by Mia Madison
“Eyes on me, babe.” I lock my gaze onto his and hold it while he pushes forward a little more, and a little more. He stops for another long kiss, then keeps going until he's all the way inside me. I feel as though I could burst, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
“You okay?” he says.
All I can answer is, “Wow.” The sensations flooding my body have robbed me of thought, let alone speech. Having him inside me is so much more than I ever imagined.
His eyes the kind of warm that gives me that funny feeling in my chest, he pulls back, slowly, then just as slowly fills me again. The burning sting is quickly fading into unbelievable pleasure. I want to put my arms around him, but I can't because he hasn't uncuffed me yet.
Another stroke out, then in again, and my legs come up to wrap around him. “Beautiful,” Tonio says, and keeps moving. I jiggle my wrists, just a little, and his eyes go hooded. “You got a request, babe?” His voice is silky smooth. “Show me how pretty you can ask.”
I lift my head until my lips are almost touching his. “Please, Tonio, let me go so I can touch you while you fuck me.”
“That's very nice, bella.” He gives me a slow, lingering kiss. “But I'm not sure.”
I wrack my brain; what can I say that will entice him more than the pleasure of making me beg? And then it hits me. “Baby,” I say, “if you don't let me go, I can't claw your back while you're fucking me.”
That gets me his wicked grin. “Now you’re talking,” he says, and stops moving. Retrieving a key – an actual key! – from his nightstand, he unlocks the cuffs and frees me.
My hands dive into his hair, thick and soft. I pull his head down and kiss him with all the ravenous hunger that's in me. He responds in kind, and it's like throwing a flaming torch into a swimming pool filled with gasoline.
When he breaks off this time, it's to thrust inside me harder than he's been doing, hard enough that I feel it deep inside. My hips arch up; I dig my nails into his back. “More,” I demand.
His jaw is tight. “I promised you I'd be careful.”
“I don't want careful.”
“Dammit, bella, I am not gonna hurt you.”
I grab his face in my hands again. “You already did.” My heart wrenches at the flinch he can't hide, but before he can speak, I go on. “It was worth it.”
“Bella ...” he whispers.
“I'm begging you, Tonio. Do it.”
He crushes his mouth to mine, hard and hungry, with an edge of desperation. And then he moves. Still careful, despite my pleas, but not too careful. He's being a little bit rough, and I love it. I want more.
So I move my hips in answer to his, until the sound of our bodies meeting echoes off the walls and the air fills with our scent. I claw his back just like I promised. And I sink my teeth into his shoulder, doing my damnedest to snap his control.
He gets rougher, until he's fucking me hard, and with anyone else it would be more than enough. But he's still holding back, and I don't want that. Not with Tonio.
I drag my nails down my back, all the way to his ass, and dig in deep. “Fuck!” he hisses, and speeds up, his cock spearing into me, and I've almost made him lose control but now I've lost it myself, sensation swamping my brain and shorting it out, and I start to babble.
“Oh god Antonio, please don't stop baby, don't stop fucking me, you feel so good.” I have no idea what I'm even saying. “You fuck me so good, yes baby, please, harder.”
Reaching between us, Tonio finds my clit, rolling and pressing, and the pleasure swelling inside me gathers and tightens and then bursts violently outward. I start screaming then, as the biggest climax in the history of the world hits me.
Tonio keeps fucking me all through my orgasm. As soon as my shudders subside, he pulls out and lets go all over my belly and my breasts. A little bit gets on my face, and I gather it on my fingertip and lick my finger clean. His eyes blaze before he shuts them.
When he opens them again, his jaw is tight. I’m so dazed with pleasure it takes me a few seconds to register his expression. “What's wrong?” I say.
“What's wrong is you tryin' to goad me, babe.” He rolls us over so I'm on top and frames my face in his hands, my hair falling down around us. “That was not cool.”
I open my mouth to protest and he says, “You gotta trust me to take care of you.” That stops me cold. I hadn't thought of it as not trusting him.
“I'm sorry, Tonio.” I lean down and kiss him softly. “I was just so hungry for you I wasn't thinking.” His face changes, and I snuggle closer. “Do you think you should punish me?”
His eyes gleam. “Shower first,” he says, a half-smile quirking his mouth. “Then punishment.”
It's hours later, well past midnight, when I finally leave. True to his word, Tonio has been careful with me, but I'm still very sore. My legs are shaky as he walks me to Erin's car.
I've never been happier in my life.
“You work today?” he asks me.
“Yeah, but I'm not on until eleven.”
“Good. Rest up. Wanna see you here for dinner. Just us, no family.”
“Should I bring anything?” I cuddle into his chest, looking up at him. “Wine, food, porn videos?”
Antonio throws back his head and laughs. It sends new shivers through me. How on earth does he keep getting sexier?
“My wild girl,” he says, and pulls me up onto my toes for a kiss that goes on a while and involves hands in various places. When he sets me back on my feet, I'm wet and needy again. “Just bring you, bella. I've got everything here, and we don't need videos for inspiration.”
Don't I know it.
He opens the car door and helps me in. I wince a little when my ass hits the seat, but it's a happy wince. I've discovered I really like being naughty for Tonio.
“See you later,” I say, and start to shut the door, but he catches it to hold it open. “What?”
“One thing.”
“Yeah?”
“What the hell is your major?”
I collapse into giggles. “English.”
“Why didn't you want to tell anybody?” he says, brow furrowed.
“Because.” I shrug, uncomfortable again. “It's not cool or anything.”
He crouches down by me. “Words are power, babe. You got a knack for them, I'd say that's pretty damn cool.”
I stare at him for a moment, and then I launch myself forward and kiss him, long and hard and with lots of tongue. He even lets me do it without taking over. When I draw back, the look on his face gives my stomach happy jitters.
“Drive safe, bellisima,” he says softly. “Text me when you get in.”
“Okay. Good night.” I blow him a kiss and he gives me another bone-melting look before he shuts my door. Starting the car, I drive off, wiggling my fingers at him as I go. I don't want to leave, but I can't be gone all night or my parents will have a fit.
And anyway, he didn't invite me to stay.
I'm tired, and happy, but my mind won't settle. It keeps going back to what he said the other night. There are women I escort in public to various events. There are women I fuck. Sometimes these are the same women.
Well, I'm now a woman he fucks. And a woman he cooks for, or tries to before his family barges in. But public events … not so much. He hasn't said anything about us going out to eat, or going to a show, or doing normal couple stuff.
He said he wants to tell my parents, but what if I'm just his dirty little secret until the thrill of having me wears off? And how long will that take? Because after tonight, I'm not sure I could ever get enough of Antonio Adamo.
12
And Not Literally
The house is dark when I get home, not even a light in the kitchen. I cross my fingers that my parents are actually asleep, and go into super-stealth mode unlocking the door and slipping inside, with a guilty moment of relief that our dog Coco isn't here to greet me and make her usual racket. She died a couple of years ago of old age, and I
miss her.
I tiptoe through the house and make it to my bedroom without incident. Rather than risk a shower, I wet a washcloth at the bathroom sink and take it back to my room to clean up. Closing all my blinds so the morning sun won't wake me, I climb into bed.
Grabbing my phone, I text Antonio. Home safe. I want to add, Miss you. But I don't.
His answer comes immediately. Good, babe. Sleep well.
You too, I send back. I put my phone down and hope fatigue will be enough to grind my brain to a halt. It takes a while, but at last oblivion takes me.
I don't even hear my parents get up and get ready for work the next morning. When I finally wake up, it's after ten o'clock. I scramble to get ready, glad I washed my uniform yesterday before I went to Antonio's, and make it to Revved with two minutes to spare.
The café's crowded with early lunch customers, so I dive right in. Gina, who opened, leaves after I'm clocked in, but Erin's still here, working the seven to three shift. She gives me raised eyebrows and I give her huge “OMG!” eyes, promising salacious details later. Not all of them, though. Even my bestie doesn't get to know everything.
It's two hours before we hit a momentary lull. Erin pulls me aside. “So? Did you see him?”
“I saw him.” I try for nonchalance but fail badly.
She leans in. “Did you see all of him?”
I give up trying to play it cool and smile. “Oh yeah.”
“Holy shit!” She jumps up and down, flapping her hands in excitement. “So you guys actually ...” I smile bigger, and Erin twirls in a circle. “I don't believe it! I'm so freaking happy for you!” She grabs both my hands. “Tell me everything.”
My grin is too big, but I can't help it. “It was amazing. And that's all I'm going to say in a restaurant full of people.”
“Oh, pooh.” Erin pulls a sad face. But it's time to get back to work anyway, so we do.
The café is full of hot men today, new ones I've never seen before. From the way Vic talks to some of them, I'm pretty sure they're Adamos; from the way they keep eyeing me, I get the feeling they're here to check out Antonio's new girl.
Is it really that unusual for Tonio to have a woman meet his family? Maybe it is. It gives me another happy little glow as I go about my work.
As requested, I message Antonio with an update. Busy day at the café. Leaving work soon. I hesitate, then add, See you later?
The response comes quickly: Got a charity thing tonight. Children’s hospital. Rest up and see you soon.
I’m ridiculously disappointed that I won’t see him, even though my body is tender in several places. I know he supports a lot of charities, and this event was probably scheduled months ago, but I’m still sad. “Rest up” bodes well, though, and gives me tingles in those same places.
“I have your car here,” I say to Erin. “Can you drop me home?”
“Don’t worry about it,” she says. “Dad told me I could use his old car until you get yours back from evidence.” Her face turns serious. “Have you heard anything?”
“Not a word.” It seems too much of a coincidence, with it happening right after the Darrel incident, for anyone else to be responsible, especially when no other customer has hassled me recently. But maybe he was smart enough not to leave any evidence. Whoever did it, the fact that someone is out there wishing me ill is a constant thread of unease in the back of my mind, one I try not to think about or it will derail my life.
I go home and make spaghetti for dinner. Italian food is a poor substitute for my secret hot Italian boyfriend, but it’s the best I can do. It feels a little naughty eating it in front of my parents, even though it’s something we have all the time.
I’m debating whether to have a second piece of garlic bread when Erin calls. “Hey,” I say when I answer. “We’re just finishing up dinner. Can I call you back in a few?”
There’s a brief pause and then she says, “Catie ...”
Oh my god. She sounds like she's crying, or about to cry. “Erin? What's wrong?”
A pause, and then she whispers, “Not in front of your parents.” Shit. A sudden ball of ice congeals in my stomach.
I jump up without a word and shut myself in my bedroom. “Tell me,” I say. Silence, except for her ragged breathing. “Erin, tell me.”
“I was online,” she says. “Streaming Celebrities Today.” I know the channel; they have a lot of news and gossip about everyone who’s anyone, from the A-list way down to the Z-list. She draws in a breath. “I saw Antonio.”
“I've seen him on there a lot,” I say quietly.
“He's at that charity thing, for the children's hospital?”
“We talked about that,” I tell her, shoving my sense of impending doom away. “He has a lot of public events—”
“There's a woman with him.”
My conversation with him comes back to me. Women I escort … women I fuck. “He always takes women to stuff like that,” I say, trying to ignore that the ball of ice is getting bigger and has grown thorns that are busily poking holes in my stomach lining. “I’m sure this has been on the books—”
“Catie,” she says softly, and then I know she hasn't even gotten to the bad part yet. “The caption onscreen says she's his fiancée.”
“What?” I hiss. Disbelief and anguished rage war inside me. Lurching up off my bed, I go to my desk in the corner and boot up my laptop.
“It was onscreen for a long time,” Erin says. I have her set to speakerphone so my hands are free. “I checked it over and over because I couldn't believe it.”
I get my browser open and find the Celebrities Today website. Entering Antonio's name as the search term brings the latest videos right up. I click on the one that mentions the children's hospital and watch the clip play.
The woman is tall, easily five ten – she'd tower over me. Her hair is blonde, sleek and straight, completely unlike my mass of brunette waves. She's slender as a model, with one of those perfectly symmetrical faces.
She's everything I'm not.
Her hand is hooked through Antonio's arm; she's smiling at him, a gorgeous toothy smile that makes her even more radiant. I have a couple of seconds to take all this in before the voiceover starts.
“Billionaire businessman Antonio Adamo joined a glittering array of stars tonight at a benefit for the Children's Hospital with his fiancée, daytime soap star Gretchen Howard. The sexy pair are keeping their engagement quiet for now, but sources close to the couple confirm that a wedding is in the works.”
There's a dull throbbing in my chest. I stare at the screen, unseeing, as the next clip starts. It takes me a few seconds to recognize the sound in my ear as Erin's voice. “Catie? Cate, talk to me.”
“Did you have the sound on?” I say, unable to process anything beyond the immediate.
“No, I was listening to music; I just saw the caption. What did it say?”
“'Sources close to the couple confirm a wedding is in the works,'” I recite back to her.
“Oh my god.”
“Why?” I whisper. “Why would he do this to me?” I can't believe that another notch on his belt would matter that much when he can have any woman he wants.
“I don't know. I'm sorry, Catie. I didn't want to tell you but I thought you'd want to know.”
“Yeah,” I say. “Thanks, Erin.”
“Do you want me to come over?” she says.
“No; thanks, but I'm going to try to get some rest. I'll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Okay.” She sounds crushed. Way more upset than me, in fact, but that's because I'm numb. “Talk to you soon.”
“Bye.” I end the call and stare at the screen until my numbness is overtaken by the urge to pick up my laptop and smash it into pieces. What stops me is not so much that I can't afford another one – though I can't – as that the noise would get my parents' attention.
Collapsing back onto the bed, I curl up in a ball and try to ignore the hot pain churning in my stomach. If he had just been h
onest with me. I even told him I knew he dated a lot. Instead, he made me feel like I was someone special while he was engaged to another woman.
Fury rises in me until I almost choke on it. Screw this – I'm not going to sit around feeling sorry for myself. I jump out of bed, grab my phone off my desk, and call Erin back.
“Hey, Catie.” She sounds cautious but supportive, ready for anything – a crying jag, a rage dump, whatever. That's my bestie.
“Wanna go out?” I say.
There's a moment's silence before she says, “Really?”
“Seriously. Fuck him, and not literally.”
I can hear the smile in her voice when she says, “Atta girl. I knew you wouldn't let that asshole get you down. But – will your parents be okay with you going out?”
“No,” I say, lowering my voice, “but they'll let me hang out with my good friend the cop's daughter.”
Erin practically cackles into the phone. “Gotcha. I'll be there in ten to pick you up.”
13
Drunk-Delusion Antonio
I put on sweats and a baggy t-shirt, then carefully pack an outfit and makeup into my biggest slouchy bag. By the time Erin knocks on the front door, I'm ready. My dad is talking to her when I go out.
“We're just gonna hang for a while,” I tell my parents. They don't question it because Erin and I do not have a history of wild escapades. For one thing, I was too much of a good girl to do anything really crazy; and for another, we were always careful not to get caught.
Mom eyes my bag. “What have you got in there?” she says. It’s obviously not as empty as it should be, but I’m prepared.
“My laptop,” I tell her, “and I've got some pajamas in case we stay up late watching a movie or something.” It’s true, too; I’ve got my computer and pjs in there along with everything else.
“Call us if you decide to crash at Erin's place,” Dad says.
“Will do. See you later.” We wave to them as we leave. I probably will spend the night at Erin's, because even though her dad is a cop, her bedroom is easier to sneak in and out of than mine. Coming home with alcohol on my breath is not a good idea since we’re not twenty-one yet.