by Bethany-Kris
She came so hard. Shouting his name just like he wanted, and entirely spun. Unable to catch her breath, and with her thoughts a jumbled mess.
Haven barely even registered being flipped over, and it was only when Andino’s substantial weight pressed into her from behind that her vision started to clear.
“Deep breath,” she heard him say. “And trust me.”
She did.
It was all she could manage to do.
Silk wrapped around her throat in two tight loops. Haven didn’t even have to ask what it was—his tie. A twist of his hand at the back of her neck, and the tie tightened more. Not to a painful point, but enough that her breaths were measured, and her body felt like hot lava.
“There’s my good girl,” he murmured along the back of her neck. “You look good like this, Haven. Ass high for me, thighs wet with your cum, and bound up in my tie. Fuck, too good, really. Do you want my cock now?”
Even her words had to be measured.
She chose the right one.
“Please,” she breathed.
“And you’ll lick me clean just the way I like when I’m done, won’t you?”
“Yes.”
Hell, she would beg to do it.
If that’s what he wanted.
There was nothing quite like the taste of her on his dick after he’d been fucking her.
“That’s what I want to hear,” Andino said.
It only took one flex of his hips, and a hard tug of her body into his, and he buried his cock into her aching pussy. Slick enough to take him, Haven relished in the way her body was stretched open for every inch of his cock, and the way he held her tight to his cock once he was balls-deep. That first thrust was accompanied by his palm slapping her ass.
With the next thrust, another slap.
And then another.
“Jesus Christ,” Haven whined.
She thought her voice was too high—too lost.
And yet, she didn’t care at all.
Not when he was fucking her like he was.
Deep, hard thrusts that shook her bed, and had her body aching for more. The tie around her throat kept her hyperaware of every single move he made. From the movement of his hips driving into her from behind, to the way his cock glided along her G-spot with every thrust. It only added to the bite of pain from his hand cracking against her ass with every other thrust, and she was so hot that it almost felt unbearable.
Except it wasn’t.
It wasn’t even close to enough.
Her cries became a catacomb of noise to her own ears—sounds that melded and mixed with the slap of skin on skin, and his rough words in her ear.
Who else is going to fuck you like this?
Who else owns you like this, Haven?
Who owns your body?
“You,” she choked out through the second orgasm that ravaged her senses. “You do.”
That was the terrible part of all this.
She was never going to escape him.
Not entirely.
NINE
Andino moved quietly around the bedroom as he picked up his discarded clothes from the night before, and shrugged them on. Snaps waited patiently by the bedroom door, never moving unless Andino called him in. He’d went out and brought Snaps in once he figured Haven was going to let him stay the night.
The dog never got to sleep in Andino’s bed. It was a rule he’d made when the pup was little, and once peed in the sheets because he was too scared to jump down.
Not when they were here, though.
At Haven’s, Snaps got to sleep wherever the fuck he wanted. And the dog made sure to get right up on the bed, and put his big ass body between Andino and Haven for the entire night. It would be cute … if it wasn’t a cockblock.
He should have gotten up earlier, and headed out of Haven’s place if only so that he could make a trip home to get something decent to wear. A dress shirt that wasn’t as wrinkled, or just an entirely new suit.
Who the fuck was going to notice?
He should put in the effort for today; it was a big day. God knew Dante would expect him to seem like he knew it was important, and to behave like it. The least he could do was act like he gave a damn about it all, but even that was asking for a little too much from Andino.
Besides, while he was still there with Haven, even if she was still sleeping and entirely unaware that he was about to slip out of her house, he was there. With her, and no one else. He didn’t even want to think about what was coming once he left her house.
One thing at a time.
Andino sat on the edge of the bed, and kept watch on Haven over his shoulder as he toed on his loafers. With her back turned to him, all he could see was the blonde strands of her hair fanned out along the expanse of the pillow and the shape of her curves tucked under a white sheet. It took every ounce of his willpower not to wake her up … even just to say goodbye.
His reasons for leaving her asleep were entirely selfish—he might as well just admit that right now. If he woke her up, and she asked why he was leaving so early, then Andino was going to have to lie. He surely couldn’t tell her the fucking truth without Haven throwing something at his head.
Not that he wouldn’t deserve exactly that.
He would.
Andino knew he was hurting this woman. Probably more than she could take even if she did put on one hell of a brave face for him. He didn’t want to keep hurting her, so instead, he was stuck in this cat and mouse chase with Haven until his plans finally came together … and he was able to get what he wanted.
Her.
That was Andino’s only end-goal right now.
Just Haven.
She still wouldn’t understand why he had to do what he had to do today. It would still hurt her. He opted for the coward’s way out instead.
Standing from the bed, Andino shrugged on his suit jacket, and made quick work of buttoning it up the front. At least then, no one would notice the vest and tie underneath were the same navy blue silk from the day before, and his slightly wrinkled shirt would also be hidden. He considered that a win.
Andino’s feet seemed to turn into cement when he rounded the bed to Haven’s side. Despite not wanting to wake her up, he also didn’t want to fucking leave. All that served to do was make him feel heavier than ever.
He didn’t miss the items on her nightstand beside the bed. Every single note he’d left her in a little pile—it was really his only way of safely getting a message to her, but also, he thought it felt more personal. At least, for him.
He wrote to no one.
He wrote to her, though.
She kept those notes like she kept the flowers on her table. Even if the flowers were wilting something terrible now. It would be easy—he figured—for her to throw the flowers away since they were dying anyway, but she didn’t.
She kept them.
It kind of felt like them, in a way.
He was sure this woman—this amazing, beautiful woman with her brilliant, bright soul—thought this thing between them was also dying. But fuck her if she wasn’t going to try to hold onto them for as long as she possibly could.
Andino didn’t blame her.
Bending down, he grazed his fingertips along her bare shoulder before pressing a quick, light kiss to her forehead. Haven didn’t move, and her eyelids didn’t even flicker. He almost wished she would get up, but this was better.
Before Andino could convince himself to stay one more second longer, he gave Haven one last look and then slipped out of her bedroom. Snaps followed behind—it was only the click of his nails against the hardwood floor that could be heard. Andino’s steps were quiet and quick as he headed through the house.
As he passed by the kitchen, he stopped and glanced in. The flowers looked lonely as fuck sitting by themselves on the table. Really, other than a few boxes that had been taped up, the table and flowers were the only thing in the kitchen besides a few dishes that rested on a cloth on the counter.
He hadn’t me
ntioned it the night before, but her place was terribly empty. All the art and photographs that had lined the walls and given the place a lived-in kind of feel were gone. Nearly all of her furniture had been moved out at one point or another.
It just didn’t feel like Haven’s place.
Andino supposed … he was partly to blame for that.
He stepped into the kitchen before he could think better of it. Grabbing the notepad and pen on the island, he scribbled down one more note for Haven to wake up to. He should leave her with something even if it might piss her off more.
A risk he was willing to take.
Ripping the note off the pad, and he set the yellow piece of paper under the wilting flowers. Another one for her to add to her collection.
I had to go, sorry.
And then, just beneath that, he’d written, We’re real, Haven. —A.M.
Andino didn’t miss the goddamn time staring back at him from the clock on the wall. Hell, he could feel the watch on his wrist ticking down to let him know he was already running late, and by the time he got into the city, he might make it to breakfast by the skin of his fucking teeth.
Jesus.
He gave one last look around Haven’s place, and then slipped out of the kitchen, and the house altogether. Snaps darted ahead, and waited for Andino to open the passenger door of the car before he jumped in.
Andino checked his watch, not that he needed to.
He really was late.
Fuck.
He wished he cared.
“Where were you?” Dante asked harshly.
Andino didn’t even look up from the phone in his hand. Instead, he opted to answer his lawyer back before his uncle.
We could close anytime, the lawyer had messaged while Andino drove across the city.
No, that wasn’t going to work for him.
Continue to take your time, Andino texted back.
“Are you even listening to me?”
Trying really fucking hard not to roll his eyes, Andino shoved the phone into his pocket, and gave Dante the attention his uncle seemed to want. Standing outside of a restaurant, this wasn’t exactly the best place for the two of them to get into one of their rows together … but hell, if that’s what his boss wanted.
“No, I had something else to handle,” Andino said.
Dante scowled as he glanced down at Snaps. “Where were you? And also, he can’t come in. I don’t care what Lucian says when he’s here, but not today.”
Jesus Christ.
“Pink is coming to get him. Don’t mind my dog. He’s always taken care of.”
Spoiled, really.
Not that it mattered.
Dante let out a noise, and passed Andino a look. “Do you think I am that stupid? That’s twice you didn’t answer my question. Where were you? You’re almost late this morning.”
Andino tugged on the sleeves of his suit jacket, and shrugged. “Woke up late.”
Lies.
Dante didn’t look willing to argue, and Andino wasn’t about to go and offer his uncle the truth. So, unless the two of them wanted to stand there for any longer and discuss things that weren’t actually going to get discussed in any great detail, this seemed like a giant waste of Andino’s time.
And he hated wasting time.
Gesturing at the waiting restaurant, Andino asked, “Are we ready?”
Dante gave him another one of those looks. “Act appropriately today. The way I know your mother and father taught you to behave, Andino. This is important not just for you, but for her. Make her comfortable.”
That time, Andino did roll his eyes. He didn’t even try to hide it, and he didn’t give a single fuck what it made him look like.
“Do I seem like the kind of man who wants to make his future wife uncomfortable?”
Because yeah … that’s what he was there to do. Have breakfast and meet his wife-to-be for the first time.
Should be fun.
“I don’t know what kind of man you are sometimes, Andino,” his uncle murmured as he moved past him when Andino opened the front door.
Yeah, him either.
Funny how that worked.
“You know, your mother might have enjoyed being here this morning,” Dante said as a hostess directed them through the business. “You could have invited her along.”
Why?
So, then his mother could meet and try to like a woman that Andino had zero intention of actually being with, never mind making a life with?
That seemed … wrong.
“Just me today,” he said. “Had I been able to have this breakfast go my way, you wouldn’t even be here.”
Dante scowled again. “You’re in a mood, I see.”
He always was, lately.
“Dante, Andino. We thought you weren’t coming.”
All it took was the sound of Kev Calabrese’s voice drifting across the quiet restaurant for Dante to finally take his attention away from Andino. He was both grateful, and extremely fucking annoyed because of it, too.
Christ.
He hated the Calabrese brothers.
Kev and Darren stood on either side of a young woman who looked no older than twenty-one, or so. Hell, maybe she was younger than that.
Too young for me, Andino thought.
Nobody would care about that, though.
Kev was saying something else, but Andino tuned the man out. He didn’t give a shit what Kev had to say, or how the asshole wanted this whole breakfast to go down between them. He was more interested in the quiet woman with her gaze turned down toward the floor, and her shaking hands clasped tightly together at her middle.
Oh, they’d dressed her up, sure.
An appropriate purple number that showed off her curves, and womanly appeal. Her long, dark hair had been let down in soft waves, and someone had taken time to do her makeup with care to make her look natural and fresh. He could see that she’d taken her hair color and the shape of her mouth from her dead father, but the rest? He suspected that came from her mother.
Whoever and wherever that woman was.
Ginevra Calabrese was a beautiful young woman. There was no doubt about that. Right then, though? She was also terrified. Andino could see it.
“Do you prefer Ginevra, or Ginny?” Andino asked.
He was quite aware that he spoke to her before he’d been allowed to—that her brothers hadn’t even introduced her to him, and that was out of line. Andino didn’t give a shit. All he saw was a scared young woman who didn’t want to be there, but was quiet and doing what she was told because she had been told to do it.
That bothered him.
All eyes turned on him, including his uncle.
“Well?” he asked quietly.
Ginevra looked up, and her brown eyes landed on him. “Either is fine.”
“But which do you prefer?” he asked.
“Ginny.”
Andino smiled. “Okay.”
Ginevra glanced down at her hands—her shaking had stopped, at least. “I’m very happy to meet you, Andino.”
No, she wasn’t.
Scared out of her wits, likely.
Not happy.
“I’m sure,” he murmured. “Let’s eat.”
And maybe in that time, he could figure out a way to also get this poor girl out of the hell she had found herself caught up in. There was no doubt in his mind that should something happen with this arrangement, Ginevra would be moved to another man to satisfy her brothers’ needs, or whatever the case may be.
A shame, really.
Fuck him for having a heart.
God seemed to like having a good laugh at his expense lately. Why not add one more laugh to the bunch?
Andino was not missing the way his mother kept passing looks at his father like she expected Giovanni to do or say something to his son. That was the thing about Kim—she wasn’t very good at being subtle.
This whole silent attempt at conversation by his mother had been going on ever since he
walked into their house an hour ago for supper. And he still hadn’t even had supper.
Andino was over it.
“What?” he finally asked.
His mother glanced at him, but quickly went back to cutting the fresh bread on the island. “Nothing, Andi.”
Gio chuckled under his breath, but kept quiet.
“Right,” Andino said. “So, we’re going to pretend like you haven’t been shooting Dad looks all night or something?”
Kim sighed, and smiled a little. “I was just thinking … well, it’s been a few days, hasn’t it?”
“A few days for what?”
“Since your breakfast.”
Oh, that.
Fuck.
He blamed his mother’s curiosity about the whole Ginevra and marriage thing on the fact she really wished Andino would hurry up, and settle down in life. Then, she could have a half of a dozen grandbabies to spoil.
He didn’t want to break his mother’s heart, but there was no way on God’s green earth that would be happening with the Calabrese daughter. It wasn’t that there was anything necessarily wrong with Ginevra except for the fact she wasn’t Haven.
And that was a whole host of problems for him.
“How did it go?” Kim asked.
She tried to sound flippant, but her tone came off entirely too sly for that nonsense. Andino gave his father a look—a silent plea to help him—but Giovanni acted like he hadn’t even seen a damn thing.
Nothing new there.
Gio was far more likely to indulge Kim, anyway. Not to mention, Andino was sure his father was also curious about how all that had went a few days ago, and what would be happening now.
“It went fine,” Andino settled on saying.
“Just fine?”
“Ma.”
Kim shrugged one shoulder, and leaned against the island as she stared at him. “Don’t blame me for wanting to know about her, or how you feel. I worry, Andino. It wasn’t like this happened over time. It was quick.”
To say the least.
“I feel fine,” he lied. “And the breakfast went well.”
Gio made a noise under his breath. “Even with the Calabrese there?”
Andino didn’t even try to hide the scowl that slipped over his mouth at that question. “Well, they made things interesting.”