by Merikan,Miss
“He got aggressive? What did he do?”
I squirmed, uncomfortable as if the seat grew spikes under me. “I think he lost patience. He barged into my room, and...made advances,” I said flatly, even now so very nervous about what had happened that my fingers trembled. I pulled my hands closer to my chest as soon as I noticed, not wanting to alarm Santo.
“Fuck!” Santo hit the top of the steering wheel with his palms. “Was it when I left to look for Acerbi? I should have planned it better.”
I touched Santo’s thigh with the tips of my fingers. “When I marry Vincenzo, there is no way around it. I will be alone with him. There’s no use fighting it now.” I did my best not to convey the anguish that it brought me. Santo had enough on his plate without my issues, and I couldn’t have him handle everything for me.
Santo sat there in silence, his brows drawn together. For the most frightening moment, I wondered if he would even want me again once I start a relationship with Vincenzo, whom he so clearly despised. Sooner or later, he would get bored with the secret love affair. Even if it came to that after five years, not two. Even if his feelings for me remained fond, it was inevitable.
Santo opened the door and stepped outside but didn’t linger and headed for the trunk of the car.
I froze, but followed him with my gaze, despite my heart rising all the way to my throat. I wanted to ask him what he thought. Was he disappointed with me now? Did he think I actually wanted to have more than one man in my life?
Tears burned my eyes, but I didn’t dare speak and just watched him fiddle with a bag. He slipped off the hoodie and pulled off the T-shirt as well. His dark skin seemed pale and cool in the moonlight, which accentuated every scar and ridge of muscle. He was changing quickly, because it was cold outside, but my eyes never left him, drinking in the graceful strength of his tightly-packed body.
He looked like himself again in the dark suit and shirt. He even took his time to put on a tie. I swallowed when I saw him put on the gun holster.
He walked back to me and opened the car door from my side, leaning in far enough that I sensed his natural scent. “Wait here, okay? Acerbi is going to be like a rabid, wounded dog if he manages to get away. If you see him, run into the forest. Understood?”
“But Vincenzo told you to stay back…”
“He doesn’t know Acerbi as well as I do.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that, but Santo wasn’t waiting for an answer and walked off, all the way to the large house.
I sat back, so nervous I could’ve crawled under the dashboard and wait there if it hadn’t been for the lack of space.
Minutes passed, and I waited, all alone in the dark car in the middle of nowhere, by a house that was likely filled with pain and torture. My fingers were stiff from the tension, the steering wheel calling out to me as loudly as the key left in the ignition. I could leave and never see Vincenzo again, but that would also mean saying goodbye to Santo forever and living in fear until the end of my days. Worse still, it could mean condemning Santo to the consequences of leaving me to my own devices. And knowing Vincenzo, those could involve any amount of cruelty.
So I stayed, trying not to think too much. I even considered turning on the radio, but then dismissed it as a ridiculous idea, when I should be listening out for any suspicious sound. The time kept extending, stretching like elasticated threads, but the house was far enough from the car for me to not hear any screams or cries for help.
I still wondered what I would have done if Santo had come out of there hurt, bleeding, with broken bones, or a gunshot wound? I’d never had any first-aid training, and noted to myself that it was something I needed to learn in the future, just in case.
A sudden thump made me jump in my seat, and it was closely followed by another. The sound came from the house, but it might have been a piece of furniture falling over for all I knew. Despite my attempts to explain the strange noises to myself, they made me feel ill with worry and a desperate need to hit the gas pedal and drive off as far away as I could grew inside me again.
Instead, I sat in place, frozen in the same position until the front door opened.
For a while, I wasn’t sure who the lone figure walking in the darkness was, but with each step he was making, I became increasingly certain it was Santo When he lit himself a cigarette on the way, and a yellow glow illuminated his face, I became certain.
He didn’t seem to be in a hurry, which made my stomach tighten, because it could mean that the torture Vincenzo was no doubt inflicting would still take a while. No matter how angry I’d been at Seth before, I didn’t really wish for him to suffer.
Santo opened the door at the driver’s side and sat, instantly filling the cab with smoke. I was like Pavlov’s dog, and relaxed slightly as soon as I could smell it.
I tried to act normally, but when I made myself speak, my voice sounded as if someone pinched my vocal cords. “Is Seth...dead?”
“No.” Santo took another drag of smoke, looking through the windshield. Dark eyelids and long lashes made him seem contemplative in the faint light of the moon and stars.
I shuddered and rubbed my face as every inch of my body clenched with sympathy. So Vincenzo’s bloodlust still hasn’t been sated? “What happened in there?”
Santo scowled. “I paid off a debt. Vincenzo will never lay a finger on you again.”
I stilled, as my heart sped up from zero to a hundred. I was ashamed at the relief that flooded me like some kind of cooling balm. “Is he dead?”
Santo let out the smoke through his nose. “All our men are. Vincenzo, I left for Acerbi. He will take his time and do much worse than I ever could.”
I let out a shuddery breath and slumped against the door, not sure if I was relieved or scared. Did that mean Santo had killed our men? Did he shoot them all?
I noticed a few tiny spots on the front of his shirt. Were they blood, or was it coffee? No. Much too red for coffee.
I was in a car with a killer, and nowhere else had ever felt as safe. “What does it mean for us?” I whispered, unsure how to break through his stoic facade.
Santo licked his lips. “Once Acerbi is done, he will burn the place down, fake his and Seth’s deaths, and disappear. I will tell my father I got rid of them all, and that he has no choice but to support my stake now. But you…” He put out the cigarette, threw it out, and glanced at me. His expression was odd, as if he tried to look straight through me. “If you ever wanted to be free, now is the time. I can claim you died here as well and deal with the fallout, blame it on Vincenzo. I would set you up somewhere low key in the US or Canada. I would make sure no one ever found you.”
It was as if a million needles prickled my skin all at once. Santo wanted to set me free. He did all this for me.
Overwhelmed by this sudden change of heart, I needed several moments to gather my thoughts. Somewhere deep inside there was the fear that he wanted to use this situation as an opportunity to get me out of the picture and start with a clean slate. But I could see it in the way his eyes slid over me, caressing every inch of my skin with so much longing, that he was trying to give me a choice here. For the first time in my life, I truly was the mistress of my own destiny. It was the greatest gift anyone could have ever given me.
I smiled, taking a deep breath as I leaned toward him and closed my hand over his. “Santo, I am not going to leave you alone with all this.”
Santo’s eyes widened, and he squeezed my hand. “Then you will have to marry me. This is forever, Lucrezia,” he said as if he expected me to buck against making our relationship official.
I laughed this time and cradled his fingers in both my palms, leaning closer to kiss his soft, tempting lips. For the first time since forever my heart was completely at peace. It didn’t matter that there had been a bloodbath in the house, because I was with Santo, and my life would finally be real. “Yes.”
He pulled me close, and I was in his lap before I knew it. Squeezed between the roof and the ste
ering wheel, I couldn’t have been more comfortable, because I was in Santo’s arms.
“You will be the wife of a mafia Don, and I will never share you again, understood? You are mine and mine only.” Santo took a deep breath and kissed me gently.
My arms felt so at home around his neck that if I’d died at that very moment, I’d have been happy. “What about your father?” I asked when I remembered one of our earlier conversations. Santo had suggested the kind of move he’d just made could endanger his life, and I pulled away to look into his eyes.
“Fuck my father. He will have to adjust his plans,” he said through clenched teeth, not even blinking as he watched me intensely, as if I were the only woman in the world. “I’m done listening to a liar and cheat, just to never get what I truly want and get pushed around by scum.” His hands slid to my ass and squeezed.
I gasped, rolling my hips slightly as our gazes connected, establishing a buzzing link of electricity, which swallowed my entire body. “You are the most amazing man I know,” I whispered, brushing my hands up his cheeks and pushing my fingers into his hair, gently massaging his scalp.
“And you are the woman I want by my side.” His breath quickened and his next kiss was much more self-assured, reminding me of that first kiss he’d stolen from me before I even knew his name.
I twisted my body, leaning against him with more force while the kiss grew fervent. My bra rubbed against my nipples as I pressed to his chest, and already I was regretting my choice of clothes. The jeans were suddenly too hot and too constricting, but when I shifted again and the thick seam rubbed against my clit I moaned into Santo’s mouth, repeating the rocking motion of my hips.
He groaned into the kiss, and when he squeezed my ass again, his fingers slid between my legs, promising a release more intense than ever before. I didn’t care blood dotted his shirt, or that my future would involve danger. I didn’t want a nice, kind man anymore. I wanted the beast that would kill for me.
I moaned and quickly unzipped my jeans, before popping open the single button on top. The heat between my legs was becoming unbearable as it grew at a rapid pace. “Nobody’s gonna stop us now?” I whispered, pushing off one of my boots with the other foot.
His eyes grew wider, and he pulled back the seat, letting us both sink lower. “I dare them to try.” Santo slid his hands under my hoodie, and straight under my bra, groaning when he squeezed my breasts gently.
I wanted to undress for him, but with the cool air as a deterrent, I decided to compromise and lifted the front of my long-sleeve before pulling it over my head to expose my chest. I’d felt his hand on my skin already, but seeing it there sent an injection of arousal through my bloodstream.
His deep sigh was all the approval I could possibly want. He didn’t want me to get implants like Vincenzo. He was turned on by my body just the way it was. I toyed with the thought that I’ve been made for him—that my breasts fit perfectly into his hands, and my lips were the perfect counterpart for his. I shivered, sensing that his cock hardened under me fast, and I stretched in pleasure, looking into his shadowed face.
Santo patted the roof by the rear view mirror until he found the light switch and faint yellow light illuminated us both, just enough for me to see the dark flush on his face. With the doors closed, the air was warming up rapidly.
I kicked off the other boot and pushed on the skin-tight denim, cursing it for the very things I usually liked about it. Peeling it down looked so graceless that I almost asked Santo to close his eyes and wait until I was ready, but his lips swallowed too much of my attention for me to speak in comprehensible sentences.
I hit myself on the head in the process but I finally got the damn things off. His cool fingers sliding between my pussy lips were such a shock that I whimpered and hugged him tighter. Santo was still teasing my nipple with his other hand, so I was the one to reach for the zipper in his pants. I didn’t want to wait. I wanted his cock to be embedded inside me, to thrust in and out the way I loved it.
I was not the meek girl he’d met a few months ago anymore, and I wanted him to know it.
Free of the constraining fabric, I straddled his lap and opened his fly, nipping and kissing his lips gently, intent on teasing him mercilessly until he could think of nothing else but fucking me here, in this car. “You are finally mine,” I whispered, pushing my breasts against him.
“Christ, they’re so perfect,” he moaned, glancing down at my bare chest before bowing his head to run his hot tongue over my nipple. At the same time, he slipped one finger into my already slippery pussy.
I needed more.
I arched against him, rolling my clit over the bow of flesh between his thumb and index finger. I would show him even more perfection.
My hands dove into the cups of my bra, and I pushed them down, revealing my breasts right in front of his eyes. Biting my lip at the awestruck look on his handsome face, I leaned in, cradling it in the valley between my tits.
“Oh, fuck…” He whispered into my skin, sending a rush of heat all over me, the sensation chased by the sharp bite of his stubble. Seeing how turned on Santo was, how much he wanted me only fueled my own arousal. His finger moved inside me, fucking me already, yet only a prelude to what would come later.
With his other hand, Santo struggled to release his cock, tipping me forward in the process and forcing my tits onto his face. His lips spread into a big smile before he bit one of them, sending a jolt of excitement down my body.
I stretched over him, pulling my fingers over the roof as my body moved, begging for more attention. Locked in our bubble, we didn’t even remember there was a world beyond it anymore. I felt his hips rise, and he must have pushed down his slacks, because the sensation of warm skin and body hair rubbing against my inner thighs was so sweet it made my pussy throb with need.
I moaned when he pulled out his finger, for once not having to worry if someone would hear us.
“You’re so wet for me. I bet you can’t wait. We’ll fuck every day, and when you’re my wife, everyone will know they can only dream of ever touching you,” Santo muttered into my breast, already rubbing his cockhead against my pussy, covering it in my juices. But he didn’t need to, I was so ready for him.
Pushing down, I buried him deep inside me, and having that thick length fill me was the answer to all the needs I could have at this moment. I moaned loudly and leaned in for a deep kiss, already rolling my hips in a gentle circular motion to have him reach every part of me. The pressure inside felt so good I wanted to cuddle up and thank him for delivering just what I needed.
Santo slid his hand into my hair, holding it tightly and letting me know he was in control. His kiss conveyed it just as much. Every nip on my lips, and the way he sucked on my tongue told me I was his.
He rocked along with me, and he let his other hand explore my ass, making me tremble all over when his fingers dipped between my buttocks now and then.
I smiled at him and leaned my chest forward, brushing my hardened nipples against his skin. He pulled me closer, gently biting and sucking on the flesh, which now felt so heavy and tender that each touch to my breasts sent an electrifying sensation all the way to my clit.
He grabbed my ass with both hands and moved me a little higher, making half of his dick slide out, and I mewled, already missing its girth.
But I knew the moment of loss was worth it when instead of the steady rocking back and forth, he held me in place and thrust his hips up, slamming into me hard, pulling out, just to do it again and again, faster and faster. He kept me open with his hands, my thighs were parted wide to his sides, and all I wanted was to take him over and over, to be a vessel for his cock and his spunk.
I craved all of it. The heat. The sweat. The kisses. The licks.
A tide was rising inside me. Streaming from my pussy, it washed over my legs, all the way to the tips of my toes, and wormed its way into every curve and crevice in my body, bringing heat that made me thrash over Santo. I brought his face b
etween my breasts again and arched back, not even recognizing my own voice anymore.
I was so free.
“That’s it,” he muttered, fucking me like a madman. “So tight for me.” His cock wouldn’t stop the onslaught, but I didn’t want it to. The air was hot with our breaths, and my thighs trembled in anticipation of his orgasm. Never had anyone adored me the way Santo did.
I pressed my forehead to his, loving how he looked, so flushed and lost in the pleasure I was giving him. I loved my new life already. Nothing else in the world mattered but this.
I whimpered when his cock thrust into me one last time, and he groaned, grabbing at me with desperation. I knew he was coming. Leaving his mark deep inside of me, the way we both liked it.
Santo held me close, panting and kissing my neck. “I’d kill all of them again for this,” he whispered hoarsely.
I knew I shouldn’t drink up his words, but to me they were proof of his love. An offering he was prepared to make to ensure my happiness and safety. I smiled and pulled his mouth to mine, relaxing on top of him. There was a pleasant ache in my muscles, and if I could I’d stay on top of him and just push the car seat back until it became a bed.
“You’re my hero.”
“And I can’t wait for you to call me your husband.”
Epilogue
Federico Villani hated me. He wouldn’t say it, but I knew it anyway, just judging by what I knew about my father-in-law from Santo. But I was there to stay, and he couldn’t do anything about it, unless he’d try to get me killed and lose what was left of the bond with his son forever.
It had been a busy few months after we’d returned from the US, and getting my marriage to Seth annulled on the grounds of his sexuality took an eternity of paperwork and visits at the offices of Church officials, as well as a few large bribes to speed up the process, but once it had been finalized, I was free to marry the man of my dreams.