by Meg Watson
I barely remember the question I'm answering, but I know the answer can only be Yes. I can't fight this anymore. I can't deny that this is the only thing that's ever been really right in my life. These men and me. This perfect and complete union.
Nico pulls back, gazing down at me with half-lidded eyes. He draws his lips in between his teeth, and I know he's tasting me again.
“Let's get out of here,” he says. I nod.
As if in a dream, we walk out the front door. We’re not standing too close, but we’re not especially hiding it either. Things are going to be different now, I can tell. We’re not going to be secretive. We’re not going be lying. Everything needs to just be what it is. I don't owe anybody an explanation, and I'm not lying again, not ever.
The streets go by in a blur back to my townhouse. My skin is buzzing with excitement the entire way. I barely recognize the miles passing. It feels like I’ve been away for such a long time, though it's scarcely been more than a week.
Tek parks the minivan in the sloping driveway of my townhome and opens the door for me. Nico hops out too, coming around with his eyes on me. I can see the hunger in his expression: the way his lips are parted, the way his heart beats like a hummingbird in the space between his collarbones.
But before we go inside, Tek sweeps the neighborhood. His eyes go everywhere, looking for threats of any kind. I love that, how instinctual it is for him to always be looking out for me. I miss that. It makes me feel so safe.
We burst through the front door, stumbling into the empty foyer. It’s dark in the house and I flick the switch for the chandelier, marveling at how the softly reflected light bathes my two handsome men in such a glow.
I gaze at both of them: taller than me, stronger than me, each with such a look of devotion in their eyes. They would do anything for me, I know. And they have. They sacrificed for me. They suffered for me. They waited for me, and now they're here for me. What else can I do but give myself to them?
As though he can read my mind, Nico sweeps me up. I lock my ankles around his hips as he begins to climb the stairs, relishing the feeling of his buttocks and thighs working underneath my muscles. Tek dashes past us heading for the bedroom. I can hear him in there, moving things around, making a place for us to land.
In seconds, Nico and I are in the bedroom, but we don't even make it to the bed. We fall the floor, landing on the plush shaggy rug that stretches across the middle.
Nico’s lips are everywhere, and I feel Tek’s fingers coming around behind me, tugging at the hem of my blouse. I break from Nico's mouth for a moment to turn my head, accepting Tek’s hot, urgent kisses as my fingers bounce over the ridges of his sculpted abs. I drag my fingers along the hem of his trousers, lingering there as he shivers and moans lightly.
“Oh my God, Charli…”
“I know, baby, I know,” I tell him. I really do know. I can feel his urgency, his desire. I feel like it's been building for me this entire time that we've been apart. We waited so long, and I don't want to wait anymore.
I roll on my back and just let them devour me. Hands everywhere. Mouths everywhere. My skin is on fire with sensations as they both simultaneously undress and caress me. Fireworks go off from my fingers up to my shoulders and I hear myself as though from far away, moaning like an animal.
In the half-light, I can't be sure which one is Nico and which one is Tek. They keep swapping places, acting like I'm a meal they can't get enough of. But it doesn't matter, does it? Everything goes together. Everything blends into one beautiful, extraordinary sensation.
I feel a hand at the back of my knee and let that hand open my legs. I feel someone's nose nuzzling the outer curve of my breasts as a warmth spreads between my legs and I realized that is a kiss. I hear my name over and over again and open my legs further, finally acknowledging the urgency that builds inside me.
“Please, Charli,” I hear Nico say, and I know exactly what he means.
“Yes, yes! Take me. Both of you, take me now!”
Without another hesitation, I feel a hand on my waist and I'm rolled over with Nico underneath me. I kiss him hard, drawing his tongue into my mouth as he pushes my hips down further. His erection slides against my slick furrow, somehow thicker than I remember, hard as a rock. I want him so badly, but I want to wait for Tek. I want Tek at the same time.
I don't even have to ask for it. I feel Tek shift as he positions himself directly behind me. His hands trace over the curve of my buttocks, moving his thumbs in slow, luxurious circles. I feel my body open for both of them as the twin heads of their cocks press against me, one at my front opening, and one at my rear opening.
With a simultaneous moan, they both enter me at once. The sensation is overwhelming. I'm almost too full, but that passes in just a second. After that, I'm simply complete. I feel them both slowly edging deeper and deeper inside me, their twin cocks separated only by a thin membrane.
They’re being gentle with me, but they don't have to. I think they forgot how sturdy I am. Or maybe they're just savoring it. I know I am.
Like a thousand times before, they both withdraw, then press in again, further this time. They ebb, and then they flow. Tek’s weight behind me presses me down, crushing me into Nico.
All I have to do is submit. I relax my hips, think about just letting them in, just allowing them to have every inch of me. And they are: both of them surging deep inside me... pulsing, thrusting, driving to the middle of me.
Faster and faster they go. I claw the carpet for leverage and let them plunge right to the center of me until my body explodes in bliss, filling me with light and sound and unspeakable ecstasy.
They shout at the same time, as though hearing me come sparks off a chain reaction. They climax in a rush of fireworks that saturates my entire body, rocking against me, shaking me nearly to pieces with their strength.
“Oh, Charli… Charli…”
“Oh, my baby…”
Their satisfied murmurs and heavy breathing fill my ears. I roll to my side and we lay there for long moments, breathing in and out, riding on waves of pleasure.
Nico withdraws, gripping my hip for leverage and kissing me gently along the top of my breasts. Tek’s fingers trail along the curve between my waist and my hip, back and forth, over and over.
I don't know how I lived without this. I don't remember how I convinced myself that life was okay without it. This is the love that I always needed.
It's been seven years since we could be together and be honest with each other about what we really are. And what we really are... is a family.
EPILOGUE - TEK
Charli is in her usual spot, the table in the corner. She's talking to a couple of local grandmas who want to start a bakery. When I walk in, she gives me a quick look, quirking her eyebrow at me, reminding me that I'm the most important thing in the room.
I love that about her.
Gus is in the back, playing cards with Nico. As soon as I come in, Gus lays down his cards.
“Gin.”
Nico pushes his hair back with the heel of his hand. “Of course you got Gin. I don't even know, why do I play with you? You always win.”
“I don't know why you play with him either. Isn’t he supposed be doing his homework?” I remind him.
“It's all done, old man. You want to do something useful, why don’t you fix the big mixer? Something’s wrong with it again.”
Nico jerks his chin at the Hobart in the corner. Those things are about six hundred pounds. Quite a beast. It does seem to be breaking down a lot, but I don't have the heart to let it go. It's a classic. A mechanical wonder.
“Can I help you with that?” Gus says, his face going bright with interest.
Now I remember why I can’t get rid of anything. “Sure you can help me with that,” I assure him. “We will have it running in no time.”
He grins up at me. Those two front teeth are starting to come in, but a couple others are gone now. He seems to be changing before our eye
s. I touch him on the shoulder, just a little squeeze.
“Gus, I need to talk to Don Nico. Can you go check on that chowder? I think maybe needs be put up for the night.”
Gus trots out, and I take his chair. Nico gives me that look, the one where I'm supposed to just say what's on my mind.
“You get it?”
“Yeah I got it, but I’m not sure Charli is going to think this is a good idea.”
Nico shrugs. “What else are we gonna do? We gotta make an honest woman of her sometime.”
I fish the box out of my pocket and put it on the table. Nico just stares at it, not wanting to turn it around.
“Question is, are you ready,” I ask him. “You're looking a little pale there, brother.”
“Oh I'm ready if you're ready,” Nico shoots back. He certainly doesn't want to be outdone in the manly responsibilities category. “You just say the word. You want to do it now?”
“I wanted to do it seven years ago,” I counter.
“Yeah right,” he rolls his eyes. “As I recall, you had plenty of chances seven years ago. Nobody gives a shit about that anymore. The point is, we won't waste this chance.”
“Okay but… will it be real, is the thing.”
He pulls a face. “What do you mean, real? What's more real than this?”
“I just mean it won't be like legal or whatever. Doesn’t that bother you?”
Nico purses his lips, nodding slowly. Sometimes I think this Underboss title has gone a bit his head. Looks like he's impersonating Don Dante over there.
“You gotta remember, Tek, this isn’t it for anything legal. This is for Charli. This is for what she feels, and what we know. It's all about us, fuck everybody else.”
“Heart of a poet, Nico,” I nod. But he's right. It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks anymore. We get up and head back out to the front of our little deli, to where Charli usually conducts her business.
Honestly, what does it matter what everybody else thinks? Nobody seems to notice the Charli's the first lady Capo, ever. She's a made man, but not a man. She just runs loans out of this corner of our perfectly respectable deli, keeping the neighborhood alive and thriving. Nobody thinks twice about the fact that she is a woman. They just come to her when they need something, and she just makes things happen.
It's a family business, what can I say?
“Rita, nice to see you,” I say as I come up, palming the ring box and slipping it into my pocket. The grandmas have left the building.
Charli tilts her head to the side, tucking her bangs behind her ear. She does not look entirely pleased with whatever they have been talking about.
“Rita was just telling me about her new boyfriend,” she fills us in, and from the tone of her voice I can tell that there is more to the story.
Rita rolls her eyes and chuckles nervously. “He isn’t my boyfriend. He is a man. He’s a man-friend.”
Nico takes a chair and turns it backward, sitting down in it and assuming an air of superiority.
“And who is this man?”
Charli squints and answers for her.
“Dimi Petrov.”
Nico and I look at each other. This is not good.
“That sounds Russian,” I say, though I really don't have to.
Rita waves her hand in the air as though being Russian is a fact that could just be blown away like a wind.
“He's not like Russian-Russian,” she counters. “I mean his family is Russian, but he's not like, you know, family. Not like connected.”
“Dimi Petrov, Dimi Petrov... do I know that name?”
I just look at him. He knows that name. He's playing stupid, trying to find out what Rita knows.
“What about Jimmy Bear?”
She rolls her eyes and bites her lower lip. “Okay… I like him too. And I know he's a made man and all, and you guys are all gung ho for us to be together but… Well, I was thinking…”
She opens her eyes wide and looks at the three of us, one at a time.
“Oh no,” Charli starts in. “You are not thinking what I think you're thinking, right? That would be craziness.”
“But you guys do it!” Rita objects. "You can't stand in the way of true love, you know. Isn't that what you tell me all the time?”
I can't believe my ears. She wants us to approve a relationship with two guys… And one of them's a Russian?
“Rita, I'm gonna have to think about this,” Nico says, taking a fatherly tone of voice. “I need to learn more about this guy before I could say anything.”
Rita quirks an eyebrow at him. “I didn't actually come here to ask your permission,” she says pointedly. “I came here to ask my Dona’s permission. Charli? Are you with me?”
Charli holds up her hands, palms out. “Oh, nice move, Rita. I may be your Dona but please don't try to get me in trouble with my boss.”
I cross my arms in front of my chest. Something about this doesn't smell right. She's a little too gaga. A little too flushed in the cheeks. Do these guys even know about each other? This could be blood.
“Nico and I are brothers,” I remind her.
“It that supposed to make it less weird?” she asks me. “Because it really doesn’t.”
Charli reaches out and pats her knee. That's a first warning sign. “Okay, Rita. Let me think about it. You don't have to ask for my blessing, but thank you for asking anyway. But I don't think we can talk about this anymore right now.”
Rita looks around, her mouth hanging open just a little bit. I guess she really was expecting to come in here and ask if she could swing an alternate lifestyle between the Russian and Italian Mafia. Seriously. The balls on this chick.
“Well, okay. I guess I will just talk to you later,” Rita huffs. She stands up and gives a brief, obligatory smooch to the air next to Charli's cheek. Then mine. Then Nico’s. Then she's gone.
“What is that girl thinking?” I ask to nobody.
Charli shrugs. “Who knows. She's living on the edge for sure. But then, who are we to judge?”
Nico shakes his head. “Not the same thing. The Russians… They're not like us.”
They're not like us, he’s right. They’re ruthless. We have a nice thing going here with our little family shop, our neighborhoods. We know where we stand, and except for the occasional incident, things stay pretty cool here mostly because we only have one Family to contend with.
Once the Russians started moving in, things have gotten more tense. Nico and I weren't really aware since we were out of town when all this movement started. But now that Nico is Underboss he really has to think about these things.
They're changing everything, and not always in good ways.
“Yeah, well, Rita is kind of a social butterfly,” Charli sighs. “Hopefully she will be over this in a few days. I'll check back with her.”
“That's a good Capo,” I tell her and just grin while she gives me that look. But hey, she wanted to be in charge and now she is. She has to go ahead and take the teasing like a man.
“Oh, I need to check on that chowder…”
“I asked Gus to get it,” I let her know. Nico nods at me.
He twists around and calls over his shoulder. “Gus? Can you come in here?”
Charli looks worried. “Is everything all right?”
“Everything is perfect,”
Gus comes in, smiling ear to ear. Just like we told him to, he walks around to an empty table and drags the chair back, its legs loud against the tile floor. Then he turns around and sits in it, swinging his heels with his hands clasped in his lap. The tip of his nose is pink. He's pretty happy about this, I can tell.
“Seriously, what is going on?”
“Stand up, baby.”
Confused, she does it anyway. That's the part I was worried about. When I ask her to do something, she doesn't always just do it. She's definitely got her own mind about things.
Nico and I don't have to say anything to each other. I know exactly what he's going to
do, and he knows exactly what I'm going to do. We both drop to one knee in front of her. I pull the box out of my pocket and hold it in my palm, and he opens the lid.
She gasps, her hands fluttering up to press her upper lip with her fingertips.
“What… What is this? What are you doing?”
“Charli… Carlotta Capelli... I would be the happiest man in the world if you would agree to be my bride.”
“Charli… I would also be the happiest man in the world if you agree to be the boss of my life.”
Nico glances over at me. Charli raises her eyebrows.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” I nod. “You want to be the boss? You have to sign up for a lifetime. That's the deal.”
She starts to laugh. I see her belly moving as she tries to hold it in, but she can't.
“And you also accept me as your lifetime boss?” she asks Nico.
He shoots me a sidelong look and purses his lips, but it doesn't last. “Carlotta, I do.”
“Well then, yes!” she declares, holding out her trembling left hand.
Nico takes the ring out of the box. It is three emerald cut, perfect diamonds, all set in a line. One is just a little bit higher than the others, and I guess that's the way it’s supposed to be. She gasps, biting her lip as she as he slides the ring on her finger and she holds her hand out.
“Gussie? You knew about this?”
Gus nods, giggling into his hands. The kid can really keep a secret. I admire that.
“Would you just look at us,” she sighs as she stares at the ring, then kisses me sweetly, then kisses my brother beside me. “One big happy family.”
THE END
Thank you so much for reading “Burned!” I hope you really enjoyed it. Please click here to write a review.
The next book in the Blood Brothers series is “Torn.” It follows Rita as she tries to skirt a dangerous line between the Italian and Russian Families, pulled in two directions by Bear and Dimi. Click here to get an email notice when “Torn” is live!
Thanks again! -Meg
P.S.Turn the page to get to the bonus material, the complete serial “Billionaire Brothers, II!”
