πππππJAMESThe damn phone continued to ring, and I started tossing shit around looking for the thing. Finally, I found it under the couch, and honest to God, I had no idea how it got there.I lifted the couch and grabbed my phone. It was Roman. Why the hell was he calling me at-I glanced at my watch-four in the morning. Why the hell was Roman calling me at four in the morning?"It's a little early for a booty call, don't you think?""Gunner, cut the crap. Where were you last night?"I frowned. "I'm sorry, but how is that any of your goddamn business, partner?""Were you in Bolivia?"Instantly, there was a prickle of warning in the back of my skull. "Yeah. Why?"Silence."Roman, what the fuck is going on?""Get your ass down to Bolivia ...now.""What's going-"He hung up. I stared at the phone, thinking the fucker hung up on me. I swore under my breath and headed for the shower. And here I was thinking it wasn't possible I could dislike the man even more. Right now, I did.Within
πππππππVANESSAThe trip home should have taken me no more than twenty minutes. I left James' apartment almost an hour ago, and I was still driving because I kept taking detour after detour. I didn't want to go home. I didn't know where I wanted to go. All I knew was where I'd been, and that I possibly made the second-worst mistake of my life. But, by God, it was a mistake that felt so damn good, which was probably why I made the same mistake twice in one night. "Dammit!" I slammed my hand against the steering wheel. I was frustrated as hell. One would think after the sex I had with Detective Big-Cock, I wouldn't be feeling so wound up. But I did, because I had to go back to a house full of Italian mobsters and pretend I didn't just have the best sex of my life with a damn cop. As if Antonio weren't pissed off enough with me last night, I had to go fuck a cop too, which was completely against the rules. Again, whose rules? Their rules. My father, my brother, my whole damn f
πππππππVANESSAI placed my hand in front of my mouth and wept as memories of betrayal and deceit came rushing back. "I didn't know. I had no idea he had planned it all along." "What did that fucker do?" "Afterβ¦after it happenedβ" "After you had sex with him?" He didn't even try to hide the disgust in his voice. I nodded, wiping more tears off my face. "We were at his family's beach house the night it happened. He was so romantic. Dinner, candles, musicβthink of every clichΓ© in the book, that's how perfectly he planned that evening." I snorted, thinking about how blind I was back then. But Enzo played the role of a soft, gentle lover so damn well. Every girl I ever spoke to about their first time had told me how horrible it was. That wasn't the case with me and Enzo. He took it slow while he gradually coaxed me to relax and let him take the lead. While he took my virginity, claiming me, it was the best experience of my lifeβ¦until it all crashed and burned. "Vanessa?"
πππππππVANESSAI had no idea why I was doing this again. It wasn't my intention. I just needed to get out of the house since the atmosphere in there was nothing short of toxic the entire day. Antonio was stomping around like a lion with a sore paw. My dad looked beyond pissed at Antonio, of all people. Fuck knew what happened there. And Daniel kept on giving me suspicious glances like he was extracting little pieces of information from my mind, putting together the puzzle of yet another one of my fuck-ups. Like I said, if anyone was going to figure out what the hell I did last night with James, it would be Daniel. So, I had to get out of there. And twenty minutes later, I found myself in front of James' apartment wanting nothing more than to escape the whirlpool of shit that was my life and indulge in another epic sex marathon with Boston's most arrogant, yet hot-as-hell cop. After I texted James like a damn booty call, I had been sitting in my car for about five minutes whe
πππππππVANESSAMy body shuddered violently against the cold wall, and my hips moved faster against James' ministrations, every muscle in my stomach tightening and flexing. James paused, lifted his hands, and gripped my hips. "Keep still.""Are you kidding me? That's like asking me to stop breathing.""Then stop breathing. I don't care what the fuck you do, but you keep these greedy hips of yours still so I can eat you the way I fucking want to.""Oh, God." I moaned, leaning my head back against the wall.His thumbs were back between my legs, opening me wide for him, his tongue working every inch of me. The urge to move my hips was so strong, that it took every ounce of control I had left to stop myself. A few quick flicks of his tongue forced me hard and fast toward the orgasm threatening to erupt up my spine, and my insides were twisted tight with the need for release."You have no idea how fucking good you taste. I don't know why I didn't do this earlier. I'd feast on you e
πππππ JAMESIt took a few uncomfortable moments before Vanessa moved, covering her eyes with her palms as she whispered, "Not tonight, please, James. I already had to relive it when I told Antonio. For now, I just want to try to forget."There was desperation in her voice, and even though I was the world's biggest prior, I decided to not push it. Something told me she had been pushed enough during the last few days."Okay," I conceded-for now. Something deep and painful happened to her. And lord knew that I was going to make sure I got to the bottom of it, even if it killed me. After agreeing to let the question go, I put my elbows down above Vanessa's shoulders and placed my hands on her head, wiping the hair out of her face. Our gazes met, and then it happened. A moment. One of those moments you read about in books or saw in a movie, a moment between lovers where something shifts. You didn't know what it was, what was happening, all you knew was it was happening. She blinked,
πππππ JAMESVanessa tilted her head, dark curls falling over her naked shoulder. "Who says I'm leaving?" She winked and slipped off the counter, sliding her body down against my cock. I groaned. "Fuck, you're killing me, you know that?" "Yet I'm the one needing a break?" She chuckled and walked down the hall. All I could do was keep my eyes glued to her naked ass, her hips swaying seductively. "Minx," I called after her. She glanced over her shoulder. "That makes you one lucky son of a bitch, then, Detective." I tipped my beer in her direction. "Oh, I fucking know it." I took a large gulp while watching her until she disappeared around the corner. "Fuck me," I muttered and rubbed the back of my neck. It was too damn insane, what was happening between us. It was more intense than I ever could have anticipated. I grabbed a second beer from the fridge and made my way to the bedroom, deciding she'd had a long enough break. My cock was aching and swearing at me. When
πππππππVANESSAI took a sip of my Negroni cocktail at β I glanced at the old grandfather clock in the corner β two in the afternoon. Lucky for me, my family owned this damn restaurant, and no one who worked in Biloxi would question my motivation for drinking a cocktail this time of day. "It's a bit early for you, isn't it?" Except for Daniel. I shrugged. "I don't know. According to whose standards, mine or yours?" He took a seat next to me at the bar and eyed my cocktail. "Negroni. Gin. That's some hard liquor." I ignored him and took another sip. "Everything okay?" "Why wouldn't it be?" "Oh, I don't know." He held up his hand, signaling to the bartender to give him one of his usualβbourbons. "Maybe it's because you're not a big drinker, and you hardly ever come down to the restaurant." I placed my empty glass on the counter. "Or maybe I'm just not a big drinker according to you, and maybe I finally realized my life isn't family-orientated enough, so I decided