by CR Robertson
Every mile felt like it took an hour, even thought that wasn’t true, and I swear every light I came to turned red just to aggravate me. There was a ghost vehicle at the business for Francis to use that didn’t connect directly to me. Jordan ensured that we were as clean as possible in the eyes of the law.
About an hour later, I sat watching from the CCTV feed as Lucrezia emerged from the back of a black Mercedes. Her brow wrinkled in confusion as she stared at the building and Francis bent down to speak to the driver. She looked even better than I remembered and the fact that she was here because I called her made the cold, dark lump in my chest that used to be a heart thud into life.
I wandered to the front door and opened it. Without a single word, she flew across the space between us and burrowed herself deep into my chest.
“I was so worried about you, Ash,” she whispered for me alone to hear. Every night, I watched the moon and thought of her, and now she was here.
Francis shot me a filthy look as my arms wrapped around her to drag her in behind the door. Her back arched when I pressed her into the wall, my hands travelling down until they reached her ass. She nearly climbed me like a tree, her lips seeking mine as I leant down to hers.
My dark heart fractured into a thousand pieces and her warmth invaded me. Lucrezia was my guardian angel who protected what little good was left in my soul. Her arms snaked around my neck and tugged me ever closer to her, her tongue demanding entry to my mouth. If she continued with this welcome, I was going to end up fucking her against the wall, and that was no way for a virgin to be initiated into sex.
“Miss me?” I cocked an eyebrow when she finally pulled away, leaving us both struggling for air.
She shrugged. “Minnie Mouse missed you more. She’s divorcing Mickey, as she’s pregnant and he’s suspicious.”
And just like that, she demolished any awkwardness.
“Poor old Mickey.” I laughed.
She peeked around behind me. “Do you live here?”
“No, this is one of our business addresses. I was using an extra layer of protection to ensure no one followed you. I have a car for Francis out in the parking lot and my Range Rover to put all your stuff in.”
“Pity, I never lived in a derelict warehouse before.” She nudged me with her hip as she sauntered past.
This woman had the ability to crawl inside me and make me want a life I never thought was possible. She was smart and sassy and everything I never knew I wanted in a woman. Normally, I preferred my women on their knees in front of me or hanging from a St. Andrew’s cross. Lucrezia had an inner fire that drew me to it until she could burn me.
I watched from the doorway with my hands in my pockets as she wandered around being nosy. We rarely used this place, it was merely an address to use on correspondence. She activated a protective gene in me, along with a jealous gene, and the unnamed one that allowed her to drive me batshitcrazy.
Now that she was here, the beast inside me stilled in her presence.
“If you’ve finished being nosy, I can take you home and you can sort out your stuff and have a look at the stand for your display area. They delivered it yesterday.”
She screamed and launched herself at me, her legs wrapping around my waist. I turned to find a bemused expression on Francis.
“Is she always this excitable?” I asked.
“Not normally. But then, no one has ever helped her with her business before,” he replied. “I take it you have transport since the driver dumped our stuff and left?”
I tried not to laugh at his grumpy face. Max was one of our drivers and I trusted him, but he was abrupt and tended to always be late for his next job.
“There’s a ghost fleet BMW for you to use while you’re in London. I brought my Range Rover as I didn’t know how much stuff Lucrezia would be bringing with her.” At the mention of her name, her arms tightened around me and she rested her head on my shoulder.
Francis nodded to her. “This one travels light, unlike her sister.”
All the cases fitted in my boot with ease and I gave Francis the coordinates of my home in Chelsea. “Anywhere you need to go before we go home?” I asked.
Lucrezia gave me a strange look that I couldn’t decipher and shook her head. “I’m good.” She chatted during the drive and all the tension slowly melted from my body. She could never know how much I looked forward to hearing her voice. My reserve tended to melt away and alcohol lowered my resistance to her, and then I couldn’t stop myself hitting that green dial button just to hear her voice.
“I’m going to tell Papa about my business,” she said, her face sad in the window as she peered out. “It means he’ll understand when I have to travel for business.”
Lucas Black would never allow his daughter to get the attention she deserved as a designer. He would want to control her to keep her safe. A crazed gunman hadn’t taken his wife, cancer had. It was something that he couldn’t fight with a gun or pay to have taken away. He had to watch helpless while she was taken from him. That was why he was the control freak he was today with his daughters.
“He’ll try to take over,” I replied.
“I know, but I was thinking about that…” The way she turned to stare at me sent cold shivers rippling down my spine. I wasn’t going to like the results of her thoughts. “Technically, you’re my business partner, so he would have to run all his issues through you.”
My eyebrows hit my hairline. “Are you trying to have me killed?”
That fucking smile that played on her lips made me want to put something between them to show her who was in charge. “No, but I doubt he could ground you or put you over his knee.”
The only one putting her sexy ass over their knee would be me. She definitely deserved a spanking after this. “Your father is a control freak who doesn’t care who he shoots to get his own way.”
“Papa is a teddy bear.”
“Yeah, a feral one with teeth that bites you when no one is looking,” I muttered.
Her small hand grabbed my hand on the gearstick. “Please, Ash. This means the world to me.”
Batshitcrazy gene activated.
Fuck my life.
***
Chapter Fifteen
Lucrezia
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Ash had created me my very own work room in his house, as if I belonged here.
No one had ever given me a gift like this before. My fingers glided along the edge of the counter. The materials and equipment he’d ordered were superb, and the extra lights above the area would allow me to illuminate the tiniest details.
He stood with his hip braced on the doorframe and his hands in his pockets. “I thought you might need somewhere for last minute alterations or repairs.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I finally admitted in a low tone. “No one has ever supported me like this before.”
He’d given me the key to the cage I lived in. Showed me what freedom looked like.
Ash looked away, his jaw tight. It was his default expression for when he was hiding his thoughts. I walked over, wrapped my arms around his waist, and placed my chin on his chest to stare up at him.
“Thank you.”
He didn’t reply because he didn’t need to. I knew those silences in our conversations. I didn’t need to see his guarded expressions because I’d learnt to read his moods through listening to him. He merely stared down at me with those haunted eyes.
“Do you want to go out for dinner or order in?” He diverted our conversation away from him.
“Can we order in?” I bit my bottom lip in excitement. “We never get to order takeaway because Madison cooks, and Papa has a housekeeper over here in the UK that travels between his properties.”
“Anything in particular?”
“Nope. You pick. I just want to be able to tell Sofia I finally ate takeaway.”
After he’d checked the house for security breaches, Francis declared it safe and was going out
for a few hours to visit relatives since no one knew I was here and Ash was in the house to protect me.
I set up my stuff in my workroom while Ash ordered dinner. His home was beautiful and decorated with dark colours that gave it a depth of emotion. The ground floor had marble floors with huge oval mats on them with floral patterns. The library had one of those wooden steps that you could move around the shelves on like in Beauty and the Beast. Yes, I was a Disney addict, no I didn’t care. She fell in love with the beast because of that library and I never blamed her for it.
The kitchen was massive with an aga as the main focal point. It would fit a lot of cookies in there. Three undercounter fridges were filled with different food types, and the freezer in the utility area contained more ice cream than was healthy. There was a beer and wine fridge in the utility area as well. It screamed bachelor pad.
“Dinner will be about half an hour,” Ash said from the kitchen door. “How did I know you’d be in here?”
I wrinkled my nose at him. “Because I’m always in a kitchen no matter what house I’m in.”
He moved across to where I was standing trying to see the outline of the garden through the window, even though it was dark. He lifted me by the waist and set me on the counter. “You making cookies while you’re here?”
“What’s your favourite type?”
He pursed his lips together. “You always make brownies for Jordan.”
“You always eat the corners.”
A grin appeared on his lips. “Not much gets past you, does it?”
“I’m a woman,” I pointed out.
His dark-blue gaze swept over me and he leaned back slightly. “I noticed.”
My hands landed on his waist. “What’s happening between us, Ash?”
He gripped the counter on either side of me. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I tried to keep you safe from me, but I don’t seem to have any control when it comes to you.”
I pressed my forehead into his chest and closed my eyes. His spicy aftershave intoxicated me. “What do you want me to bake for you?”
“I’ve always loved caramel squares.” His chin rested on top of my head and I sank into his strength. “Some people call them millionaire’s shortbread, but my gran always called them caramel squares. She made them with chewy caramel that oozed when you squeezed them.”
“I can’t promise that they’ll taste like your gran’s, but I’ll do my best.” He never asked for anything. He’d helped me last time I was in London, bought me a queen’s ransom in jewels without letting me pay for them, and had created a special place for me in his home. Tray bakes were the least I could do.
“What do you want to drink?” Ash asked, stepping back and leaving me bereft. “Wine?”
“Is it bad to admit that I don’t like wine?” I replied.
He stopped and stared at me before a smile curved his full, sensual lips. “The daughter of Lucas Black, who owns wineries, doesn’t like wine?”
I shrugged. “I drink it because it’s expected, but I’m not a fan.”
His grin turned positively wicked.
“No.” I pointed my finger at him. “If you tell anyone, I’ll deny it.”
“Beer?”
“Yep. Nothing too dark.”
He wandered into the utility area shaking his head and chuckling.
I grew up surrounded by vineyards, and was taught what excellent characteristics for wine were. My nose was impeccable when Papa took me to taste new blends. All of those were facts, but I’d never liked the taste of wine. It would be sacrilege to utter those words in front of Papa.
Ash handed me a bottle of beer, that grin still fixed on his face. “For years, I’ve heard of how good you are at determining quality wines. You were the perfect socialite who could host a party.” His grin spread again. “Does your papa know you at all?”
That was the sad part of this tale. He spent so many years trying to keep us as his little girls that we’d grown into women that he didn’t know. “Sometimes. He knows I like Disney and to this day still buys me princess stuff for my birthday.”
Amusement burned in his eyes as he stepped between my legs again. “Minnie Mouse certainly has her attractions.”
“You corrupted her,” I said, taking a sip of my beer.
“Did she come with you?”
I deliberately mistook his question. “I think so, she was soaking when I took her off that morning.”
His expression froze before his hand gripped my chin to stare dangerously into my eyes. “I should stay away from you.”
I set my beer down before my hands slipped into the waistband of his jeans above his ass to tug him tight into me. “Technically we’re living together.”
“What the fuck am I doing?” he asked and glared up at the ceiling.
My legs ensnared his and I continued to stare at him until he gave me his attention. “No one ever needs to know unless we want them to. This is our relationship, Ash. Please don’t give up on me.”
“Bad things happen around me.”
“Trust me, Ash.” I turned my head to kiss his wrist. “I need you.”
His eyes darkened to that shade that I remembered from that morning in my room. His fingers tilted my head and his lips slammed into mine. I wanted to scream in victory. There was no way I was leaving London without claiming Ash. He ground his hips against mine and I moaned into his mouth. The tips of my nails dug into the flesh of his ass and he groaned, his hand moving to grip my hair. It hurt the way he pulled it, but I didn’t care anymore. For weeks, I’d craved him until the throbbing between my legs was painful.
“You’re driving me insane,” he muttered in a husky tone against my lips.
My sanity had already left the building and was currently hiding under my blankets back in Tuscany. Both my sisters were virgins like myself, but Catarina had taught us the art of blowjobs with the aid of a banana. Her hymen was intact but Catarina had lost her other virginities long ago.
When we came up for air, I slipped off the counter until my feet hit the floor, and kept going until I sank to my knees. Ash watched me with his mouth open and his hand clenched at his side. He never said a word when I unbuttoned his jeans and pulled his zip down. His cock was thick and long and fought its way out of his boxers to get to me.
I never looked away, my gaze locked with his even as my lips closed around the tip, my tongue flicking the slit. His teeth bit into his bottom lip and I swirled my tongue around the top of his shaft. There was too much of him for me to swallow the way Catarina instructed, but I sucked him as deep as I could take him, my hand massaging the base.
“Fuck,” he said breathlessly and his hand found my hair again.
Sofia had screwed her nose up at Catarina’s lessons, but in every single one of them I envisaged Ash in front of me. The expression on his face hadn’t been part of the fantasy because I’d never seen it before today.
My tongue traced that vein as I sucked him in and out of my mouth. His hand tightened in my hair and his pelvis began to move in time with my mouth. The head of his cock hit the back of my throat and I almost gagged, but his hand in my hair directed me, the heat in his gaze coaxing me.
I used my lips and tongue, my hands moving over the bottom of his shaft and his balls to search for all the sensitive areas Catarina described with two peaches.
His hips moved, forcing him further into my mouth while I desperately tried to loosen my gag reflex.
“Fuck! I’m gonna come.”
I sucked harder, took him as deep as I could, my thumb rubbing that area behind his balls. The first salty taste was only a warning of what was to come. He erupted deep into my throat, nearly choking me with the amount of viscous fluid he released.
His mouth was open and the expression on his face engrained itself in my brain. I did that! I made him look like that.
His thumb traced the side of my mouth as I slowly slipped his cock from my mouth.
“Did I do it right?” I asked, trying to
discreetly swallow, even though I wanted to spit it out.
“Where the fuck did you learn to give a blowjob like that?” Ash demanded, his hand stilled holding my face in place.
“A banana. They don’t produce that amount of cum at the end, though.” I winkled my nose.
His laugh took me by surprise. “Seriously?”
I nodded. “Catarina taught Sofia and I with a banana and two peaches.”
“A banana and two…” He stopped and shook his head, chuckling.
The doorbell sounded in the distance and he cursed, tucking his still semi-erect cock into his jeans. As soon as he disappeared into the hall, I rinsed my mouth out with water and took a sip of my beer to get rid of the mouthful of sperm. They were probably swimming between my teeth and heading to my tonsils thinking they were my ovaries.
The scent of spicy food tempted me when Ash padded back into the kitchen. He held up bags filled with little cardboard boxes.
“Authentic Thai including the takeaway boxes.” His lopsided grin looked vulnerable, almost as if he wasn’t used to what was going on the same as me.
“Perfect. Want to eat while we watch a movie?”
His body relaxed and he nodded to the bottles on the counter. “Grab the drinks. Cutlery is in the top drawer.”
There were forks and chopsticks, so I grabbed both and followed him. We ate on the floor in the living room in front of the huge screen. Some people craved fancy dates in restaurants, but this right here was perfect. When we were finished, I snuggled in against Ash and laid my head on his chest.
Francis came in a while later, staring at us laughing at the movie before he waved and headed to his room. Madison would have had a fit at the containers on the floor. The only awkward part of the evening was when the film ended and we had to go to bed. We both stood up and tension flooded the air between us.
