Barresi: Emily Trilogy: A New Orleans Mafia Romance

by Lux Miller

  “Fuck you, Luca Barresi... “

  The corner of his lip curls into a dangerous smirk as he leans over me. “With pleasure, my little vixen. But I think perhaps we should do so inside the bedroom…”

  He reaches around me and twists the doorknob to his bedroom. I stumble backwards into the room as the door swings open. He’s smirking like a damn Cheshire cat as he slams the bedroom door and stalks into the room after me.

  I roll my eyes and kick off my gorgeous glass slippers and I’m suddenly face to face with his tie. I silently curse myself for being so short, but realize this affords me the perfect opportunity at payback. With a grunt, I put both of my hands on his chest and shove as hard as I can manage.

  Caught off guard, he trips backwards and lands against the bedroom door with a thud. I smirk and close the gap between us, shaking my head at him as he attempts to push off the door. He watches me in silent curiosity as my hands travel down his body to his belt.

  I quickly loosen it and immediately unfasten his trousers without giving him a chance to protest. I shove my hand into his boxer briefs and wrap my fingers around his length, squeezing tightly as I murmur, “My turn…”

  He chews his lip as he watches my face for any indication of what I plan to do. It’s a silly game though as both of us know exactly what’s about to happen. “Emily… you don’t…”

  His voice trails off as I kneel down in front of him. Pushing his boxer briefs down, I grin when his cock flops out, bobbing freely back against his still-clothed stomach.

  “I know,” I purr as I wrap my hand tightly around the base of his dick and wrap my lips around the crown. His body tenses at the intimate contact, but before he can say anything else, I push my tongue into the bottom of my mouth and devour him until my lips crash into my hand.

  He thrusts his hand into my hair and instantly twists it so he’s holding onto a fistful of hair. He balls the other hand into a fist and slams it against the door, the angry sound loud among the silence of the night. I grin around him and bob my head up and down along his length, letting the crown of his dick brush against the back of my throat.

  I open my eyes and stare up at him as I take his cock into my mouth over and over again, and it’s like a train wreck that you can’t look away from. His eyes lock onto mine, and he stares at me as my cheeks puff with the effort of keeping all of erection inside my mouth.

  “Fucking hell… oh God, yes… I want you to swallow my fucking dick...”

  There’s nothing romantic about our intimate acts, but neither of us cares. Carnal satisfaction is what’s on tap tonight. I swirl my tongue around his pulsing erection and let it trace along the vein that runs along the underside of him. A salty pearl of precum dribbles from his tip and I hungrily lick it off before hollowing out my cheeks as I suck on him.

  I slide my lips along his length until his dick slips out of my mouth with a pop. It bounces lazily back towards him. I grab hold of it with my hand and stroke him slowly as I watch his face. His eyes are closed and his mouth is pursed in an ‘O’ of pleasure. Smirking, I snake my other hand between his legs and grip his balls, my fingertips pressing against the patch of skin just behind. Then I hear a familiar buzzing interrupt the feral sounds of his enjoyment.

  His expression falters as he attempts to ignore it. After several seconds the sound stops, so I position my lips over his head and prepare to take him back into my mouth. Then it buzzes again. I raise one eyebrow as his eyes fly open. He looks down at me with a look of embarrassment on his face.

  “Ignore it… please… tonight is just you and me...”

  I nod and flick my tongue around the crown of his dick. And the blasted noise sounds again. Luca groans as he lets go of my hair. He shoves his hand into the pocket of his trousers and pulls out the dinosaur phone that I know he uses for business. Sighing, I sit back on my heels and look up at him as he answers the phone.

  “What? This better be real goddamned important… if it’s not, I will have your fucking head...”

  I raise one eyebrow at his irritation, but my amusement is fleeting. He snaps the phone closed as a thunderous look twists his handsome features into a snarl. I was so wrapped up in finding amusement at the situation, that I didn’t pay close enough attention to his lilting Italian to hear what else he said. He looks down at me with the most devastated look I’ve ever seen on his face.

  He brushes my hands off his body with a scowl. Then he yanks his underwear back up, tucking himself away. Despite him forcing it back into his pants, it’s obvious that his erection is painful and is not going to subside on its own anytime soon. “Luca… let me finish you off…”

  He shakes his head. “No time. Business. Might be connected to Dante’s attack. I have to go now… I have to catch them. They have to fucking pay.”

  I nod sadly and take his outstretched hand that he offers to me. He pulls me to my feet and murmurs in my ear, “I’m not anywhere near finished with you. We can finish when I get home. I am going to show you how badly my body craves you. I am going to claim every inch of your body until nobody in this God-forsaken world can question what I feel for you.”

  Shuddering, I wrap my arms around his neck and place a chaste kiss on his lips. “Fuck the world, Luca. I have no doubts.”

  He smiles and lifts me into his arms, cradling me as he carries me over to the bed. He sets me down on my feet next to it and sighs heavily as he eyes the green box. “Save that for when I get home. Why don’t you lay down and rest while I take care of this?”

  I shrug and reach around behind myself to let down the zipper of the gown. Once it’s loosened, I let the gown fall to a crumpled heap at my feet. I step out of it and kick it aside, standing before him fully naked. “So you want me to sleep in your bed?”

  Luca shrugs as his eyes remain laser-focused on my body. “You can sleep anywhere you want, but since I fully plan to drag you right back in here to fuck until daylight when I get home, it’d save us time if you take a nap in here…”

  I nod and sit down on the bed, stretching out like a cat lying in the sun. I yawn softly as I lay down, burying my head into the mass of pillows that he keeps on the bed.

  He makes an indignant noise as he watches me. “You have no idea how badly I want to stay and pound that pretty little pussy of yours. God, my dick is throbbing.”

  I shrug and wag a finger at him. “I offered to finish sucking you off and you declined.”

  He grunts and leans down over me to kiss my forehead, then tugs the covers down underneath me. As I scoot underneath them, he sighs. “Trust me when I say I’ll be hurrying, especially since I know that the most beautiful woman on this Earth is lying in my bed.”

  I nod and curl up into the pillows as he stomps around the room, muttering to himself for a moment. I don’t know what he’s doing. I don’t hear anything else he says, whether it was to me or not, as I drift off to the heady scent of Luca’s cologne and the scent of arousal that hangs over the room.

  FOUR

  My sleep is fitful and sparse as I try not to wallow in worry. Luca’s been gone for hours now and despite his assurance that it was routine business he had to attend, I have my doubts. He may be my boyfriend now, but he’s first and foremost a crime lord of the city of New Orleans and his city has called him. I know where I stand in relation to his duty, and I’m okay with it. I don’t have any other choice, but my acceptance of who and what he is doesn’t eat at me at night… at least most nights. Tonight is different.

  Business matters have always topped Luca’s list of priorities, but never before has he put the brakes on intimacy for work. Especially not when in the middle of receiving a blowjob. That alone would be cause enough to worry, but it’s Christmas. Anyone bold enough to make a move against the crime syndicate on Christmas has balls the size of Jupiter.

  Groaning, I sit up and wipe my hands over my face. I glance at the bedside table and squint at the neon green digital display of Luca’s alarm clock. It’s almost five in the morning. He
took off over three hours ago and I haven’t heard anything from him. A tight knot of dread balls up inside my stomach as I scoot to the edge of the bed.

  I gasp when I see Luca’s phone sitting in the dim green glow coming from the alarm clock. He never travels without both his work phone and his personal phone. I know he took his work phone, because I watched him drop it into his trousers, but the fact that he didn’t take his personal phone means one of two things - he didn’t expect to be gone long, or he doesn’t want to be trackable.

  In the deepest recesses of my mind, I’m praying for the former although I know the reason is more likely the latter. And if Luca didn’t want to be tracked, that means whatever he’s out there doing is dangerous. Considering the man carries a pair of guns and dodges the police for a living, this level of dangerous is enough to grip my heart with fear.

  Standing up, I shiver as goosebumps prickle my skin. I walk over to Luca’s dresser and pull out an old concert t-shirt that brushes the top of my thighs once it’s on. I slam that drawer shut and pull out the one just above it. Digging around through his ridiculously expensive boxer briefs, my hands finally find what they were searching for - one of the half dozen pairs of sensible panties I keep stashed in his underwear drawer. I never know when I may need a pair since the man’s sexual appetite is insatiable.

  I pull on a hot pink pair of boy shorts that provide decent cover of my girly bits. Paired with the t-shirt, it’s as close to pajamas as I’ve worn since I entered Luca Barresi’s home and service almost four months ago. I sigh and walk over to the decidedly masculine bed and flop on top of the covers. The plush comforter billows and settles around me uneventfully as I glance at the glaring green display once again of the alarm clock - 4:59.

  Crawling up the bed, I snatch Luca’s phone off the bedside table. It’s locked anyway, so it’s not like I can go snooping about in his personal affairs. He may have made an honest woman of me and made me his proper girlfriend, but the man has trust issues the size of Texas. No way would he ever let me dig through his phone.

  Out of curiosity, I swipe my finger up the screen and cringe as the screen flashes and asks for a pin code. Shrugging, I toss the phone onto the comforter besides me but something draws me back to it. There’s a message notification blinking in the upper right-hand corner of the phone, but without his passcode, there’s no way I can access it to find out what’s going on.

  I roll my eyes and type in 0000 just to see if he’s as predictable as ninety percent of the men I know. To my surprise, the screen flashes ‘Passcode Error. 4 More Attempts Until Phone is Locked.’ If it’s not the default code, it’s probably his birthday. I chuckle at how predictable most men are, until I realize that I don’t even know Luca’s birthday.

  I know it isn’t too soon because of a couple of off-the-cuff remarks made by Royce and Dante, but I have no clue what day. I do know he’ll be thirty at least, so I’m not completely failing at being his girlfriend. After all, when your man is a secretive criminal that hobnobs with the upper crust socialites of New Orleans, it’s reasonable to assume he’d keep personal details to a minimum.

  I try a couple more default codes just in case and roll my eyes when none of them work. Once the phone flashes that it will lock on the next attempt, I toss it back onto the bedside table. It’s now after five AM and I still haven’t heard from Luca. I know I’m just being clingy, and I should give the worrywart persona a rest, but something is gnawing at my insides.

  It’s just like back at the club when a plainclothes copper would hide amongst the patrons. As a people watcher, they’d usually set me on edge because something in their demeanor would give them away. The other girls would often solicit the officer and earn themselves a night in jail. A couple of the underage ones managed to get themselves tossed in Foster homes. Because they’d refuse to talk, as was a common practice among Andre’s girls, nobody ever managed to trace them back to him.

  But I was smart enough not to get caught. With the exception of the one time I picked the pocket of an FBI detective, but he’d let me go when I’d busted out the waterworks and made up some lame story about how I tripped and was trying to get my footing instead of trying to lift the leather wallet he’d had concealed inside his coat. I’d only been on the streets for a few weeks then, but it taught me a valuable lesson I carried with me to the day Luca abducted me - travel light and move fast. And don’t EVER hesitate.

  Right now, I’m hesitating, but I know that if I lock Luca’s phone, he’ll instantly realize I’ve been snooping. As secretive as he is and as short as his temper has been with other people, I don’t want to do anything to potentially anger him. I don’t ever want to find myself on the receiving end of his anger.

  That very notion makes me jumpy as I hear a loud bang downstairs. Squeaking, my hands fly out as a commotion downstairs follows the sharp crack of the front door being flung open. Luca’s phone goes flying, landing with a soft thud halfway across the room. I scramble off the bed to grab it and put it back on the bedside table, but the frenzy happening downstairs piques my interest.

  I creep over to the bedroom door and peer out into the hallway. It’s pitch black up here, except for the subtle sliver of light coming from under Dante’s door and the glow on the wall of the staircase from downstairs. Several shadows bounce along the wall that leads downstairs and it concerns me because at this hour, the hired help is minimal and everyone else should be asleep.

  Stepping one foot over the threshold and into the hallway, I immediately freeze when startled shouts waft upstairs. I can’t hear much of the conversation being exchanged, but I can hear several distinct male voices, none of which I recognize to be Luca’s. I start to worry that somebody has broken into the house until I hear Mike’s voice, loud and clear above the rest, “Get him upstairs! Now!”

  I jump back into the room and dive into the bed, pulling the covers up over my head as the panicked voices get louder. “Sir, I think he needs a doctor.”

  Mike quickly responds, “You know the rules, kid. No doctors unless someone’s on death’s doorstep.”

  The same voice as before, meeker now, replies, “He will be if he doesn’t get himself looked at. That’s not some paltry slice and dice… somebody got a good piece of him.”

  I whimper softly under the covers as the voices get louder. After what seems an eternity, I finally hear Luca’s voice. It’s quiet, but firm as he directs his men. “Leave me. It’s just a scratch. I’ll be fine after some rest.”

  Several voices grumble as the bed dips from someone’s weight. I am really hoping it’s Luca as I lay here, flattened out under the covers, trying not to look like a bump that would give the hint of my presence. Just because I’m dating Luca doesn’t mean we’re to the point of sharing a bed at night. No need for the men to know any more than they do.

  The voices fade until just one other voice remains in the room. I recognize its timbre immediately as Mike. “Emily, you can come out of hiding now. Keep an eye on him. I don’t like this one bit, but he’s being a stubborn ass mule.”

  I flick the covers back off my head and pull myself to a sitting position, eyeing Mike warily. “You mean he’s being himself?” I grin and glance at Luca. The sight that meets me makes my heart skip a beat. There’s grime on his face and in the ambient lighting from the hallway, it looks like there’s an enormous bruise darkening over one eye.

  Mike gives me a curt nod and steps out into the hallway, pulling the door almost-closed.

  I gasp as Luca’s wary gaze meets mine. He winces as he adjusts himself on the bed and offers me a paltry smile. “Sorry it took so long. There were a couple… complications.”

  I nod slowly as I watch him. He’s breathing funny, his breaths staccatoed like he’s in pain. I reach out to touch his face and his tenses as my fingertips brush his jaw. “Luca… what happened?”

  He shrugs, turning his face so that my hand drops off his jaw. I rest it gently against his chest instead and tug gently on his shirt. “Do yo
u… need help getting comfortable?”

  Luca shakes his head quickly, swatting my hand away with his right hand as his left slips underneath his shirt and out of view. I swallow down the lump in my throat. “What kind of complications?”

  Luca closes his eyes for a moment as he inhales a deep, unsteady breath. “Nothing I couldn’t handle. Things just got a little messy is all. I called the Cleaner. There will be no evidence of a struggle come morning. Now, can we just lay down and go to sleep and pretend like nothing happened?”

  I narrow my gaze at him, then flick my eyes to the green box Royce left us. He ran out of here in the middle of a blowjob… he’s been itching to know what’s in that box all night. Now he suddenly doesn’t care and he just wants to go to sleep? Alarm bells start blaring in my head. Something is wrong.

  “Luca… look at me…”

  He obliges as he settles down into the bed on his back. But I can tell that just that small movement hurt him. Physically hurt him. Whatever happened on his job obviously didn’t go as planned. He grey eyes look haunted as he stares back at me… no, he’s staring through me. Something is very wrong.