Now Or Never (Erotic Romance) Book 2 (The DeLuca Brothers)

by DuBois, Lucinda

  She continued telling herself that as she headed towards a different bar than the one where she’d met Anthony. A handful of questions from various colleagues had led her to the DeLucas main place of business, a slightly seedy-looking bar called Rizzo’s.

  She paused at the door, then took a deep breath and entered. It took her eyes a moment to adjust and then she saw him in one of the back booths. He was sitting alone, but the tables behind him had half a dozen men who looked enough like him for her to assume they were related. The bar was empty enough that she hadn’t gotten more than a few steps before he looked up and saw her. Myriad emotions flashed across his face. Surprise. Guilt. Relief. Happiness.

  The last one was like a punch in the gut. How could he look so pleased to see her when he’d hidden this from her?

  “Cecile.” He stood and walked towards her, meeting her halfway. “How’d you know I was here?” He started to reach towards her and she took a step back. The hurt expression on his face almost made her change her mind.

  Almost.

  “I know who you are, Anthony,” she said. “I know what you do.”

  “Let me explain,” he started to say. “It’s not as bad as you think.”

  “No,” she cut off his explanation. She knew that if she let him talk, she’d start to rationalize it to herself and she couldn’t let that happen. This had to end. She couldn’t be involved with a criminal. “It’s done. Don’t call me. Don’t try to see me.”

  “Cecile.” His voice betrayed his confusion. “Is this about last night?” He lowered his voice. “Did I hurt you?”

  She shook her head. “No, nothing like that.”

  “Then is it you regretting that we slept together on the first date?”

  He looked so honestly bewildered that Cecile’s heart twisted. “No, Anthony. I don’t regret what we did.” That was only true in part. The only part of the previous night that she regretted was what he was. Her action in and of themselves wouldn’t have given her a moment’s pause.

  “Then what’s wrong? What did I do?”

  She had to get out of here or her resolve was going to crumble. There was only one thing that she knew of that would convince him that this would never work. She pitched her voice so low that she knew he’d have to strain to hear it. “I’m a cop, Anthony.”

  She knew he heard her when she saw the color drain from his face and anger spark in his eyes. She hurried to explain, partially because she hated the thought of him being mad at her, but also because she didn’t want a room full of criminals to know what she was. “I was just assigned to vice so I didn’t want to say anything to you because I didn’t know if I’d be undercover somewhere or not. I didn’t know who you were until I went to work today and they were talking about you.”

  “Talking about me?” Anthony’s voice was barely a whisper and Cecile couldn’t tell if it was from shock, anger or both.

  “One of the guys said something about someone named DeLuca being arrested. I asked about it and one of them told me about your family. About what you do.” Cecile folded her arms under her breasts. This was harder than it should have been. “And you can’t be pissed that I didn’t tell you that I was a cop. You didn’t tell me what you did either.”

  Anthony laughed, a bitter sound that made Cecile wince. “How would that conversation have gone, Cecile? ‘Hi, I’m Anthony and I’m an enforcer with a crime family’? I know what I am and I know who I work for.”

  “And I know who I am and who I work for, Anthony.” Her voice was soft. “I’m sorry, believe me, I am, but I can’t be with you.”

  Before she could change her mind and before Anthony could say or do anything that would make her second guess her decision, Cecile turned and walked out of the bar.

  Chapter 6

  “Fuck!” Anthony slammed his hand down on a table hard enough to hear the wood crack.

  “We got a problem?” Little Marco spoke up from behind Anthony.

  Anthony turned towards his cousin, fighting to keep his temper under control. Everyone was looking at him. “No.”

  Little Marco gestured towards the door. “That was one hot broad. You knock her up or something?”

  “Anyone ever tell you, you talk too much?” Anthony raked his hand through his hair. This couldn’t be happening. It was like a bad dream.

  Little Marco grinned and threw his arm around Anthony’s shoulders. “If you aren’t banging her, can I have a go?”

  Anthony shoved his cousin away from him. “Don’t touch her!”

  Laughing, Little Marco held up his hands. “Easy. I was just asking. Isabella’s cut me off again and I need to get laid.”

  “She’s nine month’s pregnant, you ass,” Anthony scowled. His cousin could be a real dick sometimes.

  He grinned. “That didn’t stop Tammy McKlintock senior year. Such a hot little slut. Loved taking it up–”

  “I have to go,” Anthony interrupted. He walked back to the tables at the back of the bar. A silver-haired man looked up, the expression on his face impassive even though Anthony knew that his uncle had been watching the entire thing. “I need to take the rest of the day. Personal business.”

  Uncle Marco studied Anthony for a moment before answering. “Of course. You’re a good boy, Anthony. You take what you need. Val will help his brother with collections today.”

  The dark-haired man to Marco’s right didn’t even look up when his father said his name. He was the family’s filler, doing whatever odd jobs his father told him to.

  Anthony thanked his uncle and hurried out of the bar. He didn’t know why he’d asked to go. He had no idea what to do. He’d never been in this situation before. All of the women he’d been with, one-night stands and the few longer relationships alike, all of them had known who he was and what he did. He’d been dumped by women who told him that he was an ass, ones that thought he spent too much time working, but this was something new. He’d never had a woman end a relationship before it began because she found out what he did. And he’d never cared about something ending as much as he did now. He needed to talk to someone he trusted to give him the right advice, and for that, only one person came to mind. He needed to talk to his brother.

  Sergio answered on the second ring which was good as it meant that he wasn’t at work or sleeping. His odd hours often meant that it was difficult getting ahold of him.

  “Something wrong, big brother?”

  There was no slur to his words, but Anthony knew his brother well enough to know that Sergio’d had a few. It was one of the ways he unwound after a particularly long day at work. The crazier the shift, the more he needed to unwind.

  “I need to talk to you,” Anthony said as he hailed a taxi. “Can I come by?”

  “I’ll meet you out front.”

  A loud giggle in the background kept Anthony from needing to ask why he couldn’t just come up to the apartment. That was another way Sergio liked to unwind. Out of all of the brothers, he was the one who enjoyed women’s company the most, but had been in the fewest relationships. In fact, Anthony couldn’t recall Sergio ever spending more than a few weeks with one particular woman. If anyone could help him figure out how to get Cecile back, it should be Sergio.

  The twenty-nine year-old was waiting outside his apartment building when Anthony arrived. He climbed out of the cab and asked the driver to wait. Sergio would either give him an idea of what to do or tell him that it was useless. Either way, he wasn’t going to be sticking around here for long.

  “What’s up?” Sergio grinned as he took a gulp of his beer. He wasn’t drunk, but had gotten himself to the pleasantly buzzed state. That was good. It meant he’d tell Anthony what he wanted to know without being a jerk about it.

  “I won’t keep you long. It sounded like you’ve got a good one up there.” Normally, Anthony would’ve smiled or made some sort of sexual comment. Right now, though, all he could think about was Cecile and what would happen if he couldn’t fix this.

  “Two good one
s, actually.” Sergio winked at his brother. “They’re getting started so we’ve got a few minutes. Though I do hate missing a good girl-on-girl warm-up.” His expression grew serious as he studied Anthony, his insight undimmed by the alcohol. “What’s wrong?”

  Anthony stared at his hands. He wasn’t quite sure where to begin. After a moment, he decided to do what he always did and just push ahead. “I met this woman and we went out. Things went really well and then, today, she comes in to Rizzo’s and tells me that we can’t see each other anymore because she’s a cop and I’m… well, I’m who I am.”

  Sergio raised an eyebrow, his dark eyes thoughtful. “You had one date with this woman and you’re flipping out because she doesn’t want any more?” A look of understanding crossed his face. “You slept with her.”

  “Not the point.”

  Sergio shook his head. “Anthony, what’s going on with you? You don’t do this, get attached to someone you barely know.”

  “There’s just something about her.” Anthony didn’t know how to explain it. “From the moment I saw her… I can’t get her out of my head. I close my eyes and I see her.” Sergio was the only one of his brothers that he could talk to like this, the only one who wouldn’t see him as weak.

  “Look, Anthony,” Sergio reached out and put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I know women, but I don’t do the whole love thing. What I can tell you is that you think there’s something with this woman that you can’t get with someone else, you need to try to get her back.”

  Anthony blinked. That wasn’t the answer he’d been expecting. He’d been thinking of something more along the lines of an expensive gift to buy or some sort of great line that would just fix everything. “How do I do that?”

  Sergio shrugged. “I can tell you how to get a woman – or two – into bed, but I don’t know a thing about wanting more than a fuck.” He sighed. “Sorry, man.”

  “It’s okay,” Anthony said automatically. He started to turn away and then Sergio spoke again.

  “You could try for the whole fairy tale romance thing.”

  “What?” Anthony turned back to find his brother head towards the doors.

  “C’mon, Anthony. The big grand romantic gesture. Stand outside her window playing music. Rescue her from the giant rat, or dragon, or some shit like that. Chick-flicks are a great source of material.”

  A dragon. Right. Anthony sighed as he turned back to the cab. He didn’t watch a lot of romantic movies, but he did know one thing about them. Girls liked the grand romantic declarations. He directed the cabbie to take him back to Rizzo’s. He couldn’t do anything while she was at work and he had a favor he needed to call in. He needed to know where Cecile lived.

  Chapter 7

  All she wanted to do was lay on the couch, drink her beer, and watch one of those cop-and-lawyer procedural shows that didn’t have any romance in them. Maybe she’d even dip into the double fudge ice cream, too. She was seriously feeling the need for comfort food. It should’ve just been the mild annoyance of a one-night stand that wasn’t going anywhere, she knew that, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something much bigger had been lost.

  She was toweling off her hair when someone knocked on her door. She sighed in frustration as she came out of her bedroom.

  “Bianca Miller doesn’t live here anymore!” she called out. She’d found out the hard way that the previous tenant had been quite popular, but had forgotten to tell her ‘friends’ that she’d moved. Cecile had needed to chase away more than one drunken frat-boy type in the past few days.

  Whoever was at the door knocked again and Cecile scowled. She was so not in the mood for this. Heedless of the fact that she was wearing only a fluffy purple robe, she yanked open the door, ready to give the idiot on the other side a piece of her mind… and froze.

  “Anthony?” The word was little more than a whisper.

  He didn’t speak as he took two long strides towards her. His hands cupped her face and his mouth came down on hers. Suddenly, it didn’t matter that they were standing in an open doorway and she wasn’t properly dressed. Everything was heat and want and need. She clung to him, fisting her hands in his shirt even as his hands slid from her face to bury themselves in her hair. His tongue pushed its way past her lips and she eagerly accepted it into her mouth. He tasted of beer and mint mouthwash, and she fed on his mouth as if she were starving. She needed to be part of him, needed to feel his skin on hers…

  “Get a room you two.”

  A voice from the hallway broke the spell and Anthony released her. He turned and glared at the teenager who’d spoken. Cecile took a step backwards as the door closed and Anthony turned back towards her. What was she doing? This was a bad idea.

  “Anthony–” she began.

  “Wait.” He held up a hand. “Please, just let me say something.”

  That wasn’t a good idea, she knew, but he’d come all this way, tracked her down… and that kiss… she owed it to him to let him say his piece before she sent him on his way. Not trusting her voice, she made a gesture for him to continue.

  “When we met, I didn’t know that you were a cop, and if I had, I wouldn’t have offered to buy you that drink.” The words came out in a rush, as if Anthony wanted to get them all out before she stopped him, or he stopped himself. “But I didn’t know, and I did offer. And, who knows, maybe I would’ve done the same thing even if I had known because I felt something from the moment I first saw you. We have a connection, Cecile. I know you’ve felt it too. Can you really be willing to let that go without even giving it a try? I’m not asking for a commitment, just a chance to see if this can be as amazing as I think it can be.”

  This should have been a no brainer, Cecile knew. No matter how she felt about what he said, she should just tell him ‘no’ and ask him to leave. After all, nothing had really changed. He was still a criminal and she was still a cop. Even if she hadn’t been a cop, she didn’t think she could be with something who made a living off of illegal activities. This wasn’t breaking the speed limit or even doing something like making fake IDs. This was being a part of a criminal organization.

  Her head knew all of the reasons why she should tell him to just go, and every one of them made sense. The rational part of her that made her a good cop told her to listen to her head. The problem was her treacherous heart. Anthony was right about one thing. There was a connection between the two of them. She couldn’t deny it, no matter how much she wanted to.

  Still, this would be a very bad idea. She’d already gotten in too far with him by having sex with him on the first date. If she gave in again, it would just make matters worse. And yet… just having his eyes on her made her pulse race. She’d had the stereotypical butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling before. Had even gone out with guys who’d had the ability to make her wet just because they looked that good. Anthony, though, her body reacted to him in a way that was stronger than anything Cecile had ever felt before. Didn’t she owe it to herself to find out if this thing between them was something more than just a physical attraction? If there was something more to it? And what better way to do that then give in to what she wanted? That first experience had been so explosive that there was no way it could repeat. They could very well find that it had been so good only because of the nature of their encounter, the first date, how long it had been since she’d had sex. The chances of this being anything other than mediocre was slim to none. Maybe that’s what she needed to move on.

  Part of her argued that she was just justifying doing what she wanted, but Cecile pushed that voice to the back of her mind and gave herself over to her desire. If it was only going to be one more time, she was going to savor every moment. She reached for the knot in her belt and watched Anthony’s eyes widen as they followed her hands. Slowly, deliberately, she untied the belt and let her robe slide off of her shoulders.

  Anthony let out a low whistle. The expression on his face was one of raw hunger and Cecile’s heart skipped a beat. T
here was a difference between seeing someone mostly naked in a dimly lit room in the middle of a sexual encounter and seeing someone completely nude in a sunlit room after nothing more than a kiss. And, no matter how self-confident a person was, it was still a little nerve-wracking.

  “Did I…?” He motioned towards her.

  It took her a moment to realize that he was staring at her breasts. More specifically, staring at the dozen or so purple marks on her otherwise pale skin. She flushed as she nodded. She’d forgotten about those.

  Then Anthony was shedding his clothes and Cecile forgot all about being embarrassed. A bolt of desire went through her as he revealed yards of tanned skin and rippling muscles. She drank him in, wanting to memorize every line of his gorgeous body. His cock hung between his legs, not fully hard, but still thick. It wasn’t until her eyes reached his face that she realized he was waiting for some sort of response from her. After all, it was her first time seeing him completely naked as well.

  There was one way she knew of to provide immediate reassurance and it was the same thing she’d been wanting to do since the moment she’d first laid eyes on him. She crossed the distance between them in just a few steps and then went down on her knees. She heard him swear, but didn’t look up, not wanting to take her eyes off of her prize. She’d see him before, but hadn’t taken the time to really explore. She knew that her knees would ache if she stayed this way for long on the thin carpet, so she didn’t waste any time. She ran her fingertips along the slowly swelling shaft, and then encircled it. His skin was soft and hot. She stroked him slowly, feeling him start to fill her hand.

  “Fuck, Cecile,” he groaned.

  She smiled as she closed her lips around the tip of his cock. When one of his hands came to rest on her head, she moved further down, taking more of him into her mouth. She could feel the blood pumping through him, filling him, as she engulfed every last bit of him. The tip of him reached the back of her mouth and she fought not to gag. She wanted all of him in her mouth while he was still small enough to do so. It didn’t last long and she began to bob her head, working him in a slow, steady rhythm. He slid over her tongue, musk and salt and the flavor that she instinctively knew was just him. She felt herself grow wet at the taste of him.