, and Marco stepped between us so fast that if I’d blinked I would’ve missed it.
“Watch your tone with her,” my boss said, his deep voice more of a growl. I’d never seen him this furious before, the predatory look I’d once ascribed to him at a dangerously high level. It took a second for me to register that Marco meant to defend me, to protect me.
My brother’s eyes widened in disbelief before they narrowed in what I’d only witnessed a couple times in my life: white hot rage. “Is there something going on here that I need to know about?” his voice loud enough to carry beyond the hallway.
“Hey there, boss. Everything all right?” this came from Larry, one of Marco’s new hires, and the current cook on duty. He’d rushed out of the kitchen, his gloved hands still coated in flour. He must be preparing the dough to rise overnight for the freshly made bread we used for our sandwiches.
“Everything is just peachy,” Marco answered him, evenly. “Isn’t it, Officer Carr?”
David sneered at my boss, staring him down. And for a moment, I didn’t think things would stay peachy at all. But then Twila laid a hand on David’s arm, and he released his breath in an audible burst. “Fine,” he barked out, but more quietly now. “Things are fine.”
Ire continued to hold court over every line of his frame, but he yanked his gaze away from Marco as if he’d decided not to pursue the chase. But then, my brother’s eyes caught mine. He looked at me as if disappointed by my actions, and upset by this, I reached out to him. “David, I…”
But before I could make contact, he did an abrupt about-face and stormed off toward the exit, leaving his fiancée to follow in his wake.
12
Marco
I watched Kelly as she reacted to her brother’s abrupt departure, tears in her eyes. She was close to shattering, to falling utterly apart, and given the curious glances we’d attracted from the closing crew, I knew such a scene would only make matters worse. I took her arm and led her gently away from prying eyes and ears.
And then there was the real reason her devastated expression bothered me.
I cared about her.
I’d tried not to. I’d kept my distance from her. Hell, I’d literally placed a wall between us so our interactions would be limited to minimal contact only. But it hadn’t helped. All it had done was make me long for her. To crave her company.
Which I couldn’t have.
I’d worked with Kelly for over five months now, and early on I’d observed everything she’d done. She’d been an excellent server, and even though she remained unaware of this, she’d become my right arm man—or woman, as the case may be—in this branch of my family’s business.
She was so effective at the laundering techniques we used that I’d been able to leave her to her own devices for the most part, to let her do her job largely sight unseen.
But now, we had a problem. Her brother had stuck his nose in that business. I’d probably have to deal with the ramifications of that in the near future, but for the moment, the person I most needed to deal with was Kelly.
Once we entered my office, I sat her down in my office chair and knelt before her. She appeared shell-shocked, like someone who’d been thrown out of her orbit. It brought up so many feelings inside me. Concern for her. Regret that she was suffering. Fury on her behalf toward her brother.
“Can I get you something?” I asked her, but she didn’t seem to hear me.
The restaurant had officially closed to customers by then, and I left her for long enough to see to the rest of the staff’s departures. Then, I retrieved some drinks from the kitchen, one an ice water, and the other something much stronger. I shut the office door behind me. She appeared to need both the drink and the quiet.
She sipped at the shot of Jack Daniels whiskey I’d brought, wrinkling her nose and making a face when she did, but continuing to drink it just the same.
Good girl.
After she’d consumed about three quarters of it, she turned her eyes to me, her features shadowed and bleak. It made my chest hurt to look at her.
“I’m so stupid,” she whispered, and while I didn’t agree, I waited to see where she might go with this. “I thought I could hide what I’ve been doing from David, but I should’ve known better. I should’ve known something would happen and he’d find out.”
“Find out what?” I asked, carefully.
“That Ian’s gone and you’re here. That I’ve received a promotion and am making more money. He’s probably going to call my parents and start rooting around for answers.”
“Why would he care about how much you’re making?” I felt incensed. What was he doing? Taking her pay for himself? Why the hell would he do that?
“I don’t think it’ll be the money itself that he cares about as much as the idea of where it’s coming from,” she said miserably, but I was confused. That money was coming from her job, a job she believed to be absolutely legitimate. And on paper, it was.
“What do you mean, Kelly?”
She inhaled deeply, an action that made her chest rise and fall. I did my best not to notice. I still desired her and allowing myself to take in such a detail would drive me insane. It didn’t help when she rubbed at the place below the dip in her collarbone, drawing my attention to the movement of her hand.
Like always, her attire covered this area completely, she’d worn a turtleneck sweater that displayed no cleavage or bare skin of any kind. But it didn’t seem to matter to my lusty brain. Since I’d already touched the velvety soft skin of her back and, even more enticingly, one of her breasts—albeit briefly over her clothing—such a memory had proven impossible to forget.
“David thinks you’re…” She struggled to get the words out. “He thinks you’re a part of the Italian mafia. That you and your family are criminals.” Then, the tears that’d been shimmering in her eyes fell, streaking across her fair complexion. “I know it’s not true, and I’m sorry.”
Her words felt like daggers to my heart. She’d assumed the best about me rather than the worst, even though the worst happened to be the truth. I deliberated on whether or not I should divulge that truth now.
Kelly was smart as a whip, but also sweet and naïve. Somehow the darkness and cruelty of the world had left her unsullied. Or maybe she simply repelled it like light does darkness.
She maintained this blameless quality about her. One I was relatively certain I’d never had, not even as a child. It made me want to place an impenetrable bubble around her to keep her safe and uncorrupted. Before meeting her, I would’ve thought such true spotlessness didn’t really exist.
But it did. She did.
And it drew me to her like a magnet. Even though it shouldn’t.
“I never intended to cause problems between you and your brother,” I began, my mind spinning with various different scenarios I could give her to explain this away.
As much as I’d like to be honest with her, I didn’t feel that I could. If I shared the truth with her, she’d likely leave and not return, considering me to be some awful villain. Which, to be fair, I pretty much was. But the idea of her hating me, of her thinking of me like that, made me cringe. I didn’t want her to hate me, even if it would eventually become inevitable.
Then, there was the issue that always came up for our family, the one of loyalty and trust. All long-term love interests had to go through this process of proving
themselves as devoted to us, even if they weren’t devoted to our cause.
Molly had been perfect for Luca because she was dedicated not only to him but to the business, as well. He’d been lucky enough to find someone uniquely suited to both.
Anyone we started a relationship with must offer their allegiance, and I just didn’t see that happening with a woman like Kelly Carr. Not because she wasn’t trustworthy but because she was. But her loyalty would likely extend to the right side of the law rather than to our side.
Her brother might try to create some issues with us, but two attributes our family had long ago honed into a fine science were bribery and coercion. Many high up officials within the local police and government were on our payroll, and since we paid them so well, they didn’t tend to turn on us, mostly because they couldn’t afford to.
Then, there was the constant collecting of data and information we used to control those we needed to. Illicit affairs, a night with a hooker, drug addictions, drunkenness, skimming money off the top, and other less than exemplary behaviors could be a death knell to anyone in a position of power if ever brought to light.
So, if the threat to their paychecks weren’t enough to keep them in line, the threat to their careers and reputations would usually do the trick. And if not, that person would simply disappear without a trace.
Problem solved.
And then there’d been the procedure I’d followed with Organic Eats. I’d been careful to keep certain aspects of what I did here away from Kelly’s eyes. Therefore, if she was ever called upon to testify, the only things she could share would be circumstantial at best and not enough to convict.
Learning to cover your tracks and cover them well was part and parcel of being a Varasso.
This lesson had been hard earned. One of my father’s most dedicated friends had gotten entangled in a murder case a couple of decades ago, and it’d landed him in prison. He remained loyal to us even now, but it’d bothered Angelo that the prosecution had tracked down enough irrefutable evidence to put him away.
My father had changed the way he conducted various aspects of our business after that, and Luca and the rest of us had followed his example. We hadn’t had to face a serious threat against us since.
Yet once again, the fact that I was a Varasso had inflicted pain on someone who didn’t deserve it, and this time the victim was Kelly. She sat there in my chair, her eyes down on her lap, tears continuing to course down her cheeks.
I couldn’t stand it when women cried. I’d never been able to. I always felt the need to fix things, to make whatever had upset them go away. And now, as Kelly’s silent tears escalated into full-on sobs, something deep inside of me twisted past its breaking point.
“Don’t cry, Kelly,” I said desperately, framing her face with my hands and wiping away her tears with my thumbs. “Please don’t.”
“But David will come after you. Come after your family,” she stuttered out. “And now, he knows I’ve been lying to him, holding things back. I just wanted to take care of my mom and dad, get them out of debt, you know? That’s all I meant to do. But...”
“Shhhh,” I shushed her, pulling her out of the seat so I could sit there and put her in my lap. I laced my arms around her, and she buried her face in my chest. “Don’t worry about that. It’ll be okay.”
“I don’t think it will.” She shook her head, then looked up at me. Tear droplets ringed her eyelashes, and her eyelids had grown red and puffy. Even still, she was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen.
This was the first time we’d been in such intimate contact with one another, and her light flowery fragrance encapsulated me. Even though she’d been the one to dictate that we should stay professional, it was her who reached up and threaded her fingers into my hair, tugging my lips down onto hers. For a moment, I let myself indulge in the feeling of her lips against mine, but then for the sake of my sanity, I pulled away.
“No,” she whimpered, dragging me back down.
She kissed me again, this time suckling my bottom lip, and I let her. For another long glorious moment, I let her. But while my body shrieked at me not to, I knew I had to stop. She tasted of the whiskey she’d drank, the rich flavor distinct and welcoming, and though it couldn’t be enough to inebriate her, I knew we couldn’t go any further.
“Kelly…” I said as I retreated again, my testosterone-riddled brain attempting to come up with some logical excuse to fend her off, but it was difficult to think. All my blood had drained south the second her lips had touched mine, and that wasn’t helping. Not one bit. Especially when she switched tactics and started to lick and nibble my neck. Holy Christ! “Kelly…”
Her name came out as a groan, and suddenly I couldn’t remember why I thought I should fight this. The part of my mind that could still think clearly was objecting vociferously, but it had been overruled.
“Please, Marco. Please…” she whispered, her hands yanking off my suit jacket and unbuttoning the top buttons of my dress shirt.
Foot totally off the brake now, I shifted her enough to tug her sweater over her head, revealing a simple black cotton bra that contrasted sublimely with her alabaster skin. It had a front closure which I immediately popped open, revealing pale breasts with pink nipples which pebbled before my eyes.
I put my mouth on one, laving my tongue over the tight peak. She whimpered again, this time in encouragement. I switched to the other, giving it the same attention before suckling the tip, making her breathing accelerate violently.
Needing to see more of her, to touch more of her, I brought her to her feet for long enough to remove the thick woolen leggings she wore, her slip-on flats falling off as I did. Then, I took off the last item she wore, a pair of black cotton panties that matched her bra.
And then she was there before me, breathtakingly nude and a feast for the eyes. I allowed myself to stare at her, to memorize every inch of her, one part of my lower anatomy straining against my zipper so hard I wasn’t sure how long I could last. Although I’d stripped her, I remained nearly fully clothed, my shirt partially open but my scars still unexposed.
Which was precisely how I intended to keep it.
I refocused on her face, and the look I found there made me swallow and push back from her. While she was no longer crying at all now, her expression had become scared, nervous. Fuck. I took a couple of deep breaths and swallowed again. “We can stop,” I told her, my voice tense and about an octave lower than usual.
As nervous as she appeared, she didn’t cover herself. Instead, with her gaze averted, she sat back on my lap. “Can you…” she trailed off, her voice a whisper.
“Can I what?”
“Can you make me feel good?”
13
Kelly
I couldn’t believe I’d just asked him that. It was so forward, so wanton. But right then, I didn’t care. I felt like everything in my life was about to collapse, to be destroyed, and before that happened I wanted to actually feel what I’d been dreaming about ever since that first kiss: being with him like this. Being with him in every way possible.
I wanted to not be me, Kelly Carr, a virgin who’d never experienced anything close to ecstasy.
I wanted to connect to him, really connect, and on every single level. Already, he’d given me pleasure like nothing I’d ever felt. And I wanted more. Needed more. Craved it like my next breath.
Even if it frightened me like I’d never been frightened before.
When he’d said we could stop, I nearly burst into tears all over again. I knew if I didn’t go through with this now, I might not ever be brave enough to try a second time. So I asked for what I wanted.
And he smiled. It wasn’t predatory or demanding like I’d thought it might be, either. It was relieved. And surprisingly affectionate. I felt selfish for asking this of him, though, so I thought I’d better take care of his needs first. From the sizable bulge I felt underneath me, he’d be willing to take what I offered.
I di
dn’t know what to do specifically, but I thought I could figure it out. People did this sort of thing all the time. How difficult could it be? If it freaked me out too much or if I messed up, I’d just use my hand instead of my mouth. Hopefully, he wouldn’t mind. I pushed myself between his knees, my hand working to unbuckle his belt.
“Oh, no you don’t,” he said, his smile morphing into a smirk as his hands seized mine. Didn’t he want me to… you know?
“But…”
“I believe you asked me to do something for you.” He pulled my chin up so I’d have to meet his gaze, and I felt my face heat. He’d lifted one brow, as if waiting for my answer.
“Well, yes, but don’t men like it better when they go first?”
“Only men who are assholes,” he replied with a short laugh, but then his smile faded. “Wait. Is that the only type of man you’ve ever been with?”
Not able to answer that while looking right at him, I closed my eyes. “I’ve never been with anyone before,” I mumbled the words, not knowing how he’d take my revelation.
When I didn’t hear any response, I opened my eyes, half afraid of what I’d find. He stared at me as if dumbfounded, as if that’s the last thing he’d expected me to say. Maybe this was a turn off to men. Maybe they liked it better when the woman knew what she was doing. I wondered if he was about to reject my request, about to say forget it.
He glanced around the room as if just then realizing where we were, alone together in his small office at the restaurant where we both worked. I knew it might not be ideal, but I couldn’t care less. My body had become consumed with this aching need, and I was certain he was the only one who could satisfy it.
“Kelly, are you sure you want to do this now? Here? I know we got pretty carried away, but this isn’t the most comfortable of locations, especially not for your first time.”
“I know, but—”
“Are you on birth control?” he asked next, and I shook my head no. I’d never needed it so hadn’t ever taken the precaution. Lord, I was an idiot. Humiliated, I looked away.
