"Good talk, brother.”Alexei just needed a distraction. A challenge, even. It was difficult with the background they came from, always looking for the next thing. Enzo was fulfilled because of his company. But his brother was adrift.Truth be told, he had been somewhat listless himself until Lilith Rumero came along. He just had to find his brother a hobby like this one was turning out to be.Enzo couldn’t hide his grin in the backseat of his car on the way to the office. His driver painstakingly cleaned everything after each ride, and he had decided to leave him something of a present, neatly folded on the console where he usually got his drinks."Today was going to be an excellent day" Enzo thought out loud."Today was going to be an awful day" Lilith facepalm herself.She felt like the biggest brat in the world, but she couldn’t sleep in the new place. Everything was state-of-the-art, her brand new mattress included, but it just didn’t feel like home. Not to mention going over eve
Lilith knew this was going to be bad. Sge just hadn’t anticipated how badly it would go. “No. I mean, I just think we should talk about what it means. What happens next.”“What happens next is I go to my next meeting.” Enzo stood as if to dismiss her — or at least end this thread of conversation. “You were supposed to go to that meeting, too, but it seems like you have too much on your mind.”“I’m fine,” Lilith snapped before taking a deep breath. Hold it together! Lilith. “I just want to make sure that we are fine. That work won’t be weird.” Well, weirder than it already was on the morning after she had hot sex with her boss in the back of his car and he had given her a condo and a personal driver in exchange."Whoa — wait a minute. Had he paid me for sex? Oh my God, did my first sexual encounter make me prostitute?" Lilith almost gasped out loud.“I can keep work and play separate,” Enzo said. “Can you?”With that, he drew his hand from his pocket to show Lilith her lost thong from
“I …” Careful, Lilith. God, this was tricky. Because as confused as she was, as much as she might regret all of this, Lilith did want him. She wanted to feel him inside of her again, to have his lips on hers, taking everything, breathing for her. Lilith wanted all of this and none of it — without even really knowing what it was — and she felt like she was going to be torn apart."You don’t understand what this can be,” Enzo said, his voice soft and deadly. He was close — too close — and she didn’t have any more room to back up. “I can do things for you — and to you — that you could never even imagine.”God. He was right. Lilith couldn’t imagine it. Couldn’t fathom it. Wanted it bad and hated this entire situation.“The concert starts at 8 p.m.,” She whispered, terrified and electrified.“Excellent.” Enzo turned away. “Your dress will be delivered shortly. Alexei and I will be there at 7:30 sharp.”"What was I doing?" Lilith muttered under her breath.It was hard to discern what Enzo e
“My brother thinks he’s a comedian,” Enzo said loudly enough for Alexei to hear as he sauntered away to find their box. Alexei chuckled and waved at enzo over his shoulder. Enzo lowered his voice and turned back to Lilith. These words were only for her. “But he’s a fool if he thinks that you’re anyone’s but mine.”Lilith shuddered, gooseflesh prickling the smooth skin of her shoulders and back. she could tell. he was touching that expanse of skin, enjoying the effect he had on her.“How do you like the dress?”“I love it,” she gasped as Enzo kissed her jaw line as gently as he could. “Do I know where I’ll wear it next? No. But it’s beautiful.”“You’ll wear it into this performance with me,” he reasoned, following his brother’s path through the chaos of the lobby. Lilith kept pace, and Enzo had to turn his head to hide his smile. This entire event was a godsend — something to keep his brother occupied and hopefully snap him out of his funk, and another opportunity to continue to make L
Below, the orchestra shifted into a new movement, and this one they both did know. Enzo timed his strokes with the rhythm, using her own slickness to ease his fingers’ passage. It wasn’t hard. She was obviously turned on, and it made him, if possible, even harder. Those little sounds she made, the mewls she tried to smother with his own tongue, kissing him, made his cock rock hard, presses against his pants, twitching, throbbing and begging for relief.He took one of her hands, scrabbling at the armrest between our chairs, and placed it in his lap. She deserved to know what she was doing to him.The music swelled, and Ruth bucked against him. Enzo was certain she couldn’t take much more of his teasing. He slipped hid fingers inside her and beckoned, hitting that secret place he knew would deepen her pleasure. Enzo wasn’t disappointed — Lilith bit down on his lower lip at the unexpected sensation and he extended his hand so hid thumb could still reach that other spot that was going to
Lilith wasn’t running away. She just wanted some space to restore her dignity — and of course to cheer on Lora, Almost as soon as she left the bathroom, her roommate emerged from the tunnel leading backstage, jogging toward her.“You were amazing,” Lilith gushed, throwing her arms around Lora's neck and squeezing her tightly. “What was all that worrying for?”“I thought I could’ve done better,” Lora confessed. “I was just so nervous.”“Uh-huh,” Lilith said, not convinced at all. She had been phenomenal during her solo. Lilith couldn’t attest for the rest of the performance. Enzo had kept her awfully occupied. “And what did the conductor say?”Lora looked cowed. “He said I did all right.”“Just all right?”Lora laughed, hiding her face. “Okay, he said I did very well.”“Then take the compliment,” Lilith said, shaking her a little. She was always so self-assured until it came to her performances.“Thanks, Lilith” Lora said, elated, her face on fire. “I’m so glad you could come.”“Listen
“I’m fine.”“Jealous about the flowers?”“Don’t be ridiculous.”“I didn’t forget you, zolotse,” Enzo murmured as Alexei and Lora talked animatedly. He had a single red rose, held back from the bouquets, and he dusted it down her overexposed back, neck to hip, before letting Lilith hold it. She inhaled its sweet fragrance on reflex, feeling the velvet petal against her lips.“You know, you never told me what zlotse meant,” Lilith said softly, now that Lora and Alexei were distracted with each other.Enzo hesitated in the same way he had in the back of his car. “My gold.”“What?”“Zolotse means ‘my gold,’” he said, looking away from her briefly. Like he was embarrassed that he’d been caught.“Gold, like—”“You all should come to Spin,” Lora said, interrupting the charged moment Enzo and Lilith had shared. “A few of us members of the orchestra agreed to meet up there after the performance.”“I don’t know, Lora,” Lilith said immediately. “Spin is kind of …”“Exclusive?” Alexei asked, perk
“Two pitchers of beer,” Lilith yelled over the music, then looked at Enzo.“And a bottle of vodka,” he shouted.So it was going to be like that.***Enzo awoke with a dry mouth and a shitty headache that reminded him of his younger years. He hadn’t had a night like that for a long time. Nowadays, he had a better handle on his limits — and a surer understanding of what he could and couldn’t do.Lilith Rumero was robbing him of his sense of moderation.After a hearty breakfast with just the right amount of grease from his sympathetic chef — and perhaps two too many espressos — Enzo felt marginally better. The edge of his hangover wasn’t nearly as sharp by the time he arrived at the office, and he already knew exactly what was going to get him all the way back to normal.His cure walked through the door fifteen minutes early, and nearly recoiled from the grin he gave her.“What’s wrong?” Lilith demanded. “Why are you looking at me like that?”“Because I haven’t forgotten the promise I m
“When my daughter told me of her internship at Volkov Telecom, she did not tell me it was directly under the company’s CEO,” her dad said tightly, barely touching the range of foods on his plate. He didn’t look up at Enzo, but Enzo smiled." I saw something special in her, and I wanted to take her under my wing,” Enzo said. “I’m surprised she didn’t tell you. Lilith, why didn’t you tell your father that?”Lilith plucked at her skirt, wishing that she had worn something a little lighter. She was feeling hot — She didn’t know if it was the bodies around the table, the lingering oven heat still emanating from the kitchen, or just the utter awkwardness of this situation.“We’re both pretty busy,” she said. “You know how busy I am, enzo.”“I keep her very busy,” he informed her dad. “But what do you do to stay busy, Aron?”“I have many things to occupy my time, Enzo” her father snarled.“That’s Mr. Casello, to you,” Enzo said mildly.Lilith pressed his leg under the table. “Please stop. Bo
It wasn’t as good as the neighbor’s trash, but there was no way she would be able to slip away, especially now.When Lilith returned to the kitchen, her dad made me jump out of my skin. He was rocking back and forth on his heels, his hands jammed in his pockets, regarding the copious amount of wine that had materialized in the kitchen while he was outside.“Your strays here, Lilith?” he asked, eyeing her. “Can we get this over with?”“Oh, stop it,” Lilith said, brushing a few ashes off the front of his pullover. “You love Thanksgiving as much as I do. You can’t fool me.”“It’s hard not to like all this food,” my dad remarked. “It’s the inane socializing I dislike.”“Just think of it as the price of admission,” she reasoned. “Besides, you like talking to Lora.”They both entered the living room in a lull of conversation. At least, that’s what Lilith told herself when everyone looked up first at her, then at her dad. Lora looked worried, but she knew more than anyone else here. Alexei l
As soon as She was sure she could hold it together, Lilith stepped around and looked up at him. He was wearing a simple but cozy sweater and a wash of jeans so dark and rich they could have rightly been mistaken for dress trousers. At least it wasn’t a suit and tie.“You look really nice,” she said, smiling up at him and pinching the inside of her wrist to keep from crying. “I’m really glad you’re here.”“Wait until you see what he’s brought for the feast,” Alexei declared, hauling in a case of wine.“I told you to have some restraint,” Lilith complained softly, frowning up at Enzo's mischievous eyes.“I could’ve done a lot more,” he reminded her, “Every party needs wine.”“I need wine,” Lora confirmed, making grabby hands at the case Alexei held. “Let’s go. Break it out. Let’s do this Thanksgiving the right way.”The turkey was perfectly cooked. It was time to let it rest — and to figure out what she was doing with the rest of her life. Or the rest of this evening, to start off with
Lilith's heart hammered within her chest and she only dully registered the sound of her dad talking with Lora downstairs — not their words, just the rise and fall of their easy conversation. What was it like not to have anything to worry about? To tease and chat with someone like the world wasn’t about to end?Because her world was about to end. She was pregnant. She didn’t need another test to tell me what she already knew. The lateness of her period. The way she had been feeling and acting. She just didn’t understand what had happened. She was on birth control. Maxim had used protection.All she knew was that nobody could find this. That no one could ever know.Lilith wrapped the test and its box up in some toilet paper and stuffed it down the waistband of her skirt. She would use the first opportunity to go outside and drop it in the trash — no, the neighbor’s trash. That way, it couldn’t be traced back to this house. She would get through tonight. she had get through the internshi
They didn’t keep in contact often. It just wasn’t the way their relationship worked, her and her dad. He thought small talk was boorish and preferred only speaking when there was something to be said. Lilith spent her life guessing at what those important things were — he was less excited about her internship with VI Tech and downright offended when she neglected to tell him about an award she had won on a paper she had written. As much of a puzzle as he was, she still appreciated him. When Lora had trouble understanding the dynamic between the father and daughter, lilith told her to think of her father as a mad scientist. The two of them were much closer after that.“So, which strays are you bringing home this year?” her dad asked, snipping the end off a cigar as he watched her sprinkle chopped pecans on the top of a sweet potato casserole she needed to get into the oven.“Just a few,” Lilith assured him.“Me, obviously,” Lora said, sidling into the kitchen with her arms full of pape
To say that Lilith was apprehensive about having the casello's brothers at her father’s house for their annual Thanksgiving celebration would’ve been something of an understatement.She had been an absolute mess these past few weeks, barely paying attention at work while she alternated a wheel of worries in her thoughts — what to wear, what to cook, how to cope if things got awkward, and what her dad might say if and when the inevitable topic came up of why, exactly, she had invited Lorenzo Casello into their home.Her dad was somewhat rough around the edges, and didn’t like new people. He was happiest when he was alone, occupying his time with his hobbies and his cigars. There were some times when she felt like he preferred to keep her at an arm’s distance, but Lilith knew how hard it had been for him to raise her without her mother.Lilith didn’t blame him. It just made her excessively wary about who she brought home. Certainly never any boyfriends — particularly since there never
“I didn’t mean to spend the night,” Lilith said, scooting away from him, they hadn’t so much as rolled over, and Enzo grunted as he worked some life back into his sleeping arm — the one that had cradled Lilith throughout the night.“I would have insisted,” he said, not sure of the truth of that statement even as it left his mouth. “There was no reason for you to return home after such a late night.”“There are plenty of reasons,” she said, her eyes wild as she clutched the sheet to her body. “First and foremost, that I need to shower and get ready and put some fresh clothes on for work today.”“Skip it.”She blinked at him, “Skip my internship at VI Tech? A company so important that workers don’t ever take off time to spend Thanksgiving with their families? Oh no, sir. This is a test. I will be there today at the office. Just maybe not exactly on time. And you’d better be there, too. We have like four meetings today.”Enzo smirked. “Well put. I always said that if you can’t get yourse
“Like what we’re about to do,” he said, moving over her body again and covering it with his, Enzo felt an oddly protective twinge throughout his muscles, like he would do anything to keep the world from fucking with Lilith Rumero. He didn’t want to take the time to analyze it, so he kissed her as softly as he could. “Like this. Gently. Softly.”Lilith was shaking. She’d already come once, but Enzo was betting he could get her to scream all night long. “I didn’t think ‘gentle’ was in your repertoire.” she said."You’d be surprised by a lot of things you don’t know about me, Lilith” Enzo told her before kissing her again.This would be her first time. The one she’d tell her friends about — not the frantic fuck in the back of the car. This time, every cool breath he blew on a hot trail of skin Enzo had kissed and sucked. The hot, rich, heady scent of her pussy, dripping wet for him again. The tiny whimpers she probably didn’t even realize she was making, a sound for each part of her he
Enzo kicked at his pants before walking away from them, downing part of a glass of champagne that had been included with the table of desserts. He offered her a drink from his own glass, but she shook her head. Lilith felt drunk already, heady with lust and need. Even his legs were well muscled, the lines and planes evident with every minute movement he made.“Like what you see?” Enzo asked almost lazily, standing in front of her, utterly relaxed. If he had made her undress in front of him rather than ripping her clothes off like he usually did, Lilith didn’t think she would be able to be so calm and confident about it.But he was as cool as those icy blue eyes, almost luminous in the low light of the room.“Yes,” she said, reaching out to him. “Mine.”He blinked at that — it surprised her just as much as it had him — but he captured her hand and kissed the palm.“Is this what you want?” he asked, easing himself slowly down, covering his body with hers, “Is it everything you expecte