by Sam Mariano
“I’m sorry,” I say again. “I’m so sorry. I know I should have told you right away. I promise I won’t keep a secret like this from you again. But please… please don’t do anything crazy.”
“Is it crazy to punish someone who could have cost me everything?” he asks, taking an aggressive step forward. I almost fall back a step, but he grabs a fistful of my hair—no tenderness right now, just anger. He’s not playing. I’m a little scared.
I snake one arm around his waist, then the other. He doesn’t let go of my hair, but I pull him close anyway. “I’m sorry.”
“Show me,” he says, a bit shortly.
My heart continues to pound a furious beat in my throat, but I sink to my knees on the floor in front of him. It must be the right move. He looks down at me as I unzip his pants and free his cock, grasping it in my hand and caressing him. I look up to make sure he’s pleased. His gaze is hooded, still angry. His cock is hard in my hand, though, so I lean forward and take the smooth, perfect tip of him into the welcoming warmth of my mouth.
After I’ve worked his cock for a couple minutes, Mateo suddenly asks, “Do you remember the first time you were on your knees for me, Mia?”
I don’t expect him to ask that—I’m not even sure which time he’s referring to. The time he had his gun pressed to my forehead and he threatened to kill me if I lied to him, or the time he made me suck his cock in his bedroom during my four days of hell. Neither time is an especially treasured memory.
I guess because I don’t answer, he yanks me off his cock.
I take a breath, remaining on my knees in front of him, his hand fisted in my hair. “Which time? In the study, or in your bedroom?”
“The study.” He squats down, still holding onto my hair, and leans in to tell me, “I don’t like being lied to, Mia. I don’t like you keeping secrets from me. If you can’t manage your friendships without keeping secrets from me, you don’t get to have any. Am I being clear?”
I’m not completely sure—does he mean he’ll kill her, or just not let her be my friend?—but I don’t chance asking for clarification, I just nod my head.
“Good.” His grip on my hair eases up a little, but he tugs me back and lays me down on the ground. I swallow as he climbs on top of me, a strain of arousal responding to his position and forgetting he’s still mad at me. “I will deal with Meg as I see fit. I’m the boss. Not you.”
I swallow so loudly, I know we both hear it. “I wasn’t trying to—I just… This is why I didn’t want to tell you.”
“Meg is the one who fucked up, not you. You made it your problem by keeping her secret.”
“And you created the problem by using her,” I blurt.
His eyebrows rise in surprise.
I try to soften the accusation. “I’m not saying it justifies what she did, and I understand that you were doing it all for me in your head, I do. But she didn’t know that. She thought it was real, and I can tell you from experience that it’s very… it’s very easy to get pulled under with you, and it’s very hard sometimes to see the lies everything is built on, even if they’re plain to see. She loved you for real. You loved her like… I loved my wedding shoes. Even when she took part in doing this awful thing to me, she never wanted to hurt you. She thought you loved her. She thought I was in the way.”
“But you weren’t in the way,” he states, more calmly than a moment ago. “And she did hurt me. I was fucking lost without you.”
My stomach bottoms out, hearing that.
“The world isn’t worth a damn without you in it,” he states. “And she could’ve taken you from me. Vince might have hurt you. Rafe didn’t have to help. There are a million ways this could have ended with me never seeing you again, Mia.”
Feeling like I have a slightly better grip on this thing, I reach a hand up and caress his jaw. “I know. That terrified me, too. But it’s over now and we’re together. We’ll never be apart again. This is all in the past. Give her the loyalty test to make sure she wouldn’t turn on you now, but as long as she passes, don’t hurt her. Please.”
“You’re so goddamn worried about everybody,” he mutters.
He comes down on top of me, releasing his hold on my hair to shove his fingers through it and cradle the back of my head. He moves in and pours his frustrations into a brutal kiss that ignites my blood. I wrap my legs around his hips to keep him close, rocking my own hips forward. My heart emerges from the pit it fell into and starts to race.
I push my hands up under his shirt as he reaches beneath my dress and literally tears the panties right off me.
“Jesus,” I mutter, watching as he tosses the flimsy lace aside.
Catching my wrists, he pushes them over my head and pins me down. “I’ll buy you new ones,” he states.
I don’t argue. He repositions my arms so can hold them at the wrist. Just to be an imp, I pull free. He catches them again, a sexy gleam in his narrowed eyes, his lips curving up in the faintest of smiles. I’m not sure if the demanding kiss he follows up with as he pins me to the floor is a punishment or reward, but I can’t always tell the difference.
“I need your cock,” I tell him, freeing one of my hands to reach down between us. I savor the look of relief on his face as my fingers close around him, as I pull and tug, then guide him between my thighs. My entrance is already slick for him. Desire coils in my gut as I rub his head up and down my pussy before easing him inside me. I cry out with relief, even controlling the pace myself. I don’t know how I was cold just a minute ago; there’s wild fire pouring through my veins now, and I need his cock deep inside me like I need his kiss on my lips. “Please,” I murmur, pulling him against me.
Shifting his hips and rocking them forward, he gives me the friction I need, then he claims my lips and I feel like I can breathe again.
“Harder,” I tell him, my fingers digging into his sides as he slams his cock inside me. “Oh, yes.”
“You like when I’m angry, don’t you, sweetheart?”
He punctuates his question with a rough tug of my hair and I groan, nodding my head as he pounds into my hips like he’s trying to bury me in the floor. He grinds his hip in this magical way of his, dragging my clit to the party. I cry out, reaching above me for something to grab onto, but there’s nothing. My hand grabs at the floor, then moves across my mouth and frantically down my body.
“Mateo…”
“Should I let you come, Mia?”
“Please,” I say on a gasp, nodding my head vigorously.
“Do wives who keep secrets from their husbands deserve orgasms?”
I don’t know if it’s more exhilarating that he’s teasing me with orgasms, or calling us husband and wife. The combination is so exciting it verges on fucking torture.
I writhe and buck against him, but he easily maintains control despite my attempts. “Please, Mateo. Please.”
He thrusts inside of me, grinding his hips and I arch up off the floor, crying out with a mix of pleasure and frustration. “You won’t ever keep another secret from me again, will you, sweetheart?”
I shake my head frantically. “Never. I promise.” I groan again as he tortures my clit with another practiced movement. “Please, please, please.”
I must not be desperate enough to satisfy him, because he still teases me. His cock may be filling me as he fucks me mercilessly, but he drags out my arousal and stimulates my clit until I’m ready to cry with frustration. He knows how to work my body better than I do, and it’s so deeply frustrating when he’s in the mood to withhold.
Grabbing onto his shirt, I beg again, “Please let me come.”
He crushes his lips against mine and adjusts the rhythm of his hips. I cry out and gasp against his mouth, and he catches and keeps every last desperate sound.
“I own your pleasure, Mia. Be a good girl and I can make you happy. Piss me off, and I’ll drive you fucking crazy.”
He’s already driving me fucking crazy. I frantically kiss his lips, bringing my arms ar
ound him and holding him close. Finally, he lets me have relief. I cry out, coming apart on the floor beneath him. I close my eyes and cling to him, trying to catch my breath as he continues to move inside my body. A moment later, he finds his own release and empties himself inside me.
Mateo relaxes against me for just a minute, then eases onto the floor beside me and pulls me into his arms.
I snuggle up against him, right there on the floor. Nuzzling my face into his chest, I drop a series of light, sleepy kisses there. “I love you,” I tell him.
“I love you, too,” he murmurs.
“I’m sorry I kept a secret from you.”
“I know.”
“It won’t happen again,” I assure Mateo, holding onto him like I’m shipwrecked and he’s the only life raft in the world.
Epilogue
Mia
I finger the black scalloped lace near my elbow, turning sideways in the mirror to inspect my reflection. The black off-the-shoulder dress Mateo bought me is beautiful, but it’s a little sexier than I would’ve liked. He had to pick out everything though—he’s insistent on everything being just right today.
I hate his tests.
I guess I should just be glad I’m not the one taking it this time.
My stomach feels a little unsettled. I think it’s nerves. A little anticipation mixed in there. I don’t know what to expect, but I have so many anxieties, hopes and fears.
I don’t have my shoes on yet, so I pad over to the door quietly and peek in on my favorite men. Dominic is lying on the bed, cooing and eating his fist while Mateo finishes getting ready. My heart overflows like it always does looking at them. As deeply as I loved already, I was not prepared for motherhood. It’s nearly incapacitating sometimes, the emotion that fills me up to bursting.
Dominic was my little Christmas present. Born two days before Christmas Eve, we were able to bring him home just in time for his very first Morelli Christmas. Of course he didn’t care, but I did.
Since Mateo had something to prove, I already have another December baby due this year. My poor vagina is going to hate me.
Mateo frowns, looking at his cuff. He looks down at the edge of the bed, feeling around, then his gaze flits to Dominic. “You little thief. Hand it over.” He reaches forward and unclasps Dominic’s tiny fist, extracting his cuff link and shaking his head. “That was pretty slick, I’ll give you that.”
Dominic makes a little noise of excitement, kicking his legs. Even he gets a kick out of Mateo’s approval. Like mother, like son.
Mateo faintly smiles. “You think just because you’re cute you’ll get away with anything. You’re not exactly wrong, but that won’t work on me.”
Dominic babbles, like he’s contributing to this conversation.
Mateo holds his cuff link up to show Dominic before affixing it to his wrist. “These are small. You could swallow these and die. That’s a bad idea.”
Dominic babbles back.
“Yes, it is,” Mateo states firmly, as if Dominic disagreed. “Then your mommy would kill me, and we can’t have that, now can we?”
Now Dominic makes some m-noises. He hasn’t said mama yet, but I’m waiting impatiently for it to happen.
“Sorry, kid. You’re just too young for cuff links. Trust me, you’ll have plenty of your own someday.”
Dominic mutters in imagined disagreement.
“Patience,” Mateo says, shaking a finger at him. “You don’t have it in your blood, but I’ll teach you. Patience is nearly always the key to getting what you want. Now, that’s not an excuse to waste everyone’s time and never act on anything; that’s something foolish, weak men do. You’re not going to be a foolish, weak man. You’ll see what I mean when the time comes. Take notes.”
Dominic tries to eat his whole fist.
Mateo’s cuff finished, he puts a knee on the bed and leans over Dominic, straightening his little black suit. Yes, he has on a baby suit. It is amazing. “You look pretty sharp. Try not to spit up on this, hm?”
Dominic squeals and kicks Mateo right in the stomach.
Mateo gives him a dry look. “You have to be on my side today. Turn up the charm; look cute in your mom’s arms. Crank up the appeal as much as you can. That means no kicking people and no spitting up on your suit. I expect you to come through for me in a big way. You know that big spotted giraffe you get all excited about at the toy store? I just might be able to get it for you.”
I cover my mouth, smothering a grin as Mateo tries to bribe a baby.
Dominic does like gifts, though. He got that from me.
His looks he got from Vince. Right down to his adorable dented chin. Occasionally it makes my heart hurt.
Before I get spotted spying, I go ahead and walk into the bedroom. Mateo glances up at me, his eyes warming as he surveys my appearance. He moves back off the bed, walking around and catching my hips, pulling me in for a kiss.
“You look perfect,” he states.
I smile wryly, since he definitely means as bait, not in general. It’s okay, though. I understand. He gets super focused when he has a mission.
Running my hands down his chest as I check him out, I say, “So do you.”
“The artful dodger over here stole my cuff links again. I saved him from imminent peril.”
I grin, grabbing him by the tie and leaning in to kiss him again. “My hero.”
“Vince was a pretty good thief.”
I cock a lightly skeptical eyebrow. “Was he, though?”
Mateo rolls his eyes, his arms moving around my waist. “This kid’s got promise.”
“He’s too young to be a thief. All babies are thieves. They steal hearts and hold them in their slobbery little fists.”
Mateo rolls his eyes as if disgusted, but he totally loves Dominic, so I don’t buy it at all.
I’m still not at all into the prospect of Dominic entering the family business, but that’s future Mia’s problem.
Pulling out of Mateo’s embrace, I climb up on the bed, flashing Dominic big smiles as I crawl up next to him. “Hello there, Mr. Handsome. Do you want to eat before we leave?”
His little hands reach for me and I scoop him up, leaving a flurry of kisses on his cheek and making him giggle. God, I love this kid. I didn’t think I could ever love anyone as much as I love Mateo, but then the nurse put Dominic on my chest. He lifted his little head up and looked straight into my eyes. Boom. Love at first sight.
Mateo climbs on the bed, sitting beside me and pulling out his phone as I tug the strap of my dress down and grab a pillow to put under Dominic.
“I still don’t think we should take him,” I tell Mateo, glancing over at him.
“We have to.”
“We don’t. I’ll turn up the sexy. I’ll go naked. I’ll flirt. Anything you want. Let me be the sole test.”
Mateo shakes his head, denying my request as he scrolls through a text message. “Sorry.”
I sigh, looking down at Dominic’s sweet little face, at his arm resting on my chest as he nurses. I’m so worried about this. He’s too awesome. The temptation is going to be too much. No one could resist this little guy. “What happens if he fails?”
Mateo taps out a text message, sending it, then looks over at me. “Hopefully he doesn’t.”
I quirk an eyebrow. “You’re rooting for him now?”
He rolls his eyes at me. “No. You’re rooting for him and, where possible, I like to give you what you want.”
I grin, leaning in to kiss him. “You’re the best.”
He smirks. “That’s why you love me.”
“There are a lot of reasons. Want me to list them all? We can stay here all day and play with our baby instead of going to this dumb thing. I think that’s a good plan. Let’s do that. Ego stroke, cute baby. When he takes a nap, I’ll throw in a blow job and as much naked Mia as you want. Whaddya say?”
“Nice try.”
“I clearly need to up my blow job game,” I state, shaking my head.
/> “Your blow job game needs no improvement. This just has to be done. We won’t have another opportunity like this to test him. I’m running out of people close to him to kill.”
I choke out a short, vaguely horrified laugh. “My god, the problems you have.”
After a few minutes Dominic pops off. I right my dress and put him on my chest, leaning into Mateo. He puts his phone away so he can wrap his arms around me. Dominic starts batting at his arm.
I grin. “Tell Daddy, say, we want to stay home. We don’t want to be bait.” Dominic grins at me, which I take as agreement.
“Should’ve been born into a different family, then,” Mateo says with an unapologetic shrug.
“Bite your tongue,” I tell him, tilting my head back to give him a light glare. “We would both be lost without him and you know it.”
Mateo rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t bother arguing. Instead he reaches over on the end table and grabs Dom’s favorite elephant toy. Dominic’s whole body stiffens with excitement when he sees it and he has a hard time keeping it together when Mateo finally hands it to him. Into his mouth it goes—instant slobber fest.
“I hope you put the second suit in the diaper bag,” Mateo states.
I slide a look of disbelief Mateo’s way. “He’s a baby. It doesn’t matter if he gets a little slobbery.”
Mateo apparently does not agree, as he climbs off the bed and walks into Dominic’s bedroom for the second suit.
I sit Dominic up on my tummy and smile at him. “You’re daddy’s a crazy man, isn’t he? A crazy, crazy man.”
“I heard that,” Mateo remarks, walking back into the room with the change of clothes.
“It’s nothing you don’t already know,” I point out.
Apparently unconcerned, my big bad mafia boss tucks Dominic’s baby suit into the diaper bag, then slings it over his shoulder and looks at me. “You ready to go?”
Sighing, I put Dominic on my shoulder and climb off the bed. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
