His fingers bit deep into her hips and then slid up her belly, over the soft resting place of his children. "Drake explained to me that there were more leopard families in organized crime than mine. Quite a few more. He came up with a good idea. At least I thought it was good, because I didn't have a family and was never going to have one."
His hands moved up her rib cage, the side of her breasts, and then he cupped the soft weight in his palms. "Stay like that baby," he whispered when she gasped as he tugged at her nipple. "Just like that." He loved that she was so sensitive and every roll of his fingers put that look on her face. The one that said she was close.
She slid down his shaft a little harder. A little faster. Trying to find it. He took his hands away from her breasts and caught her hips.
"Slow, baby. I like that slow burn."
"I need . . ." she panted.
"I'll give it to you," he assured. "But not yet. I like watching your face. So beautiful, Siena. So mine." His hands guided her pace back to slow.
The tip of her tongue swept out and moistened her lower lip. He was tempted to capture it, but instead, he rewarded her with his hands on her breasts again. Watching her face. Loving that look. So close. He wasn't going to let her take herself there. Not yet.
"Drake's idea was simple but dangerous, baby. I'm head of one of the larger territories. I already had the reputation and the soldiers. I had my finger in just about everything. If we legitimized some of it, but kept our hand in and our reputation, we'd know the violent players. The leopards. We aren't law enforcement, but we could take them down. Replace them with bosses of our choosing. No one can stop crime completely, but we can shut down a lot of it. Control the flow and how it goes. Keep civilians from getting hurt. When violence occurs, we could essentially keep it to the crime families, not let it leak outside."
She stopped moving. Stared at him. Her exotic green eyes went emerald. Nearly glowed. Her cat was close.
"Elijah."
She breathed his name, and for the first time he couldn't tell how she was taking his news. His hands closed over her breasts, hanging on to her. Needing to feel her moving again. Needing the sweep of her hair against his skin.
"We just set up Joshua Tregre as the boss to take over Rafe Cordeau's territory. The council will accept him. He's one of Drake's main men, but his family has a violent past. He's believable, and his family is from the New Orleans area, although he was raised in Borneo. He'll be a huge asset to us and a valuable member of the team. Catarina has been feeding us information about Cordeau's business and his partners. We know where the money is and every trail to other leopard crime families. Jake is going at it from a different angle, following the businesses. His specialty is to attack them with hostile takeovers."
His hands slid down to her hips, urging her to move. Her face was utterly still. Her body was as well. She hadn't suspected that he was doing anything so dangerous. As if it wasn't dangerous enough to be the head of a crime family, but to deal in both sides of the fence, he was making himself a major target if anyone found out.
"Baby, you have to move." He lifted her, let her body slide down. The feeling was unbelievable and he thrust up to meet her.
She complied, more, he thought, because she was used to giving him whatever he wanted than because her body needed to move. She was stunned by his news. He didn't know if that was a bad thing or a good thing.
"I plan to set up Alonzo as head of the Arnotto family," Elijah went on. "He'll be another ally and one we can trust. I can help him learn the ropes. We'll try to legitimize what we can of the businesses. I figure you will run the winery and show the world that you and I and Alonzo are friends and business partners."
"Elijah." She whispered his name again and the sound went straight through his body. To his heart. Reached his soul. And vibrated right through his cock.
"I'm not going to lie to you and say we're not doing anything illegal, because we are. We have to in order to be able to stay in the game and make it work. I'm not clean, Siena," he confessed, hating the truth but knowing he had to give her that. "I'll never be clean. We can never get out."
"I love you," she whispered softly. "So much."
The burn went from slow and smoldering to pure fire. He rolled, sliding her body beneath his, pulling her legs up, forcing her to bend them at the knee. He slid one leg around his thigh and the other around his back as he drove deep. He forgot about talking. He couldn't think, his brain melting until he could only feel. She surrounded his cock with scorching silk, living, breathing silk, wrapping him tight and strangling him in paradise.
Her panting increased and then became a musical sob that vibrated right through his shaft. Then she was chanting his name. He used his thumb, sliding his hand between them, finding that magic little button and feeling her body instantly fragment around his. The quakes rocked him, took him closer, but he didn't want the ride to end. Liquid fire bathed his cock and flames danced over him, from crown to balls.
"Harder, baby."
He loved when she did that, panted in his ear, pleading. Sounded desperate for him. Wild for him. She loved his cock. She loved the way he gave her rough. Or gentle. She was uninhibited with him now, giving him everything. Showing him everything. And that only pushed up his own desire. His own lust. His own hunger and enjoyment.
He gave her harder. Rougher. Taking her wild while he could. He knew Doc would eventually curtail their brutal sexual escapades, but he had her now and he thoroughly enjoyed every second in her body. Her breath told him she was close a second time. He lifted her hips higher. She wrapped herself around him, giving him tight. Meeting him stroke for stroke. Just as rough. Just as hard. Just as needy and hungry as he was. He went over the edge, taking her with him, jetting hot and long, filling her, triggering another explosive quake in her. She whispered his name and his balls seemed to boil all over again at the sound. His cock jerked more, spasming, sending more of his seed spilling into her body. His name sounded like music. He found himself free-falling, floating in fire and a kind of happiness he never expected to ever have.
He buried his face in her shoulder, feeling every shudder and ripple of her body around his. "You with me, Siena? You going to stay with me through all this shit? Because I can't get us out. We'd have to hide, go on the run. We'd both be a target for the rest of our lives. No one would ever believe we're just looking to live free. We stay, it's dangerous, baby, but I have a better chance of protecting us. With Alonzo and Joshua in place, even more so."
Dios, she had to say she'd stay with him because he wasn't going to let her go. He'd keep her right there in his bedroom and talk until she listened, until he convinced her. Because there was no living without Siena Arnotto, not for him.
"Honey, I'm always with you," she replied softly, her gloved hands smoothing over his back. Her fingers went up his neck to find his hair. Stroking.
He rolled to take his weight off of her. Feeling her heart beat. Looking into her green eyes. She looked back at him. Soft. Gentle. His woman. She stayed there for a long time, holding him, gliding gently, giving him that sweetness until he finally slipped out of her. The loss hurt.
"It won't be easy, mi amorcito. The Feds will always be breathing down our necks."
"Why can't you just tell them what you're doing?" she asked, kissing his throat. Sliding down his body slow. Making his heart beat harder in anticipation.
"Feds can be on the payroll too. We can't take chances. In any case, we're mainly after the leopards, because most of them are the ones who are the most violent, and no human can know about shifters."
She spread kisses over his chest, traced his roped muscles with her tongue and pressed more kisses along his rib cage.
"I didn't think about that," she murmured against his belly button.
The muscles in his abdomen contracted. His cock jerked. Even with her hands covered by his gloves, her hair swept over his body like silk and her mouth and tongue left caresses everywhere.
"I
t's much more dangerous, Siena, but we're trapped in this life. I want out for you. For the children. But even Drake admitted he couldn't protect us forever. They'd come looking, and they'd find us. I have too much information about the other bosses, what they do, their businesses, and no one will ever believe I'd keep my mouth shut."
She slipped farther down his body, fitting between his thighs, still spreading kisses and nipping occasionally with her teeth. Keeping him on edge. Making him wait. The anticipation kept his heart pounding. Kept blood roaring like thunder in his ears. Her tongue rasped along his hip bone. Slid over to the base of his cock. Blood rushed to center in his groin.
"Honey, can we keep the children safe?"
He closed his eyes. His hands found her hair. Sifted through it. He let the silken strands thread through his fingers over and over. She'd said we. That all important we.
"We'll keep them safe."
Her tongue slid along his inner thigh. Her hair brushed over his cock. The sensation was beautiful. Then she was doing something with her tongue that made his balls feel as if they were in heaven. Pure heaven. He didn't open his eyes. He would when she moved up a little, but he savored the way she treated him, as if she worshiped his body.
"Will Alonzo be safe?"
That was a question he hadn't anticipated and he didn't have a good answer for her. Her tongue slid up the shaft of his cock. She lapped at him. So gentle. Almost reverent. Every fucking time she did it, his eyes burned. The woman could unman him so easily.
"I don't know, baby. He's smart and he's a really fast learner. He's a good man to have in a fight. We'll work with him, teach him everything he needs to know. If he's as intelligent as I think he is, he'll come to me or to Drake if he doesn't know how to handle something."
His eyes flew open as her mouth engulfed him. Took him deep, her tongue curling, stroking. Licking. Her mouth was hot and moist and felt even better than he remembered. It always did. Her eyes were on his, just the way he liked it. He hadn't told her this time, she'd just given him that. On her own. Just like she gave him everything.
"You're going to make me hard all over again, mi vida," he said, his fingers tangling in her hair. "We could be at this all night."
She smiled at him. Around his cock. "This is a problem?"
"I love you more than life, Siena. More than a man should love a woman. Terrifies me how much I love you."
Her tongue stroked and caressed. Laved and loved. Licked and lapped. Her mouth moved him. She ended with kisses. Lots of featherlight kisses, brushing them liberally over him. Then she crawled back up his body, and it was just plain sexy.
"I'm going to marry you in seventy-two hours, Siena. You're going to take my name. A lot of women in my culture don't do that, but you're going to."
She sprawled over him, one leg on either side of his body, her arms around his chest, head on his shoulder. "Mm-k."
"And you're going to Doc first thing tomorrow."
Something in his tone warned her and she lifted her head to eye him warily. "Don't go getting too bossy, Elijah. I love you and want to give you whatever makes you happy, but I can tell you've got this underlying reason for having me see Doc. If you think, even for one moment, that I would terminate this pregnancy, you have another think coming. You might be a crime boss, head of a family and your tentacles seem to be spreading out, but you are not going to dictate to me about our children."
"Not about our children," he said quietly. "Don't go all wild and crazy on me, baby. I would only put my foot down if there was a health danger."
"I don't go wild and crazy," she denied. "That's you. You have that hot head that makes you a little whacked sometimes. Me, I happen to be the voice of reason, which is good because one of us has to be. Women carry triplets, Elijah. Sometimes it gets tricky, but that's what women do."
"Not my woman. If Doc says you could be in danger, no fucking way am I taking that chance."
"Then prepare to live the next seven months without me. I'll go somewhere and get it done without you."
His hand tightened in her hair, yanking her head up so she could see the blaze in his eyes. "Don't even fuck around with that kind of threat, Siena. Not ever. You have no idea what I'd fucking do to keep you."
"Then don't you f-ing threaten to make me terminate my babies. That isn't your choice. They're real to me. Already alive. Already inside me. Growing."
She rolled off of him and tried to slide from the bed, but he shackled her wrist, rolled on top of her and pinned both wrists above her head with one of his hands. "Baby, you need to get this. Get me. Right fucking now. You're my world. You make me a decent man. You make me into someone worthwhile. You're gone, that man's gone and I'm a fucking killer. I'm what they made me."
She shook her head, not even struggling. "No, you're not, Elijah. I didn't make you a better man. You always were that man. Always. You just didn't let anyone see him until me, but he was always there. I get that you're afraid for me, but honey, we make decisions together. That's how it has to work."
He shook his head. "It can't work that way, baby. And you know why."
"When it comes to your business, that's different and I understand that's your field of expertise. If you come to me to talk about things, and I hope you will, I'll listen, but I don't presume to know that life any more than you'd know how to run the winery or the vineyards. But between you and me, Elijah. Our personal life. Our home life. Our family. That's the two of us together. Not just you dictating to me. I would never be happy like that and you know it. We have to have a partnership."
He kissed the side of her mouth. Slid his tongue along her lower lip. "I'm all for a partnership, Siena, but not when you're at risk."
"Honey, everyone is at risk. You can't live your life being afraid of everything. I know. I've done that. I didn't even take a risk enough to have friends until you showed me what living is."
Her body remained relaxed against his, all tension gone. She was soft. Accepting. His.
"I'm taking a risk tying my life to yours. You may not be undercover, but you live your life that way and I'll have to do the same. I'm willing to do that, Elijah, because, for me, you're worth it. Our children are worth the risk to me as well. Just like Emma's child is worth it to her. And Catarina escaped Rafe Cordeau, and Eli claimed her knowing Cordeau was going to come after her. When something is worth it, you take that risk."
"Baby." It came out a groan. She didn't understand. How could she? The emotion tearing him up inside, ripping him to shreds, was too intense to describe with a single word like love. People loved all sorts of things. Elijah loved the way she took such care of him. But loved her? The feeling was far too powerful, too deep, such a force inside of him he knew if something happened to her, he would be gone.
"I need to clean up, honey. We'll talk to Doc in the morning and see what we're facing." Her voice was gentle. Loving. Turning his heart over.
Elijah buried his face in the sweet spot where her neck and shoulder met. Where he could bite down just a little bit and use his tongue to soothe that little ache. Where he could drag her skin into his mouth, suckling for just a moment, leaving his brand on her. She didn't move. Giving him that. He was like a fucking teenager who was hard every time he looked at a woman. One that was juvenile enough to give her love bites just to show off.
He let her up, rolling over, away from her abruptly. She wasn't going to carry three babies if the danger was too great. She could yell and scream all she wanted to, but it wasn't happening. And she wasn't leaving him to go off by herself to carry them if she didn't agree with him either. What the hell was wrong with her, saying something like that to him? She knew who he was. What he was. Didn't she think he'd be just as ruthless with her as he was in his business when he needed to be? Hell, more so?
He punched the pillow several times, listening to the sounds coming from the master bath. Brushing her teeth, the water running. He pushed himself up, snagged his jeans, hit the bar, caught up a bottle of Scotch and
walked out, using the double doors that led outside to the covered, private patio. His leopard, sensing his mood, pushed at him, tried to comfort him. He felt restless. Edgy.
He paced back and forth, feeling the need to hit something. Wrapping his fist around the neck of the bottle, he took a long pull on the Scotch. It felt good going down. Maybe he could drink enough to lose the need to go back into his bedroom and shake some sense into Siena.
He tossed his jeans into one of the chairs and took another drink as he stared moodily into the night. It was the kind of night a man like him could get lost in. Dark. No moon. Perfect. He could shift and run off the anger coursing through his veins, feeding the tension in his gut, or he could stay right there and drink himself into oblivion. It wasn't something he chose to do often, but his leopard wasn't going to want to run without his mate.
"Elijah?"
He closed his eyes and inhaled her, drew her deep into his lungs. The unique scent that was only Siena's. He could drown in that scent. As it was, he was surrounded by it. It floated to him on the night breeze and carried with it a million fantasies.
"Not a good time, baby," he warned. "The devil's riding me hard tonight."
"Tell me what you need."
He swung around to face her. She was there in the doorway, leaning one hip against it, dressed in her little camisole and nearly nonexistent lace panties. He liked that she had breasts and an ass he could get lost in. Soft. All woman.
"You need to fucking do what you're told and stop arguing with everything I say," he snapped, because the soft vulnerable spot inside of him continued to grow no matter how hard he worked at trying to shut it down. She did that to him. She exposed him like that. Keeping his eyes on hers, he took another long pull of Scotch.
She was silent a long moment, her green eyes searching his face. "Do you really want a yes-woman, Elijah, because you have to know, that's not me."
He swore, nearly threw the bottle, wanting to punch something. His temper was escalating. The cat was aroused now, raking and clawing, wanting domination.
"You've got to learn, Siena, there are just some things you have to yield on. There isn't going to be a question about it. You can't threaten me. You can't defy me. That isn't going to work. You just have to yield."
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