by V. Hunter
It seemed safe to assume that no one ever nurtured a creative side in her, so I took it upon myself to use our time together to do that.
Just like he promised, Jairo had a whole wardrobe's worth of clothes delivered to me. To my surprise, a delivery also showed up with a whole array of pint-sized paint samples.
It wasn't hard to gather that he meant for us to pick one to replace the pink in Sofia's room. On day two of his absence, we did something different... and went to town on her room all on her own. The end result was multi-colored stripes and some crudely drawn pictures on one wall, but Sofia enjoyed herself so I hoped Jairo wouldn't freak out too badly when he realized what we'd done.
I had no idea when he would be back.
Or if he was really even gone.
The office door had been closed for days. I couldn't hear any sound from the other side, but I was too afraid to knock. If he was home and holed up in his office then he clearly didn't want to be bothered. Another door near the office was also closed, and I was pretty sure that must be his bedroom after doing a fair bit of exploring. I wasn't willing to knock on that one, either.
"It's dinner time," Sofia pointed out, pulling on the sleeve of my new sweater to get my attention.
"You're right. We better hurry up before we miss it," I teased with a wiggle of my eyebrows for her benefit.
She giggled. "We're not gonna miss it."
We'd learned from experience over those last few days that if we didn't make it down at normal meal times that Cooke would just keep everything warm for us until we were ready. It turned out the two of us together were not so great at keeping track of time. I was actually thankful for it because it meant Sofia was enjoying herself too much to worry about our deviation from her normal schedule.
She already seemed much more like a regular kid than when I first met her. A few days of freedom made quite a difference for her and I hoped it would last once Jairo showed back up from wherever the hell he'd disappeared to. Maybe he could use some loosening up himself.
Though, if his life was always as chaotic as it'd been since I showed up, I understood his need for things to be done a certain way. I think he was only doing what he thought was best in the grand scheme of things.
But seriously, where the hell was he?
I tried not to obsess about it during dinner, but my mind kept drifting back to that same question. Finally, after our meal was finished, I couldn't stand it anymore. There had been no sign of Jairo or Tomas for long enough that I was starting to half-expect federal agents to show up any minute. I couldn't deal with the uncertainty any longer.
"Are you coming?" Sofia asked me when she turned left at the top of the stairs and I didn't follow.
"I've got a couple things to do... I'll be there in a few minutes, okay?" I smiled in an attempt to be reassuring, but her eyes darted towards Jairo's closed door anyway. She was a perceptive little thing, I had to give her that.
She nodded, then ran back to give me a quick hug before she disappeared to her room. Every time I thought I couldn't get more attached, she did something to make me adore her even more. She was a sweetheart. It couldn't be easy for a kid in her circumstances to be so open with a stranger, but she took right to me like she'd been waiting for me to show up all along.
In a way, maybe she had. Maybe we'd been waiting for each other, because I was feeling a lot more fulfilled myself. Working with Sofia had actually been therapeutic for me. Caring for another person—especially such a troubled one—turned out to be a very good way to put life's problems in perspective.
I steeled my nerves and approached the office door. I took a deep breath before knocking.
"Come in," a muffled voice called out from the other side.
I pushed the door open and stepped in, but it wasn't Jairo at the desk.
Tomas quickly shuffled some papers together and stuck them in the top drawer of the desk. I walked further into the room, still looking around like Jairo might appear somewhere. I'd gotten used to the two of them sticking together even in the brief time I'd been there.
"Jairo isn't here," Tomas answered before I even asked.
"Where is he?" I asked instead. I tried not to panic. Surely if something happened to Jairo, then Tomas would have said something instead of letting me blindly wandering the house wondering if I would ever be going home.
Right?
Tomas tapped his fingers on the desk as he looked me over. He didn't seem particularly inclined to answer me. Something must have convinced him though because eventually he sighed and leaned back in the desk chair. "He has some work issues he's taking care of. He's trying to get back as soon as he can but there's been a few... delays."
"Is he safe?" I had to swallow the emotion welling up in my throat because it wasn't the time or place for it.
"Nothing has happened to him yet," Tomas answered.
There was nothing comforting about his answer. I didn't expect him to make any guarantees, but I did expect more reassurance than that. I wasn't sure what else I could ask that might make me feel any better. And even if I could think of something, there was no way to know if Tomas would answer. His loyalty wasn't to me and I couldn't expect him to spend his time playing twenty questions while I tried to ask questions about something I knew I wouldn't understand anyway.
I sighed softly and started to go.
"Brooke." He waited for me to turn my focus back to him before he continued, "Jairo is a very powerful man in a very dangerous world. You should think seriously about what you're getting yourself into here."
"I didn't want to stay here in the first place," I reminded him. I didn't like the threatening undertone that seemed to be laced into his warning.
He stared back at me with a look that seemed condescending, as if he knew something I didn't. I didn't doubt for a second that was true. Somehow, I felt more in-the-dark now than when I first arrived. Probably because now it felt like there was much more at stake. The emotions growing inside of me threatened to overtake me like a tsunami if I didn't get them under control soon. But I couldn't do that with Jairo gone. My concern for him overwhelmed my ability to analyze how I really felt about it.
One thing was for sure... nothing was the same as when I first arrived. Tomas seemed to realize it, and I was starting to realize it, too.
18
Jairo
Exhaustion kicked in as Tomas swiped his security badge to let us through the front gates. The last few days had kicked my ass. Every time things seemed to be turning a corner with Oscar Brunetti, the man found a way to rein me back in. This time, he'd made quite the power play. He managed to get a temporary shutdown on the docks where the vast majority of my drug shipments came in.
Everything got delayed several days as the ship re-routed to another city where we could safely do the drop. Meanwhile, I got stuck dealing with a whole slew of angry middlemen that had promised their dealers product. The whole thing was a massive fucking headache.
Oscar swore he had nothing to do it with it—but I knew better.
He was still trying to strong arm me into moving girls for him. Unfortunately for him, throwing his weight around like that only made me that much more determined to end things once and for all.
I couldn't keep going in circles with the Brunettis. I was already trying to keep too many plates spinning at once as it was. I ran both sides of my brother's business empire—legitimate and illegitimate. I knew I needed to stop being gone so often so I could spend more time with Sofia. And if Brooke stuck around... I wanted to be around for her, too.
Brunetti just wouldn't seem to fucking give up.
Sometimes I wished Franco were around to help me figure out what the right next move would be. Then I remembered, Franco chose to outright reject Oscar and he ended up dead.
I needed to somehow solve our problem without coming to the same fate. There were still a few options I was considering, but every one of them had the potential to get messy. I needed to figure out how best to min
imize casualties without dragging things out indefinitely.
"You'll figure something out," Tomas offered me his reassurance from the front seat.
I was sure it wasn't much of a stretch for him to guess that's what I was thinking about. The business with Oscar had consumed both of us for days. The only break Tomas got was when he left long enough to retrieve some paperwork from the house for me.
As soon as I sent him, I'd regretted not being able to go myself. Who knew what Brooke must be thinking after I disappeared like that?
The first night, when I realized what mess Oscar had created for me, I had to come home and pack for a longer trip away. I could still picture the disappointment in Brooke's eyes when I didn't go right to her. I'd wanted to, but I knew if I went to her right then that it would be too hard to leave again so soon. No matter what feelings I was having, I couldn't abandon everything my brother had built.
"Are you coming in?" I asked Tomas as he pulled in front of the house. He made no move to turn the car off.
"I have some errands to run," he said.
"See you tomorrow, then."
I nodded to Tomas, then to the guard on duty at the front door as I passed by him. Tomas didn't pull the SUV away until he got the signal from the guard. Over the past year-and-a-half, I learned to recognize the discreet signals they gave each other that anyone else would easily overlook. I liked knowing those signals, it gave me the smallest feeling of control in a world where I otherwise felt like it was something I lacked.
And damn, did I feel like nothing was in my control at the moment.
I was careful to be quiet as I unlocked the front door and made my way inside the house. My main staff knew to expect me, but I didn't want to risk startling Brooke or Sofia. As late as it was, I didn't see any reason to wake them up and announce my return. In the morning, I could join them for breakfast.
Turning towards the staircase, a pair of eyes staring back at me caught me completely off guard. I blinked hard, my eyes adjusting quickly to the lack of light as I recognized Brooke's pale skin reflecting just slightly in the moonlight streaming in through the sidelights. I could see just enough of her eyes to see them soften as they roamed the length of me as if she was checking to make sure I came back in one piece.
She'd been waiting for me.
I didn't have the energy to face her. I already felt guilty enough about disappearing for days with no explanation or way for her to reach me. She had to be furious with me after going this long with no information about when she might get to go home. I didn't want to fight with her about it at the moment, and I didn't particularly want to end her time there yet, either. I was getting really damn tired of being stuck in no-win situations.
Instead of acknowledging her, I decided to do the asshole thing and bypass her altogether. I turned into the living room and went right to my favorite chair. Exhaustion weighed heavily on me as I collapsed in it, letting my head fall back so I could stare aimlessly at the ceiling.
Soft footsteps, Brooke's, crept into the room. I could hear her uncertainty in the way she paused every few steps as she moved towards me. I didn't lift my head until she stood directly in front of my chair.
I opened my eyes and waited for her to speak.
She surprised me again, leaning over to brace her hands on my legs as she sank to her knees. There was a lot more light coming in through the windows in the living room, so I could see every detail of her clearly. There was a determination in her eyes that hadn't been there before. I braced myself for her to ask to leave immediately.
Her delicate hands slid up to my thighs, climbing dangerously close to my rising cock. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. After I disappeared on her, there was no way she was really...
Oh. Yep.
Her hand moved directly over my cock as it strained against the material of my dress pants. She massaged me through my pants with just enough pressure to elicit a low groan out of me.
"Brooke—"
She cut me off, "You had a bad couple of days.” It wasn't a question.
Her whole body scooted closer, forcing me to widen the space between my legs to accommodate her. Guilt made my shallow breaths feel heavy in my chest. I needed to figure out how to let Brooke go, not make her feel like she owed me something after I chose to hold her hostage.
She tugged at the clasp of my belt, trying in earnest to undo the complicated latch. I put my hands over hers, trying to pull her away.
A frustrated little growl fell from her lips. "This is the only thing I can do to help you right now. Let me. Please."
God, I couldn't deny her anything when she put it like that. I forced my fingers in between hers to guide her in the right motion to undo my belt. She let out a little satisfied sigh as it clinked and opened for her. I took my hands off of hers so that I could stroke her cheeks.
"You're so beautiful it hurts," I said, voicing the thought I'd been carrying ever since I first caught sight of her.
She didn't respond, but I watched her lips turn up slightly at the corners. I wondered how many other men had called her beautiful. At least I took comfort in knowing I was only the second man she'd dropped to her knees for. I hated not to be the first, but at least her number wasn't higher. I didn't want to imagine sharing her with anyone, not even from before I'd taken her.
I let my hands fall away as I shifted to let Brooke drag my pants down over my ass and thighs. Her eyes took in everything with a mesmerized expression that left an uncomfortably tender feeling in my chest. I'd never wanted to keep a woman before, but I found myself so badly wanting to keep Brooke.
"Fuck," I hissed as she pulled the waistband of my briefs down, the side of her hand grazing my cock in the process.
I thought she might be the perfect woman before, but she really cinched the title for herself as she leaned in close and licked her own lips as she studied my cock. I'd had my share of good blowjobs, but never from a woman who looked so thoroughly pleased to be doing it.
My mouth fell open as her breath hit the sensitive head of my cock. She stared down at it with rapt attention as she continued to stroke. She seemed fascinated, enough so that I could tell she wasn't overly familiar with giving oral. Her inexperience made my cock jerk in her grip. Her eyes shot up to mine as if checking that I was okay.
I wrapped a hand around her hair. "It's good. Really good," I reassured her, tugging her by the hair to drag her mouth back down to my cock.
Her pink tongue darted out to lick a gentle line up the underside of my shaft, and it was nearly enough to draw me up out of my seat. Everything she did was amplified by how goddamned sexy she was.
Nothing could have prepared me for the moment she took me into her warm, wet mouth. She went slow, the anticipation only making me hotter as I felt her mouth stretching to accommodate me. Her eyes flickered between my face and my cock as she sank down on my shaft until she couldn't take any more of it.
As she started to go to town bobbing on my cock, I felt the tension from the past few days drain away completely. There wasn't a straight man in the world that would be able to worry about business with a woman like Brooke wrapped around his cock. Her pink lips, which I'd thought looked so innocent the first time I saw her, now looked obscene wrapped around the base of my cock as she willingly forced herself down on it.
She was a real champ, taking more of me than I expected her to as I struggled not to shoot prematurely. My eyes dropped down to what I could see of her body. She wore a sheer nightgown and I realized with the moonlight streaming in I could make out the faint outline of her nipples. She wasn't wearing anything underneath it.
"I'm close," I groaned out.
Her eyes grew wide with uncertainty. I could only imagine how good it would feel to shoot my seed straight down the back of her throat, but I knew she wasn't ready for that. I put my hand along her collarbone and pressed, pushing her back so that she would release my cock from the vice-like grip of her mouth.
My cock left her mouth with an a
udible pop.
I pumped my cock to keep my release close as I reached for the throw blanket hanging over the arm of the couch. I figured the thing could always be washed. But when I looked back at Brooke, I dropped the blanket immediately, letting it fall forgotten to the side.
Her fingers were working overtime to undo the tie holding her nightgown closed. The second she freed the knot, she clenched a side in each hand and drew it open, exposing herself to me. I couldn't see her lower half from that position, but it was a great view of her tits as her back arched, pushing them towards me like a sacrificial offering.
It shocked me to realize what she was offering... but not nearly enough to make me consider passing it up.
Perfect and all mine.
I gave my cock one good final stroke and watched mesmerized as I shot my cum over her bare chest. She never looked away the whole time, which made the whole thing hotter. As my cum trailed down over her body, I let out a long groan. I wasn't done with her, not even close.
19
Brooke
I yawned as I stretched awake, confusion hitting me the second I noticed the big dome-shaped skylight above me. It took me a long moment to get my bearings and realize I was in the master bedroom—Jairo's room.
Sun streamed in through the skylight, wrapping me in warm light. I felt more well-rested than I ever remembered feeling. It was by far the most comfortable bed I ever slept in, even more comfortable than the one in the guest room I'd been sleeping on all week. If I owned a bed like that, I wasn't sure if I would ever get out of it.
That was especially tempting when I remembered what I'd done the night before.
I glanced over and discovered Jairo sitting up against the headboard next to me. He was engrossed in the laptop propped up in his lap, his fingers gliding over the keyboard with gentle clacking noises. I wasn't sure how he managed not to wake me up. Usually, I was a light sleeper. He looked comfortable, too, as if he'd been working like that for a while.
