Once Burned (Morelli Family, #3)

by Sam Mariano

  “Trust me,” I say, tugging her knees apart. “I want to.”

  She covers her face with her hands, as if she can’t watch, but then she peeks down at me between her fingers. “Really, honestly, you don’t have to—” Her words cut off as I drop a kiss to the inside of her left thigh. She tries again, “We can just—” I drop a kiss just a little bit higher, and she sighs.

  “Does that feel good?” I ask, moving my attention to her other thigh.

  “Yes,” she says, but reluctantly, like she hates to admit it.

  “Good. Don’t be embarrassed,” I tell her, since she obviously is.

  “That’s easy for you to say,” she mutters. “I don’t have my head between your legs.”

  Unable to stifle a smirk, I tell her, “I promise if you did, embarrassment is not what I would be feeling.”

  “Why don’t you just kiss my face?” she suggests. “I’m perfectly comfortable with that. Or my boobs—they miss you. They told me.”

  “Oh, did they?”

  Nodding vehemently, she says, “They’re very sad that you went away. They’re starting to take it personally. If you don’t come up here right now and pay attention to them, they may never want anything to do with you ever again.”

  “Why don’t you give me about two minutes to change your mind? I promise to make amends with those two as soon as I’m done,” I assure her, indicating her breasts.

  “It might be too late,” she informs me.

  “I promise you’re going to like this,” I tell her, shaking my head at her extravagant attempts to delay her own pleasure.

  She covers her face again as I ignore all her attempts and move my face between her thighs. There’s nothing like the sounds of her gasping as my tongue pushes inside to taste her, her breathless sigh, the helpless moan that escapes her as it hits her clit and sends a jolt of pleasure through her body.

  “Adrian,” she utters, half moan, half gasp. And I’m wrong, because that’s the greatest sound that’s ever hit my ears. Her gasping my name in pleasure. I want that replaying on a loop in my head for the rest of my life. With that goal in mind, I unleash years of pent up desire and devour her like I’m a starving man and her pussy is a king’s feast.

  “Oh, my god, Adrian.”

  I love how vocal she is. I love every gasp, every moan, every second that she grasps the sheets in ecstasy. I love when she can’t take it anymore, and she cries out in pleasure, her body arching up off the bed, my mouth still attached to her.

  “Adrian,” she says, on a sigh, reaching down to touch me.

  I finally let up, kissing my way back up her abdomen, then her chest, paying the attention I promised to each perfect inch of her breasts.

  “That was… I’m a big fan,” she tells me, her hands coming to rest on my back, just touching me as I continue to kiss her.

  “I told you,” I say, lightly biting down on a nipple.

  Elise sighs, closing her eyes. “I’m kind of peeved we haven’t been doing this all along now.”

  I grin, rolling over to grab a condom out of the night stand. “This next part might be a little less fun, since it’s your first time. I want to let you be on top this time, that way you can control the pace.”

  “I’m game,” she tells me, watching as I rip open the condom.

  Once I get it on, I lie back on the bed and let her climb on top of me, straddling me. The view of her from this angle might kill me—Elise basked in moonlight, her long blond hair draped over her shoulders, her perky tits playing peek-a-boo. The mental image I’m already getting of her riding me is brutal, and the reality’s bound to be better.

  I assume I’m going to have to walk her through it, but Elise leans down, apparently wanting to kiss me again before she gets started. The sensation of her naked body against mine while we kiss might be manageable on most days, but it’s been too long and I can’t let her do it too much. I almost wish she wasn’t a virgin, so we could do this again later tonight.

  Nah, who’m I kidding? It’s worth a brief first time. There will be plenty of times after, and I’d want to kill any man who dared touch her.

  Actually I have killed every man who dared touch her—it’s just there was only one.

  Thinking about murder isn’t even helping me last longer, so I finally have to pull back. I don’t want to explain it to her, and I figure she likes a little dominance anyway, so as her lips linger close to mine, as she tries to kiss me again, I grab her hair and tug her back—not too hard, but with enough force to make my point.

  “Ride me.”

  Excitement sparkles in her eyes at the command—sensuous, purely sexual excitement. It makes me even harder, and I did not think that was possible.

  Elise smiles, scooting back and grasping my dick in her soft hand. Lifting up, she guides me between her legs, and as she slowly lowers herself onto my cock, I watch her face. She’s going so slowly, and this is the most exquisite torture I’ve ever experienced in the duration of my life.

  When she gets about halfway, she has to stop. Grimacing apologetically, she says, “Sorry.”

  “You’re fine,” I assure her, slowly exhaling as she lifts herself off me again.

  I can see her starting to get a bit anxious as she tries again, but again, she must encounter pain so she stops.

  To get her attention, I reach out and touch her shoulder. Her gaze jumps to me, like she’s worried she’s messing it up, and I offer a little smile.

  “Relax,” I tell her. “It’s worse if you tense up. Also, unless you break my dick off, there’s no way this isn’t going to be awesome.”

  That makes her laugh, and I feel a little better to see the tension melt away.

  With a bit more confidence, she shimmies her hips, grasping me again. “Okay, let’s do this,” she says.

  “Ready when you are,” I assure her.

  “I promise to be better at this next time,” she tells me. “I’m gonna read some books.”

  “Trust me, you’re doing great.”

  Elise guides me to her entrance again, holding my gaze this time as she slowly lowers herself, this time taking all of my cock inside her body.

  “Oh, fuck, Elise,” I murmur, throwing my head back against the pillow.

  “You like that?” she teases, her soft hand trailing down my chest as she slowly lifts herself again, then lowers herself again, less slowly that time.

  “I like that a lot,” I assure her.

  “Good,” she says, grinning as she does it again. And again. And again. It must have stopped hurting, because she picks up the pace, riding me like an old pro. She really starts getting into it, running her hands through her hair, caressing her breasts. When she’s not playing with her own breasts, I get to. She’s driving me wild. I finally grasp her hips, urging her to fuck me faster, and though I really want to hold on, to watch Elise ride me all night long, pleasure erupts like a volcano inside me and my fingers dig into her hips as I groan through my release.

  “Fuck,” I say on a sigh, lying there motionless in the bed.

  Elise lifts herself off me and curls up by my side, leaning in to give me a kiss. “Good?” she asks, like she needs a performance review.

  “Very good,” I tell her. “I’m sorry about that.”

  Her eyebrows rise. “About what?”

  “That should’ve lasted longer. It’s been a while.”

  “Oh,” she says, actually flushing. I would laugh, but I can’t right now—too much energy. She can ride me like a fucking cowgirl, but I mention sex and suddenly she’s an angel again.

  “You don’t have to be shy about sex, Elise,” I inform her.

  “It’s not that,” she says, but with the distinct tone of a vaguely annoyed woman. “I don’t like to think of you with anyone else.”

  That sort of surprises me. I mean, I certainly wouldn’t like to think of her anyone else either—her infatuation with Mateo, when I knew there was no sex, was at least part of why he and I had such a strained relationshi
p. But that it bothers her… well, that makes me feel pretty damn good.

  “Trust me, it’s been a long time,” I assure her, curling my arm around her and bringing her close to me. “I didn’t feel right about it. I know that’s kind of dumb, since you and I weren’t together, but—”

  “Not dumb,” she interrupts, letting her hand drift across my chest. “If you’ve been with anyone else since you met me, I don’t even want to know.”

  I raise my eyebrows, but don’t volunteer anything further. “Okay.”

  “And if any other chick tries anything again, tell her what I did to the guy who tried to mug us, then tell her she’s next,” she adds, causing me to actually laugh.

  “Trust me, I’m all yours,” I assure her.

  “Damn straight,” she says.

  “I had no idea you were so possessive,” I tease, placing a little kiss on top of her head.

  With an amused smile, she says, “Yet another reason I could’ve never made it with Mateo.”

  I groan, even though she’s completely right. “You used the M-word in bed. Why would you do that?”

  “Hey, you were just talking about having had actual sex with other women; I’m only referring to someone I had a crush on.”

  “You’re so mean,” I tell her.

  “You want mean? How’s this? You know what the sexiest thing about Mateo is?”

  I grimace. “God no, and I don’t want to.”

  Ignoring me, she goes on, her tone titillating, “It’s his big, sexy… library. And I spent most of my time in there with you anyway.”

  She laughs as I squeeze her in retaliation for those two seconds of torture. “You and your damn Beauty and the Beast parallels.”

  She grins, nodding her head. “Yeah, you’re right. I hadn’t even thought of that though, now you’re the one who brought it up.” Snuggling against me, she says, “We need to add that movie to our collection. All this talk about it is making me wanna watch it.”

  “Never.”

  “Oh, come on,” she says, jabbing me in the side.

  “Every time that big hairy bastard’s on the screen, I’m going to think of Mateo.”

  Elise props herself up on an elbow, rolling her eyes. “That’s silly. Let’s be honest, if we’re casting Beauty and the Beast with the people in our lives, Mateo isn’t Beast. He’s Gaston.”

  I think about it for a second, but I haven’t seen that movie in a lot of years. It comes back to me now that she says it, and it surprises a smile out of me. “Yeah, he kind of is, isn’t he?”

  “Definitely,” she says.

  “Doesn’t that make me his chubby little sycophant friend?” I ask, amused.

  “No way.” She shakes her head, letting her hand drift across my chest. “You’re my Beast.”

  Her touch is relaxing, and I feel better about this interpretation of one of her favorite cartoons. If we ever have kids, maybe I’ll let them watch it, after all. “Didn’t he end up killing Gaston in the end?”

  “Nope,” she says evenly, still running her hand tenderly across my chest. “Beast is the hero. Gaston died because he’s Gaston, and he can’t stop until he wins or he dies.” Tilting her head back to look up at me, she adds, “Beast even tried to save Gaston, but he couldn’t. At the end of the day, Gaston gets just enough rope to hang himself with, and so he does.”

  “That sounds like a Gaston thing to do,” I remark, solemnly. I don’t actually remember if that’s true of the movie, but it sure is of Mateo.

  She nods, resting her head on my chest again.

  “You think I should keep working for him.” It’s not a question, but she answers me anyway.

  “I think you will. You’re the hero. You have to try to save him, no matter how many times he tries to hang himself.”

  I shake my head, amused that she can think of me as any kind of hero.

  A little less amused because I know she’s right.

  Mateo could storm the gates of Hell, and my dumb ass would be right behind him, trying to keep the demons off his back.

  Chapter Twelve

  Since I took the day off yesterday, there’s a lot to get done today. A lot.

  I start early, heading to Mateo’s in time to grab breakfast. He’s at the table, reading his paper and drinking his coffee. He flicks a glance in my direction as I enter, but since I’m not in his bedroom in the middle of the night, he must not be too worried about the possibility of me killing him.

  I don’t greet him right off. I head into the kitchen to grab some food and coffee. Then I take Meg’s seat at the table, right next to him.

  Finally he speaks. “Have a good night?”

  I meet his gaze, unamused. His lips curve up ever so slightly, but he goes back to reading his paper, not even expecting a response. I’ve considered it from all angles. I’m Mateo’s chief enabler, so once the rage subsided, of course I dug a little deeper, tried to find his real intention. It crossed my mind, of course, that he’s been on me about pushing my relationship with Elise forward anyway. He knows me—he probably thought it’d take me another five years to ever get this thing off the ground at the pace I’d set. Maybe he just wanted to give me a shove. Maybe it wasn’t really a threat, maybe it was only meant to kick my ass in gear. Something nice, to make up for the scene in his study Sunday night.

  Mateo’s kiss, after he’s done fucking you.

  But the reason I know it wasn’t is the card. His card, in his handwriting. He ordered the flowers and specifically left his card for the florist to put in the bouquet. They could’ve used any old generic flower card at the shop, but he wanted Elise to get his card. After the night we had, the night she gave me full credit for, he wants to remind me that it was all founded on his lie. That Elise could end up finding out who all that was from, to maybe consider that it could have been him in my place, and where would that leave me?

  He left a breadcrumb for her to trace back, if she ever felt so inclined.

  Of course I ripped up the card and threw it in the garbage before I came over here this morning, but his cards are distinctive. If she saw one on his desk when we’re having drinks, or on a gift he gives to Meg or Mia, she would remember she’d received one, too.

  I should’ve told her the truth, taken away his power, but I couldn’t.

  And he counted on that.

  “If I work for you again—and this is if, I have not decided yet—I want a lot of money.”

  Mateo looks up, a flicker of victory flashing across his face before he can stop it. “Done.”

  “A lot. Like… even for you, a lot.”

  Mateo nods once more.

  “And don’t ever buy Elise panties again,” I add, picking up my cup of coffee.

  “What, you didn’t like them?” he asks innocently.

  “Or flowers. None of that bullshit. You know I don’t have your pride issues, but don’t disrespect me.”

  His amusement fades and he puts down his paper, giving me his full attention. “You know how much I respect you, Adrian.”

  “I don’t like being the target of your games,” I inform him. “I realize no one does—except maybe Mia,” I add, rolling my eyes.

  He smirks at this.

  “But I don’t, and it’s hard enough to be on your side watching what you do to everyone else. Don’t start doing it to me, too. Our friendship has limits, and Elise is over the line. I’m not Vince; I won’t put up with what he has and continue to serve you.”

  “I understand that. I don’t want Elise, you know that. She’s always been for you.”

  I nod, accepting that. Logically I knew it was just a threat—but I also know he doesn’t make threats he won’t follow through with. Doesn’t mean he wants to, but if he makes a threat and you force him to deliver, he’ll do it, no matter the cost. Beth had the poor judgment to test him on that one.

  Taking a breath and pushing it out, he steeples his hands on the table. “If you sign on to work for me, I want a commitment this time,” he finally
says. “No freelancing. No contract.”

  He wants forever. He wants to know I’m not going anywhere. Not so he can abuse me however he wants, like Vince, but so he knows he’ll never have to again.

  I don’t ever want us to be enemies, so I agree with that. I’m still hesitant as hell about it, but after last night with Elise, the stakes are higher. She’s mine now, and that’s scary and exhilarating and a hell of a lot more responsibility. If I’m going to be working for Mateo again and going after Castellanos, I’m going to need better security on her than the apartment can provide.

  I have to wrestle my own tongue to get my next words out. “It might be easiest if we stayed here until everything’s settled with Castellanos.”

  Mateo nods in agreement. “Yes, I would’ve already suggested that, but I didn’t think you’d be of the same mind.”

  “Someone tried to mug us last night.” His eyes briefly flash with alarm, but I shake my head. “Not one of his guys, just some unlucky asshole. But it could’ve been, and it’s different now, with Elise. I’ve never been real worried about it before, but…”

  He nods his understanding, glancing off at nothing, probably recalling Meg’s shooting. “Yeah. I’ve considered bringing Vince and Mia back, just until it’s all over. I don’t think he’s important enough for them to go after, but once we start striking at their people—”

  I interrupt, shaking my head. “Don’t do that.”

  “It’d be for their safety.”

  “It’d be for her safety,” I correct, holding his gaze.

  Mateo rolls his eyes. “So I don’t want her to die—sue me,” he says, mockingly raising his hands in surrender.

  “She’s Vince’s girlfriend, no one’s likely to go after her right now. It’s more dangerous for Mia if you give anybody the impression she’s important to you,” I point out.

  “Not if she’s in my house,” he states. “I won’t let her leave.”

  My eyes widen, hearing those words, even if he didn’t mean them that way. “Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.”

  He frowns in consternation, but seems to be considering my words. “Maybe I’ll split Colin between them. Meg can’t leave the house right now anyway.”