Nico: Adamo Bodyguards Book 1

by Madison, Mia

  The puppy obediently sits. Half a second later, he whirls and leaps into my lap, washing my face with his tongue. It’s a struggle not to laugh.

  After some more wrangling, we get him ready and head out into the warmth of a Sunday afternoon. We’ve just reached the sidewalk when my phone pings. I pull it out and read the text.

  “My parents will be here next weekend. They want to take us to dinner.”

  “Tell them to come over to our place. I’ll invite my parents, too, and they can finally meet.”

  “Good idea.” I send that back and get a quick confirmation. “All set.”

  We stroll along, hand in hand, while Jet sniffs everywhere and waters the trees lining the street. “How are Rick and Sofia?” I ask.

  He grins. “Living together.”

  “Yes!” I high-five him, as pleased as Nico that his matchmaking has turned out so well. “Are her parents still scandalized?”

  “They’d probably still be happier if she were dating another doctor, but they’re warming to him. He and Sofia went to dinner there last weekend, and made it through the whole meal without Aunt Martina mentioning any of her friend’s sons as potential dates.”

  “Poor Rick,” I say with a laugh. “But at least that’s progress.”

  “He’s not bothered. So long as he and Sofia are solid, the rest of it just rolls off his back.”

  “Smart man.”

  In our case, we don’t have to worry about my parents being scandalized anymore. After the Philip Fletcher situation, they got fully on board the Nico train. They were actually happy when I told them I was officially moving in with him.

  Fletcher survived his gunshot wound and ended up taking a plea deal, though my mother pushed hard for them to throw the book at him. It turned out he was using the phony vendors and invoices to embezzle money from Powell Construction to support a mistress. Emilia Lopez, owner of the SUV, was his unsuspecting niece, with no idea what he was up to.

  In his panic, he’d convinced himself that if he could just eliminate me, he’d never get caught, and could avoid the public humiliation, loss of his job, and loss of his marriage that were the consequences he feared the most. Now all of those things have come to pass, which I think is probably as hard on him as his actual prison sentence.

  Nico doesn’t care about the man’s feelings. He just wants me safe. After a visit to the prison, he came home and assured me that Phillip Fletcher knows better than to harbor any ideas about coming after me again. Ever.

  Most of the time, I don’t think about any of that. But when I do, it’s to take a moment and be thankful I survived. Thankful for Nico.

  After Jet has done all his business, we take him home and into the back yard, otherwise known as Labrador heaven. There’s a basket full of toys that are good for throwing, and we take turns hurling them all over the place. Jet has to bring a toy back before we throw another one, but he learned that rule quickly and has no problem obeying it, because it means he gets to keep playing his favorite game.

  When his energy starts to flag, we bring him inside, where he drinks some water and collapses on his dog bed. Nico picks him up and gently transfers his sleeping form to his crate.

  Jet’s going to be asleep for a while, so there’s no need to put him in his crate again unless he’s going to be unsupervised. Which means Nico and I are going to be busy playing our favorite game.

  While he zips the crate closed, I pick up my book and pretend to be absorbed in it. From the corner of my eye, I register him turning and standing in one smooth move, taking in my pose. He walks slowly behind the couch where I’m sitting and leans down, mouth by my ear.

  “Five minutes.”

  I make an exaggerated snort while my clit starts to tingle. “You could start world war three in five minutes. Two.”

  This particular variant of the game is called How fast can Nico make Juliet come? If he succeeds before the agreed-on time runs out, he gets to pick what happens next.

  So far, he’s never lost.

  “Four minutes.”

  “Two,” I repeat.

  “Stubborn.”

  “Bossy.”

  He brushes his lips against the shell of my ear, and my toes curl. I have zero resistance where Nico’s concerned, which is why two minutes is still going to be plenty of time.

  “All right. Two.”

  Before he finishes speaking the words, I toss the book aside and sprint from the room. The only reason he doesn’t catch me before I get three steps away is that he likes the chase. This time, though, I have a plan.

  Instead of running laps through the house, I duck inside the linen closet, which happens to have a Juliet-sized nook to one side of the door. Squeezing into it, I quiet my breathing as best I can, given my racing heart, and wait. All I have to do is run out the clock.

  I’m straining my ears, but I can’t even hear him move. I know he’s out there. He’s probably waiting for me to get impatient and show my face.

  The doorknob turns. I hold my breath. The closet door cracks open; I hold perfectly still.

  Nico’s hand flashes into my hiding place, hooks into the waistband of my jeans, and drags me out into the light as I squawk in protest. “How did you do that?”

  “That would be telling.” His eyes dance with amusement and anticipation. “You broke the rules.”

  “The rules are whatever we say they are,” I argue as he tugs me into the bedroom.

  “Don’t get lawyerly on me.” Quick as a flash, he peels my top off. I let out a little shriek and try to wriggle out of his hold, but he anticipates all my moves, stripping me even as I dance and twist away.

  When I’m naked, he picks me up and deposits us on the bed … with me sitting right on top of his face. His mouth goes to work on my clit as one arm locks around my waist, holding me to him at an angle, so I’m bent forward, braced against the headboard. This exposes more of my ass, and his other hand gives me a quick tap there.

  I moan as pleasure surges through me, my body racing toward its peak. His lips and tongue and teeth work their magic on my clit, and combined with the irregular, brief flashes of pain whenever he spanks me, it drives me to the edge so fast it’s dizzying.

  Pressure from his teeth makes my body tighten like a bow string; one more spank, and I’m humping his mouth as the orgasm strikes, my hips jerking spasmodically, sensation sparking along my nerve endings in a ceaseless flood of pleasure.

  When my tremors subside, he rolls me over, gets naked in the blink of an eye, and pins me to the bed. Linking his hands with mine, holding them above my head, he slowly fills me.

  Now the dance turns hot and sweet, his strokes deep and slow, his mouth finding mine for one long, drugging kiss after another. The climb to the pinnacle is exquisite, and when I come, I bring him with me.

  “Juliet.” His face in my hair as he empties himself inside me. He releases my hands, and I hold him close with every part of me, telling him with my body that I’ll never let him go.

  * * *

  The next morning, we drive to work together, Jet wearing his doggie seat belt behind us, his crate beside him. I’m now the office manager for Adamo Protection Services, handling all the bookkeeping, case files, and other administrative duties. Rafael also hired a receptionist, since I can only be here full-time during the summers, until I finish school.

  One or more of the guys often sits in on initial client interviews, depending on what I know about a case beforehand. Other times I handle the intake myself, and then Rafael decides which of the brothers is best suited to follow up.

  When things are slow, Nico shows me how to run computer traces, access databases, and the like. Today, I’m closing out a number of cases, making sure all the documentation is complete and invoicing the clients.

  At four in the afternoon, I put Jet in his crate. He whines softly. “Sorry, boy. You get so excited when you meet new people, and we have a client coming in. Maybe Nico can go for a ramble with you.”

  As if I�
�ve summoned him, Nico wanders into my office. Leaning against the wall behind me, he twines a bit of my hair around his finger. Jet whines again, then subsides when it doesn’t get him released from doggie prison.

  Nico leans down and kisses the side of my neck, forcing me to exercise some of my willpower. We have a strict “no sex at the office” rule, which is necessary because even though we’ve been living together for two months, we still want to boink all the time. It’s not exactly professional, or fair to his brothers, to be getting busy on top of my desk.

  However, if everyone else has left for the day, and it’s just the two of us locking up for the night … let’s just say this desk is really sturdy.

  The steady tap of high heels announces our client’s arrival. I love the fact that our offices are in an older building, and the hardwood floors never got covered over with carpet. Once, when Daniel suggested putting carpet in, I looked at him like he’d sprouted two extra heads.

  “It’d be warmer in the winter,” he said. “And more professional looking.”

  “I have to dispute your second point,” I countered. “Carpet is commonplace, while wood floors are distinctive and cool. I can’t help you on the heat issue, but the primary thing is this: carpet is gross. When it’s new, it’s full of chemicals; and when it’s not new, it’s full of … everything else.”

  That ended the carpet discussion.

  The footsteps reach us, and a beautiful young woman comes into the office. She’s wearing a dress in shades of purple and red and fuchsia, all muted and mixed together, and on her it looks fantastic. Her makeup is expertly done, and brings out her huge dark eyes and dramatic cheekbones.

  Model, I think. Or maybe actress.

  “Hello, Ms. Wilson,” I say. “Please have a seat. I’m Juliet North, the office manager; we spoke on the phone. And this is Nico Adamo.”

  “Hello.” She takes one of the two client chairs and looks around the office.

  “You didn’t want to discuss your case over the phone. Can you tell me what the problem is?”

  “I have a stalker.”

  “I see. That’s very serious.” I make some notes on the form I have in a file folder. Rafael thinks that doing intake interviews by hand is more reassuring for the client, more personal than typing everything they say into a computer. “Do you know the stalker’s identity?”

  She swallows. “Albert Kukor.”

  Gabriel, passing by, pauses in the doorway, hands in his pockets. “Where did you first encounter Mr. Kukor?” I say.

  “I was at a party for my brother—”

  “And what’s your brother’s name?”

  “Rob. Rob Wilson.”

  Behind her, Gabriel comes to attention. “Rachel?” he says, moving alongside her. “Rachel Wilson?”

  Her eyes go wide. “Gabriel?”

  Nico’s brother looks like he’s been struck by lightning. “My god. I haven’t seen you since you were …”

  “About seven years old, I think,” she says with a watery laugh. “I can’t believe it’s you.” Then she’s up out of her chair, and he’s folding her gently in his arms.

  “I’ll handle this,” he says to me, reaching for Rachel’s case folder. I close it and hand it over without a word. He leads her from the office, talking to her quietly.

  Nico and I make eye contact. And smile. “Care to make a little wager?” he says.

  “Not unless you’re going to take the sucker’s side.”

  He laughs, then cocks his head. “What’s that in Jet’s crate?”

  “I don’t see …” I trail off. There’s a small velvet jewelry case among Jet’s supplies. It hasn’t been gnawed on yet, which means it hasn’t been there long.

  Nico’s been on the opposite end of my desk from Jet’s crate all this time. “How’d you do that?”

  “Do what?” Innocent eyes. “You better get it out of there before he finds it.”

  My heartbeat’s unsteady as I kneel down and unzip the crate a few inches. Jet immediately tries to plunge through the opening, which he would have tried to do with Nico too, but there’s been no commotion. Seriously, does my man have magic powers?

  Then I open the case, and all I can do is stare at the beautiful diamond ring nestled in it.

  Nico crouches behind me. “We can get another one if you don’t like it.”

  My lip wobbles. “It’s perfect.”

  He turns me gently toward him. Jet escapes through the gap and plops himself into my lap; Nico cups my face in his hand.

  “You’re it for me, babe. Now and forever, I want you by my side. Marry me.”

  I sniff. “I love you, Nico.”

  “Is that a yes?”

  I stick my hand out. “Put it on me.”

  He slides the ring on my finger, then kisses me. Jet leaps up and slurps the undersides of our chins.

  Life is perfect.

  Also by Mia Madison

  Stay tuned for more scorching-hot Adamo bodyguards, coming soon!

  If you missed the previous Adamo series, see where it all began with Tempting Tonio, or find all the titles here.

  To see all my other books, go to my Amazon author page, or check out the selected links below:

  The Forbidden Series (Forbidden Intern, Forbidden Heat, Forbidden Hunger)

  Red Hot Stakes

  A Day And Forever

  Head Over Heels

  Hot Single Dad

  Touch & Taste

  About the Author

  In the mood for something decadent, delicious, and provocative? Meet Mia Madison, purveyor of Forbidden Fantasies Romance. Come in, sit back, and relax. The candles are lit, and the dancing shadows on the wall promise sexy, seductive tales of spine-tingling love, leading to a pleasure-drenched happy-ever-after.

  You'll discover young women eager for experience, who have scorching encounters with older men who know exactly what they're doing between the sheets. In Mia Madison's world, anything can — and does — happen. So leave your inhibitions at the door and come along for the ride.

  Stay in touch:

  authormiamadison.com

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