Anna turned in his arms to stare at him. “A half-hour?”
Riley gave her a lazy smile, his eyes half-closed still.
“Normally I’d be ready to go a little sooner, but you drained me.”
Anna rolled over in his embrace, still bewildered at the fact he didn’t want to just go to sleep. She’d never met a man with such stamina.
Not that she would ever complain. Stamina was something she’d certainly been lacking before with other lovers.
Anna sighed and snuggled herself against Riley. She gave a satisfied smile, might as well make the most of her one night while she had him.
Chapter Four
Anna woke the next morning warm and tired in her bed, happy to have shared such an amazing night with Riley.
She felt the bed beside her. Her hand only found a cold, rumpled spot. Riley was gone. He’d slept with her and run off.
She took a deep breath, relief washing over her.
Despite the fantastic time she’d had the night before, she really wasn’t looking forward to facing him first thing in the morning. She wasn’t ready.
One night stands weren’t her thing. In fact, she’d never done anything like this before.
With the handful of boyfriends she had over the years, her game plan had always been the same: to find someone and start a monogamous relationship with that person.
Although Riley had certainly put her good-girl theory to the test.
Anna stretched under the covers and smiled. The ache between her legs was just another reminder of how good last night had been.
They been together so many times, and he never seemed to run out of energy. Eventually she drifted off into a sound sleep after their fifth or sixth time.
Anna flipped the covers off her and grabbed her warm robe on the hook behind her bedroom door. She wrapped it around her body and padded out into the living room.
The rich scent of coffee hit her as she made her way through the apartment. She breathed in deeply. It was nice that he had decided to make a pot before leaving. He was a very attentive man.
Anna grinned at the thought. Attentive, yes, that was the word.
“I made some coffee,” a deep voice said.
“Holy shit,” Anna nearly shrieked.
She looked to where Riley was standing on the other side of the island. He stepped out from the other side of the counter, a cup of coffee in his hand. She couldn’t help but notice he was wearing the pants from yesterday minus the shirt.
Unable to help herself, Anna let her gaze rove over the hard muscles of his chest and stomach. In the light of the day, she could make out the beautiful six pack she had traced last night with her tongue. It looked even better than it tasted.
Lord, he was a handsome man.
Riley held up the cup of coffee to her. “I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said. “I would’ve brought you coffee in bed, but I didn’t know how you liked it.” He gave a small smile. “And I thought you might need the rest.”
Anna’s cheeks heated. “I, um…” She took a seat. “Cream and sugar.”
With him standing in her kitchen half-naked, she was having a hard time concentrating on the coffee.
He took her cup back with a smile and poured in a little cream and a scoop of sugar. He stirred it carefully and then handed the cup back to her. She watched as the simple task of stirring her coffee managed to make his muscles flex and pull. Delicious.
Riley handed her back the cup of coffee and watched her take a sip. He raised a brow in question.
“Good?”
Anna nodded. She watched in fascination as he leaned back against the sink on the other side of the counter and took several drinks of his coffee as he stared at her.
“Thought we might grab some breakfast,” he said.
He crossed his arms over his chest. The tattoos on his forearms stood out. Anna tilted her head to try to better inspect them in the daylight.
“Or we could just head back to bed?” he said with a smile.
Her eyes shot up to his. A familiar desire ripped through her, setting every part of her on fire. She wanted him. Oh, she wanted him, just as she had last night.
Anna licked her lips as Riley stepped toward her.
He hurried to her side of the counter. His mouth landed on hers, and she could taste the coffee there. It was a soft kiss, nothing like the burning kisses they shared the previous night, but it held something even more intoxicating: the promise of something more.
When Riley pulled back, she found herself drawing a blank at what exactly his question had been. She didn’t really care, though. He grinned.
“I think we’re going to need some breakfast if we’re going to have another round,” he said softly.
A shiver of anticipation rippled through her. She needed to beat it off before she decided to take action on it.
She had a plan. She needed to stick to it. It’d be best for her, for him, for everybody really.
Her ex had screwed things up for her, and she didn’t need to fall into a relationship with someone else until she had her head on straight, no matter how epic the sex. And that was assuming Riley wanted more.
No, the best way to handle this was one night and no more.
Anna stepped out of his embrace. She shook her head.
“I have some things I need to do today,” she said. “First, I’m going to take a shower before my meeting.”
Riley nodded his understanding, keeping his faint smile. He’d known she might try to run. Known she’d try and put distance between them after the night they had shared.
That wasn’t happening. He’d finally broken through her shields, finally made her see him, and he’d be damned before going back to the way things were.
Last night had been amazing. Never in his life had he wanted someone so much that he could take her over and over. Anna ignited a fire in him that no amount of water could quench, and he wanted the fire to consume him.
Riley followed her as she made her way back into the bedroom. She glanced over her shoulder and then quickly looked back ahead. He couldn’t help the smile that came to his face as she tried to put emotional walls between them once again.
As if he’d give up that easily.
Anna watched him gather his things he’d discarded on the floor. She watched as he slipped his holsters back on and then holstered his guns before making his way around the room.
He stopped just in front of her. Her pink fuzzy bathrobe was wrapped tightly around her and hair messy from all of the night’s passionate lovemaking.
“I had a really good ti—” she began.
Riley didn’t let her finish her sentence. But words were useless. He needed action.
He pressed up against her and backed her into the wall. He ground himself against her as his mouth came crashing down on hers.
He wasn’t going to take the verbal equivalent of a handshake after the night they spent together. He was going to remind her with this kiss just what the hell being with him was like. He wanted to remind her how perfectly they fit together.
Her timid hand wrapped around the base of his neck and ran up into his short dark hair.
Riley grunted and thrust his tongue into her mouth. Anna slid her leg up his side, opening herself to him. His hand slid between her wet folds and rubbed her aching clit. She moaned against his mouth and raked her nails through his hair.
Riley thrust his finger deep inside her and wiggled it there. Her hot, wet juices streamed down his hand. He pulled his finger out, then thrust it again, speeding up. A piston of pleasure.
He rubbed her clit hard with his finger deep inside her. She shuddered, orgasming around him. She pulled away from his mouth to cry out his name and panted against his shoulder as waves of pleasure racked her body.
“Oh my God,” she panted and continued to lean against him.
Riley pulled his finger out of her and pressed his lips to her ear. He nibbled on the soft, tender lobe there.
�
�Have a good meeting,” he rumbled.
She pulled her head off his shoulder and brought her eyes to his. He was amazed by how crystal blue they were.
Riley gave her a small smile and a quick peck on the lips. He stepped away from her and stopped at the bedroom door.
“I’ll see you later,” he said and made his way out of the apartment.
Anna watched him leave the room, her center still shivering from the amazing orgasm she’d just had and her legs weak from how he made her feel.
She sighed and leaned her head back against the wall, taking in deep breaths to calm herself. She closed her eyes as she did so and tried not to picture his face. Or the many things he did to her body. She needed to stick to her plan.
Riley was gone, and she needed to just let him go.
Chapter Five
Riley made his way into the club. No throbbing techno beats assaulted his ears. He was glad the place was quiet.
Despite how good things had been going with the club, he hated the loud music and obnoxious customers that would sometimes come in.
The heavy beats and assholes got on his last nerve after a while, and he found the whole scene taxing.
But money was money, and with the building of a second club already in progress, he knew his days in the club were only going to get longer.
He whistled a little as he walked back to the office. Conor might have taken some time off to be with his new wife, but it didn’t mean that the rest of them could. In fact, it just meant they were down one of their leaders and needed to be more on point than ever.
After all, even if the Kelly clan was trying to go straight, that didn’t change the fact they still had a lot of enemies, including the Russians, who had come at them many times. And those enemies needed to be dealt with. They couldn’t afford to ignore potential danger until the Russians had been pushed out of the city.
Noel stood in the door frame, waiting for Riley to make his way back to the office. He frowned at Riley as he stepped up to the door.
“You know it’s fucking disturbing to see a guy like you whistling, right?” Noel scrunched up his face, his scars twisting.
Riley shrugged. “Can’t a guy be happy?” He pushed his way inside the office.
He nodded over to Finn at his desk and sat down on the soft leather couch.
Finn raised an eyebrow at him. “Something to be happy about?”
Riley shrugged. He wasn’t ready to open up about his relationship with anyone else. Anna was one foot out the door as it was, and right now he didn’t need his family meddling in his business.
And they would meddle for certain. You couldn’t be a member of this crew without someone always offering their opinion.
Besides, Finn and Noel had come damn close to screwing up their own chances at happiness. Riley figured that disqualified them from offering advice or getting involved.
Noel closed the door as he stepped into the room and took a seat on the other side of the couch. Finn seemed to acknowledge that Riley didn’t want to talk about whatever was making him happy and decided to move right into business.
“We’ve had some movement,” Finn said.
Riley grunted and crossed his arms. They had been waiting for this for months, and he was surprised that Finn had let it wait until the morning to talk about it. If the roaches were crawling, the strike would come soon.
“Victor was seen meeting a plane at a private airport just outside of town,” Noel said. “It hasn’t been confirmed, but we suspect that Stefano has decided to take a more active role in the local business.”
No one in the room liked Victor, but at least he was a known threat. He had been tempered by a softer life in the United States, and because of it, he hadn’t pulled off some of the more bloodthirsty tricks that his crime family in Russia was known for.
Stefano opened up a whole new ballgame that none of them really wanted to go to. He killed without mercy and cared little for the people in the area where he operated. All he cared about was profit and power.
Most of the other gangs in their city at least had some investment or family reasons for making sure that the place didn’t turn into a total hellhole.
“This has to piss Boris off,” Riley said, scratching his eyebrow.
Victor was just a distant cousin assigned to their city. But Boris was different. He was the very competent brother of Stefano and a trusted partner in the crime family in Russia.
The lack of results must have driven Stefano to make the decision. There was no way Boris was going to let this go. Ennis being wrapped up in this whole mess seemed almost secondary to the fact that the Kellys now had to deal with a very real and dangerous threat.
Stefano would expect results, and Boris would have to meet those expectations. Quickly.
“This is turning into a war,” Finn said. “With Stefano in the area, I want everyone connected with our family watched. We need to do everything we can to keep our people safe.”
Finn stared hard at Riley from across his desk. “That includes anyone you might be seeing.”
Riley nodded. He didn’t have to be told twice to protect Anna. He would do whatever it took to ensure her safety.
“Understood.”
Finn nodded to him. “Good.” He looked down at the papers in front of him on the desk.
Riley watched as Finn held up a picture of a middle-aged man. Tattoos were visible on his neck through his open shirt. Several gold chains hung around his neck, and his hair was styled in a more modern and hip way. The whole thing came off more like a middle-age man trying to pretend he was twenty.
Riley suppressed a snicker. It would have been pathetic if the man wasn’t so dangerous.
“This is Stefano,” Finn said. “He likes to hit the clubs in his spare time and prefers younger women.”
Finn sneered at the words, and it was clear that whatever information he had wasn’t good.
Riley balled his fist and felt his knuckles crack under the strain. The piece of shit was roaming around in their city doing God knows what.
“Check out the club scene, and see if anyone has seen him,” Finn said. “Let me know if you find anything.”
Both Riley and Noel nodded. This was something they both knew how to do. It was what they were good at.
Finn raised a hand as the two men stood, and they waited.
“Don’t engage if you find him,” Finn said. “As it is we’re fucking seconds away from a damn war with the Russians. I want to make sure that they fire the first shot.”
Noel grunted loudly. “Seems to me like they have. Might as well get this shit over with.”
Finn sighed and nodded his head. “I know how you feel, but if we execute the head of the Klokov family, the family will have four other groups coming here to hunt us down.” He stared at the men hard. “And they will hunt us down. They will find each and every one of us and take us out one by one. Our numbers are low thanks to Ennis and his betrayal, and we just don’t have the manpower to take on a war like this. We need to try to settle this without a total bloodbath.”
Riley didn’t think Boris or Stefano would settle, especially after he’d killed their cousin. No, this was very personal. And he had a feeling that the war had already started.
* * *
Anna pulled up to the visitor parking spot outside of the expensive apartment building. She looked up at the tall building outside. No surprise Jason was trying to make up for his lack in stature with ostentatious displays of wealth.
At this point she wasn’t even certain how he could afford it. Before he’d been heading on the path to a partnership at the law firm, but his recent slip up with the Kelly family had cost him dearly.
She cursed under her breath as she stepped into the building. The security guard, a huge well-muscled, attractive black man, stopped her as she entered.
“Name?” the man said.
“Anna Jones.”
“That name doesn’t match any on the list,” he said with a frown
. He glanced back down at the list and looked back up at her. “I have an Anna Clark, though.”
She frowned. “That’s my… married name.”
“Mr. Clark has been expecting you,” he said. “He’s on the thirty-first floor.”
Anna rolled her eyes and made her way to the elevator.
She stepped into the elevator and punched the button for the second to last floor. It gave her a little satisfaction to know Jason hadn’t been able to get the penthouse.
Anna rode up in silence, and when the door opened, she stepped out. There were only four doors in the hallway. The spacing of the doors suggested that each apartment took up a fourth of the floor.
She found his number and sucked in a deep breath as she mustered up the nerve to knock on the door. She rapped rapidly quietly on the door and waited.
Jason answered. He was wearing a slick new suit and looked just as well-manicured and put together as he had during their marriage.
He glared at her and folded his arms over his chest. “Is there something you want to say to me?”
She snorted. “Yeah, where’s my shit?”
He huffed loudly. Apparently that hadn’t been the question he had been looking for.
Jason stepped just inside the door, but Anna stayed where she was. No way in hell was she returning to the back and forth fighting that he’d been trying to draw her into. He returned a moment later with an envelope in his hand.
She sighed loudly. She doubted he even had her boxes at this point. More petty tricks and bullshit. It was hard to believe she’d ever loved him.
Jason pulled something out of the envelope. After a second, she realized they were pictures. He thrust them into her hand. Someone had photographed her and Riley kissing on the balcony at the wedding.
“Where the hell did you get these?” she said to him.
Jason shook his head. “Irrelevant. What the hell are you doing with him? A piece of shit like that isn’t good for you. He’s in the fucking mob for Christ’s sake!”
He took a step closer to her, and for a moment she realized what a mistake it had been to come without someone else. Not that she was worried he was going to do anything, but more that if he got too close to her, she might do something to him.
Riley: #4 (Kelly Clan) Page 3