by Bethany-Kris
His chuckles came out dark, heady, and deep.
“Don’t. Sex is all about the feeling and fulfilling the need, Eve.”
“Not always,” she whispered.
“It is right now.” Theo cocked a brow. “Do you want me to fuck you until the only thing you can do is feel? Feel just me, my hands on you, this bed under you, my cock inside you, my mouth on your body, and nothing else? Is that what you want?”
Evelina shivered. “Do you think that’s possible?”
“I know it is. It’s just a matter of getting you out of that head of yours.”
“Try me.”
Theo wet his lips under his tongue. “I’m out of condoms, Eve. Unless you want to wait for the bellboy to run us up a pack when I call down to the desk for some.”
Evelina shook her head. “I’m safe.”
That was the only permission Theo needed. He lunged at Evelina and didn’t give her any warning to his surprise move. Her loud yelp was drowned out by his mouth crushing hers as he took her down to the sheets. Theo wrapped a hand into her hair and bunched the strands into a tight fist, keeping her head pulled back into the pillow as he owned her mouth with his own. She widened her legs for his body to fit in between while his tongue danced with hers. It was a battle that she didn’t seem to mind if she lost.
Quiet moans fell from her lips as Evelina rocked her sex against the hard ridge of Theo’s erection through his pants. She was bare, no panties, and he was sure she was enjoying the feeling of rubbing against his dick.
Theo bit Evelina’s bottom lip hard when she tried to pull away from his kiss for a breath. Her responding whine was answered by another one of his bruising kisses. He dragged the tips of his fingers down her chest and over the buttons of his shirt. With one grab and a hard tug, the buttons popped through the loops and he had skin.
More of her flesh to feel under his palms. More of her to taste.
Theo let her undo the zipper and button on his slacks before he kicked them off. His boxer-briefs followed the same path. Naked against her, the hardness of his body to the soft smoothness of hers, was like an electrical current was passing over every single one of his nerves.
Live wires.
“You’re fucking soaked,” Theo told her. “You made my pants wet rubbing on me like that.”
Evelina’s hand wrapped around his cock and squeezed. Then, she hooked her legs around his lower back and tightened them, making him fall into her body again. The silky wetness of her arousal smeared to his bare cock as she rocked against him again. With every tilt of her hips, his length glided through her slippery folds. Sparks of heat danced up Theo’s spine.
The more her fingernails scraped and she rocked into his cock, the more his mouth found places on her to suck, kiss, and taste, the better it was.
All the better.
“Jesus,” Evelina breathed, arching off the bed.
Theo pushed her hard into the bed. “This fucking bed under you, Eve.”
She groaned.
He ached from her sounds.
His fingers pinched her nipples until they were hard little peaks and she was biting her lip so hard they were a rosy red. His fingertips pressed into her skin and slid down the toned path of her stomach until he was grazing the spot below her bellybutton. All over, Evelina trembled.
“My hands on you,” Theo growled.
Evelina tilted her head back, giving him access to her throat. Theo took it, holding under her jaw with one hand as he nipped and licked a path over her collarbones. He could feel her swallow all her pretty little noises under his hands.
“Your mouth on me,” she said, barely above a whisper.
With another lift of her hips, Theo felt the tip of his cock slide along her entrance. He flexed his hips and that was it—his cock filled her instantly. Evelina’s eyes flew wide and her lips opened. The cry that tumbled out of her started from somewhere in her chest and clawed its way out.
Raw.
She was so raw like this.
Not untouched. Not pure.
Beauty always was a little dirty.
Evelina shifted her hips and widened her legs for him. Her fingers curled into the bedsheets while her back bowed off the bed.
“What’s that feel like for you, Eve?” Theo asked, holding her lower body down with his hand while he hovered above her. “I’ve got you so full. You’re soaking me all over. Fucking you is a dream.”
Evelina didn’t say a word. It was like she couldn’t speak. Her noises were more than enough, and Theo could feel the way her pussy shuddered around his cock with every jostle of their bodies.
Another pull of his body and he was withdrawing. Evelina whimpered under him.
“Breathe,” Theo murmured.
Evelina’s gaze met his, stunned and dazed. She still didn’t take in the air like he demanded.
“Breathe, Eve.”
He let go of his hold on her body and widened her thighs even more until he was sure she could feel it burning in her muscles. Then, he was slamming back into her hard enough that he felt it in his goddamn bones.
Evelina sucked in a hard breath. “Oh.”
His pace was brutal, so ruthless. Evelina didn’t, or couldn’t, seem to stay still. She met the hard cracks of his body with her own and he felt his cock hitting her even deeper because of it. Her teeth found the underside of his jaw while her fingers dug into his shoulder blades.
“In you,” he mumbled into her hair.
Evelina shuddered.
Theo could feel the words forming on her lips, but they came out as a nothing more than air whispering over his skin.
“All over me,” Evelina gasped. “You’re ruining me with this.”
“Am I?” he asked.
Forcing her head back again so he could watch her while he fucked her, Theo saw the sliver of wetness fall from the corner of her eye.
“How am I supposed to feel like this again?” she asked.
Theo didn’t know.
He didn’t have those answers.
“What else is there right now?” he asked.
“Nothing …” Evelina’s muscles clenched, her release coming quick and strong. “Just this. Don’t stop, Theo.”
He ran his thumb over the tear and then down to her lips. Evelina kissed the digit and the moment her mouth opened, she took his thumb in and sucked. When she did that, they both flew.
Nothing but them …
“Wake up, Theo.”
Theo’s eyes snapped open to an unfamiliar bedroom lightened by the large windows.
“Theo!”
Three more bangs hit the door hard.
A heavy weight settled in his stomach as he realized his cock was rock hard under the sleep pants he wore, his body ached like he’d just been fucking a woman for hours, and his mind was running a million miles a minute. Damp with sweat and out of breath, Theo stared at the ceiling, confused.
When Theo dreamed of things, it was always nightmares of his past and the people who had done him wrong. He had never dreamed of a woman. He had never relived an entire night he’d spent with a woman through his dreams.
Evelina.
Not just any woman.
Eve.
Sure, he’d thought a lot about their nights in the hotel, but since he’d been in New York, he’d dreamt about it every night in vivid detail. Theo’s throat was tight and his mouth was dry. He cared about Evelina. Denying it was pointless.
But now … what in the hell did this mean?
Another bang hit the bedroom door. “Are you even listening to me?”
“I’m up,” Theo said hoarsely.
“It’s seven,” his friend said from outside the room.
“So what?”
“It’s Sunday.”
“Come on, Gio, stop being a little shit.”
“Church,” Gio said. “You’ve been here three weeks and not once have you gone. Antony found out you were staying with me and Kim when Lucian had a fit a couple of days ago. Antony is
demanding you come to the church and show face. Dante made the final call. You’re coming. Get your ass out of bed.”
Theo groaned and dropped back onto the pillow. “The whole point of this is for me to stay out of the goddamn limelight.”
The Marcello family might as well have been royalty in New York. They were not low profile in the city.
“It’s just church, man,” Gio said flippantly.
Frustrated, Theo tossed off the sheets and blankets, hit the cold hardwood floors in a fluid movement, and stalked to the door. Yanking it open just enough that he could glare at his old friend, Theo found a grinning Giovanni on the other side.
Napping over the man’s shoulder was his seven-and-a-half-month old son, Andino. The baby had a thumb popped into his mouth and fist full of the hair on the nape of Gio’s neck.
“I could just up and go to a hotel, you know,” Theo said. “Saves me the trouble of making nice with your father.”
“Or,” Gio drawled, “… my father will come to you.”
“He’s not even the Don anymore. Dante took over, right?”
“Antony still gets his way whenever he wants.” Gio leaned against the wall and said, “It’s just church, like I said. Dinner after with the family. Usually we do a big one for everybody, but Ma agreed to keep it as just us brothers, the wives, and the kids this week for your benefit.”
“Is your brother going to glare at me from the other side of the table all day?”
“Lucian knows how to be respectful.”
“The man hates my guts,” Theo said frankly.
Theo had been friends with Giovanni Marcello for a decade. He’d taken a trip to New York with his uncle back when he was a teenager to do business with the Marcello family and learn who was who in the city.
The Marcellos were fucking everything.
Theo had learned that fact fast.
But Lucian, the oldest of the brothers, had issues with the Outfit. It stemmed from some problem Joel had caused with Lucian’s guys when they were supposed to be working together at the docks for shipments. Nonetheless, all the love was lost after that.
“Lucian has some trust issues,” Gio said, shrugging. “It is what it is. He is who he is. He’ll be good today for Ma’s benefit.”
“Not for mine?” Theo asked, chuckling.
“You can only ask a Marcello for so much before they start taking shit back, man.”
Theo rubbed at his forehead. “Whatever. Did you get that suit dry-cleaned for me?”
“Yeah, Kim hung it in the bathroom.”
He’d picked up a few essentials that he would need for his stay in New York, but nothing big. The short stay he thought it would be had turned into three weeks of wondering and guilt. He shouldn’t have left Chicago. People needed him there. His family needed him. Inside, he felt like a fool for leaving. Like he’d given the bastards, Riley and Joel, exactly what they wanted.
Except he wasn’t dead yet.
Little Andino’s eyes popped open a second before he tugged hard on his father’s hair.
“Ouch, Andino, Jesus,” Gio cussed.
“Ba,” Andino cooed, pulling on his father’s hair some more. “Baba, Papà.”
“I’ll get you some milk in a minute.”
Theo couldn’t help but grin as Gio fought to get his hair out of his son’s hand.
“Kim’s right. I need a fucking haircut.”
“And a bar of soap for your mouth,” Theo said.
Gio scoffed. “You’re one to talk.”
“I don’t cuss in front of your kid.”
“Yet,” Gio muttered.
Theo went to close the door, but Gio grabbed it just as fast to stop him.
“Wait a sec,” Gio said.
Little Andino was put to the floor and immediately, the baby began to scoot himself down the hallway a couple of inches at a time.
“What?” Theo asked.
“Who is she?”
Theo’s back straightened like someone had shoved a stake up through his spine. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Right,” Gio said like he was talking to a small child. “Kim was asking me about you last night, and she mentioned some shit I hadn’t taken notice of. But you’re different, Theo, and it’s not just about the nonsense happening in Chicago. You make private calls behind closed doors, you don’t mention names of anybody, even family, and you’re private as hell.”
“Is that a problem?” Theo asked. “Because I’ve always been private, man.”
“No, it’s not. But I can see it in your face, like you’re not all here most of the time. It makes me think that you want to be somewhere else, even if right here is the safest place for you to be. Maybe you want to be with someone else. Did you leave somebody behind? Is that it?”
“Mind your business, Gio.”
Gio laughed. “What’s her name?”
“There is nobody.”
Liar.
Theo kept his expression passive, but his mind taunted him. Liar.
“You’re a fool, then,” Gio said, “because I know the look you’ve got, Theo. Lucian walked around like that for weeks before he finally got his shit straight.”
“I don’t get it.”
Gio smirked. “Yeah, neither did Lucian until he learned Jordyn’s name.”
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do. What’s her name, Theo?”
Theo’s grip on the door tightened until he was sure he would leave fingerprints indented in the wood. “What does it matter?”
“I find it always helps a man when he’s got somebody to confess to. For whatever reason, you know.”
“Eve,” Theo murmured. “Her name is Eve.”
Gio nodded. “And she’s from Chicago?”
“Yes.”
“From an Outfit family in Chicago,” Gio pressed.
“Yes.”
“There is only one daughter in Chicago that I know with that name.”
Theo dropped his head slightly, just enough to keep Gio from looking at his eyes. “What about it?”
“You are so fucked, Theo.”
“Tell me about it. Church?”
“Yeah. I think you need it.”
Theo stood when the congregation was blessed a final time. As the parishioners began to file out, he turned to leave alongside the family he’d attended with. Antony and Dante Marcello blocked his way.
“Sit,” Antony said quietly.
Theo shot a look over the older man’s shoulder and watched Gio file out with his oldest brother, the wives, their handful of children, and the family matriarch, Cecelia.
“Is this one of those things where you’re going to be nice, but tell me to get the hell out of your city?” Theo asked.
Dante laughed, the sound echoing in the large church above the voices and footsteps. “No. We just want to talk, Theo. Seeing as how you’ve had three weeks on the low at Gio’s, we’d like to find out why and exactly what’s been going down in Chicago. Obviously you needed a timeout from it all, and this is where you came to.”
“What my son is saying,” Antony said with a jerk of his thumb toward Dante, “… is that you owe us an explanation. Nothing more, Theo.”
Theo sat back down in the pew. “I haven’t been to church in months.”
Antony took a seat beside Theo while Dante took one beside his father.
“Why is that?” Antony asked.
“My brother.”
Antony lifted a single brow and nodded. “Ah, Dino. I heard about his death. Bombed in front of his family’s church, right?”
“The news reports were all over that,” Theo said.
“That’s how we were keeping up with most of it,” Dante replied from the far end. “Sometimes we made a call or two just to make sure the war wasn’t going to make its way down here.”
Theo shook his head. “It won’t. It has nothing to do with New York.”
“No, it’s entirely abou
t the Outfit.” Antony passed Theo a look and asked, “Am I correct?”
“Pretty much. Greedy men who can’t get enough and are never satisfied. It made for a bad situation that quickly got worse.”
“What started it?” Antony asked.
“Someone was killed. It snowballed from there,” Theo explained.
“I think you’re leaving a lot out,” Dante murmured.
“I didn’t want to be a part of it.”
Antony leaned back in the pew. “Yet, here you are in New York. Hiding.”
Theo’s guilt climbed higher. “I was told not to call it hiding. I was told it was a much needed vacation.”
“Once I heard about you being in New York, I did a little bit of checking,” Dante said, leaning forward so he could see Theo. “And do you know what I found?”
“Enlighten me,” Theo said dully.
Antony smirked. “We found that you’re supposed to be dead.”
“Apparently not. Here I am.”
“Who do they think it was?” Dante asked. “A shooting and then your car was burned, correct?”
“Well, somebody else burned the car and I helped. The shooting was a mistaken identity between the fool with the gun and my middle man outside of my club. I was lucky, that’s all.”
“Damn,” Antony said quietly.
Then, the man made the sign of the cross and glanced up at the high vaulted ceiling. Swearing in church was never okay, after all.
“Damian Rossi married your sister, didn’t he?” Dante asked, sounding far too casual.
“He did.”
“I like him. Damian, I mean. Good man.”
Theo caught Dante’s gaze from the side. “He is.”
“By chance, was he the one who sent you out of Chicago?” Antony asked.
Theo bit his cheek, but answered honestly. “Yeah.”
“Family is not as dead there as we thought,” Dante told his father. “Maybe the honorable ones are just waiting to show themselves, hmm?”
“Anything is possible,” Antony agreed.
Theo watched the men, confused as hell. “You lost me.”
“This war …” Dante trailed off with a disgusted sound.
“It’s bad for la famiglia as a whole,” Antony explained for his son. “They’re killing whoever gets in the way without a thought because of greed and misplaced loyalty. Dante, as the boss he is, wondered if it was time for the Marcellos to pull some influence and put an end to it.”
