Standing in the middle of the ring, I watched him unfold to his full height and smile at me subtly. A single step brought him closer until the next one followed and he stepped directly into my space.
Hands came down on the bare skin of my waist, his pinky touching the spandex of my shorts and his thumb grazing the curve of my breast all in one touch. His long fingers curled around my sides, damn near brushing the base of my spine and touching at the center. His voice tickled my senses, his breath faint but warm on my face as he tilted his down to look at me.
I should have pushed his hands away. Should have insisted he respect my damn personal bubble. But the feeling of his hands on me sent electric tingles zipping through my nerves, lighting my body until it came alive for the first time in what felt like forever.
"I'll spar with you on one condition," he murmured, moving his thumbs ever so slightly until I arched my spine to get away from that invading touch.
"What's that?"
"If I win, your ass is mine," he grunted, tightening his fingers around my sides.
"Geez, straight for anal. Could work a girl up to that at least," I laughed, squirming in his grip and trying to brush off the heat the filthy image conjured in my head.
He chuckled, reaching one of his offending hands up to catch my chin and hold my eyes. "If I win, I'm taking you to the mat and you'll be creaming all over my tongue, Baby Girl."
I smiled through the desire to run and never look back at the man who would unravel me and leave me in pieces, without a doubt. Men never wanted me for long, not with my frantic energy and need to be doing something at all times. "And what do I get if I win?" I asked instead, focusing on the very real opportunity to get rid of him. Enzo was like most physically fit men. Arrogant and thinking he was the biggest and baddest person in the house. People had underestimated me all my life. My greatest hobby was using that against them in the most violent ways.
"My mouth between your legs isn't a reward? Ouch." He mock winced, teasing as his thumb stroked my bottom lip. When he released it, I caved to the inexplicable urge to lick my lips and the taste of him exploded in my mouth. For once, the nagging voice inside my head quieted, not caring about where those hands might have been or what he might have touched. All that mattered was the places they could go very soon. If only I could let that happen.
"If I win, I get to go home without you. If I win, you admit I am fully capable of taking care of myself and fuck right off back to your technological fortress to jerk your dick with your own hand and think about how hard I kicked your ass." His chuckle vibrated his chest against mine, and he ducked his head down to murmur in my ear.
The deep growl of his voice made goosebumps erupt over my skin. "Okay, Baby Girl," he agreed, confidence oozing out of his tone. In his mind, he already had me splayed out beneath him, taking the prize he fought to win.
He took a step back, leaving me shuddering in the absence of the heat that poured off the man's body. He kicked off his boots, tossing them over the edge of the ring. It said something about the level of distraction the man caused in me that I hadn't scolded him for getting in with them on.
Reaching behind his head in that way only men could manage, he tugged his black t-shirt over his head and tossed it into the heap with his boots. "I don't recall asking for a naked wrestle," I snapped.
He smiled, moving his hands down to his belt slowly, so they traced a path over his torso. One that my tongue wanted so desperately to follow. Extremely broad shoulders sloped into a light sprinkling of chest hair and defined lines of muscle. His abs were less defined, but present, in a body that looked like more of a working man's strength than someone who trained his ass off in a gym. His tattoo was more stark against his olive skin in the bright light of the gym, the crows accenting the shadows of his abs perfectly. His fingers flicked open his belt, an arrogant smirk crossing over his face while he watched me study him. "You're mostly naked," he pointed out.
"My bits are all covered." I swallowed as the belt joined the pile and he unbuttoned his jeans and slid down the zipper.
"I'll keep mine covered until I'm balls deep inside you, Carina," he growled, shoving his pants down his muscular legs and kicking them to the side. With him only covered by a pair of black boxer briefs, I realized how thoroughly we matched and a nervous chuckle escaped.
He stood and waited, watching me with that maddening smile on his face like I would be stupid enough to strike first. "You gonna stare at me all day, Lorenzo?"
"I'm going to fuck you until you scream my name," he said, stepping closer to my space. His hand shot forward, slipping under the edge of my bra strap and snapping it back against my skin. Swatting him away, I stared at that hand. He’d moved so quickly. Even if I'd tried to evade it, doing so would have been a challenge.
Smiling, I returned the favor, grabbing his nipple and tweaking it until he barked out a loud laugh and shoved my hand away. "Are you worried, Little Liar?"
"What would I be worried about?" I asked, kicking his hip in a quick test of his reflexes. His hand caught my leg easily, releasing it as if he wanted to toy with me when I only wanted to feel out his weaknesses.
"How much you'll love my cock," he replied, moving with that stealthy fluid grace and jabbing a soft punch at my stomach. It didn't hurt, but the surprise of him landing the hit at all wrung a gasp from my lips.
I couldn't lose in this, not with everything that was on the line. I'd watched too many of my friends fall to Bellandi men, and I knew once they got their dick in you it was all over. That was the end of freedom. I couldn't give that up for anyone.
Not even Lorenzo Vescovi.
With that in mind, I struck. He blocked. Over and over, he showed a thorough knowledge of where I would aim. He never gave me an in or a hint of a weak spot. He didn’t show me any tells with his eyes as he continued to shut down every strike I made. Frustration built inside me. With nothing to do but take more extreme measures, I lunged for him in the more advanced moves in my arsenal. Twisting my body around his waist, I tried to maneuver myself to get my legs around his neck.
If I could do that, I could take him down.
We went down as planned, falling to the mat with a thud as he landed first. But before I could lock my legs he caught my waist, unlocking my grip from around him with a sharp tug and twisted until my front plastered against his and I stared down at him in shock. I scrambled off, needing to get my feet under me again.
I didn’t get as much as one foot on the mat before he rolled me to my back, wrapping his thighs around either side of my hips. He came down on top of me, pinning me beneath him and getting his hands around my wrists to hold me still. His weight felt suffocating as reality crashed down on me. Bucking my pelvis and pulling my arms down to my hips, I desperately tried to knock him off.
I couldn't lose. I couldn't bear what would come. His weight settled in, his body refusing to budge in the way I'd taught countless women to defend themselves. Enzo didn't move, he stayed on me like only a man who understood the mechanics of defense maneuvers could manage.
I'd thought he underestimated me, but it was only me who underestimated him.
"You asshole!" I gasped, rallying against his grip on my wrists and squirming my hips side to side in a pathetic last attempt. "You knew you would win."
"Of course I knew I would win. I wouldn't have agreed to letting you go home if I didn't. You're good, but predictable to a man who watched you all day long," he said, rubbing his victory in for good measure.
"That's not very gentlemanlike," I snapped back.
He laughed. "Baby Girl, I never claimed to be a gentleman."
His hand left my wrist, leaving me free to shove at his shoulder and try to roll him over. The solid weight of the bastard was impossible to move, and the feel of his hand on my bare waist sent a new pulse of panic through me. "Stop it," I growled in warning, shoving harder. He only smiled, releasing my other hand.
"I won, Baby Girl. Now spread those sexy as fuck legs
and give me my prize," he ordered, sliding his hands in between my thighs. Pulling on one, he shoved them open enough to slip between them, forcing them even wider to surround his hips.
"You can't actually be serious!" My voice broke into nervous laughter as his fingers tickled at the edges of my shorts where they touched my thigh. Laying his weight back on top of me, he stared down into my face. With his hips between my legs, every inch of him pressed into me. I felt every bit of muscle as he surrounded me with his sheer mass and leaned into me with his elbows on the mat.
"Ride or die," he whispered. Without warning, his lips crashed down on mine, swallowing my gasp of surprise and making it his. I'd never understood the appeal of Matteo for Ivory, of being totally and completely taken without hesitance.
Enzo made me understand.
With the first sweep of his tongue against my lips, my body wanted to give him anything and everything he asked for. I shoved that traitorous bitch down with a slap to the ass, biting his lip the moment he gave me the right angle. "Get off me!" I yelled when he pulled back, touching his lip where he bled. I'd do it again, every single time he touched me.
Nobody touched me without my permission, even if my body was a hussy in disguise.
He smiled, blood welling from the cut on his lip before he ducked his head down and took my mouth again. Grabbing my ponytail, he tilted my head back until my neck arched, and he took. Devoured. Deep sweeps of his tongue on mine while heat pooled in my belly. Enough heat that I stopped shoving at his shoulders, wrapping my legs around his waist and encouraging his lips with mine.
All that mattered was the electricity of his skin on mine. Not all the reasons it was a horrible idea. A growl vibrated in his chest when I drew him deeper, sucking on his tongue briefly like I'd worship his cock if I let myself.
Finally, rolling him to his back with his moment of distraction, I let him pull my sports bra over my head. The air conditioning hit my nipples, puckering them into hard points while he stared up at me and he placed his hands on my hips. The moment I leaned into his space and touched my lips to his, he rolled me to my back again. His chest heaved against me, his skin grazing my nipples as he drew away from my mouth and kissed his way over my throat and down my collar bone. I shivered beneath him as sparks of desire covered my body.
One of his massive hands enveloped my breast, claiming it with his heat as the music pulsed in the background. His mouth wrapped around the other one, sucking and biting at it until I arched my back and writhed against him. The ridge of him inside his black boxer briefs rubbed against the space between my thighs, giving me the friction I so desperately needed.
"Enzo," I begged, grinding down desperately.
"What do you want, Carina?" he asked, glancing up at me as he licked my other nipple in a slow and torturous tease.
"If you’re going to fuck me, then do it already," I begged. He slid further down between my legs, touching his lips to my stomach as the muscles twitched in response to his attention. Fingers curling into the waistband of my shorts, he smiled down at me as he tugged them down my thighs.
I didn't even care when he tossed them to the side and stared down at me naked beneath him. Nothing could have mattered in that moment aside from getting him inside me. "I believe the deal was you were going to cream all over my tongue," he said, pressing massive hands against the insides of my thighs and shoving them wide.
"I'm all sweaty," I protested, reaching a hand down to cover myself when he slid further down the mat and put his face level with my pussy.
"Does it look like I mind?" he asked, shoving my hand away so he could stare at me again. "So fucking perfect, even here." Trying to cover myself again, I reached but he swatted me away. "Don't ever hide my pussy from me."
"Your pussy?" I asked, my voice raising at the nerve of the bastard. He hadn't even fucking touched it, and he thought he could claim it for himself?
"Mine," he growled, ducking his head in and licking me from entrance to clit so firmly that my leg twitched in response. "Sweaty, clean, covered in my fucking cum. Mine." He inserted a single finger, pumping slowly and watching my face as he tormented me.
When he found whatever he searched for, he leaned back in and devoured me. The scruff of his stubble tickled against my skin as his tongue licked every crevice of me and claimed it as his. I moaned, reaching a hand into his hair and gripping it tightly.
Pulling him harder, I felt his amused laughter vibrate against me and nearly sent me over. "Enzo," I gasped. A second finger shoved inside me harshly, curling to stroke my g-spot as he finger-fucked me roughly. "Fuck!" I was too close, so close to the edge, but needed one more thing to find that release. The one thing he held off from giving me, only nudging my clit briefly before darting away.
"Say my name," he mumbled against me.
"Enzo!"
"My fucking name, Sadie," he growled, and understanding dawned on me through the haze.
"Lorenzo," I gasped, crying out when his lips wrapped around my clit and he assaulted it with firm flicks of his tongue until I exploded beneath him. My hand tightened in his hair, holding him still as I rode the rest of my orgasm out on his face.
I'd barely come out of my haze when he crawled back over me and reached down to pull his length free. Even in my fog, the sheer length of cock that emerged from his hand as he guided himself to my center took my breath away. His head dragged through my lips, bumping against my clit until my hips moved to give him a better angle.
He shoved inside in one rough thrust, burying himself to the hilt and filling me with him as he settled his weight over me and kissed me. Furiously pounding into me, driving in and out with powerful rolls of his hips, he held me still, so I didn't slide up the mat. "So fucking wet for me, Baby Girl," he groaned against my lips, slowing his pace as he opened his eyes and studied me.
The feeling of his eyes on mine was too intimate when combined with the weight of him settled over me. A hate fuck was one thing, but what he tried to turn it into was another.
Shoving at his shoulders, I rolled him to his back and sat on his cock, placing my hands on his abs to control my body as I rode him. Pulling my hair free from its ponytail, I let the dark curtain spread around me. It didn't even bother me when it stuck to my face, offering a veil against the penetrating way he looked at me. He let me have my way with him, riding him and grinding against his pubic bone until I shattered around him.
He pulled me off him and I winced the moment he slid free. My stomach hit the mat softly, his weight settling over my back as he slid back inside me and thrust slow and deep. Grasping my wrists from behind and pinning them above my head in one hand, he restrained me so I couldn't move, between the exhaustion of being so fully sated and his body on mine. "What are you so afraid of?" he whispered in my ear, pulling my hair back to get a better look at my face. "You think you can hide anything from me?"
"Enzo," I moaned as his other hand reached beneath me and stroked my clit with two quick, skilled fingers.
"You think I don't see you, Carina?" he asked, shoving harder and deeper until the sound of his hips striking against my ass echoed through the cavernous gym. "You're all I fucking see."
He grunted behind me, heat filling me as he shoved hard one last time and paused as deep as he could go. My lungs heaved with the need to breathe as his weight covered me fully, pressing me tightly into the ring floor. When he eventually rolled off me, he tugged me into his front and wrapped his arms around me as we both caught our breath.
What should have been comforting and an assurance that I was more than a convenient lay became terrifying.
He saw me. Nobody saw me.
People saw what I wanted them to see.
I winced as I shrugged out of his arms and stood, feeling the unfamiliar liquid trickle down the inside of my thigh. I scrambled for the bathroom, determined to hide behind the need to clean up as the reason for my abrupt departure.
All the toilet paper in the world couldn't scrub the dirty feeling
from my skin. He hadn't worn a condom. I’d never let it happen with anyone else, but something about Enzo disarmed me so fully that it hadn’t even crossed my mind. I’d been too caught up in him to think rationally.
Unable to rid myself of the stupid feeling of making a huge mistake, I retreated from the stall to grab soapy water to wash up with. When that was finished, I finally leaned on the sink and tapped my fingers on the basin in a staccato rhythm that brought me comfort.
One. A breath.
Two. I'd get tested. Again.
Three. It wouldn't happen again.
Four. At least it had been good.
Five. I was on the pill.
Each tap of my fingers hardened my resolve once more. Made me feel a little more like the Sadie I knew well and less like the woman he turned into mush with a single touch. When I made my way back into the main gym space, Enzo had donned his boxer briefs and stood waiting by the bathroom door with my clothes tucked under his arm. "I'm on the pill," I announced. "And I'm clean. I was tested after Patrick."
His face tightened as his nostrils flared at the mention of Patrick’s name, but he trudged on regardless. "Right. Should have had that conversation before," he said, running a hand up the back of his neck. "I wouldn't put you at risk, Baby Girl. I'm clean." I nodded, even if I intended to get tested, anyway.
I didn't trust anyone else with something like that.
"I'll go grab my things," I said, hurrying off to my office so I could put more clothes on. More clothes around Enzo could never be a bad decision.
I'd wear a burlap sack from then on if it meant he kept his distance.
12
Enzo
I dropped my keys in the bowl on the table next to the door to the garage as Sadie hurried to the stairs. “Where are you going?” I asked, trying not to notice the dejected look in her eyes.
She turned back to me, smiling sheepishly in a way that felt so unlike her. I didn’t know if it was the sex in general or lack of protection that sent her into a spiral where she withdrew into her shell. All I knew was that it was so unlike Sadie, the need to pull her back to her normal, vibrant self pulsed through me. I should have been reveling in the excitement of my victory, but instead I worried I’d pushed too hard. Taken her too fast before she was ready.
Shielded Wrongs: A Dark Mafia Romance (Bellandi Crime Syndicate Book 4) Page 8