Hunter

by Blaire Drake

  It seemed out of character for him, but yet... fittingly perfect. Killer, assassin... Angel of death.

  Was that what it signified? That he was the angelo della morte?

  “Are you done staring at me yet?”

  My eyes snapped upwards and locked onto his. “Screw you.” Mature, Adriana. Nice.

  He chuckled quietly. “The option is there, Principessa.”

  That pissed me off. “Listen here, stronzo.” I jabbed my finger against his solid chest. Asshole. “We're not kids anymore. We're not goddamn soulmates. We're not even friends. We're strangers, Hunter, and you're a prize fucking prick.” I took a step closer to him and tilted my head back to hold out gaze. “I don't give a fuck if you're here on my father's orders. Remember who has the Romano blood. Remember who you belong to.”

  The amusement disappeared from his eyes, and they went cold. Chills cascaded across my skin from the iciness of his gaze, but inside, a fire roared. His flip-flopping attitude from killer to friend to suggestive piece of shit pissed me the hell off. I wasn't going to take it, no matter how attracted to him I was.

  “Who I belong to?” he said in a deathly low voice that was almost threatening. “Is that you, Adriana?”

  “Funny, isn't it?” I responded in the same tone. “I'm Princess when you're cocky, but Adriana when I call you out. Your respect needs some goddamn work, Rosso.”

  No sooner had I turned away than he'd grabbed my upper arm and had me pinned against the wall. His body was hot despite his cold, steel gaze, and he held me in place. I couldn't move, and it wasn't for a lack of trying. He was simply too strong with his hands wrapped around my arms and one of his legs between mine.

  “My respect?” He dipped his head down so his warm breath skated over my lips. “My respect? How about your own, Adriana? You're pretty fucking short on it yourself. Just because I won't kill you doesn't mean I can't. I could put my hands around your neck right now and you'd be dead in five minutes.”

  Defiance flared through my veins. “So fucking do it.”

  He laughed, each sound as cold as the soul I was sure he didn't have. “I already told you won't.” He let go of my arms and moved backward. “You might be princess, but you're not fucking queen yet.”

  I wanted to laugh in his face, but I couldn't. My mother was dead. The queen was dead. That meant one thing—her crown was mine, whether his punk ass liked it or not. Instead of reacting, I acted.

  My arm shot out, my hand connecting with his cheek. The sharp slap rung out through the room, echoing off the walls and the ceiling, bouncing back and forth until all it rang in my ears.

  Hunter clenched his jaw and a raised a fist to his cheek. His knuckles brushed across it, and for the first time, the tiniest pinch of fear flickered in the pit of my belly. But I didn't move. I stood my ground.

  He deserved it. He deserved more.

  Then, like a predator waiting to strike, he pounced on me.

  His solid body collided with mine against the wall. He grabbed my thighs and lifted me, sliding one leg between mine, and his mouth found mine. I wound my fingers in his hair as he kissed me harshly. His tongue slid across my lips, forcing me to part my lips, and when I did, he kissed me so deeply my head started to spin.

  His fingers dug into my ass as I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him into me. His hard cock pressed against my pussy through my cotton shorts, and my hips involuntarily flexed against him. A groan rumbled low in his throat, but the move only spurred him on.

  He held me tighter, kissed me deeper, drove me wilder.

  He was everywhere. All over my skin, under it, around it. I knew this was wrong but I couldn't make it stop. I couldn't stop my heart pounding against my ribs or my stomach fluttering or my pussy clenching. It was all anticipation, all revered wonder, waiting to see if one of us would stop this craziness.

  “Don't let me do this,” Hunter rasped against my mouth, gently biting my lower lip. “Fuck, bella. Don't let me ruin you.”

  “You can't ruin something that isn't perfect,” I whispered back to him, my blood thundering through my body.

  “Make me stop,” he murmured, kissing down my neck.

  I gasped when his tongue circled my pulse point. “My bedroom is the first door on the right.”

  “Adriana.”

  “Hunter.”

  “Fuck.” He pulled me away from the wall, his grip never wavering on me. Thrill shot down my spine like a bolt of lightning, and my whole body tingled with the promise of what was to come.

  This was wrong, too. So, so wrong.

  But at the same time... It felt perfectly right.

  Hunter pushed open my bedroom door with my back, making me smile, and then kicked it shut behind him. The slam echoed around his room as he carried me across the floor and dropped me on the bed. My tight grip on his neck and waist pulled him down on top of me, and he steadied himself by releasing his hold on my ass.

  He grabbed my hands from around his neck and pinned them above my head, his eyes on mine. “I mean it,” he said quietly. “Make me stop, Addy.”

  I shook my head and tightened my legs around his waist, lifting my hips at the same time. “Kill me or fuck me. Your choice.”

  He stared at me for a long moment. He looked like he wanted to argue, but then whatever reservations he must have had disappeared, because he took my mouth in a searing kiss once more.

  He tugged me up to sit and broke the kiss to pull my tank top over my head. I cupped his face as he wrapped an arm around my back and moved me further up the bed. His solid body was right against mine, and he freed any hold he had on me so he could explore my body. His hands slipped up and down my thighs, over my hips, gripped my waist, cupped my breasts.

  He fiddled with the clasp holding my bra in place before undoing it in one swift movement. He grasped my tits tightly and dropped his mouth, taking one of my nipples between his lips. His teeth grazed the sensitive tip before he flicked his tongue over it, soothing the slight sting, and he did it over and over, finally sucking hard, making me arch my back, before he turned his attention to the other. He did the same there while he rolled my other nipple between his finger and thumb, pinching lightly.

  Shit.

  My hips bucked as one of his hands grabbed hold of my shorts and pulled. He released my nipple from his mouth and stood up, his large hands wrapped around the waistband of my shorts. My chest heaved as I looked down and met his eyes.

  He smirked, tugged, and removed my panties with the shorts. My breathing was harsh, and my cheeks flushed when he grabbed my ankles and pulled my legs open.

  He leaned forward and rested his mouth by my ear. “You still have time to make me stop. I meant it, Addy.” Two of his fingers trailed up the inside of my thigh, coming dangerously close to my wet pussy. “I don't want to ruin you. I don't play nice, but the second my mouth is on your cunt, I won't be fucking playing at all.”

  I turned my face toward his, and my lips brushed his jaw when I spoke. “Then don't play.”

  He pushed two fingers inside me, and I gasped at the sudden intrusion of my body. Heat rushed over me as he pumped them inside me and gripped the back of my neck. “You have until I reach 'one' to make me stop. Five.” He dragged his mouth down my neck. “Four.” His tongue circled my nipple, and he pressed his thumb against my clit. “Three.” He released my neck, licking down my stomach and dipping his tongue into my naval, falling back onto his knees, still bending forward. “Two.” His mouth hovered over my pussy, and he pulled his fingers from my me. “One and a half...”

  I half-laughed, half-gasped as he dipped his fingers back inside me.

  He grasped my ass with both hands and lifted my hips. “Fucking. One.” He slowly ran his tongue up the length of my pussy, from my ass to my clit.

  I threw my arm over my eyes as he zoned in on my clit. Pleasure rocketed through me like waves as he worshipped that tiny spot, rolling his tongue over it again and again. I writhed against him as he fucked me with his mou
th, bringing me close the edge before he pulled back and stretched his tongue inside my pussy inside.

  I was mumbling incoherently. I didn't know if I was begging for more, for the end, or if I was just pleading his name. The only thing I was sure I knew was that I didn't want him to stop but he needed to stop right now.

  “Please tell me you have a condom,” he rasped, his fingers tightening on my thighs like all his retraint was being channeled through his touch.

  I nodded and waved toward my nightstand. I was the kind of girl who was prepared for every situation, and apparently having sex with my assassin was one of those.

  The drawer slammed open and shut within seconds, and I propped myself up on my elbows to look at him. Hunter dropped his pants, and my throat went dry as he pulled down his boxers. The tip of his cock was just free when he noticed me watching him. His lips tugged up on one side, and the look in his eyes was heated and predatory, but amusement glinted, too.

  “I thought you didn't play.”

  My words were a challenge, one that sobered him.

  The smirk dropped, along with his boxers, and his cock sprung free from the constraints of the fabric. Desire hit me like a tidal wave as he ripped open the packet and pulled out the condom. He grabbed his long, hard cock in a firm grip and rolled on the protection.

  I was never surer that a guy touching his own cock was the hottest fucking thing ever.

  The second the condom was on fully, Hunter climbed back onto the bed over me and grabbed my hips. I half-laughed as he dragged me down to him, but he swallowed my giggle as he closed his mouth over mine.

  He was inside me seconds later.

  He had one arm around my lower back, the other fisting my hair, and he gently rocked his hips against mine. My pussy clenched around him as each thrust stoked a fire deep inside me.

  But it wasn't enough.

  After before, it wasn't enough. I knew he was more. And I was crazy, I knew it. I wanted more of him. All of him. I wanted every single inch of his predatory, black, animalistic soul.

  I wanted it to invade mine, so I could understand him. Breathe him. Feel him. Know him. I wanted to know the Hunter he was now instead of remember him as the Hunter he was, and the only way to do that was to taunt him into losing control.

  I tilted my head back and to the side, trying to ignore the pleasure that shuddered down my spine. “You're still playing,” I whispered, my mouth at his ear. “I'm not china, Hunter. I won't break if you fuck me hard.”

  He chuckled darkly. “Bella,” he rumbled in my ear. “My hard would break you.”

  “Try me.”

  “You're playing with fire, Adriana.”

  “I like the burn.”

  Another low laugh. He pulled me up so I was sitting on him and his cock was buried deep inside me. He tugged my head back, gripping tighter on my hair. “I'll do more than burn you.” He lifted me, only to drop me back down on him.

  I cried out as the first real wave of orgasm flooded over me.

  “I will fucking ruin you, Adriana. You don't want me to lose control, Principessa. Trust me.” He slammed me back down onto my back and kissed me before I could respond. He lifted one of my legs so high that he could thrust his cock inside me completely every time he moved his hips.

  I gave up on my attempt to make him lose that control as he fucked me harder than I'd ever been before. If this was him holding onto control...

  My orgasm shattered through my body like a bullet through a glass window. I was a mess of heat and pleasure and sweat as Hunter kept up his pace. My pussy clenched and tightened around him, working him as I drew every bit of heaven out of him that I could.

  Mine disappeared at the moment his hit.

  I forced my eyes open as he groaned my name in a tortured tone and leaned down over me. He relinquished his grip on my hair to cup the back of my neck and pressed a kiss to the tender spot beneath my ear. I shivered, and he rolled to the side. He took me with him, his cock still inside me, and breathed in deeply.

  I hooked my leg over his hip and my arm over his waist. He pulled me right against him, like we could get closer than we already were, and I closed my eyes. My face was buried in the curve of his neck, and I inhaled the scent of... us.

  Us.

  Coffee mixed with candy. Whiskey and cookies. Sweat and... satiation.

  I trailed my nails down his back lightly. It amazed me that something so wrong could feel so right.

  But hadn't that always been it? Me and Hunter. We'd always been wrong but right.

  He dipped his head and brushed his lips across mine. The tender touch contradicted his roughness of moments ago, even if it was controlled, and I found I liked the soft as well as the hard.

  Until he pulled out of me, kissed me once more, and stood. He turned toward my en suite, grabbing his still-wet underwear as he did so.

  I rolled over onto my front as my cheeks burned. Shit. What did I just do?

  Chapter Ten – Hunter

  I closed the bathroom door behind me and leaned against it, clutching my wet boxers tightly.

  I was a fucking idiot.

  That shouldn't have happened. And if it should have, it sure as hell shouldn't have happened like that. Out of nowhere after we'd fought and she'd slapped me. I could still feel the ache in my jaw where she'd hit me so hard.

  Hell, my jaw still ached from the first damn time she hit me.

  I felt the ache as it radiated through my bloodstream. It twisted into something gut-wrenching as my heart pumped it through my veins. I was all too familiar with the emotion. Self-loathing. I hated myself for what I just did.

  She was all over me now. Her scent was embedded into my skin, and the feeling of her cunt clenching my dick as she came would never leave me. Neither would the sound of her voice trembling as she cried my name. The marks her nails left in my back would linger far longer than the indents from her touch.

  I'd never been so fucked in my whole life.

  I needed her to stop me. She was supposed to stop me. Once I tasted her mouth, all my restraint had disappeared and nothing mattered more than having all of her.

  Why didn't she stop me?

  Now I had all of her, I didn't want it, because I was wrong.

  I didn't ruin her. It backfired.

  Adriana Romano had ruined me. And that little glimpse of my soul that had been hers was no longer a flickering candle flame. It was a roaring bush fire that was already consuming me.

  My hands shook with the desire to go back in there and do it all over again. Being inside her was the only time my mind was quiet, when I forgot all the bad shit I'd done in my life. She was the eye of a storm that canceled out everything in my existence except for the right now.

  It was dangerous.

  She was dangerous.

  She would kill me long before I'd ever be able to hurt her.

  Maybe she'd already killed me in a way. Maybe she'd been killing me slowly for her entire life. Maybe she was bringing me back to life slowly.

  Maybe was fucking shit. I didn't want maybes. I wanted to forget what just happened as much as I hated myself for thinking that.

  I rolled off the condom, slammed it into the trash can, then pulled my wet underwear on and turned back into the bedroom. Adriana had gone, and the only reminder of what we'd just done was the crumpled sheets on the bed and her clothes in a heap on the floor. I rubbed my hand across my forehead and picked up Darien's pants. It felt strange to wear them now, but I had no choice, because my own were still soaked from my dip in the pool.

  My lips twitched upward for a second. Jesus... She was crazy. It was that very mischievous streak that had made me so protective of her when we were young. I knew that if I didn't keep an eye on her, she'd wind up in trouble somehow.

  She had a way of finding it. Call it a knack, a skill, a highly troubling hobby... She always did. She always managed to walk right past people from rival families that wanted to hurt her. She always found the people I'd ultimately end up
beating the shit out of.

  If she weren't a mafia princess, she'd have been a goddamn good cop.

  I grabbed my clothes from the floor next to the pool table and the shirt she'd handed me. I rolled the remaining balls into the pockets and walked down the hall to the kitchen.

  Adriana was standing by the sink, her hip rested against the counter, holding a steaming mug of what smelled like coffee. Her cotton shorts barely covered her ass, and she'd re-braided her hair. She glanced over at me as I entered, but sipped her coffee instead of saying anything.

  Awkwardness hung in the air, and it tasted like a thousand unsaid words. I hesitated after putting my clothes and Darien's shirt on the island, next to my gun and wallet. I didn't know what I was supposed to say to her. Was I supposed to lie and say I was sorry for not stopping, although she was the one who told me to carry on? I wasn't sorry.

  I only regretted that clearly fucking her made her feel like shit, if the look on her face was anything to go by. Her normally bright blue eyes were dull, like the light had gone out, and it only made the downturn of her pretty pink lips seem sadder.

  “You don't have to stay,” she said softly, looking out of the window. “I don't need to go anywhere today. There's an alarm system, and I have a choice of three different police officers on speed dial, not to mention Darien, Armo, Angelo, and Gaige.”

  Gaige. Even the mention of his name made the hairs on my arms prickle. Fuck no was he protecting her instead of me.

  “I don't have to go,” I said back to her, leaning forward on the island. “It's not like I have a place to be.”

  “Really?” She looked at me, one dark eyebrow raised in question. “You're going to stay? What a fucking gentleman you are.”

  “No, Addy. If I was a gentleman, I wouldn't have just fucked your brains out. I'd have bought you dinner first, at least.” I smirked. I couldn't help it.

  She put down her coffee mug and opened a drawer. She pulled out a flier and threw it in my direction. “That's my favorite Italian pizza place. It's fifteen minutes away and they deliver. Try and rebuild your reputation by buying me dinner now.”