Dario

by Eden Butler

  “What?”

  “I meant every damn second!” Ava moved forward, her eyes wide, a little desperate.

  Her words registered and connected, my body shivered when I finally understood what those tears had been about and why she’d stormed away from me in the rain.

  “I—I love you, Dario.”

  It didn’t make sense. Everything in my past informed what I’d done and who I’d become. There were reasons for never wanting anything permanent. There were conditions I had placed on every fleeting relationship I had.

  Ava defied each one.

  She was the exception. The only one.

  Five quick steps brought me to her and as I touched her, our wet skin meeting, everything inside me told me she was all I’d ever need.

  “I love you,” she said, pulling my forehead to hers. “I’m sorry…I didn’t want to hurt you. Not when I love you this much.” She shook her head, eyes squinted closed. “He…hurt me so badly…my memory…it’s not the best.” Looking up at me, Ava touched my face, her fingertips moving down my forehead, to my cheek. “It was why I didn’t recognize you at first. You were so different and my memory of you…it wasn’t—”

  “I don’t care…about any of it.” She let out a long, breathless gasp when I took her mouth. “I only want you.” She moved her fingers against my back, reaching up to bring me close and my entire body felt electrified. “I only love you.”

  I could have taken her home. Back to her place or to mine.

  We could have run through town, ditching the rain under awnings to keep from the onslaught that poured and thundered around us like that first day in town.

  But I had kept myself from her for too long. Part of me had been missing and touching her then, feeling her hot breath on my cold skin filled up something inside me I pretended wasn’t gone.

  “Dario…” she whined, mouth to mine, hands tugging my face closer.

  No one would demand tonight. No one would lead or follow.

  There was only us, together, taking what we needed and giving what was wanted.

  Ava came to me without a fight, clinging to me like only my hands, my arms would keep her tethered to this moment.

  My fingers in her wet hair, her leg moving up, pushing me closer, I tugged the strap of her nightgown off her shoulder, mouth and teeth going to her nipple.

  “Ah…God…” Ava cried, pushing my sweatpants down with her hands, lowering them to my thighs with her foot. “Here…right here…now.”

  We moved to the ground, pressed together hard and eager. Ava tugged up her gown, gripping me in her hand, while our mouths moved together, controlling, devouring until our skin was heated and the soft wetness between her legs became too tempting, too sweet an invitation to ignore.

  “Move your legs…spread open for me.” Ava complied, gripping me again, her thumb over my tip, guiding me past her hot lips and into that sweet pussy. “God…”

  “It’s been too long.” She pulled on my ass, guiding me with the balls of her feet, arching into me, meeting each thrust I made as I moved inside her.

  Ava stretched her arms over her head, and I pulled her wrists together, holding them still, my skin electric, buzzing when she clamped around me.

  I fucked her with my entire body, legs pressed against her thighs, cock seated deep inside her, mouth on hers, then to her round, beautiful tits, fingers holding her wrists in place, free hand on her knee, opening that hot pussy wider and wider with each stroke. I devoured her breast, sucking and tugging, dropping her knee to push myself up on one palm, filling her completely, my speed quickening as Ava bowed her back warning me with small noises and loud moans.

  “Dario…oh God…God!” Then, she was coming, milking me, wetting my cock.

  I slowed, watching her, releasing her wrists, pulling her hand around my neck as I dipped down to kiss her, stealing her quick breath, drinking in every noise, every desperate cry.

  “Ava…my Ava…” She blinked up at me, her body soft, exhausted as I took my time with her, sensation overwhelming, teasing me.

  She slipped her legs around my waist as my rhythm increased, as the rain drowned out the noises I made and the final roar that left me as I came.

  The kiss I gave her wasn’t half-hearted but still slow and lazy. Ava took it anyway, scratching her nails down my back. “My one and only…” I called her, wondering if she’d run. Praying she hadn’t been pretending.

  Then her fingers went still, her palm lay flat against my shoulder, and I leaned away, wanting a look at her face. I held my breath only relaxing when I spotted her smile, half smirk, but sincere.

  “My one and only,” she repeated, pulling me back down to her lips. “Always.”

  26

  Ava

  My father’s bruises had healed. There were small scars along his jaw now and a mark in his left eye that likely would never fade. His attitude, though, remained the same.

  “Whatever Carelli is planning will fail, mark me, love.”

  He sat next to me in a long conference room on the first floor of the building Liam used for his law firm front. The place was fixed up with secretaries and clerks, lots of distinguished paintings in the lobby and even a fancy espresso machine in an alcove next to the front desk.

  It was all bullshit, all part of whatever idiotic scheme Liam planned to keep his uncle happy and his money laundered.

  “Shane will know the second he walks in.” Rory leaned toward me, wheezing as he held onto his cane with a grip so stiff the veins along the top of his hand protruded. “You’ve no idea what sort of man—”

  “I know exactly what sort of man he is.” My voice was sharp but didn’t do much to shock my father. He stared at my face, those buggy eyes of his moving over my forehead and along my cheek before he caught my gaze.

  “Some men are born angry—”

  “And some,” I said, my top lip twitching as I spoke, “are so fucking evil they’ll sell their daughters for a little favor of bigger men.” He started to speak, a quick flush working over his face, but I shook my head, keeping him quiet. “Don’t forget, old man we have you. Give Liam even the smallest hint that you were taken by Smoke and McKinney finds out you sang.”

  In my pocket, my cell buzzed, and I stood, leaving behind the brooding man who’d made me to open Dario’s message.

  I got eyes on you, it read, and I shifted a look through the glass walls, and into the lobby.

  A small pulse played on the right side of my mouth as I spotted Dario decked out in a black suit and dark shades. Maggie had colored his hair, adding a little gray around his temples and fixed a thin, believable fake mustache above his top lip.

  You look like a cop, I texted, watching his lifting eyebrows and nostrils flare when he read my message.

  He slipped the shades down and some of the tension in my chest eased. He had beautiful eyes. They were focused on me and as he looked my way his mouth softened, then twisted to form three words that reminded me what waited for me if I could maintain my calm.

  “He’s a ruddy thug,” Rory said, both hands on the crown of the gold lion that topped his cane. “The lot of them are.”

  I turned, slipping my phone into my pocket as I laughed at my father. “And what the hell do you think you are?”

  “I make my way as I can…”

  “Buy setting interest on loans and lost bets so that no one can ever pay you back?” He sat up straighter the closer I came to him and that red, angry flush on his face only deepened. “Or stealing a distillery you didn’t build? Or is it by kissing the asses of richer, more powerful men than you’ll ever be?”

  Rory stood, rushing toward me, but he wasn’t a young as he been the last time he’d managed to use his large bulk and strength to scare me. Now he was an old, fat, balding man barely able to get from place to place without leaning on his cane.

  “Save the theatrics, Rory. I don’t scare so easy now.”

  “Your mother…”

  “My mother got off easy.” I s
tepped closer, trying to remind myself that launching my fists at his face would only wreck our plan and lessen the time Kat and Dante had to install their device. “And if she hadn’t died, I promise you, she wouldn’t have stuck around for the likes of you.”

  He stuck his finger in my face, hand shaking as he pointed at me. “You keep a civil tongue in your mouth or I’ll—”

  “Wobble quick trying to catch me? Sit down, old man. You’re embarrassing yourself.”

  “You don’t—”

  “She’s not wrong,” Liam said, coming through the door. Behind him were two men, guards I remembered and hated from when I still lived with him. He stopped in front of the sofa, unbuttoning his jacket. “Sit your ass down, Connelly.”

  Slowly, my father complied, landing with a flop onto the leather cushions.

  Liam circled me, eyes moving down my body as his two guards flanked the door. He was sizing me up, though I doubted it was because he liked what he saw. More than likely he was trying to find the best insult to deliver.

  “Reagan, Reagan…” He touched my waist, letting his hand linger before he stood at my side, a mocking grin on his face. “You’ve been a very bad girl.”

  “My name is Ava.” I crossed my arms, lifting my chin. “And my being bad depends on whose definition you’re going by.” I slapped his hand off my side, and Liam’s expression shifted. The forced friendliness replaced by what looked a lot like shock and mild appreciation.

  “Testy…” He tilted his head, moving in for a closer look. “You look good. Healthy.” He moved his gaze to my back side. “You know, my tastes have changed. I like my women a little more filled out now.”

  “That’s not my problem.” I stepped back, unbuttoning my long jacket. “We’re here for a discussion.”

  “Is that what you think?” He moved to the other side of the table, pulling out a chair before he sat. “Let’s hear what you have to say.” He nodded at the chair next to him; an unasked invitation I wouldn’t accept.

  Liam laughed when I moved to the chair opposite him, ignoring the cough my father released.

  “You seem to be under the impression that our marriage is still binding.”

  He leaned forward, grinning, fingers locked together. “I don’t remember you sending me divorce papers.” Liam tapped his thumbs together, the smirk twisting his mouth both equal parts condescending and stupid. “And even if you had, I’d never sign them.” When I shook my head, he waved his hand, like his point was obvious. “You’ve seen and heard too damn much, and God knows you’ve spent, however long it is that you’ve been gone bouncing from one fed-funded life to another. But you will always be bound to me, wife. Even if neither of us is happy about it. Can’t have you ever getting the urge to testify against me.”

  “That only works if I’m being compelled.”

  Liam’s expression was bored, as though he didn’t care what my point might be. Until I elaborated.

  “There’d be no reason to compel me. I’d testify against you and your family in a heartbeat. No motivation required.”

  The look on his face changed in a second. There was surprise at first, probably because I wasn’t the docile, subservient wife he’d grown used to all those years. Then, the anger seemed to bubble up, contorting his mouth into a hard, straight line.

  “You don’t have the fucking nerve…”

  “You wanna try me?” I leaned forward, twisting my head to the side before I laughed at him. “The second any of you are indicted, I’m there, no problems.”

  “Jaysus, Reagan, shut your hole,” Rory said from across the room, moving closer to the edge of the cushion. “You’re walking a thin line.”

  “Oh, I’m aware I’m dancing right on top of it. But then, I think I have been since the night my husband here decided to set up the Carellis with that raid.”

  “They owe me…” The angry sharpness in Liam’s face dimmed and he leaned back, elbow on the arm of the chair. “Fuck me. You’re with them now, aren’t you?”

  “With whom?” I asked, exaggerating a confused look.

  He shot a glance to Rory, eyes narrowing. “What’s she planning?” But my father wouldn’t look at Liam. He kept his eyes down, staring out of the glass wall and into the lobby, that red flush on his face closing in on purple. “Rory…I’d hate to think you’ve gone and let your girl get mixed up with the wrong sort of assholes…”

  “I dunno what you mean, mate…”

  As Liam left the table, moving to my father, I slipped my cell out of my pocket, shooting off a quick text, keeping my phone hidden underneath the table surface.

  “Reagan I can almost see,” Liam started, waving a hand in my direction. “But you, old man? No, can’t be. If my hands are dirty, yours are fucking filthy. There is no backing out of this family for you.” He shot a glare at me, head shaking. “For either of you, no matter what those fuckers promised you.”

  “That is where you are wrong,” I heard, my heart thumping quick as Johnny Carelli stood at the door.

  Liam’s reaction was automatic. He reached for his gun but stopped short when Johnny moved farther into the room, six men trailing behind him, all of them, his.

  My ex wasn’t always smart, was constantly hot headed, but even he seemed to understand he was out gunned.

  “Sit the fuck down, asshole, so we can have a conversation.”

  Liam obliged, waving his two men behind him after Johnny’s guys had relieved them of whatever they had stuffed into their belts and arm holsters.

  “You come in my building making demands,” Liam said, but he still sat down. “The balls on you, Carelli.”

  “This from the asshole who tried moving in on my kid sister in front of her husband and then thought convincing my woman’s uncle you were just a simple lawyer who could make her happy was a smart move.” He waved a hand, as though the conversation was already boring him. “Let’s get a few things straight here and try to avoid the bullshit that will happen if you keep playing like you’re a fucking don.”

  “This nobody had you running scared…”

  “Yeah,” he said, head shaking. “So fucking scared that I got my woman back with little fucking effort after you took her and managed to walk into your building with a few guys and not much kick back from your boys. Shit, Shane, you’re playing in a game you don’t even know the rules to.”

  “So why are you here?” He glanced at me, head shaking. “I know it’s not just for this bitch.”

  Johnny didn’t glance at me, but he touched my wrist when I balled my fingers into a fist, and I took his hint to calm. It had to be this way—playing the same long game that Liam’s uncle had started. Distraction. Diversion.

  On the floor beneath us, Kat and Dante were installing a device no one would detect. All they required was a little time. I could only do so much. Liam, after all, had never much cared about me and wasn’t all that interested in where I landed. But Johnny Carelli, he hated. He hated all of the Carellis, but Johnny especially pissed him off. That fact alone was why he was here standing up for me and not Dario.

  “Fact is,” Johnny started, patting my wrist once. “Your ex-wife…”

  “We are still married.”

  Johnny waved his hand again, dismissing Liam. “She has no interest in being part of your family anymore.”

  “Tough shit…”

  “And,” he continued ignoring my ex’s interruption, “if you agree to grant her a divorce I may see my way clear of stratifying an old debt.”

  Liam leaned onto the table, my relaxed, eyes curious. “What debt is that, exactly?”

  “My little cousin Dante was overzealous.”

  “That fucker stole from me.” Liam slammed his fist against the table, ignoring my father’s low groan.

  “He’s paid his debt to the family and now that he has, I’m offering you back what he took…with interest.”

  Liam smiled, his laugh loud and obnoxious. “That’s a chunk of cash I know you don’t have, Carelli.”

/>   “We had a good summer.” The man was smooth, elegant. I saw a lot of Smoke in him. They were both cool, slick, and oozed charisma that most men could only dream about possessing. One quick head nod, and the tallest of Johnny’s men stepped next to Liam, holding up a hand to steady his guards when they moved forward. Without much fanfare, the man dropped a briefcase on the table in front of Liam and stepped back, returning to his spot by the door.

  Liam’s attention didn’t move from Johnny when he opened the case, but dropped his eyes to the contents inside, unable to keep the pleased, anxious expression from transforming his features.

  “Liam,” my father started, limping toward my ex, eyes shooting from the briefcase contents and back to the man sitting in front of it. “Think of what your uncle would say…”

  “This isn’t his business,” Liam said, slamming the case shut. “Or yours.”

  Rory held up his hands, stepping back, but couldn’t manage to hide the disappointment edging on his features.

  “Do we have a deal, Shane?” Johnny said, motioning to the briefcase. A glance at another of his men, this one thinner, wearing glasses and an Italian suit, and the guy produced a folder, opening it before he turned it to face Liam. Then, he pulled a pen from his jacket and offered it to my ex. “My attorney has already drafted the divorce papers.”

  “Why do you care if she’s still married to me?” Liam folded his arms, ignoring the pen and the folder. “I know it’s not her you want, not as much of a fucking fit you put up over Sammy Nicola. Didn’t I hear you married her?”

  Johnny didn’t flinch, but he did rub his thumb against the underside of the gold wedding band on his ring finger. “The why of the matter isn’t important…”

  “It is to me,” Liam said, his voice low.

  “Why?” I asked, sitting up straighter in my chair, ignoring Johnny’s touch when he attempted to calm me again. “All you ever did was ignore me and when you weren’t doing that, you bullied and beat me. I never mattered to you…” I glanced at my father, “to any of you.”