I didn’t want to know what happened to my dad or my brother. I knew Ax would tell me when the time was right, but I also knew that I needed to let my past stay there — in my past. Whatever my father had planned for me would have led to my torture, and probable death. I could only hope that in the end, my brother didn’t meet the same fate.
Ax reached for my hand just as the priest said, “Who gives this woman?”
Nixon, Frank, Mil, and Phoenix all took decisive steps towards Tex and in unison they said. “We do.”
It wasn’t just the Cappo who gave me away.
The heads of the five Families, each boss, gave me away. Gave me their approval, in front of everyone. I almost lost it. And then Ax nodded slightly to the left, I turned.
My brother was sitting in the front row.
With my father.
Both of them were bleeding. My father looked irritated. My brother had a smile on his face and I could almost imagine, my mother in heaven finally being at peace.
I was a part of a family.
I was theirs.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Axton
“THINK YOU COULD at least try to hide the blood stains, Chase?” I took a sip of wine and grimaced as the dry liquid damn near choked me to death.
Chase looked down at his shirt and shrugged. “Makes mortal men tremble in fear.”
Nixon smacked Chase on the back of the head and whispered, “See me tremble, oh badass one.”
Chase rolled his eyes. “Hilarious.”
Tex snickered. “I thought so.”
“What’s taking them so damn long?” The wine glass almost shattered in my hand. Chase, clearly sensing the harm I was about to invoke on the stem, pulled the glass from my hand and set it on the table. The girls had wanted to fix Amy’s makeup after the ceremony. She’d been out of my sight for around five minutes, and I was going stir crazy. I just… wanted to touch her, my wife, kiss her.
“Calm yourself, young grasshopper.” Tex’s hands moved to my shoulders. “She’ll be out soon.”
“Not soon enough,” I muttered.
The guys all shared a look and busted up laughing. Sergio had been strangely quiet, standing in the corner. Then again, he was always quiet. Had a tendency to freak a guy out if you didn’t actually know that was just how he was. Speculative… tentative, thoughtful. Scary as hell when he needed to be.
“Sorry!” Trace rushed into the room. “Okay, she’s ready!”
“Ready?” I repeated, and then almost swallowed my tongue as Amy appeared in a totally different dress than before. A short white lacy cocktail dress with a completely open back. Long lace sleeves hugged her arms tightly. The rest of the dress was so tight I was afraid that if I touched her, the fabric would rip; then again, that was probably a really good idea. Best idea I’d had all day. I made a move to grab her but got slapped by Trace.
“What the hell?”
“Let her twirl,” Trace commanded.
Blushing, Amy did a little twirl then paused, her back facing me. I’d already seen that the back didn’t exist, but what I hadn’t seen was the small tattoo on her lower back.
The writing was in black cursive script. I walked closer putting my hands on her hips as I pulled her towards me.
“Mi Familia… Axton.”
“Baby…” I shook my head turning her in my arms. “When did you do this?”
“A few days ago,” she whispered. “Surprised you didn’t notice it yesterday with the whole towel incident.”
I smirked, my eyes trained on her mouth. “I was a bit distracted by things… up top.”
She laughed. “I bet you were.”
“It’s beautiful…” My voice was hoarse. “You’re beautiful.”
“I just want you to know…” Her fingers fumbled with the buttons on my shirt. “That… I’m yours. Forever. I’m not leaving. You’re right, you’re my family — my home.”
I crushed my mouth to hers.
“Ahem,” Tex said gruffly. “Get a room.”
“Like you should talk,” Chase said with a sarcastic tone.
“Wow, Chase…” Phoenix said darkly. “Coming from you…”
I pulled back from Amy and stared deep into her eyes. I wanted her — now. Damn the reception. I wasn’t going. Neither was she, she just didn’t know it yet.
“My, um…” Her eyebrows knit together. “My father and brother?”
“Your wedding present.” I tucked a piece of her dark hair behind her ear. “I didn’t think you’d want a lot of blood spilled on such a special day… it would be wrong for their deaths to take our glory.”
She swallowed, averting her eyes.
“And…” I pulled her roughly against me. “I’m going to go let the boys do what they do best. Tex and Chase are going to threaten them within an inch of their lives, and then…” I shifted my weight between my feet. “They’ll most likely meet their maker sooner rather than later, considering they have a tendency not to listen to our rules and all.”
“Most likely—”
“It’s done,” Tex interrupted. “We’ll keep an eye on them… they were only too happy to agree to our terms after our initial conversation.”
“Huh.” Chase laughed. “That what we calling it now? A conversation?”
“Ass kicking sounds so country.” Tex laughed.
“What did I have?” Amy asked. “That he wanted? That you guys wanted? I guess I’m still confused?”
Tex and I shared a look before Tex finally stepped forward and held out the stuffed lamb I’d given her when she was six.
“A stuffed animal?” Amy stared down at the pitiful creature. “I had a stuffed animal?”
“Look.” Tex turned it over and pulled out a knife, he gently ripped part of the foot and then pulled out a folded piece of paper.
Amy gasped. “What is that?”
“Your mother, before she died, hid a very important piece of information… the location of a few of our… less than stellar associates along with their addresses. Your father was going to use it as leverage to finally gain a position within the family. Only, she hid it before he could get his hands on it. She knew the minute it was out in the open, too many people would die.”
“Well that—” I cut in. “—and she kind of hated your father.”
“She died because of it.”
“Yes,” Tex said slowly, his eyes meeting mine before he put a hand on Amy’s shoulder. “But her sacrifice is our gain. These men, we’ll find them… and hopefully fix any loose ends.”
“So you’ll kill them?” she asked.
Tex laughed and waved her off, tucking the piece of paper into his pocket. “Did I say kill?”
“No, but—”
“Wedding day, happiest day of your life… Why don’t you guys go dance or something? There’s been too much talk of death today and frankly, I’ve already hit my quota for the month.”
I rolled my eyes while Amy asked, “How many?”
“Thirty-seven,” Tex said without blinking. “Then again around eighteen of them were my own family… had to cut out the bad to make way for the new and all.”
“He’s kidding,” I lied, while Amy shivered in my arms.
“Yes, kidder’s my middle name.” Tex winked and wandered off from us, while I continued raining kisses on her cheek.
“Hey.” I kissed Amy again, tugging her chin away from Tex’s retreating form. “Let’s get out of here.”
“But the reception and—”
“Leave it.” I tasted her mouth again. “Come with me.” My tongue lined her lower lip. “Now.”
“’Kay.”
Gripping her hand I tugged her towards the door.
“But the cake!” Trace yelled after us.
“I’ll give you cake,” Nixon commented.
“How cute, Nixon made a joke!” Chase’s loud laughter was the last thing I heard as I tugged Amy towards my Mercedes. I pushed her against the door then slid my hand up her naked thigh. W
ith a shudder I swore. “You’re not wearing anything underneath this are you?”
“Couldn’t.” She smiled against my mouth. “It’s too tight.”
“Damn it.” I pressed my body against hers, loving the softness. “I’m not going to make it to the hotel.”
“You will.” Amy pushed me away and winked, then the little tease opened her own door, freaking bent over to take off her tall shoes, giving me an almost perfect view of her ass, and slid into the car.
In too much shock to do anything I simply stared in fascination while she buckled the seatbelt. To pull a knife out and rip the seatbelt in half or act like a sane human and get in the car?
Decisions, decisions.
“Ax?” Her eyebrows lifted.
“Yeah?” I croaked.
“We staying or going?”
“Going, damn it.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Sorry was distracted… saw skin and…” I shook my head and mumbled to myself. Yeah it was going to be long ass ride to the hotel.
I aged ten years during that car ride, one for each mile. I’d always been the guy that could hide his feelings. It made me a good asset to the family — at least I liked to think so. I didn’t allow things to distract me. I didn’t allow things to affect me. I was stone.
But every man had his kryptonite.
And during the next ten miles to the hotel I found mine. At first I thought it was skin, maybe skin was my thing? After all her skin was really soft, so touchable, the perfect color. I wanted to lick all the way from her ankle to her hip bone and then repeat the process until the other leg moaned in protest.
But then her hand moved across her thigh and I got distracted by her fingers. Right, her fingers. They were long, feminine; her nails were even pretty.
When I stopped at the light I opened my mouth to say something, her eyes were on me.
And words died in my throat.
So it wasn’t her skin after all or fingers. It was her eyes; it had to be her deep brown eyes. They saw all, they looked at me and didn’t judge, didn’t see a killer or a monster. They just saw me. Her mouth curved into a smile.
Damn it!
I hit the accelerator as the light turned green and tried to snap out of it.
By the time we made it to the hotel I’d officially lost the war in my head. It wasn’t a part of her that provoked me, made me want to lose myself in her, it was just simply… her.
All of her.
Every single part that made Amy who she was.
I wanted it all.
And I was going to take it all and give everything I could in return. My heart, my soul, everything. It was hers — hell it had always been hers. From the very beginning she was the one I wanted, the one I’d die for, the one I would do anything to protect, to save.
“Axe.” Her hand rested against my forearm. “Are you okay?”
“Never been better.” I smiled and pulled up to the hotel valet. “You?”
Her smile hit me like an arrow in the chest. “I’ll be better… in a few minutes.”
“Sir?” A knock sounded on my window. With a curse I turned and opened the door giving the guy a scowl for interrupting me while I was lusting after my wife, and tossed him the keys.
He caught them mid air. I glared even harder. He held up his hands as if to say, I just work here.
A bellhop ran towards us and grabbed the bags. Times like this, I was thankful for my last name.
“Abandonato,” I said loudly to the bellhop. “Penthouse suite.”
He dropped our bags, apologized, picked them up again with shaking hands, and gave me a nod. When we approached the front desk the receptionist already had my key ready.
“Anything else, Mr. Abandonato?”
“Is everything to my specifications?” I angled my head.
A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face. “Yes, sir.”
“Perfect.” I gripped the key card and led Amy towards the bank of elevators and into a waiting car.
“Smiling wouldn’t hurt,” Amy said once we were streaking upward to the penthouse.
“Oh, it hurts.” I pressed the emergency stop button and pushed her against the wall. “Make it better?”
Amy’s face broke out into a grin as she bit on her bottom lip, taunting me. I took the bait, and pressed her hands against the wall, then used my legs to spread hers wide so her dress would ride up enough for me to lift her into my warms and wrap her legs around my body.
Our mouths met in an almost angry frenzy. She moaned as my hands inched up her thighs, my fingers digging into her flesh as I tugged her roughly against me.
My lips slid from hers and trailed down her neck When her back arched, I set her down and started walking towards the buttons so I could release the Stop. The elevator moved with a jolt, causing us to stumble together against the wall.
Our mouths never once left each other.
I was drowning in her.
Such a damn good way to go.
Amy hooked her foot behind me, sliding her body against me. The friction was so great I groaned and tugged down the sleeve of her dress, while she frantically pulled at my shirt.
The sound of buttons hitting the floor was our elevator music. When the doors whooshed open, we stumbled out in a rush. I carried her to the door of our suite then pushed her against it as I slid the card over the sensor.
With a click, the door opened. All that registered in my head was that we were in the room. Finally in the room.
Still holding Amy in my arms, I walked us towards what I hoped was the bedroom. We were within inches when a knock sounded at the door.
“Our luggage,” Amy said against my lips.
“They’ll leave it in the hall.”
“Ax…”
Groaning, I kissed her mouth harder, deeper. “No.”
“Ax.”
The knock sounded louder.
“That’s it.” I set her on her feet. “I’m grabbing my gun.”
“Ax, be nice!” Amy called, laughter lacing her voice.
I opened the door with a gruff word on my lips. The bellhop held our luggage in both hands, a terrified smile pasted on his face.
“Leave it.” I grumbled then slipped him two hundred dollars. “Please.”
“Uh…” He dropped the luggage, nodded, and walked backwards towards the elevator. I wasn’t going to shoot him; then again, he didn’t know that.
I was in no state to have a conversation.
The door clicked softly behind me.
I leaned my hands against it, bracing myself for more Amy, because that’s what I had to do. I had to brace myself, prepare my body for her attack, prepare my mind for what she did to me.
Finally after a few deep breaths, I turned, to find her sitting at the table.
The one set up with Chinese food.
“For me?” she whispered, her hands lingering over the chopsticks. “You did this for me?”
Slowly, I walked towards her. “I figured it was the best way to start our marriage… the same way we started our friendship.”
“Over Chinese?”
I licked my lips to keep from tasting hers. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“You hate Chinese.”
“But I love you.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I can’t believe it.”
“Believe what?”
“This.” She lifted her hands to the room then pointed at me. “You… our life now… I feel like I’m going to wake up and it’s going to be a dream.”
“Married to the mob? A dream?” I joked. “Nah, that’s reality.”
She burst out laughing. “Okay, fine, so that wasn’t my dream as a little girl.”
“And as a woman?”
She stood, and sauntered towards me. “As a woman, I’m really, really curious where my mobster hides his gun.” Her hands moved to my sides then achingly down the front of my shirt. “Hmm, not here.”
“Nope.” I breathed.
Amy tilte
d her head and moved her hands around my back and then down my ass. “Not here either.”
Every muscle tightened with excitement, awareness as her hands slid towards the front of my pants and slowly untucked my button-down shirt. When her knuckles grazed my skin my hips bucked like I’d been singed.
“Am I getting hotter?”
“So hot.” I ground my teeth together as her fingers undid the button to my pants and then tugged the material down. I closed my eyes, praying for patience as cold air hit my skin.
And then her hands were on me again, reaching for my boxers. Yeah this wasn’t going to end well, me with my pants down in front of Chinese food while she searched for my gun.
With a hoarse laugh I gripped her wrists and pulled her against me. “My turn.”
“W-what?”
“It’s only fair…” I shrugged. “You strip search me I strip search you.”
“Is that so?” She leered.
“Yup.” I nipped her lips with mine then kissed her softly. “So spread ‘em. I’m going to be very… thorough.”
“I bet you are.”
“Stand still.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I like that, the sir, now I know why Nixon likes it, does kinda get a man excited.”
“Let’s not invite the boss into our wedding night conversations.”
“Done.” I winked and stepped out of my pants. I was wearing my open shirt, button-less mind you, and black boxer briefs. My state of undress left nothing to the imagination. I was a bit worried it would scare Amy away. Instead, she watched me with rapt attention.
“Like what you see?” I arched my eyebrows.
“I don’t see much…” She licked her top lip. “Yet.”
“Tease.”
“Are you searching me, or can I continue?” she challenged.
“Stand still.” I exhaled in an impatient tone then started walking in a slow circle around her. I lifted my hand to her neck, pushing her hair out of the way. She trembled in response. “Hmm, I think I’m going to enjoy this search… very much.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Amy
HIS BREATH WAS hot on my neck as he walked a slow circle around me then stopped. His nose tickled the back of my head as he pushed my hair to one side then ran his rough hands over my shoulders, tugging my dress down my arms. It was tight enough that it didn’t fall.
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