Eleni
The cool air whisks over my soaked pussy as I wait for Dante to return. During our last stay upstate, he showed me the wall of toys he keeps in the basement, and we tried out a few. Several of them still scare me, but I can take whatever he gives me tonight. I think.
The door opens and closes behind me.
“Good girl,” Dante purrs.
My body sparkles with pleasure, and I sink deeper into the space where I want nothing more than to make him smile.
He swipes a finger between my legs, gathering the wetness there, and I groan.
“Not yet.” He circles around to where I can see him. “You haven’t earned that.”
I shake my head. No, I haven’t. But I have earned dragging my gaze over his bare body. He stripped somewhere between the bathroom and here, exposing his taut stomach and the snarl of dark hair around his lengthening cock. I lick my lips. He hasn’t abandoned that cool ai
DanteThe next morning, I stir a pan of scrambled eggs—the only breakfast I ever learned how to make on the shitty hot plate I had in my dorm at Wagner—and glance over my shoulder at Eleni. She sits at the island behind me, massaging her cheeks with one hand.“What are you doing?” I ask.She blushes just a little and tucks her hand around the cup of coffee she poured herself from the pot she insisted on making first. “Nothing?”I shake my head. “I thought you were listening now.”Her blush deepens, and she shifts in her seat like she’s trying to keep weight off the flogger marks I left on her ass last night. My cock responds instantly. Maybe we’ll have a little breakfast to get our strength back and head right back upstairs.“It’s lame but”—she shrugs—“my cheeks hurt because I’ve been smiling so much.”My chest squ
EleniA few days later, I’m lazing in front of the TV and wondering when Dante’s going to get home. He’s been out a lot lately, combing the streets for any sign of Luca. According to him, his plan—which he doesn’t want to tell me about yet, in case I think I can do it my own way—works best if he already knows where Luca is. I sigh and change the channel. Without studying to occupy me, I’ve been alternating between channel-surfing and visiting Seb in the “doctor’s office” behind the hair salon a few blocks away. He’s getting better, but he broke a few ribs, so the doctor, a nice man who goes by the name Dr. Domino, won’t let him go yet. Apparently, my visits are the highlights of his days, because everybody else is too busy to check in. Though he’s also dreading getting out because his worried nonna is going to stuff him so full of food that he starts bleeding marinara.The door
EleniDante is all around me, all over me, even dangling from my neck in the form of this new tracker, and I melt into him. His breath is hot on my neck, and his fingers are hard on my nipple, under my shirt and bra.“I’m going to stop now,” he says, “and we’re going to watch some TV. A good girl wouldn’t complain. And she certainly wouldn’t try to do anything to change my mind. Do you understand?”I nod. I just have to prove I can resist him. He releases my breast, pulls his hand out of my shirt, and turns on the TV. I glance at him out of the corner of my eye. He’s breathing heavily, and his cock already tents his pants a little. Maybe this isn’t just about me. Maybe it’s a contest of wills. And that, I can win, even if Dante’s supposed to be the one in charge.I glance up at the motionless fan overhead. “It’s broken.”“Really?” Dan
Dante“What do you think?” Eleni twirls, showing off the suit she picked out for the occasion.I smile from my spot on her bed. “Perfect.”And it is. I figured, since we couldn’t do anything real about Luca yet, El could be let in on a little of the planning. After the necklace, and our rendezvous on the couch, it was harder to forget how strong she was. And she threatened to start following me in the car I bought her. So I set up a face-to-face with Thano to get them officially acquainted, and Eleni went online shopping in secret, leading to the all-black suit she’s sporting now. She’s obviously teasing me, but she looks fucking incredible. The knee-length skirt fit her like a glove, and she’s swapped out the tie I would wear for some tight, black necklace that highlights the line of her throat. She’s pulled her hair up in a bun, leaving only a few curls loose to frame her face, and the heels s
EleniI blink awake to an ache in the back of my head so intense that, for a moment, I expect to see a cheap couch and smell gas like I did in the basement of Frank Lombardi’s garage. But the surface underneath me is cheap vinyl, like a couch from the fifties, and I smell…salt? I run my hand over the back of my head and find a huge bump.Wait, I run my hand over my head? I’m not restrained. For a split second, I let myself hope I missed the fight while unconscious, that I’m already in some new safe house of Dante’s. I open my eyes a crack and peek around.No such luck. Men with guns parade through the warehouse around me. I lay on exactly the sort of couch I was picturing, which happens to be blue, against one wall. Most of the men wear T-shirts from the garage and barely ever stop touching their guns. My heart pounds. Luca has me. He…what, convinced Thano to turn on Dante? The mafia politics are too hard to fo
EleniThe door slams open, and I startle out of the fetal position I’ve been curled in since Luca left. I haven’t even buttoned my blouse.Luca sighs. “Well, I was really hoping to get a look at that pussy of yours, but your tits will have to do.”I stare up at him blankly. Don’t say anything that could hurt Mama. He sneers at me, his lower lip still matted with blood. The rage I’m tamping down flares gleefully when I see that.He rolls his eyes and hauls me to my feet by one arm. Thankfully, he doesn’t grab the one attached to the hand he stepped on. Small miracles.The men whistle and leer as he leads me through the warehouse again, to a different section. I keep my gaze on the ground as much as I can. For Mama’s sake, I do not memorize these men’s faces so I could destroy them later. I know how to behave.But when Luca leads me to a clearing in the high shelves, and I see Dante, Tony, and a bruised Seb, everything else falls away. He found me, just like I knew he would. And he’s sa
DanteMy bullet pings off a metal shelf as Luca Lombardi ducks at the last moment, dragging El down with him. She yelps and tries to disentangle his fingers from her hair. My vision narrows to her, half-dressed on this filthy warehouse floor. She looks so vulnerable, nothing like the iron woman who tried to stand up to him moments ago. How dare he expose her like that, how dare he grope her with his fucking gun like a piece of meat, how dare he threaten—Tony drags me down behind a table I didn’t realize he flipped over for cover. “Head in the game, asshole.”“Fuck off.” I reload my gun. I don’t want to miss my shot on Luca because I emptied a chamber into a fucking shelf.Tony slams me against the table. “Head in the game, or I’m dragging your ass outside and chaining you to the car until it’s over.”I grit my teeth and try to swallow down enough of the white-hot anger that filled me and made me fire that first shot. I can’t save El if I’m dead. There’s no life to share with her if I
EleniThe world slows around me. Gravel crunches under my bare feet. Oh, god, how has this happened? Everything hurts as I sprint across the warehouse parking lot to where Dante fell.Gouts of crimson blood stains the rocks in front of him. My heart hammers, drowning out voices and gunfire and anything else. I drop to my knees and skid the rest of the distance, barely noticing the pain as my skin shreds. His eyelids flutter. Not dead. Yet.“Eleni.” He reaches for me with a weak smile.My heart is in my throat. I run my hands over his chest, not bothering to be careful, until I find a patch of his suit soaked through with blood. Right in the middle of his chest. Tears fill my eyes, magnifying the shine on something a bit behind him.His gun.Luca begins laughing. “Looks like we’ve got more than one night to enjoy, Ellie.”My feet move before I know what’s going on. All I know is that Luca has taken too much from me. I’m tired of hiding, of waiting, of preparing. I snatch Dante’s gun ou
*Cal*I’ve had other women say they loved me before—after we had sex and I’d taken them to paradise and back. It’s not uncommon. However, I know that Heidi’s words carry a different meaning than all of the rest. I’m absolutely positive she didn’t say that just because she was in post-coital bliss. She meant it. Every word. I only know because I can feel that whatever we have going on between us is different from anything I have ever experienced before.Which is why it freaks me the fuck out.This wasn’t supposed to get this deep. This was supposed to remain an infatuation, a brief curiosity. Something I could chase, experience, and set aside. Because I’m a dangerous man, and that danger lurks in every facet of my life. She’d never be safe. But deep down, the selfish part of me is thrilled to know she loves me. I never thought I deserved someone’s love, but Heidi makes me feel like I do. Like somehow I deserve to be with her and have her by my side. That’s the kind of effect she has o
*Heidi*Cal looks up at me, his eyes slightly widened in surprise as if asking me what’s gotten into me.“That was the sweetest thing anyones ever said to me,” I explain, my heart beating rapidly against my ribcage.“It’s the truth,” he tells me honestly, caressing my cheek with tenderness.I’m sure my heart is about to jump out of my chest. Why do I feel so emotional? Everything he says and does to me seems so genuine, like he truly wants to make me happy.I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way toward another man before. It’s an unknown feeling to me, but if I could dare say it, I’d guess it’s love.Or at least something similar to it.He might not feel the same way about me, but right now, I don’t mind. I just want to be with him and enjoy whatever time I have with him all to myself. Being with Cal makes me happier than anything else I’ve ever experienced in my life–even getting lost in a good book.Tired of the distance between us, I lean forward, and our mouths crash together. Cal’
*Heidi*My face heats up with his offer, and I can’t find it in me to reject it. I was trying to be bold and surprise him by coming here, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t have any plans on returning to my own apartment tonight.But I was also telling the truth when I said I liked to spend time with him, no sex involved. Cal makes my days much better, especially now that I’m living by myself and barely see my grandparents. New York is a big city, but it can feel so small when you’re alone.Whenever I’m with Cal, it’s like time freezes, and I can simply enjoy being around him. He makes me feel wanted, heard, cared for. Nothing about what we have feels fake or forced.I don’t know what we are–and I would never dare to say we’re together–but I can’t lie to myself anymore. I believe I’m falling for him. Or better yet, I think I have already fallen. Deep. Beyond redemption.“So, what do you say?” His hoarse, sexy voice whispers in my ear, and I remember I didn’t give him an answer.
*Cal*I frown at Clara, my brain still a bit foggy. I don’t need to ask who she is referring to. At this point, everyone who works for me knows I’m seeing Heidi.“I’ll be right there,” I tell her, getting to my feet and checking my appearance in the mirror.I don’t feel tired, but the dark circles under my eyes say otherwise. I’m sure Heidi will notice it as soon as she sees me, but I don’t want her to worry. I’ll probably have to lie to her if she asks. It wouldn’tl be the first time I’ve kept something from her.The idea of keeping the truth about my life from her is starting to bother me to the point I’m considering risking everything, telling her what I do for a living. But I know the moment I confess and she realizes how dangerous it is, she’ll be out of my life in a blink of an eye.And I’m not ready for that.I wonder if that’s how Tony felt when he got married to Chloe to protect her from the cartel. He told me one time that he was afraid to involve her in all of this mess, an
*Cal*Heidi and I get dressed as I consider what to do. I check my phone, expecting to see a message from Sam telling me that the path is clear for me to take Heidi home, but he hasn’t texted me yet.I need to keep Heidi here for a little longer, until I know for sure we can head out without the risk of being attacked.“I’ll get something for us to eat before I take you home,” I offer, fixing my hair and adjusting the collar of my shirt.Heidi arches an eyebrow at me, considering my suggestion. I’m sure she must want to go home, and I can’t deny I also want to be alone so I can find out who the fuck was following us earlier, but unfortunately, she’ll have to wait.Reluctantly, she scoots back on the couch. “Fine, I’m starving.”“Want me to order some pizza?” I ask, grabbing my phone and opening the delivery app.“Yeah, I could eat some pizza,” she agrees. Her cheeks are still flushed from our previous activities. Seeing her skin glowing like that makes me want to do it all over again
*Heidi*The steamy session at Cal’s car only got me worked up enough to be desperate for him to take me. So much that I didn’t even bother that he took me to his office out of all places. When he said he wanted to take me somewhere safer, I thought he was talking about his apartment, but to my surprise, I was even more aroused when he took me to his bar.I never had sex in an office before, but I’ve read enough books to keep my imagination vivid and wanting to give it a try.Standing in his office in nothing but my underwear turns me on more than I expected. The simple fact that someone could barge in at any minute and catch us excites me more than I’d like to admit.God, I was never like this before. I wonder how Cal manages to turn me into this hungry woman who can only think about having sex.Sure, I do want more from him, but right now, having sex with him leaves me fully satisfied, and if that’s all I can get, well, I might as well take it while he is offering me.The intense loo
*Cal*“I didn’t think you meant your bar when you said ‘somewhere safer,’” Heidi points out with a note of amusement in her voice as I guide us inside through the back door.I managed to shake whoever was following us, but I don’t think I lost them completely. They might be somewhere near, watching my next moves. They know I own this place, but I can’t show Heidi any sign of worry or fear right now.I can only hope they don’t have ulterior motives tonight other than keeping an eye on us. An attack would be a fucking mess with Heidi here with me.“It wasn’t my first thought, but considering you really liked my office the last time you were here, I figured, why not?” Heidi seems surprised by my answer, but her expression softens as soon as I open the door to my office, and she finds everything exactly as she remembers it.“Make yourself comfortable,” I tell her, pecking her on the lips, one hand gripping her waist. “I’ll just send my men away and get us both something to drink,” I lie.
*Cal*Taking Heidi to her apartment this morning and being forced to leave her after the incredible night we spent together was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, and that’s saying a lot.I cursed Tony the entire way to my bar, but I have to admit it ended up being the right choice after all. I don’t know how he did it, considering none of my men succeeded when they investigated it, but Tony managed to confirm that Mateo’s cartel was involved in the attack on Christmas’ Eve.He didn’t confirm who took that picture of Heidi leaving my bar, but that wasn’t necessary. I have all the confirmation I need already.When I asked him why he couldn’t tell me this news over the phone, he showed me a picture of two cars, one of them which I immediately recognized as being the one who attacked me that same night. Tony gave me some confidential information on how to track down Mateo’s men and told me he’s trying to find out who is leading them now and why they are targeting me and not
*Heidi*Being practically dragged out of Cal’s bed and his apartment is not the way I imagined ending our date. I hadn’t originally planned to sleep at his place either, but after the best sex of my life, I didn’t have the strength to leave his arms, get dressed, and call for a cab.I didn’t think Cal would have let me do that even if I’d wanted to, but now that he’s basically told me to leave, I’m starting to doubt my instincts. He reassured me that he didn’t want to go either, and I could tell by his expression that he was being honest with me. But as he drives me back to my apartment, I wonder what got him out of bed so early.I don’t think our relationship is close enough for me to ask him–even though we’ve seen one another completely naked and vulnerable–so I stay quiet the entire time, watching the empty, snow-covered streets out the window. Even with my coat on, and the heat from the car, I’m shivering. I also think it has something to do with Cal’s eyes on me. I feel his gaz