by Bethany-Kris
On her knees looking up, Alessa exhaled heavily. Adriano was leaning down with his fingers still firmly tangled in her hair. He used one hand to cup her cheek before driving it down over her racing pulse point on her neck.
Alessa shivered. “God.”
“You know it has got be something fucking good to take you to your knees, Lissa.”
She whined under her breath, sweet and needy. “That’s not fair. You never play fair with me. You always win.”
“Because you’re mine,” he murmured.
“I can’t be yours.”
“Too bad.”
Alessa’s lashes fluttered as Adriano ran his hand down her neck again. He kept his other hand firmly seated in her hair, keeping her in place. She trusted him. He didn’t know how to hurt her.
Wetness coated Alessa’s bottom lashes, but she didn’t try to wipe the tears away. Adriano bent down again and kissed her softer the second time.
“I’ll be okay,” she whispered as he pulled away.
“No, you won’t,” Adriano muttered.
Alessa swallowed hard. “Probably not.”
“You’re not his. You’re not marrying him.”
“No,” she agreed.
“And why not?”
Adriano waited, still and quiet. He let Alessa have her time and boundaries. He let her build as many walls as she needed around her heart to keep him from reaching too deep. He took his goddamn time with her so that she knew exactly what she wanted.
There was no mistaking anything about them. She wanted him.
“Why not, Alessa?” Adriano repeated. “Tell me.”
“Because I love you. And I have for a long time.”
Adriano tugged Alessa back to her feet. He held tight to her face, refusing to let her go. Tilting her head back so he could stare down into those wide eyes of hers, he found home.
“Do you know how long I’ve wanted to hear you say that?” he asked gruffly.
“A long time.”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know what to do about Joel,” Alessa admitted.
“I’ll figure something out,” he said thickly.
“I missed you.”
“I didn’t chase off the jerk, huh?”
Alessa laughed. “Dean is such an asshole.”
“Yeah, he is.”
“And he kept … touching me,” Alessa practically spat out.
Adriano burned red hot inside. “Touched you?”
“All night at the dinner. And I heard Joel talking to them when I came back from the bathroom. Dean was trying to convince him to let me live with him before we’re even actually engaged. I can’t do that, Adriano. I would rather die.”
“Don’t say that,” Adriano demanded, letting his thumb trail along her bottom lip. “Never say that.”
“He’s a pig!”
“Hush.” Adriano pulled her into his embrace and let Alessa bury her face in his chest. Holding her close was better. “It won’t happen. I’ll make sure of it.”
Adriano simply needed a plan. There was only one place he could go to make it all happen: his father.
“But my brother and the Outfit—”
Adriano shook his head, quieting Alessa’s rebuttal instantly. “Needs a new boss. It won’t be Joel.”
Especially not after Joel tried to light Adriano up with the shooting. Adriano decided not to mention that to Alessa. She didn’t need to know, for one thing. And for another, there was no absolute proof it was Joel. Like the coward he was, Joel wouldn’t admit a damn thing. He liked letting other people take the blame.
Alessa blew out a heavy breath, looking up at him again. “Did your father do it? Terrance, I mean.”
Adriano lifted one shoulder in response. “He says no.”
“Why do I hear a but in there somewhere?”
“Because I don’t believe him, Lissa.”
Alessa’s face fell. “Oh.”
Adriano hated the pain on Alessa’s pretty features. It was like a knife to his gut, opening up his insides for the world to see. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Maybe, but that doesn’t make it any better. I don’t entirely trust my father, either.” Adriano scowled, wishing he had a different option when it came to getting help for Alessa. “He’s playing some kind of game I don’t want to be a part of.”
“I know he’s angry about your mom.”
Adriano scoffed. “No, he isn’t. He plays that part well, but it’s just a front. You can’t believe or trust anyone in this business, Alessa. Especially not my father.”
Alessa spread her hands wide over Adriano’s broad chest. “I don’t want to talk about all of this right now. You’re here and that’s what matters.”
Adriano grinned. “Oh?”
“Very.”
“I’m still pissed,” he said honestly.
Alessa nodded. “I know.”
And if Dean touched Alessa again …
Adriano shuddered with his rage, unable to hide it.
“Hey,” Alessa whispered sweetly, her fingers skipping over his clenching jaw. “I know that look, Adriano.”
Chuckling, he asked, “Do you?”
“All too well.” Alessa flashed a quick smile. “Don’t be jealous.”
“I can’t help it. And that man doesn’t understand the word no.”
Alessa glanced away. “I’ll handle him.”
“Somehow, right?”
“Somehow,” she echoed.
Fuck.
Leaning up on the tips of her toes, Alessa pressed a kiss to Adriano’s mouth. It was fast and fleeting, but it still woke up every nerve in his body. His cock ached under his jeans. The need to have this girl all over him thrummed hard and deep.
“Kiss me like that again,” Alessa whispered. “You’re right. It’s always best when you put me on my knees.”
“Dirty girl.” Adriano smirked. “Is that all you want?”
“We’ll see.”
Adriano pushed against the small of Alessa’s back, driving her into him. He kissed her, stealing kisses before she gave them, and turned them around to walk her backward. She tasted like sin on his tongue, just like always.
Alessa broke the kiss just as her back hit the trunk of the willow. “What—” Her question abruptly cut off as his hands drove under the skirt of her flimsy dress. The sound of her gasp melted into a low, airless moan when Adriano fisted her panties and yanked them down around her thighs.
“Jesus Christ,” she said, laughing. “You’re impatient.”
“I don’t like waiting, Lissa.”
“I know. You never did.”
Alessa spread her legs wider. Her thighs shook, but Adriano wasn’t sure if that was because of him or her nerves. Cupping her bare pussy in his palm, he could feel her juices seeping onto his hand. She was soaked and hot to the touch. Her sex felt like warm satin against his skin. He squeezed the supple, wet flesh.
“Shit, you want me bad, Alessa.”
“So bad.”
“So wet,” he murmured against her lips.
Alessa sighed the sexiest sound as he swept two fingers through the lips of her pussy, dragging her wetness up to her clit. “For you, always.”
“Just me, pretty girl.”
Adriano caught her first cry with his lips and muffled the sound as he circled her clit with light strokes. Alessa’s second cry whispered over his jaw when he teased his fingers down to her entrance and thrust inside to find her wetter than ever and clenching hard around his digits.
“Fuck, Adriano.”
“Mmm. Love that,” he said through gritted teeth.
Alessa’s teeth bit down into her bottom lip. Her hips canted into his hand over and over, meeting every plunge of his fingers. He could feel her arousal coating his digits and smearing to her thighs. He loved seeing her pussy sticky and slick with her come. The sounds of her juices and pussy sucking his fingers in for more was fucking glorious. Spreading his fingers wide
on the withdrawal, he could feel her tremble a little more.
“Love that,” Adriano repeated. “My name in your mouth, Alessa. That’s all I ever need to hear—all I ever want to fucking hear. No one else does this for you, hmm. Just me.”
“You,” she breathed.
He was the only one who had ever touched this girl. Adriano knew it. He didn’t need Alessa to confirm it. Nobody had her, knew her sounds and tastes and the way she fucked like he did.
Catching her wrists in his palm, Adriano pinned Alessa’s arms on the tree high above her head. She tilted her head back, exposing the pale expanse of her neck to him. He bit and licked a line up her neck, over her racing pulse and up to her jaw.
“Don’t you move,” Adriano ordered.
Alessa swallowed hard, nodding. “Okay.”
“Let me fuck this beautiful pussy of yours with my fingers, stay still, and I’ll give you everything you need.”
Alessa watched him under her thick lashes as he nipped her jaw. “Mmm.”
“Do you want to come?” he asked huskily.
“Yes.”
“Hmm?”
“Please, Adriano,” she pleaded.
His strokes inside her pussy had been gentle, teasing touches meant to work Alessa higher and closer to coming. Adriano liked nothing better than seeing her squirm and moan under his want. He knew her body and what she liked. He knew exactly how to touch Alessa to make her stutter, shake, and come undone in seconds.
Alessa was sex on legs to Adriano. Pure sin. When she was chasing her orgasm, the girl just didn’t give a damn. She was wild in her movements, frantic in her chase. She rode his hand as hard as he fucked her with it.
“There,” Adriano said, curling his fingers with the next thrust. He knew the spot inside her walls and hit it perfectly. The next stroke of his fingers over her G-spot had her juices soaking him even more. “Right there, Lissa. Christ, feel you holding me so fucking tight.”
Alessa’s eyes flew wide. “Oh!”
“Get it, Lissa,” Adriano urged gruffly. “Let go for me, give it to me. I want your come all over my hand, covering me. Come.”
She came hard with her teeth clenching and her fingernails digging into his palm. Adriano caught her broken shout with his mouth, swallowing the sweet sounds she made as the walls of her sex shuddered around his fingers.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Adriano groaned, loving the feeling of Alessa.
It never got old.
Nothing with her ever did.
Alessa’s chest heaved with her heavy breaths. “I bet I look like a fucking mess right now.”
Her hair was mussed, her lips pink from his kisses, and her dress crinkled from his handling.
“No, you look sexy as fuck,” Adriano said.
Alessa laughed. “You would say that.”
“Of course. I don’t know how to lie to you, Lissa.”
“I like that.”
Adriano smirked wickedly. “Good to know.”
“Abriella said she would cover for me if needed and Joel was already sleeping when I snuck out, but I should probably get back.”
No way.
“Nope,” Adriano said. “Run away with me for the night.”
Alessa’s eyes widened. “You’re joking, right?”
“No. You said it—your brother is sleeping and Abriella covered for you. I’ll get you back before morning. We’ve done this before. Who is going to know?”
And he missed her. So badly.
Alessa glanced over her shoulder, peering through the thick branches of the willow tree. The Trentini mansion loomed in the background. “This is reckless. Right now, doing that would be stupid.”
“Maybe,” Adriano agreed. “But they’ve already ruined everything else. We’re not going to be one of them.”
Turning his hand over, Adriano offered it to Alessa. She took his hand without hesitating.
“Run away with me for the night,” he said again.
“I don’t know how to say no to you, Adriano.”
“You always did before.”
Alessa laughed. “No, I’m just a really good liar.”
Damn.
Alessa grabbed Adriano’s hand and tugged. “Come on.”
“I hate that fucking thing, Alessa.”
“But I don’t.”
Adriano chuckled deeply. “All right. Chill, woman.”
Navy Pier was still wide awake with people and lights despite being a little after midnight.
“Hold up,” Adriano said, stopping at a booth designated for selling tickets.
Turning to the girl waiting behind the Plexiglas window, he ordered two tickets.
Alessa grinned as Adriano paid for the required tickets and slipped the printed out stubs into his back pocket. Adriano wasn’t fond of being one-hundred-fifty feet in the air inside a rocking cage. Heights weren’t his favorite thing. But he agreed to let Alessa pick whatever she wanted to do for their night away, and she wanted the Ferris Wheel.
What Alessa wanted, Adriano gave. Especially if it made her smile.
Adriano tucked Alessa into his embrace as they waited in line. He constantly scanned the crowd of people, looking for someone who might recognize them. He didn’t notice anyone.
It wasn’t such a surprise. The families inside the Outfit were so busy trying to tear one another apart, or rather, keep from being torn apart that they probably didn’t have any interest in being out having fun.
That, and it was too dangerous. Even Adriano felt strange being out in the open. Like he had to look over his shoulder for a man waiting for his mark.
“Hey,” Alessa whispered.
Adriano glanced down at his lover, smiling as her fingertips traced his lips. “Hmm?”
“I’m here, Adriano.”
“I’m very aware of where you are at the moment, Lissa.”
“So be with me,” she said.
Adriano dropped his worries instantly. “Yeah, okay.”
As the man controlling the gate for the Ferris Wheel waved the couple in, Adriano dug into his pocket and pulled out the tickets and his wallet. He quickly shoved a hundred dollar bill between the tickets and nodded at the people waiting behind them in line. Each carriage could hold several people, but Adriano wanted to take Alessa up on the ride alone. The guy smiled and nodded before holding up his hand to stop anyone else from following behind Alessa and Adriano.
When the door closed and latched, Alessa eyed the people wearing grumpy expressions. Adriano guided her to the bench on the far side of the carriage and sat down. Alessa snuggled into his side, letting Adriano hold her close.
“You paid him to let us in alone, didn’t you?” she asked.
Adriano shrugged. “Yep.”
“You just don’t want people seeing you freak out over the height.”
As the Ferris Wheel began to move again, Adriano tipped Alessa’s head back and kissed her, claiming her mouth with demanding strikes of his tongue. He was a starved man when he kissed Alessa—her mouth and kiss was the water sedating a thirst that beat inside his body. By the time he let her go, Alessa was flushed and breathless.
“No, Lissa. I didn’t want people seeing me doing that.”
“Oh,” she mouthed, still grinning. “You’re bad tonight.”
Adriano scoffed darkly. “I’m bad every night.”
“I never get to see it.”
“Someday you might.”
Alessa winked but said nothing.
Once the Ferris Wheel had made a quarter of its loop, it stopped again. Adriano looked down over the side wall but he couldn’t see very far beyond the roof of the carriage below. He got the same view looking up.
“You’re looking the wrong way,” Alessa said.
“Oh?”
“Yes, see—” Alessa pointed straight out over the pier where the lights of the grounds cascaded in colors. “—look there.”
Adriano didn’t take his eyes off her for a second. “Yeah, the perfect view.”
&n
bsp; Alessa tucked her head into Adriano’s shoulder and quieted as the Ferris Wheel began to turn again. The ride made one entire rotation and just as their carriage came close to the very top for a second time, rain began to fall down fast from the sky. Wind rocked the carriage, swaying it gently from the force. The rain quickly turned into a pounding torrent. At least the roof and mostly enclosed space kept them safe from getting too wet.
“Jesus,” Adriano muttered.
Alessa laughed. “Scared?”
“No, but if I see lightning, we’re climbing the fuck down.”
“Sure we are.”
Adriano held Alessa a little tighter as the ride stopped completely. They rested at the very top of one-hundred-fifty feet. It wasn’t uncommon for the ride to stop if a storm dropped down suddenly, just for safety. The carriages down below couldn’t be seen through the sheet of rain.
Alessa shivered.
“Cold?” Adriano asked.
“A little.”
Before he could even try to correct that for her, Alessa climbed into his lap. Adriano was lost the moment Alessa’s lips touched his. There was nothing soft or innocent about her kiss. She was forceful and demanding, her teeth scraping along his lip as her tongue dove into his mouth. Her breathing was harsh and ragged, pushing her sweet tits into his chest.
Adriano pushed the skirt of her dress higher and she worked at the button and zipper of his pants. Air cut past Adriano’s lips in a hiss when Alessa’s hand slipped under his boxer-briefs and wrapped around his cock.
Hot, smooth, and soft.
Her quick, firm strokes worked him from the base to the tip, hardening his cock. The idea of sex outside, in a public place, only made his lust thrum deeper. They certainly couldn’t be seen. Not with the rain and the wind pounding down like it was while they were high in the air.
That didn’t make the thought any less hot or intense.
“This will be new,” Alessa whispered.
Adriano cocked a brow. “Who’s the bad one again?”
Alessa only grinned.
“Shit,” Adriano mumbled as her fingernail dragged over the head of his cock. The tip of her finger smeared his pre-cum down along the underside of his shaft. “Stop teasing me, Lissa. Either you want to fuck, or you want to make me come. I’m good with both but make up your goddamn mind.”
