For the first time, Remington was the one who lost control first. His body shuddered as he groaned, clasping my arms tightly. Cum shot from his cock, and I used it like lube, smearing it over both of us. I kept touching and stroking him, wanting every last drop he had to give.
When he was finished, he lifted me, set me on the chair, and knelt. He took my cock in his mouth and sucked me until nothing could have prevented me from spilling into him and giving him all of me.
I looked down at him, a powerful dangerous man on his knees in front of me, and knew I was deeply in love with him. I’d known I wouldn’t want to leave, but I thought that would be because of how easy it was to be with him, how much better life was in his house than it was in my shitty apartment. I’d expected to long for him, but I hadn’t thought I would fall head over heels beyond any chance of recovery. Leaving him was going to break my heart. I would only have my memories to hold on to after enjoying every second of every day we had together.
I saw much less of Remington over the next few days than I wanted to, but I knew he was busy. I knew that his war with another family was quickly coming to a head. Despite all he had told me, Remington wouldn’t give me the details of the fight he was involved in. Still, I could see how tense he was, and I knew he felt a lot of pressure to prove his leadership abilities.
When we were together, we spent almost every moment in bed. It was clear how much he needed the release of stress. Sometimes he was rough and demanding. Sometimes he wanted to punish me, even though I hadn’t done anything wrong. I never protested. I wasn’t sure there was anything I would deny him. I loved every moment we spent together.
One morning, I woke to the sound of him playing the cello. The sadness in his music had tears running down my cheeks. When he returned to bed, he fucked me with torturously slow strokes until neither of us could stand it anymore. Then he pounded me into the mattress, and we were both left panting.
“I need to go,” he said between ragged breaths. “I’m supposed to meet Lance.”
“I don’t want you to go.” There. For the first time, I’d said it.
He turned me to face him, and his eyes held mine. “Cher, believe me. If I could stay, I would.”
I could tell there was something else he wanted to say. “What is it?”
“I want to introduce you to my father and stepmother tonight.”
Of all the things I might’ve guessed he was going to say, that wasn’t even close. I’d expected a suggestion of something dirty he wanted me to do or perhaps further confessions about the nature of his business, but not an invitation to meet more of his family. You don’t hire men and then take them home to meet your parents.
“Why?”
“I think they’ll like you, and you will like them.”
“But we’re not… I mean, this isn’t…”
“They’re hosting an engagement party for my cousin Constance. They expect me to come, and I would enjoy myself more with you there.”
If he’d simply said he needed a date for an engagement party, I wouldn’t have thought it was odd, but he specifically wanted me to meet his parents. What did that mean?
I realized I hadn’t said anything else when he spoke again. “If it makes you that uncomfortable, then I won’t require you to join me.”
This was the first time he’d given me a choice like that. My head spun with the possibilities, but I knew better than to get my hopes up that he was starting to see me as more than a man he’d hired to please him.
“No. I’m not…” It would be a lie to say I wasn’t uncomfortable because I totally was. I had no idea how to behave at the kind of party I was sure it would be. I would feel as out of place as I had at Commander’s Palace, but I would go because Remy wanted me to, and I wouldn’t turn down any chance to spend time with him. “I’m nervous, but I want to go.”
His lips curved into a soft genuine smile, then he kissed me softly and slid from the bed. “I really do have to get going.”
“Do you need me to make you some breakfast while you shower?”
“No. I need you to go back to sleep. I want you well rested for tonight.”
“For the party?”
He shook his head, grinning. “No, for after it.”
My cock twitched at his words. I wondered what he had planned. I was sure whatever it was would be delicious.
29
Remington
I was filled with nerves as I turned into the driveway of my family home. I should be feeling relaxed. Based on Clark’s phone and email records, we learned that along with accepting shipments of illegal weapons, he’d committed multiple murders for the weapons dealers. Niall had met with Clark, and Clark had bought his story that he was investigating him for murder and gunrunning, and he’d agreed to take a plea bargain. He would coordinate with Niall as soon as he got more information about the next weapons drop which was expected in a few days.
Instead of being relieved that our plans were on track, all I could think about was my parents meeting Henri. I wanted to introduce him as my man, my future husband. I wanted to let my parents know I cared for him and ask them how to make things work between us, but it wasn’t the right time. This was my cousin’s celebration. While business was always conducted during family celebrations, it needed to be done away from the party space and only when it was urgent. Me wondering what to do now that I’d finally fallen in love wasn’t actually urgent, though it felt like it to me. It felt like the most important thing that had ever happened, but making sure the Landrys went down and the gunrunners understood how things worked in the city would protect my family’s physical well-being as well as our reputation. That was where my focus needed to be.
“Wow!” Henri said when the house came into view. “This is even more spectacular than I’d imagined.”
I tried to see the house through the eyes of someone who hadn’t grown up there. Over the years, I’d started to take it for granted. Sometimes I even resented the opulent display, the need for entertaining those we wanted to impress, but I also loved it because it was where I’d grown up. “It’s a bit much.”
“No, it’s lovely and… a little overwhelming.”
I parked the car and came around as Henri was opening his door. I took his hand and closed the door for him. He was even paler than usual, making his freckles stand out, his beautiful dark-red hair a stark contrast to his soft skin. I knew he was terrified. He was meeting the infamous head of a known criminal family. A man he was fully aware sanctioned murders, meted out his own form of justice, and had no remorse about it. Except my father was also warm and caring, such a contradiction, and I knew he would like Henri if they had a chance to get to know each other. “You’re going to be fine. Just be yourself.”
“But this is your family.”
“I promise you none of my family members are any scarier than Thomas Carrington.”
“He didn’t seem scary except when you were talking business.”
“He is very good at playing the affable, rich philanthropist, but he is deadly underneath.”
“And your family isn’t?”
I smiled. “My father is actually very similar in personality, except with him, I know the affability is real. With Thomas, I’m starting to suspect it is, but I’m not ready to pass judgment.”
“Will Lance be here?”
“Yes, none of us would be allowed to miss this. You’ll also get to meet my youngest brother, Corbin, and several of my cousins. Not all of them are active in the family business, but plenty of them are.”
“Is Constance?”
I shook my head. “No. Equal opportunities for women haven’t infiltrated the mafia world. It’s rare for women to be involved in any way. That doesn’t mean our women aren’t dangerous, though. Never underestimate them.”
“So the rest of your family is just as archaic as you are?”
I smiled at him. “We have rules, and we expect people to obey.”
“You demand obedience.”
“I do, and you like it. Come on.” I tugged on his arm, and reluctantly, he began walking with me.
When I opened the front door, sounds of chatter, laughter, and clinking glasses poured out into the night. Henri looked thoroughly intimidated, and he was right to sense the danger. There were men and women there who would try to eat him alive. “If anyone gives you shit, tell me or my brother, father, or stepmother. Any of them will put the offender in their place.”
“Is your stepmother involved in the business?”
“She’s not involved in the day-to-day business, but she is the very cherished wife of the head of the family. Her word is law.”
We gave our coats to Antoine, my parents’ butler, who was stationed in the entryway, then I led Henri down the hall to the ballroom where everyone was gathered. When we reached the door, his mouth dropped open.
“Your parents have a ballroom?”
“Yes. Now close your mouth and let me get us through this crowd.”
I greeted several people as we crossed the room, but I was focused on my parents who stood on the far side close to the buffet.
I deliberately ignored a few hangers-on, men who only approached me when they wanted a favor or to brag about recent accomplishments. Finally, I reached my parents. They were in conversation with a woman I vaguely recognized. A few seconds later, she headed toward the bar, and they gave Henri and me their full attention.
“Remington,” my stepmother said. “It’s so good to see you. You’re looking fantastic tonight.” She turned to Henri. “Now who is this? You’ve been very mysterious about who you were bringing to the party.”
“This is Henri. We met recently, and we’ve been seeing each other for a short time.”
My stepmother looked between the two of us, and I could tell she saw more than I wanted her to. She’d known my cousin Constance and her fiancé were a match before they did. Marjorie had an uncanny way with matchmaking. She’d known from the moment they’d met that she was meant to be with my father, and she’d waited for him all those years.
She held out her hand, and Henri took it graciously. “I’m so happy to meet you. I’ve heard only wonderful things about you.”
She gave me a sly smile. “I’m sure you have, and I can tell you many wonderful things about Remington—and some of the not so wonderful things.”
I shook my head. “Don’t you dare.”
“Behave yourself, and I won’t need to.”
The smile on Henri’s face told me he liked her, and that helped some of my tension melt away.
I turned to my father. “Pop, this is Henri.”
My father held out his hand. “You can call me Bébé like everyone else.”
I saw Henri’s eyes widen in surprise. I’d told him my father wasn’t like what he probably expected, and it was true. The more of the business Pop turned over to me, the more he acted like his true self, the caring jovial man he’d been in private when I was growing up.
He could still be ice cold, and he wouldn’t hesitate to eliminate anyone who dared defy him, but he was only scary when he had to be.
“Nice to meet you, sir,” Henri said.
My father looked him up and down, and his eyes narrowed. It was interrogation time. I took Henri’s hand and squeezed it. He would do fine.
“How do you know my son? He’s not given us any details.”
Henri glanced at me, then back at my father. “We met while Remington was out working one evening.” His voice shook a bit on the last word.
“Has he told you much about his work?”
Henri glanced at me again, and I gave a small nod, letting him know it was okay to tell my father that I had.
“He’s shared a little.”
“And you’re still here with him. That’s a good sign. He tries to scare men away, and it often works. Ones that stick, those are the ones with potential.”
Heat rushed to my face. Did my father have to embarrass me?
Henri smiled. “He hasn’t scared me away yet.”
The soft smile he gave me nearly made me forget where I was. I wanted to pull him into my arms and kiss him until he couldn’t breathe.
“I would love to have you for lunch one day,” my stepmother said, smiling at Henri. That would involve a far more serious interrogation, but I could prepare him for it.
“That would be lovely,” Henri said. “I’m honored you’d ask.”
How could Henri think he didn’t know the right things to say in these situations? He had a natural charm that would help him fit into any situation, which was probably how he’d managed to do well enough soliciting johns on the street. I struggled to keep a straight face as anger surged. I couldn’t stand the thought of random men thinking they deserved a piece of him. No one would touch him like that again.
“Remington, there are a few matters I’d like to discuss with you,” Pop said.
I had a feeling he wanted to ask about Henri more than he wanted to talk about the Landrys, but refusing him wasn’t an option. I would have to be as vague as I could about the nature of our relationship, but no one could see through my lies like my father could.
I turned to Henri. “Will you be—”
“I’ll see that he’s taken care of,” Marjorie said.
He gave me a nervous look, but I smiled at him. That was all I could do. Contradicting Marjorie was out of the question. “I’ll find you as soon as my father and I have concluded our business.”
“I’ll be fine,” Henri said, though he looked like he might faint.
30
Henri
Remington’s stepmother slid her arm through mine and turned us toward the door leading out onto a wide patio. “I could use some fresh air, and I bet you could too.”
While I didn’t doubt that, I was sure she wanted to get me somewhere private to question me further. I hoped I could come up with answers she would approve of and that wouldn’t reveal something troublesome for Remington.
She glanced over at me as we walked. “I’ve never seen my stepson look at a man the way he looks at you.” Her tone made me uncertain if that was good or bad.
“Oh, I…”
“He likes you a lot. Maybe more than likes.”
“I’m not sure he—”
“I am. I may not have raised him from birth, but I was there through his teenage years, through him coming into adulthood, and the way he reacts to you… It’s different than he’s been with anyone else.”
“I like him a lot too.” I didn’t want her to think I wasn’t pleased by what she’d said, but I was sure she was reading too much into it.
“I can tell, and I want you to know that while Remy is strong, brave, determined, and a good leader, he’s also vulnerable. I will not see him hurt.”
“No, ma’am.”
She studied me carefully. “How did you really meet?”
“That’s between me and Remington.” She might compel me to confess a lot but not that.
“What do you want from him?”
I wanted to tell her I wasn’t after his money—that I just wanted to spend time with him—but that was only partly true. “I promise I have no nefarious designs on him or on any of you. In case you don’t know, he did a background check on me.”
“I’m sure he did, and my instincts say you feel as strongly for him as he does for you, but rest assured, if you hurt him or you’re dishonest with him, there will be repercussions you won’t recover from.”
Marjorie Theriot looked like an unassuming 1950s housewife. She appeared to be the consummate hostess for an extravagant engagement party, but Remington was right; she was scary. I had no doubt she would follow through on her threat, and she wouldn’t need the rest of her family to help her do it.
“I’m going to ask you again. What do you want from Remington?”
“His time. I want to go back to the bookstore he took me to. I want to listen to him play the cello. I want…” Did I dare tell yet another person the dream I’d ne
ver spoken aloud before? “I want a fairy tale, but I recognize that’s not likely to happen, so I’ll take the time with him that he can give me.”
She shook her head. “You’re wrong. You will have all the time you want with my son. I see it now. You’re the one for him.”
“I don’t think—”
“There’s no need for you to think too much. Just follow your heart.”
I wasn’t going to beg Remington to let me stay longer than the two weeks we’d agreed on, and as much as I wanted him, I didn’t really believe in the idea that there was one perfect person for me. I would miss him, but I wasn’t going to waste away longing for him to propose to me like some heroine in a Victorian novel, was I? “I’m not going to hurt him. I promise you that.”
She held my gaze, and I felt frozen in place. She really was formidable, and I could almost believe she could see the future, or was that just wishful thinking? Remington said she’d predicted all the matches in his family, but that didn’t mean she actually had knowledge of the future or that she was infallible.
31
Remington
I allowed myself to glance back once as I followed my father out of the ballroom. Marjorie was leading Henri out onto the patio. I wanted to believe he could hold his own with her, but she was a formidable woman when she wanted to be. At least I knew he was physically safe, unless she thought he intended to harm me.
I didn’t think she’d question his intent. If he’d wanted to harm me, he’d had plenty of chances he hadn’t taken. When he’d talked about his dream the night I played the cello for him, I was sure he’d imagined me in the role of his fairy-tale hero.
“I assume you looked into this young man’s past,” my father said once we’d entered his office.
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