The room remained silent.
We all knew it was a rhetorical question.
“They will use it as their opportunity to strike at us! If one of my sons undermines my authority, that makes us all vulnerable. The Gabbianos will see it as disloyalty, a breach of trust, and they will jump at the chance to take advantage of it.”
I sprang to my feet. “Dad, you know I would never be disloyal to our family.”
“Disloyalty comes in many different forms,” he grated out. “But how I see it or you see it is a nonissue. All that matters is how they see it and what they will do about it. When we all put our lives on the line, we deserve to know exactly what it is we’re fighting for and why. We do not lie to each other and keep secrets. It is not our way.”
Swallowing my pride, I nodded resolutely. “You’re right. And I’m sorry. To all of you.”
Looking mollified, Dad smoothed the lapel of his jacket as he walked back behind his desk. “Good. It’s settled, then. You won’t see her again, and we can come up with a—”
“I’m not going to stop seeing her.”
Everyone froze, including Dad.
With his back to me, his knuckles resting on the desk’s surface, his shoulders rose and fell with his labored breathing. When he turned back to me, his face was inscrutable.
“What did you say?”
I steeled myself for more of his rage. None of us ever wanted to be the focus of it. But I would take his anger over his disappointment any day because the latter was infinitely worse.
“I said I won’t be ending my relationship with Roxy. I’m not giving her up.”
Dad stood there heaving as his fury built. “You defy me, Alessandro?”
I pushed my shoulders back and stood taller. If he had taught us all anything, it was that an honorable man stayed strong in his convictions, no matter the adversities he faced.
“No, sir,” I answered. “But in this one case, I’m not agreeing with you either.”
He stormed across the room and shoved his face in front of mine. “You are a Rossetti! Start fucking acting like one!”
“I AM acting like one! I’m doing whatever I have to do to protect the people I care about. That’s what a Rossetti does!”
Dad’s next words died on his lips.
Silence engulfed the room for several strained seconds.
“It’s like that, is it?” This from Cris.
I met his gaze. “Yeah, it is.”
His expression was one of understanding. He’d taken a bullet for his fiancé, a testament to how far he’d go to keep her safe. His Jasmine and my Roxy were women you went to the ends of the earth for.
“Damn, bro.” Nico chuckled dryly. “It’s always the smartest ones who make the stupidest decisions.”
“For real,” Luka said. “You couldn’t have chosen a worse family to get in bed with. Literally.”
I angled my head in his direction, glowering. “Are you trying to get punched in the face?”
Just because he was a former boxer and was built like a brick shithouse didn’t mean I couldn’t take him a few rounds. And with the way I was feeling, I’d make them fucking hurt.
The bastard just smirked.
“Are you telling me you care for Roxanna?” Dad spoke up.
I returned my full attention to him. “I am and I do. Very much.”
He assessed me, looking skeptical. “And you’re willing to accept whatever consequences are tied to having a relationship with her?”
“I am.”
“And while having a relationship with her, do you swear to continue to uphold the moral principles of this family?”
“I do.”
He breathed deeply through his nose, his face relaxing with an emotion that resembled…pride?
He turned away and walked over to bookshelves along the wall. Wrapping his knuckles against the hidden door, he called out, “You can come out now.”
We all watched the hidden panel, behind which Dad stored his vast collection of weapons, slide open.
When the person inside stepped out and revealed himself, we all launched to our feet and formed a protective barrier between him and our father.
“Speaking of secrets, Dad,” Cris said in a lethally low voice. “What the hell is Vinnie D’Angelo doing hiding in your den?”
I locked eyes with Roxy’s father, who had already been watching me. That room wasn’t soundproof, so I knew he’d heard everything I’d said about caring for his daughter. And about being in bed with her.
At least the man didn’t look like he wanted to kill me.
Appearances could be deceiving, though, especially in our world.
“Vinnie and I need to have a word with Ace,” Dad announced pointedly to my brothers.
They all hesitated, even though things between our father and his former friend had never turned hostile. Still, at a time of war, no one outside our family could truly be trusted.
And regardless of my relationship with his daughter, I didn’t trust Vincenzo D’Angelo as far as I could throw him.
“All will be explained to you later,” Dad said firmly. “But for now, we need to speak with Ace alone.”
Reluctantly, my brothers filed out of the room.
My gaze never once strayed from Vinnie.
I assumed the two of them wanted to discuss mine and Roxy’s relationship and the obvious risks it presented. I’d expected to come to Roxy’s defense, demand that Vinnie blame her for nothing because I’d been the one to push for more contact. I’d been prepared to justify our decision, no matter what they threw at me.
What I hadn’t been prepared for was the tale Vinnie spun for me.
And it changed everything.
Two weeks later
“Just fill out these forms and bring them back to me,” I instructed the woman standing on the other side of the front desk from me.
Her worried expression grew even more harried as she took the clipboard from me.
“I know they’re a bit overwhelming, so take your time,” I told her gently. “Triage is a little backed up right now. It might be a few more minutes before a nurse comes back to get you.”
She nodded, attempting a small smile, and left to go sit beside her teenage son in the waiting area. He came in complaining of severe abdominal pain that I was betting was his appendix.
Darcey, one of my favorite charge nurses, ambled up behind the desk, groaning. “God, I hate leg days.”
I smiled. “You say that every leg day.”
“Because every leg day, it’s true.”
I passed her the fresh stack of folders with the most recent patient intake forms and gave her the rundown of what she had out in the waiting room.
“You shadowing Dr. Boswick tonight?” she asked.
“Yep, starting in an hour.” I couldn’t hide the excitement in my voice. Dr. Boswick was a surgeon with a reputation for having the steadiest hands of almost anyone in his field. “It’s pretty bad that I’m actually hoping for a gross injury or a bloody accident, isn’t it?”
She shrugged. “We all do, on some level. Otherwise, we’d all be working in pediatrics.” Her eyes suddenly lit up. “Were you here earlier when that construction worker came in with the nail in his hand?”
“Yep, right through the meat. I still can’t figure out how he managed that, even with the nail gun.”
She shook her head. “Poor man was wailing like the newborns in the OB ward.”
“Guess that’ll teach him to not miss his next tetanus shot.”
“The doctor really hammered the necessity of that into him, didn’t he?”
I laughed. “Props, Darce. You nailed that joke.”
We shared another laugh before she walked off to collect her next patient.
That was one reason why I liked her so much—she needed to break up the morbid tension of the ER waiting area as much as I did. I wasn’t even the one operating on or treating these people, but I was starting to think that interacting with the
family members of the sick and injured was much worse than actually being responsible for people’s lives. I could deal with that kind of pressure. But giving those people bad news…
I was one of those people once.
And I remembered how mad I’d been at the doctor for not being able to save them.
That feeling had passed, of course, but when that initial pain first hits, you needed someone to blame. Now, I was bound and determined to become the kind of doctor who shared only good news with the waiting families. As much as possible, anyway.
So, while I enjoyed the unpredictable, fast-paced nature of the ER, you had to keep things light by laughing and smiling every now and then. Plus, now that I had experience working at the front desk, I understood how important it was to maintain an upbeat attitude for those who were struggling to hold onto hope.
Forty-four minutes later, I was relaying everything to my relief so I could take my thirty-minute break. I was on my way back to the vending machines to get a vitamin water when a deep rumble of a voice spoke right into my ear.
“Excuse me, miss, but I think I’m feeling a little feverish.”
I spun around on a gasp to find myself pinned against Ace’s hard chest.
“What are you doing here?” I whispered. “What if someone sees us?”
I’d been staying at his place for the past two weeks because I couldn’t face Papà. His betrayal at the meat plant had been the final push that tipped the scales. I refused to see or speak to him and had ignored all of his calls. He’d destroyed any trust I had left in him. Mamà was probably rolling over in her grave over what he’d been planning to do.
Ace and I had been taking extra precautions since the shooting. We still didn’t know if the Gabbianos were watching me or not, so I entered and left Ace’s place every day through the back door. Overall, we’d kept a low profile, never going anywhere in public together and spending most of our time behind his closed doors, wearing nothing but each other.
The situation suited both of us just fine.
He could keep a close eye on me, which made him feel better. And I got to see him naked most hours of the day. Win-win. The only problem with our current situation was that it couldn’t last forever. Summer would eventually end and once August hit, I would have to leave.
Medical school was up in Connecticut and Ace…wasn’t.
Don’t go there. Your time isn’t up yet.
Ace glanced up and down the deserted hallway we were standing in and grinned. “I don’t think I’m going to be recognized back here.” He winced. “Oh, unless that one nurse I dated last year works here. What was her name? Nurse…Betty, or something?”
I glared.
His smile turned sheepish just before he laughed. “I’m kidding! But you’re cute when you’re jealous. You get a little frown line right here.” The pad of his thumb brushed over the area between my eyebrows. “It’s nice to see.”
“I can make that frown line appear without having to hear you talk about other women.”
He laughed harder, so hard he had to clutch his chest.
Smartass.
A reluctant smile eventually crept onto my face. “I’ve only got twenty-five minutes left of my break. Do you plan on spending that entire time laughing at me?”
All his humor vanished. “I wouldn’t dare.”
It was the burning desire in his eyes that clued me in to his motive.
He grabbed my hand and led me down the hallway. His movements were so determined, I became too aroused to ask questions. Heat was spreading out from my lower belly, making it feel like the entire hallway was one giant sauna.
He almost walked past an open door on the right, but halted at the last second. After peering inside the dark, empty room, he flipped on the light switch and said, “This will do.”
He pulled me inside the closet-like space that was only occupied by a giant copier and two tall metal shelves stacked with extra supplies, like computer paper and manila folders. If you weren’t making copies or in need of paper clips, there was only one reason two people would visit a room like this.
His mouth was on mine the second the door clicked shut at my back.
Hungry. Urgent. Insatiable.
Those were the most accurate words to describe Ace’s sex drive over the past two weeks. Though he never had trouble reaching satisfaction, the contentment never lasted very long before he was reaching full hardness and pushing inside me once again.
You would have never thought I’d been a virgin two weeks ago.
In that time, he’d provided me with more experience than most of my college friends had combined. And lessons. He liked teaching me about his body, my body, the ways he liked to be pleasured, and more importantly, all the avenues by which to deliver and receive said pleasure. All the positions, all the techniques, all the…words.
Damn, but Ace had a mouth on him.
And he didn’t just like to use it for kissing.
“I’ve missed you, baby.”
My heart leapt at his favorite endearment for me. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to hearing it.
“I’ve missed you, too.”
We hadn’t seen each other since first thing this morning. He’d had a full day of system installations, and I was working the second half of a double shift. It was crazy how I’d once thought myself in love with him, yet I’d only had a shallow ache in my chest during the five years I hadn’t been around him. But now, it felt like I couldn’t breathe if I went longer than a few hours without seeing him.
I moaned when he mashed his body against mine, flattening me against the door. He was still wearing the loose, faded pair of jeans that were his favorite to work in. Because they were so worn and thin, the starchiness long gone from the material, it allowed me to feel the full impact of his hardness.
And could I just say…the thing could have cut diamonds.
As he usually did whenever I had my hair in a ponytail, he pulled out the hair tie and slid his fingers through the strands, giving them a light tug. I wasn’t sure who groaned louder at that action, me or him.
“My bathroom smells like fucking strawberries all the time now, you know.”
My eyes crinkled with apology. “Sorry?”
He gnashed his teeth just before his mouth latched onto my neck.
Like a vampire.
“It’s a bad thing, but not in the way you think,” he growled. “Smelling that makes me think of your hair, which makes me think of pulling on it while I kiss you, which makes me think of your tongue and more specifically, what I want you to do with your tongue, which inevitably leads to my dick getting hard, and then I get angry because you’re not there to help me take care of the problem.”
“I guess I could switch shampoos.”
“You do and I’ll spank your ass red.”
My sex gave an involuntary jolt.
Spanking had yet to fall under my scope of experience, but it was certainly on my bucket list.
When he took my breasts in his hands, I forgot all about spanking. My head fell back against the door with a thunk as his mouth drifted down my neck and over my collarbone. Wherever his lips touched, goosebumps rose in their wake. And when his tongue snaked out to barely graze my heated skin, it was a welcome tease.
His hands lowered to the waistband of my scrub pants and hovered there. “Remind me why I love these things so much.”
I was almost beyond conversing at that point. There was far too much passion scrambling my brain waves.
“My scrubs?”
He had me bent over the copier with my pants and underwear around my ankles by the time I took my next breath. He’d gotten me half-naked with nothing more than one quick yank.
“Oh, yeah,” he mused. “That’s why.”
Cool air kissed my exposed cheeks just before his mouth did. Soft, gentle kisses that soon turned into the open-mouthed, sucking kind where his cheeks hollowed out and my skin was sure to be left with marks.
Then his mouth
was on the move…
His lips met my slick folds.
My hair formed a curtain around my face when my head fell forward. “Ace.”
He pushed my knees wider, allowing him better access. At that angle, he couldn’t fully penetrate me with his tongue, but his licking finesse—up and down and around—more than did the job.
“Goddamn, this dripping cunt,” he hissed. “I want to punish and praise it all at the same time.” His finger stroked down my slit, spreading my moisture in a petting gesture. “Always so wet for me. Just for me.”
I couldn’t say a word when he was this crazed with lust and I never did. It was too much of a treat to listen to his graphic descriptions of how insane I drove him, how much he constantly craved my body, what he had yet to do to me but dreamed about almost every night.
My Gawd.
If that didn’t turn a woman’s reservations into giant piles of mush, I didn’t know what would.
I was so lost chasing after my orgasm, I didn’t realize he’d stood back up until right before he plunged inside me. My mouth instinctively opened to shout out my pleasure, but he slapped his hand over it at the last second, as if anticipating my reaction. Preventing me from screaming down the walls of the tiny copy room, his hand absorbed the sounds of lost inhibitions instead.
“And always so tight.”
He punctuated the last word with a ferocious pump of his hips, reaching the spot in me he’d been eager to introduce me to two weeks ago.
I started spasming almost instantly.
His laughter had an edge to it as he held onto my hips. “Every time. Never fails.”
My mouth hung open as I rode out a bone-melting release. The sounds of our slapping skin echoed off the narrow walls.
“Have I ever told you just how much I love your ass?”
Only about ten times a day.
“I don’t think so, no.”
His grip on my hips tightened.
I peeked over my shoulder to see his gaze focused intently on my backside. His pupils were so dilated his eyes were totally black. I could just imagine how much my ass was jiggling with every drive of his cock but strangely, that seemed to be what fascinated him the most. Where I would see cellulite and adolescent stretch marks, he saw something luscious he wanted to bite into like a ripe strawberry.
Scars and Sins (Brooklyn Brothers Book 2) Page 17
