by Kiera Silver
Her eyes widened, and her anger was obviously growing. “And I thought I knew you! I didn’t realize that you’re the kind of man who would murder an FBI agent or be involved with the mob. I was trying to protect myself and my baby.”
“My baby,” he said with a fierce growl. “I can barely stand to look at you right now.”
Her lips firmed, but there was a flicker in her eyes that suggested that his words had hurt her. He hardened his heart to the urge that prompted him to comfort her. He was simply telling her the truth. “I don’t know how you can justify keeping me from my child. You were just going to let him grow up without me, weren’t you?”
She nodded again before turning away from him. Clearly, she was done with the conversation. He supposed he had better be done too, before he said something he would regret.
Instead, he turned away from the car and walked a few feet with Lucas, gently bouncing the baby in his arms. The little guy was wide awake after nursing, and he surprised Armo with a loud burp as he shifted him from his arms to his shoulder. Armo laughed as the baby cuddled nearer, his small, wet mouth grazing the column of Armo’s throat. A cascade of tender feelings overwhelmed him, and it took the edge off his anger enough that he could return to the SUV and the stunted silence that filled it.
As the car ate up the miles, he brooded about Katie’s actions, trying to decide how best to proceed. He’d been driven to find her without a full understanding of why, and now that he had her, he wasn’t sure what he had intended to do with her. Officially, he should have disposed of her and tied up the loose end of her being a witness, but he was certain that he never would have done that even if Lucas hadn’t been a part of the equation.
Now that he knew he had a son, and Katie was his mother, he couldn’t see a way of disposing of her that wouldn’t make him a villain. Keeping her alive was the right thing, and he couldn’t tear the baby away from her. It was tempting to bury her far away in a dark cell and leave her there to rot, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. It would hurt his son as much as it would hurt her.
The only reasonable option was to reintegrate her into his life. She could simply slip back into the role she had discarded so contemptuously before, but this time with different rules in place. Before, he had handled her delicately in an attempt to keep her with him. That hadn’t worked, and she had shown that she was untrustworthy.
He might have been able to forgive her running away briefly after witnessing the altercation with Parsing, but he couldn’t overlook the fact she had stayed away. Not only that, she had planned to keep him away from Lucas for the rest of his life. He couldn’t forgive the magnitude of that betrayal, and he could never trust her again.
He could, however, lose himself in her body again and assuage the bone-deep ache he still carried for her. It had been eleven months since he’d taken a woman to bed, and he’d known it was ridiculous even as he turned down multiple offers, but he couldn’t seem to find any interest in any of them.
Each time he had tried, he’d started thinking about Katie instead. Armo had tried to dismiss the reaction as pure anger that was killing his libido, now that he was near her again, he’d discovered he wanted her just as sharply as he ever had. His rage with her hadn’t tempered his desire for her.
She would pay for what she had done, she would pay dearly. She would offer her penance in his bed, at his command and at mercy to his every whim. And he had no intention of being merciful.
It was late in the evening when they arrived home, and she was surprised to find that the condo still felt like home. Everything should have been distorted by the passage of time and learning the truth about the world in which she had lived with Armo. Instead, it felt peaceful and serene, and she was glad to be back in familiar surroundings, even if it was only for a little while.
Lucas was asleep against Armo’s shoulder, since he had insisted on removing the baby from the car seat in the car instead of bringing it in. She carried the seat and followed forlornly behind them up the stairs, assuming the last call Armo had received from Sophia a couple of hours ago had detailed where she had left the supplies to set up a makeshift nursery.
They entered the master bedroom, and everything was set up in a semblance of a nursery. There was a pack-and-play instead of a crib, and a fancy-looking swing that she was certain Lucas probably wouldn’t use much, since he liked to be carried and walked when he was feeling fussy rather than soothed by a swing. There was also a changing table stacked with diapers, and all the myriad things a baby could need.
She was unsurprised when she opened the armoire that hadn’t been in the room before and found it crammed full of baby clothes. She was probably looking at thousands of dollars of merchandise, and it made her feel slightly ill that she couldn’t have provided these things for her son in a million years, no matter how hard she would have worked.
She sniffed, wrinkling her nose. “It smells like Lucas needs a diaper change. I think you can handle that. I’m going to the bathroom.” She might as well let Armo have all the tasks of fatherhood, since he seemed to be so eager to embrace it. Without awaiting a reply, she disappeared into the en suite bathroom and did her business, lingering a few minutes longer to ensure that he had plenty of time to change the diaper before returning to the bedroom.
She was so startled by the sight before her that her mouth dropped open slightly. Armo lay on his back on the mattress with Lucas resting on his stomach. The baby was holding up his head and cooing at his father while reaching out to pat the stubbly growth of whiskers on his cheek. It was so sweet that it sent a pang of regret through her that it couldn’t always be like this and hadn’t been until now. If only things have been different…
If only Armo hadn’t been a murdering mobster.
With a sigh, she pushed aside any stirrings of regret and approached the bed cautiously, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared down at them. “How is this going to work? You don’t have a guestroom, so where are you going to sleep?”
He seemed surprised by the question, though he barely glanced her way before looking back at Lucas, appearing enthralled. “Right here.”
She rolled her eyes, trying to think where she could sleep. “I guess I could sleep on the loveseat in the media room for now, since you’ll be here to hear him when he wakes. You’ll have to bring him to me to nurse when he wakes up though.”
“No, I won’t.”
Impatience stirred, and she struggled to find an even tone. “I’m afraid you will unless you’re planning to wean him early so you can get rid of me. You should know that most authorities on the subject consider nursing vital until twelve months, maybe longer… just in case you’re planning to kill me.” She struggled to sound cool and unaffected, but her voice wobbled when she spoke the word kill.
This time when he looked at her, she seemed to have his full attention. “I’m not going to kill you, and you’re not going to sleep in the media room.”
A surge of relief filled her, but it was tempered by caution. “Then where am I supposed to sleep? Will you put me on the floor like a dog? Is that part of my punishment?”
He laughed softly, though it was difficult to tell if it was in reply to her comments or the way Lucas let out a happy squeal as his fingers slipped in the side of Armo’s mouth, and he tugged on his father’s lip. “You’ll sleep just where you’ve always slept, right beside me. Of course, I’ll be sleeping with one eye open now that I know I can’t trust you, but it’s the best compromise.”
Her mouth dropped open in shock. “Are you crazy? We can’t go back to where we were.”
He looked up at her again, nodding just once. “Very true, but you can go back to where you belong, which is servicing my every need. You owe me, and you’re going to pay for everything you’ve done. I can think of no better way than having you and that luscious body obeying my every command.”
She shook her head, turning away from him. “You’re so full of crap. We both know you don’t mean any
of that.” Without looking at him again, she stormed from the bedroom and went straight to the media room. It had been a long day, and she was tired, so she curled up on the loveseat and covered herself with the afghan as she settled down and tried to sleep.
Despite her exhaustion, sleep was elusive, and she stared at the ceiling of the room while she turned his words over in her mind. He was clearly fucking with her, trying to prolong her torture, but the anger behind his words had been real. She shivered to remember them again, imagining all the horrible things he wanted to do to her, but was constrained from doing because Lucas needed her.
What would happen when Lucas no longer needed her? What would he do with her then?
She had no answer, and it left her in a sleepless state as her mind worried at questions with no answers.
Breakfast was a tense affair, and they barely spoke. She didn’t formally sit at the table and eat with him. She just happened to be serving herself freshly made oatmeal when he came in with Lucas in his arms, holding out the baby. She shifted her position in the chair so she could take the baby and allow him to nurse while she ate a bowl as quickly as she could.
It was only after she’d gotten up and put her bowl in the sink, switching Lucas to the other breast as she started to leave the room, that he spoke to her at all. “I wasn’t joking. Tonight, I’d better find you in my bed and ready to do whatever I want.”
She lifted her middle finger in an obscene gesture as she strode from the room, uncertain if he was torturing her, or if he was serious. Either way, she certainly had no intention of curling up in his bed and waiting for him like a sacrificial virgin. He could go fuck himself, but he wasn’t going to fuck her.
It had been another long day, and Armo still wasn’t back by the time she was ready for bed. She was tired, but she wasn’t about to climb into his bed as she had been commanded. Instead, she laid a blanket on the floor and took a pillow from the linen closet. She didn’t want a pillow that had been anywhere near him in case it smelled like him.
She would have slept in the media room again, but without him there to listen for Lucas, and without baby monitors, one of the few things Sophia had overlooked during her shopping spree, there was no alternative but to sleep in the bedroom. She hoped that curling up on the floor would send the message she wanted it to, and thanks to her sleepless night the previous evening, she had little trouble falling asleep despite the uncomfortable floor.
She woke sometime later to an odd sensation, abruptly realizing that someone was carrying her. Her eyes flew open, and she glared at Armo as he dropped her on his bed. “I was fine on the floor.”
He glared down at her. “You’re back where you belong, but why am I not surprised you didn’t comply without difficulty?”
She started to scramble up, trying to scoot out of his way as he laid on the bed beside and atop her. She swallowed a thick lump in her throat when she realized that he was wearing absolutely nothing. It was clear what his intentions were, and she was going to do her best to thwart them, but that meant also thwarting her own urges. To complicate the issue, her body suddenly roared back to life, an experience she hadn’t had in months, and certainly for no one besides the man now lying half on top of her, pinning her to the soft mattress. “Let me up.”
“Right now the baby is asleep. I checked on him, and he looks to be out for a while longer, which gives me plenty of time to do some of the things I’ve been thinking about doing all day long.”
She tried to heave him off her. “I’m not going back to your bed or back to what we had before. I don’t want you anymore, and I sure don’t want this.”
He laughed in her face. “Don’t expect me to believe that. You were always like a cat in heat, and I don’t believe that’s changed. Hell, you fucked me less than twenty-four hours after we met.”
Her face flushed with embarrassment at the reminder of how quickly she had jumped into his bed. It had been an anomaly for her, but the fact that he would throw it back in her face now made her furiously angry. Before she could think better of it, she slapped him across the cheek as hard as she could. Katie winced at the sound of her palm connecting with his flesh, and his curse followed a second later. She stilled, tempted to apologize, but wasn’t given the opportunity.
A second later, Armo grasped her wrists in his hands and pushed them to the bed, sliding his body the rest of the way over hers to pin her to the mattress. His mouth covered hers in a rough kiss, one of territorialism rather than true passion. She held out for as long as she could, hating herself even as her lips parted, and her resolve weakened. When his tongue slipped into her mouth, she should have bitten it, but instead she just caressed it with her own. It had been too long since they had touched, and she craved the taste of him.
He nudged a knee between her thighs, forcing them apart so he could lie between them. She offered halfhearted resistance, bucking her hips even as she allowed him to deepen the kiss. His hands were like manacles around her wrists, keeping her confined, and her heart and mind knew this was all wrong, even as her body begged for more.
Armo’s cock pressed against the contours of her pussy, separated only by the thin fabric of her panties. She tried bucking him off again, but realized she was only exciting both of them in the process. From somewhere, she drew a reserve of strength and managed to pull her mouth from his as she glared up at him. “Let go of me!”
“No.”
“I don’t want this!”
His hands tightened even more around her wrists, and he shrugged in a careless gesture. “Right now, I don’t give a fuck what you want, Katie. I want your pussy wrapped around my cock, and that’s what I’m going to have. Don’t even pretend you aren’t wet and ready for it, because we both know that’s a lie. Your panties are soaking wet. I can feel it with my cock. You want this just as much as you ever did.”
She had intended to reject his words with her own harsh declarative, but only a small moan escaped her when he circled his hips, deliberately pressing the head of his cock deeper into her slit, where it nestled against her folds. She could feel the heat of him even through the thin cotton separating them, mingling with the pre-cum oozing from the tip, and she suddenly wanted his dick in her mouth. She had missed this so much, and she was poised on the edge of surrender.
“You’ll always be panting for me.” He thrust against her again while bending his head to kiss her once more.
Tears of shame burned in her eyes, but she didn’t try to turn away from the kiss this time. He was right. She was always ready for sex when it came to Armo. That he was treating her so despicably, yet was still able to turn her on, spoke volumes about her. She didn’t deserve respect or consideration if she couldn’t suppress her own reactions.
He removed one hand from her wrist, grasping both with his other one to keep her arms pinned above her head. The hand he allowed to slip free now wandered down her body, pausing to squeeze with surprising gentleness on her right breast. “It’s so much bigger. You always had nice breasts, but now they’re so lush and full.”
She looked away from him, not acknowledging his words, even as her body betrayed her. Her nipple hardened, and as he bent his head to trace his tongue over the tip, she let out a mingled sob and moan.
“See, Katie?” Grasping her chin as he lifted himself up, still using his body to hold hers down, he forced her to look in his direction. His gaze locked with hers as he loomed over her. “Your body’s begging for me. I want to hear you say it.”
“Say what?” she asked wearily, a wave of exhaustion sweeping through her from all their fighting. Even that wasn’t enough to prevent her own wanton reaction.
“Beg me to fuck you, and I will.”
She glared at him as she shook her head. “No way.”
He thrust against her again as he circled his hips, hitting the spot that always drove her wild. “Beg me.”
She shook her head, holding out as he continued torturing her sensually, first by thrusting against her a few mo
re times, and then by slipping his fingers into the side of her underwear to seek out the heat of her slit. She moaned when he rubbed his fingers across the swollen bud of her clit, her supersensitive flesh sending shutters of arousal through her at the lightest touch. As he stroked and caressed her, pushing her toward the edge of orgasm, she could feel her resolve weakening further still, and when he brought her just to the edge, but would not allow her to slip over, she let out a sob of frustration.
“Do you want to get off, Katie?”
She nodded frantically, no longer in full possession of her faculties, lost as she was in a maelstrom of need and desire.
“You know how to make that happen. Just beg me.”
She let out a harsh breath, surrender sweeping over her. “I’m begging you to fuck me, you sadistic bastard.”
He chuckled, clearly enjoying her discomfort. Seconds later, his fingers slipped from between her thighs, and he stood up. He looked completely unaffected, except for the rigid erectness of his cock lying almost against his belly. “Not tonight. I have a headache.”
She was pretty sure she said some unflattering things to him, though she tried not to surrender to the urge to scream as Armo calmly turned away from her, gathered up his clothes, and left the bedroom. She was mass of frustration, but what bothered her the most was the gaping hole in her soul. She couldn’t believe Armo had treated her that way, and that she had allowed it.
She had more than allowed it. She had begged for him at the end, just as he’d wanted, and then he’d refused. If this was how he planned to punish her every night, she was going to go out of her mind in no time. Somehow, she had to find a way to strengthen her defenses against Armo, and she had to discover it quickly. Otherwise, she had already lost more than the first battle in the war brewing between them. She had lost everything.
