by Bella Rose
She clenched her hands around the smooth edge of the hot tub and shut her eyes as her entire body bore down on Antonin’s finger. He twisted his hand, and the pad of his finger stroked the pad of muscle right inside her opening. The touch intensified her orgasm until she could no longer hold back her screams of pleasure.
“I’m coming, baby!” she told him. Her voice broke over the words. She was so hot for him that she knew she could come a hundred times more if he would only fuck her.
He pressed the ball of his hand against her mound and curled his finger against her pelvic bone. She shuddered and screamed her excitement. Her hips were gyrating, making splashing sounds in the water. She curled her toes and then pointed them as her legs hung in the water. It was so damn good she never wanted it to stop.
IT WAS KILLING him to wait to have her. He wasn’t arrogant enough to truly believe that his dick was going to poke the baby, or that he would somehow hurt her if he had sex with her. But Antonin did want to make things as comfortable as possible for his woman. That meant not crushing her beneath his deadweight.
Gently setting her aside in the warm water, he stood up. Next he helped Juliet to grab back on to the side of the hot tub.
“Just hang on,” he told her. “I’m going to take you from behind. I’ll make it good, baby. I promise.”
Her top half was out of the water, but her bottom half was in. The silky feel of the water against her pussy when he opened her legs was incredibly satisfying. He toyed with her for just a moment. He pushed two fingers into her tight opening and spread them apart to loosen her up. She moaned and quested back against him to beg for more. And when he pushed the hard length of his cock against the crevice of her ass, she moaned as though she were going to die if he didn’t take her now.
His hands shook and his heart raced as he spread her butt cheeks and probed her slick pussy with his cock. He fit the head to her hole and began pushing inside. Antonin went slow, but Juliet wanted faster. She pushed her backside at him, forcing his cock to enter her more quickly. He groaned at the exquisite sensation. It felt like heaven. And once he was fully seated inside her, he paused to revel in the sensation.
“No!” she begged. “Don’t stop! Keep moving. I want to come. Make me come, Antonin!”
“As you wish,” he murmured.
Her words drove him right over the edge. Backing out of her pussy, he slammed back in over and over again. The friction was beautiful. His cock throbbed and he knew that he was going to come quickly. His balls drew up tight between his legs. He was utterly aware of everything around them on a primal level.
The cool breeze kissed their heated skin. He saw it ruffle the hair Juliet had piled atop her head. Her skin was soft and warm, and slick from the water. He could smell the light fragrance of eucalyptus coming off the water, but it didn’t at all overpower the sheer femininity of Juliet’s personal musk. He could smell the two of them mingled together. And it was that that finally made him come. He wanted so badly to pour his seed inside her body and mark her once again as his own.
Thrusting hard, he held her hips in his hands and shoved his cock as deep inside her body as he dared. She cried out. Throwing her head back, she moaned as she came hard and fast. Her pussy milked his cock, drawing every bit of his essence from his body and taking into hers. There was no more perfect moment than that one. And he wanted a thousand more seconds just like this.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“YOU’RE GOING TO be fine,” Juliet told him softly. “I can’t believe you’re nervous to begin with. I think your men made it pretty obvious who they wanted to be their Pekhan.”
Antonin found her desire to give him a pep talk to be endearing. It was also a little difficult to explain to a hereditary leader like Juliet Caglione that the Bratva had very clear and precise rules of succession. It wasn’t that Antonin doubted his right to lead. He had been his father’s heir. He simply knew that this was a huge responsibility. Not only that, but he was about to convince a bunch of men who had been told to exterminate the Italians for the last ten years that their Pekhan was marrying the enemy.
Juliet glanced at the display on her cell phone. “My men should be here anytime.”
“Is it strange that your most trusted capo was nothing but a constant thorn in your side only a week ago?” Antonin asked her.
Juliet let the way into the Samovar. The Russian-owned restaurant had been Italian owned less than a year ago. Juliet had been hoping that her men and Antonin’s men would both be comfortable in this environment. The Russian takeover of the restaurant had been friendly and not hostile. The previous Italian-mafia-connected owners had simply decided to retire and hadn’t had any children to take over the business.
A short squat balding man in his fifties bowed when Antonin entered the second set of front doors leading into the restaurant. “Mr. Mikhailovich, you are welcome here! Please come in and sit down. I have your private dining room ready.”
“Thank you, Ivan,” Antonin said graciously. “There will be a lot of men coming to meet with us.”
“Some of them are Italian,” Juliet informed Ivan. “And my priest will be here as well. Father Barelli. Please show him to the dining room when he arrives.”
“Italians?” Ivan’s eyebrows almost shot right off his forehead like two fleeing caterpillars.
“Yes.” Antonin sighed. It was going to be like this for a while. He was resigned to that for the most part. “Italians.”
Antonin escorted Juliet to the private dining room and found that Alexei and most of his Brigadiers were already there. In fact there were a good number of Juliet’s men there as well. The unusual capo Reggie was among them.
Reggie approached Juliet immediately, casting openly suspicious looks around the room. “You sure about this, boss?”
“One hundred percent.” She patted his chest with her palm. “And if you screw this up, I will cut your balls off and feed them to my dogs.”
“You don’t have dogs,” Reggie reminded her.
She grinned. “No, but I’m getting some.”
Reggie looked pityingly at Antonin. “Man, I feel sorry for you if you piss her off.”
JULIET COULD TELL by the level of sass in Reggie’s tone that he was kidding, but she could see that Antonin was trying to decide whether or not to take offense. Antonin wasn’t so sure that Reggie was the best choice for her top-ranking capo. But Reggie held the loyalty of several of the only remaining key members of the Caglione organization. He and Juliet needed each other, and they were both savvy enough to realize it.
“You know,” she commented to Reggie, “I really shouldn’t be so surprised that you survived that whole Giovanni hostile takeover bit.”
“Why is that?”
“You’re like a rat,” she told him. “You just survive to bite the next person foolish enough to give you a handout.”
“Is that why you’re not handing me a damn thing?” he groused.
“Exactly.”
They were still laughing when Father Barelli arrived. Reggie raised his eyebrows in shock. “You invited the priest? What? Are we signing some official document sanctioned by the church?”
“Sort of,” Juliet hedged. “Just sit down and shut up. You’ll figure it out soon enough.”
She hugged Father Barelli. She was so glad that the man was no worse for the horrible situation he’d been through such a short time ago. Then the rest of Antonin’s men straggled in and sat down. It did not go unnoticed that the room was split down party lines. The Bratva occupied one side and the Cagliones the other. Juliet was just sorry that more of her men hadn’t survived to be here.
Antonin raised his hands. The Bratva shut up, and the Cagliones rolled their eyes. “I appreciate all of you coming here this evening. I’m sure you’re trying to figure out why we would have such a meeting considering the bad blood between our families.”
There was a round of agreement throughout the room on both sides. Juliet did not miss the fact that Father
Barelli was looking a little tense. She tried to give him an encouraging smile. This was going to work out. It had to.
“The truth is,” Antonin continued in a loud voice, “neither side will benefit from more conflict. We need time to rebuild our ranks and run our businesses. This is about making money and leading better lives, not picking each other off and looking over our shoulders every other second.”
Another round of comments whipped through the room, but this time they were cautiously supportive. There were a lot of surprised looks and whispers. Juliet had never been more proud of her man. He had been so worried that he would botch his speech, but never had a man been so well suited to give this sort of speech. There was something completely genuine about Antonin. He didn’t say it unless it was true, and everyone knew it.
ANTONIN WISHED HE felt as composed as he hoped that he looked. If something happened and the men put up a fuss, as Pekhan he had a responsibility to listen to and to take their concerns seriously. But he did not want his duty as Pekhan to conflict with his love for Juliet and their family.
“Many of my men know Juliet Caglione. And of course the Cagliones know her as the last heir of their family and their boss.” Antonin swallowed. He was starting to hedge. It was time to just spit it out. “What some of you don’t know is that Juliet and I are expecting a child together.”
There was no way to accurately interpret everything he was hearing around the room. Some positive, some negative, some just confused, but nothing openly defiant or dangerous. Antonin reached down and took Juliet’s hand in his own. He lifted her fingers to his lips and kissed her hand. He loved her and he would have walked through fire to see her smile, so he would do this too and he would make it work.
“We’re having a daughter,” Antonin continued. “But that will be followed by sons. Our goal is to rebuild our lives. Not just our families, but yours as well. We want your families to be our families and your children to be the future of these organizations. Together we can do this. We can rebuild and we can prosper. There is plenty of room, and if we band together not even the feds can keep us down.”
Yes. That they understood quite clearly. There was a roar of approval. Then someone started to clap. One set of hands turned into a standing ovation, and soon the room was in an uproar. Then Father Barelli stood up and began walking to the front of the room where he met Antonin and Juliet.
Juliet shouted at the men to quiet down. Antonin had to admire not only her spunk, but also her brass. “You all need to settle down! There will be celebrations in a minute, but for now you are all going to bear witness to the marriage of myself and Antonin. We are marrying ourselves, but also our families and our organizations. This is what I want. And I swear I will break heads if someone screws up my wedding day!”
The Cagliones grunted in satisfaction. It was obvious that they were more than a little pleased that their little Juliet had turned into such a ballbuster. Antonin couldn’t blame them. Her tough-girl side was sexy as hell and one of his most favorite things about her.
Father Barelli moved into position, and Antonin took Juliet’s hand. They turned to face the priest, and the room grew so quiet he could have heard a pin drop. Antonin felt Juliet’s hand squeeze his. He very gently squeezed her back. She had asked if he wanted a Russian orthodox ceremony, but poor Father Barelli had been such a part of Juliet’s life that Antonin felt like the guy deserved the task of marrying them.
JULIET’S MIND SPUN as she tried to pay attention to the ceremony. She kept getting distracted by everything else in the room. It wasn’t just her handsome husband to be either. She kept looking around at the familiar and unfamiliar faces. She saw how they glanced at each other, and she knew that they felt apprehensive over this change. Yet she also noticed that they all seemed willing to try. Perhaps there had been too much bloodshed lately. Not that Juliet was afraid of blood or of having to shed a few pints when necessary. She was just so violently aware that there was also a season to regroup and rebuild. That was now and this was the first step.
“Do you, Juliet Caglione,” Father Barelli droned, “take Antonin Mikhailovich to be your lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to remain with him in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, as long as you both shall live?”
It was strange, but Juliet and Antonin had taken great pains to adjust the vows to suit them personally. They both agreed that health and prosperity were doable. The forsaking all others bit was a given. She had already informed him that she would amputate the protruding parts of his body should he ever decide to stray, and Antonin realized why this was such a sticking point for her. It was only one of a million reasons why she loved him so much.
“I do,” Juliet said clearly. “I also promise to listen to his opinions with a clear and fair mind, and to never place my own personal concerns over those of the family as a whole.”
This was also something they had discussed. She saw from the men’s approving nods that they understood and appreciated her gesture.
Father Barelli sighed. He hadn’t exactly approved of that part. Then he turned to Antonin. “Do you, Antonin Mikhailovich, take Juliet Caglione to be your lawfully wedded wife? Do you promise to remain with her in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, as long as you both shall live?”
“I do.” Antonin looked out at their assembled families. “And I too promise to listen to her opinions with a clear and fair mind, and to never place my own personal concerns over those of the family as a whole.”
“Then by the power vested in my by the State, the Vatican, and God, I now pronounce you husband and wife.” Father Barelli finally smiled, and it was a big one. “You may now kiss the bride!”
Juliet flung her arms around her new husband, and he did not disappoint. Antonin kissed the breath right out of her. Her toes curled and one foot came up off the ground as she nearly fell over with the warmth and love she could feel in that one kiss. Yes. This was definitely going to be the beginning of something new and totally amazing. She could not wait to see what happened next!
Epilogue
FIVE YEARS LATER…
“I changed the last diaper!” Reggie pointed at Alexei and then made a vague gesture at the baby sitting on the thick Persian carpet in Juliet’s office.
Alexei muttered something dark in Russian. “You did not! You discovered a pressing matter in the kitchen you just had to attend to and you never returned.”
“Nuh uh,” Reggie muttered sullenly.
Juliet rolled her eyes and looked up from the ledger she was reconciling on her laptop. “Hey!” she snapped at the two men. “Look, I don’t care who changed the last diaper. You get me? I’ll be happy to change this one the same as I did the last one since the two of you are like a bunch of crabby old nannies.”
“No!” Reggie argued. “I’ve got it.” He swept the baby off the floor with surprising gentleness and deposited the child on his hip. Then he made a goofy face, and the baby cooed and laughed with delight. Reggie nuzzled the child’s mop of soft brown hair. “I can’t let my little prince have a dirty butt, can I?”
Juliet watched with amusement as the man she had appointed to be her underboss sashayed out of her office with Mikhail on his hip. It was truly something to see, and yet if Juliet really thought about it, this was exactly how she had wanted things to turn out. The houses of the Bratva and the Cagliones were bursting at the seams. Sure, business was business, and there was still a very lucrative criminal enterprise going on. Juliet looked at that as a part of life. It might have been morally ambiguous, but Juliet figured that the organizations run by her and by Antonin were still more honest than the feds.
Alexei wandered over to the desk. “How are you feeling?”
“Would you quit asking me that?” Juliet rubbed her very pregnant belly. “It’s not like I’m not accustomed to this whole process by now, you know? This is baby number three.”
Alexei’s smile told her he wasn’t put off one bit by her cross response. “And I’m ce
rtain Antonin would appreciate me checking on you.”
“That’s because you’re both like a bunch of old women!” She flopped back in her comfy desk chair. “When Anastasia was born, I thought they were going to close the hospital to keep the lot of you from trying to crowd your way into the delivery room.”
He was laughing with apparent glee. “I will admit that Ana’s birth was probably the one we went a little overboard on, but you have to admit that it was the first one. Most of us hadn’t married yet. Yours was the first pregnancy we’d ever really participated in.”
“And I did make all of you participate,” Juliet agreed with a snort. “Watching dozens of hardened mobsters go through CPR training was priceless.”
“Not to mention nanny classes,” Alexei said darkly.
“Yeah, but admit it,” Juliet challenged. “That came in handy when your Maria started popping out babies.”
“You are correct.” Alexei paused a moment, and then he sighed. “You and Antonin did something that nobody thought was possible, and we all thank you for it.”
She took a breath to answer but was cut off by a blur of white-and-pink ruffles. “Mama!”
“Hello, my darling!” Juliet scooped up her tiny daughter and hugged her tight.
Antonin was right behind his eldest child. The look he gave Juliet made her shiver inside. She would never understand why he found her so physically irresistible when she was pregnant, but she knew it was true. The man was practically smoldering at her. It was tempting to tell Alexei to take Ana and get out. Sex was awkward these days, but Juliet and Antonin made it work.
“Mama, look at me.” Ana grabbed Juliet’s face and pressed her palms to her mother’s cheeks. Then she forced Juliet to focus on her completely. “Daddy did the most wonderful thing.”
