by Bethany-Kris
Beautiful again.
Just like he needed.
Nothing could make his stress and worries disappear quite like fucking his wife did. Nothing could make him forget about everything like being nine inches deep inside Abriella.
“Please tell me Tommaso is—”
“Gone for the morning. Rise and shine, wife.”
Abriella laughed breathlessly. “I figured.”
“I didn’t think you’d mind this, actually.”
“Perfect way to wake up,” his wife groaned. “Thank you.”
Tommas dragged himself out of her body until just the head of his cock was stretching her open, and then he was pushing back in again. Harder the second time—enough to make his wife suck in a ragged breath as her eyes fluttered shut. She was quite a sight underneath him, her lashes fanning her pinked cheeks, and her hair a mess against the pillows.
He dropped a soft kiss to her lips, and tightened his fingers at her throat. “What do you want, huh? Tell me, baby, and I’ll give it to you.”
“Just fuck me, Tommas.”
Yeah, that’s all he wanted, too.
He did just that.
Tommas didn’t make it out of the hut within the hour like he was supposed to, certainly not dressed and ready for his day trip for business with the guys, anyway. He didn’t crawl away from his wife until his phone started buzzing and buzzing. He figured whichever man it was calling him—probably Damian, but it could have been Adriano, too—wasn’t going to fucking give up until he showed his face.
He had just finished buttoning up the silk dress shirt he wore as he stepped outside of the hut. His suit jacket was tossed over his arm, and his watch wasn’t even fucking clasped, but his morning had been spent well, and that was all that mattered to Tommas.
“Really?” Damian asked where he stood waiting with Theo and Adriano just a few steps away from the front door. “You’re not even dressed yet?”
“Be lucky I came out at all. I could have spent my whole goddamn afternoon doing exactly what I was doing which would be far better than sitting in a car with you three for two hours. I don’t have to go at all today, remember?”
Adriano scowled. “Show of faith, yeah?”
Theo rolled his eyes, and turned to head down the docks. “Listen, nobody likes to be woken up at six in the morning or dragged away from their wife’s pussy, but here we are. So let’s all shut up, and get this done so we can get back to sleeping, fucking, and whatever else we want to do on this vacation. Also, as my wife told me this morning, it’s Christmas Eve, and nobody wants to deal with anybody’s shit on Christmas Eve, so cut it out.”
Theo DeLuca, everyone.
Always the voice of reason.
NINE
Alessa and Adriano
ADRIANO
“And you talked to the buyer again, correct?”
Adriano nodded. “Several times, Tommas.”
“We don’t expect issues, right?”
Usually, Adriano would bristle a bit about people questioning him when he’d already repeated the same shit over and over again. But this was Tommas, and he figured his boss was just as edgy about this transaction as the rest of them, frankly. Not because he expected it to go wrong, but rather, because he wanted everything to go right.
As Theo had told Adriano months ago when he first brought up this idea, the Maldives deal would officially be their first foray into the gun trafficking business. And in this business, it was all about being able to deliver without trouble, and keeping a good reputation. That was how more contracts came up, and buyers continued to shell out money for guns.
If their first contract went bad, that wasn’t going to do anything good for their reputations in this line of work. It was unlikely they would be able to sell the cache of weapons they had stumbled upon, and stole which meant they would have a whole warehouse full of useless guns sitting there costing them money.
They all needed this to go well.
Including the buyer …
Speaking of which, Adriano turned to Tommas again, saying, “I don’t expect any issues. Honestly, I think he’s as eager to get this started as we are.”
He didn’t mention the buyer had gotten a bit demanding the last time they spoke for more than two minutes. Besides, that would only serve to piss Tommas off, and it was never good to take Tommas into a meeting angry. Absolutely fucking nobody won when Tommas was pissed and ready to teach someone a lesson.
“I did have the weapons moved again,” Adriano mentioned offhandedly.
“Why?”
“As a precaution.”
It wasn’t entirely a lie, and it would keep Tommas happy. Both good things, Adriano decided.
“All right.” Tommas glanced down at his watch, and then back up again, only this time he was staring forward into the front seats where Damian was driving, and Theo was fiddling with the radio. “How much longer, Damian?”
“Not very. A few more minutes to the hotel, I think. You know, as long as this fucking GPS is correct.”
“This was too long of a drive. I hate sitting for this long.”
“You picked the hotel,” Theo countered his boss from the front. “You wanted it far enough from our vacation spot that there was no chance of them following us back or finding us ahead of time, remember?”
Tommas rolled his eyes, stared out the window, and grunted, “I remember just fine why I picked the place, thank you.”
Damian wasn’t wrong, and the GPS had been correct. It was another ten minutes of driving, and listening to Theo’s terrible fucking screaming music before the resort hotel Tommas had chosen for the meeting came into view. Once in front of the place, a valet came up to the vehicle to take the car while the four men stepped out of the vehicle. Adriano was already regretting his choice to wear a silk dress shirt considering it practically clung to his damp skin the second he was standing in the heat.
Theo headed inside first, as they had previously agreed, to check on their reservations and to see if their guest had already arrived. They were supposed to show up first, and then the buyer. If the guy couldn’t follow very basic instructions, then chances were, the rest of this would already be doomed to fucking fail.
“A table is ready in the dining room,” Theo said, coming out from the front of the hotel. “They’ve got it all set up for us. The buyer hasn’t arrived yet, but they expect him within the next fifteen or so minutes. So, whenever you are ready, Tommy.”
“Great,” Tommas said. “Let’s get this started, then.”
Adriano didn’t pay very much attention to the inside of the hotel or the grand entryway when they entered the place. They had already staked the place out online, and had someone go in and take pictures to send to them as a just in case. It was always good to plan for things ahead of time, and none of them were the type of men to leave shit to chance.
Once directed into the hotel’s dining area, they were situated in a small private section with large windows overlooking swaying trees and a rather scenic view of the water in the distance. The four of them kept their conversation quiet and entirely off the topic of the business at hand as servers came in with menus, coffee, and water.
They didn’t order anything more than the coffee and water, though. Not until the buyer arrived, anyway.
It was only the sight of a man in the doorway—one of the hotel’s managers—that took Theo’s attention away from the table for a split second. That was their signal for the start of the meeting, technically. It also meant, that by all visual accounts, the buyer had arrived as he had been told to. By an inconspicuous car, and with only one man by his side.
“Buyer has arrived.”
Tommas shot Adriano a look, and without saying a single word out loud, his gaze said more than enough. Here we go. No time for a fuckup, get it done.
“Be open to negotiation on some aspects,” Adriano said quickly, standing from the table with the rest of them—except Tommas; a boss stood for no one except another boss at h
is level, “give a little to get a lot, Tommas.”
“We’ll see.”
He would, though. Adriano knew it. Tommas wanted this first contract to go off as well as the rest of them did. It meant more money for the Outfit, and in respect, for Tommas, too.
Next to his wife and son, there was fuck all Tommas liked more than money.
Soon, it was the buyer standing in the doorway. An initial meeting with the man months ago had given Adriano the chance to meet the man face to face. He was stockier, and tall. Mean-faced, but usually soft-spoken, which was a surprise.
Harold Torres’ gaze drifted over the room before landing on them. The man behind him stayed two paces behind his boss, but it wasn’t him that Adriano was interested in, but rather, the items hanging from the guy’s grip.
Two black duffle bags.
Likely full of money.
What else would be in there? He’d been told after all what to bring, and how to bring it. And just the fact that the man had followed every single direction to a T told Adriano one thing only.
This meeting was going to go just fine.
The nod Tommas passed his way said the same. And also, a silent well done from his boss as well. Adriano finally felt like maybe he could breathe.
TEN
Eve and Theo
THEO
Theo walked in step with Damian just a few feet ahead of Adriano and Tommas. A good deal could do wonders for a mood, honestly. He looked forward to the changes this would bring to the Outfit over the coming years. While his work for the Outfit was at a higher level, keeping an eye on the boss and his business, Theo needed to get his hands a little dirtier. He missed really working—being in the thick of a job that kept him challenged as much as it entertained him.
He figured the guns were going to give him exactly what he was looking for on the side. And, of course, he’d keep up on his job of looking after Tommas’ business.
As they neared the docks that would lead them down to their huts over the water, the conversation turned from the weapons they had just agreed to traffic to what would be left of their vacation.
“I vote on here again,” Theo said.
“We’re not coming here again,” Damian muttered beside him.
“Are you still on the water thing?”
“Yes.”
Theo rolled his eyes. “The kids are fine—I told you that. We got everything locked and safe, just like you wanted. Pull that stick out of your ass, Damian, and have some fun for once.”
“I have fun.”
A scoff left Theo’s lips. “Rarely.”
“Listen, it’s decided,” Damian said, “you and Eve are never planning another vacation again.”
Theo scowled. “Why not? This place is great, asshole.”
Tommas sighed loudly. “It is great. That’s also not the problem.”
“Then—”
“But it isn’t very kid friendly,” Adriano added.
Damian jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “That right there—see, I am not the only one who thinks so, Theo.”
Theo’s scowl only deepened at that, and he didn’t bother to hide it, either. He made sure each and every one of them saw it for what it was because that was ridiculous.
“Listen, you fucking pricks, I am not going to Disneyland for my once-a-goddamn-year vacation, all right? I can’t help the rest of you decided to go out and procreate right away.”
Damian’s hand came up fast to strike Theo in the back of the head playfully, but he dodged it just in time, and with his middle finger pointed up, too. “Smartass.”
“I said what I said, dammit.”
“Disneyland could be fun,” Adriano said absently.
“Oh, my God,” Theo groaned. “I am not going to fucking Disneyland on the next vacation!”
Laughter from the other three lit up the docks, but Theo was busy mourning the loss of his youth, frankly. Somehow, he had managed to surround himself with dads as his friends. There would be no escaping it, he knew. This was going to be his life whether he had a kid or not. But he wasn’t … having kids, that was.
Never.
He had all these people’s kids to keep him entertained. That was enough for him.
Damian’s arm snagged Theo around the neck, and dragged him in close. He managed to get his own swing in, landing a punch right to Damian’s kidney.
“If we go to fucking Disneyland, you will go, too,” Damian muttered through his laughter.
“I am not.”
“You will.”
Yeah, probably.
He wasn’t going to admit it out loud, though.
Finally, Damian let Theo go, and he took two wide steps sideways to get out of the fucker’s reach. Pointing a finger between his eyes and then at his brother-in-law, Theo said, “I’m watching you.”
“Good luck with that.”
“Just admit you enjoyed the Maldives, Damian,” Theo said, folding his arms over his chest. “Just say it—it’s not hard. Yes, Theo, I enjoyed the Maldives. We’re coming back here.”
Damian pressed his lips into a thin line like he was trying to keep the words in, but eventually, he replied, “I never said I didn’t like the place—”
“See!”
“And yes, once the kids are a little older, we will come back,” his friend finished, cocking a brow. “But if you think I am flying with toddlers again on a regular flight like that first bright idea you and Eve had, you are fucking insane.”
He didn’t care about that.
He only cared about the other bit he heard.
Theo smirked. “A little older, huh? Like what, next year?”
“No, not next year. Maybe in a—”
Tommas cleared his throat, taking Theo and Damian’s attention away from their argument for a moment. The two of them shot Tommas a look, but he only nodded in their direction. Or rather, past them, back toward their huts. Turning, Theo found exactly what the boss had been looking at.
Theo blinked.
And again.
Twinkle lights and tinsel lined the entire docks leading to their huts. Garland had been roped around the railings. Instead of just white sand, now it was a mixture of Christmas colors. Reds and greens. If Theo wasn’t mistaken, that was mistletoe hanging over the front door to the first hut, too.
There wasn’t a hell of a lot of Christmas decorations, sure, but it was just enough to make him chuckle.
Well done, Eve.
That was her only worry about this vacation. That somehow, Christmas would pass them by and no one would really celebrate it. Her favorite part of the holiday was decorating and making everything look like a fucking Christmas wonderland.
He supposed she’d done that again.
Just this time, in the Maldives.
That was his wife—always finding a way to get it done.
The four of them followed the twinkle lights and tinsel to the hut at the far end where the front door was wide open, and their wives moved between the hut, and the sitting area outside. Christmas music filtered out of Damian and Lily’s place while the kids made sandcastles.
And where was Eve?
Down in the sand with the kids. Her bare legs were covered in sand, and she only laughed when Cory brought over a handful, and dumped it over her head.
Theo didn’t want to interrupt his wife because clearly she was having the time of her life, so he hung back just far enough to watch her and hopefully stay out of her view. It only lasted as long as it took Joe to notice Theo was standing just around the corner of the hut watching them. The kid shouted his name, and Eve looked up with one of her blinding, sweet smiles.
“Hey,” she said. “Wanna help me build a sandcastle?”
Theo laughed. “You look like you’re doing great right there by yourself.”
Did they really need two of them covered in sand? He didn’t think so. That would be a whole battle and a half getting it all off her, but he bet he was going to enjoy every damn second of it, too.
“Did you like the decorations?” Eve asked, winking.
Theo nodded. “It’s great, babe.”
“I got a little tree in every hut, too.”
Of course, she did.
He wasn’t even surprised.
Now, everyone would have a place to put their gifts under before the night was out. Oh, he didn’t think anyone had brought armfuls of gifts, but a couple for the kids, and probably one or two for their spouses. Once they got back to Chicago, they would have a huge Christmas party like always for everyone to exchange gifts and things … but here, there were only a few gifts to go around, as far as he knew.
“I still think you should come over here and help me build this sandcastle,” she said teasingly.
Crossing the space between them, Theo bent down to place a kiss to the top of Eve’s head. “No, but I still love you.”
“You asked for it.”
What?
Scooping a handful of sand up from the ground, Eve shoved it down the neckline of Theo’s shirt before he could get away. Then, she grabbed tight to him, and brought him to the ground, laughing all the while. Right on top of her sandcastle, too.
Not that she looked like she minded.
On his back in the damp sand, staring up at the blue sky, Theo just shook his head.
Kids laughed all around him.
Eve smiled from up above.
Fuck it.
He’d go to Disneyland, too.
Why not?
ELEVEN
Abriella and Tommas
TOMMAS
“Did you like all those lights, huh?”
Tommaso nodded, holding tight to his father’s hand. “Yeah, Papa.”
Tommas grinned. “I bet. Did you help Ma decorate the tree, too?”
“I did. Put the star on top, too.”
Chuckling, Tommas bent down to pick his son up. Balancing Tommaso on his hip, he headed into the hut with Abriella close behind. She wandered into the sitting area as he headed for the back where the beds were waiting for them. Or rather, Tommaso’s bed was waiting for him. Tommas didn’t need his son to tell him for him to know—the boy was dead tired.