She couldn’t seem to make herself care though, and as Marco realized this, the naughtiness of her usual good-girl behavior only made him harder.
She hardly seemed like the same girl he had met a couple weeks earlier as her breath quickened against him, grinding her damp center toward him with a mounting urgency.
To his surprise, Marco felt an overwhelming urge to protect her. Both from prying eyes, but also from him in a small way. She had no idea what she was getting into with him. He wasn’t a relationship type – far from it.
In fact, his sexual appetites were likely way more animalistic than anything that innocent little Sofia had been exposed to before.
Damn! Just the thought of exposing “innocent little Sofia” to some of the things he wanted to do to her, was almost enough to make his rock-hard dick reach completion without even being inside her.
Just as he prepared to wrench himself under control and remove his hands from her, she gave out a needy little moan, and the sound went straight to his cock.
Suddenly, his control slipping, he couldn’t stop himself from pressing a finger inside her.
Sofia gasped, her grip around him tightening.
“Does that feel good, princess?” he murmured from his spot at her throat. “Do you want some more?”
“Yes. Please,” she breathed, arching her back to force him further inside.
Marco grunted slightly, his cock throbbing painfully against his pants. He added another finger into her center, plunging deeply as the walls of her core flexed.
Instantly, he was washed with her juices and Sofia moaned, her head falling back.
His mouth clasped around the exposed skin of her throat as she continued to make those delectable little sounds in the back of her throat. She was totally oblivious to the risk of being seen, her legs parting slightly further to give him better access.
She fell back against the car, raising a leg around him to encourage his thrusting fingers higher inside her and Marco felt his cock try even harder to get his attention. What the fuck are we doing here? Since when do we “do unto others” without the promise of some “doing unto us”? his cock demanded.
“Come for me,” he ordered her. “And then I’m going to fuck you so hard, they’re going to hear you scream inside the restaurant.”
His words had an immediate effect on her, and her slender frame tensed, a gush of hot honey spilling over his hand.
Sofia moaned softly, a spasm of quivers wracking her lithe body, and Marco knew that whatever modesty he had been experiencing had dissipated as his hard-on threatened to burst through the zipper of his pants.
He did not slow his movements, undoing his trousers with his free hand to expose his engorged member.
Spinning her around, his sopping fingers toyed with the swollen nub of her clit, her hands spread onto the roof of the car as he hiked her dress up.
Her ass bucked backward and Marco needed no further encouragement as he dove himself inside her.
“Oh my God…” she moaned, gasping, and Marco saw her knuckles whiten against the car.
“Is it good, cara?” he murmured. “Do you like my cock so deep inside of you?”
“Oh, yes,” she choked, her words escaping in short breaths.
Harder and harder he drove into her, filling her as deeply as he could go, and beneath him, Sofia’s body shook, her figure stiffening once more as her passion mounted again. He worked against the pulsating nub at her core, driving her higher and higher.
His teeth bit down around her ear, his breathing erratic, inhaling her pheromones, the scent of her bringing him closer to the brink.
She spasmed, bucking back again and crying out, the flow of her orgasm slick and insistent.
“I’m going to take your ass, cara,” he promised, and she groaned, not in protest but in passion. Marco knew she was his to do with exactly what he wanted, but as he moved to withdraw from her, he thought better of his plan. The first time he took her there, he wanted to be able to explore and enjoy at his leisure. He was going to make it an experience that Sofia would never forget.
He slammed into her with that thought in mind. “Fuck!” he cursed, thrusting hard and deep inside her. Sofia moaned as he exploded inside her in streaks.
“Goddamn,” he muttered again, clutching her, his body crushing hers into the door of the Audi. “Fuck, I can’t wait to take you right here,” he moaned as he rubbed his hand over her backside.
Sofia laughed shakily as he withdrew slowly, turning to look at him.
“You say that every time, and every time – “
“You don’t need to remind me,” he interrupted, his eyes glimmering with wickedness. “You’re just too hot and I can’t contain myself.”
“It’s probably for the best,” she murmured, her head raising slightly as her face blushed bright red.
“Oh yeah? Why? You don’t like it?”
Sofia shrugged, her face scarlet with embarrassment.
“I don’t know,” she replied truthfully. “I’ve never tried it.”
A thrill of satisfaction erupted through his body and he felt himself grow hard at the confession. As he pressed himself against her, she gazed past him and cleared her throat.
This woman brings out the beast in me, he thought, squeezing Sofia’s hand affectionately.
It was as if nothing else existed when she was around and Marco could see he had the same effect on her.
Maybe it’s time to bring her in on the real me, he thought and the idea filled him with apprehension.
Sofia was a good girl, an innocent girl after all. How would she handle knowing the truth about him?
I guess we’ll find out. It’s better to know now than in a year from now, he reasoned. I didn’t find out what Mara was up to until it was too late and look how that worked out for me. I don’t want there to be secrets between us. If she doesn’t like who I am, she’s free to walk away.
But his chest clenched painfully at the thought.
“Are you embarrassed?”
Sofia’s words danced him out of his deep thoughts, and he cast her a quick look as they made their way back to their table.
“About what?” he replied nonchalantly, holding out her chair for her to sit.
She rolled her eyes, laughing at his question.
“I guess that answers my question. You do do this regularly,” she joked, but he detected a certain spark of worry in her eyes, as if she was scared he might agree.
Sinking into his own seat, he stared at her closely.
“Are you asking if I’m in the habit of banging my girlfriends in public places?”
A wry smile formed on her lips, but the look of concern in her eyes didn’t falter.
“Maybe? Do you have more than one girlfriend?”
Marco’s dark eyebrows shot up and a fission of pleasure slid through his body.
She’s jealous, he thought with satisfaction.
“You are my only girlfriend,” he told her gruffly, his face growing slightly warm. It sounded so damned cheesy saying the words aloud, but he wanted her to know that she was the only one who consumed his thoughts day and night.
Her eyes brightened and again, her face flushed.
He loved how expressive her face was, as if hiding her emotions was a completely foreign concept to her.
Why can I picture her on a beach in Sardinia right now, wearing nothing but bikini bottoms?
A thrill filled him at the thought of having her all to himself all the time. If only, he thought wryly. But that life is not possible in my world.
Was it? Maybe it wasn’t such a pipe dream after all.
Sofia cleared her throat and glanced down at her menu, pretending to read it.
“I have a job offer for you,” he told her, eager to change the subject. He was surprised by the barrage of intense emotions which had overcome him recently. And talking about his feelings was not his strong suit.
There had never been anyone around to listen to them a
nyway.
She raised her head to look at him.
“You were saying,” she replied, sitting back in her chair. “What is it?”
“Do you have any experience bartending?”
Her face shifted into a look of wariness.
“I served a bit in college,” she replied slowly. “Picked up a couple bartending shifts. Why?”
“I spoke with the owner of Il Toro. He’d like to offer you a job – “
“At the restaurant where I almost…”
She trailed off as the memory came back to her, an involuntary shiver working its way up her spine.
“August DiFranco is in the equivalent of Siberia right now,” Marco told her softly, reaching for her hands. “You won’t see him again, I swear.”
She didn’t pull away, but he could see the wheels turning in her head as she contemplated the offer.
“The pay is great and the clientele is upscale, despite what you might think,” Marco continued as she stared pensively at him in silence.
He waited a moment before swallowing his disappointment and speaking again.
“Listen, I understand if you don’t want to take the offer, but – “
“No, I’ll do it,” she said quickly and Marco was taken aback by her about face.
“I wouldn’t suggest it if I thought you would be in any danger, but you need a job and it’s a place I know well.”
The truth was, Marco liked the idea of having her where he could easily find her.
Whether it was possessiveness or the need to protect her, he wasn’t sure.
Probably both, he reasoned but he didn’t think about it much more.
“Tracey is looking forward to having another woman in the mix. She’s always saying she’s so outnumbered there, and you made an impression on her.”
Sofia snorted.
“Did I? Was it the part where I caused a scene or when I ran out on the bill?” she replied dryly.
“She likes you,” Marco assured her. “And I told you not to worry about the bill. After what happened, the least they could do was comp you.”
Sofia nodded quickly and forced a smile on her face.
“Thank you for arranging it,” she told him sincerely. “I do need a job and it will be good to work in a place where I know someone.”
Marco nodded slowly but he could tell there was something else bothering her.
Am I making a mistake by allowing this to happen? He wondered. She’s going to be in our business now.
But Marco admitted that was entirely the point.
He wanted Sofia to be a part of his world and that was the subtlest way he knew how to bring her inside without sitting her down and explaining who he was just yet.
He couldn’t even guess how that conversation would go. “Hey baby, I’m a Capo-regime in the Caprese family. That means my life is full of violence, and often danger, but mostly, I just give the orders so don’t worry about a thing.”
Marco had a feeling that the words would not go over well with a sweet southern belle.
He needed to bring her in gently and the best way he could think of doing that was through the restaurant.
“You can start on Thursday,” he continued, his emerald eyes fixed on her face. “If you don’t like it, you can bow out any time.”
An indecipherable expression fell over her eyes and Sofia was quiet for a long moment.
“Why?” she asked quietly. “Why are you bringing me in?”
The wording of the question sent a chill through him, but he dismissed it.
“You need a job – “
“No, I heard that part,” she said softly. “I mean…why are you doing this?”
He maintained his hold on her hands but the feeling of alarm grew. The tension in his broad shoulders increased and he drew back slightly, his mind beginning to race.
Maybe she already knows more than she’s letting on, he realized.
“Because I trust you,” he answered simply. “And I want you close to me.”
Sofia swallowed visibly and nodded slowly.
Lowering her eyes, she smiled softly.
“I trust you too,” she told him earnestly. “And I’ll take the job. Thank you, Marco.”
He grinned and raised her hands to his lips, kissing them.
I wonder how mad Giovanni is going to be, when he finds out I hired the woman that was the very reason I almost killed August, Marco thought.
He shoved the concern aside and focused on the menu.
He owes me, Marco reasoned. He’s the reason Sofia almost got hurt in the first place. If he had allowed me to get rid of the asshole when I wanted to, none of it would have happened.
But Marco knew that he was constantly pushing his luck with the don.
He just didn’t seem to care.
Chapter Ten
“You have no idea what you’re doing, do you?”
Andrea’s head jerked up and she stared sheepishly at Tracey.
“It’s been a while,” she admitted to the bartender, but the truth was, she wasn’t paying attention to the drink orders piling up at all.
Her mind was on fire as she scoped out the bar, the rolodex of mobsters making her memory shift into overdrive.
There were soldiers and associates milling about, night after night, their conversations wrought with clues about their criminal enterprise.
Her ears were tuned in to all the snippets of conversation she could hear, but it was overwhelming.
Which one of these guys is Draggan’s guy? She wondered, her hands shaking slightly at the idea that she was being carefully monitored by another agent.
She had not told Draggan about her new job, despite having been at the restaurant for three shifts already.
As promised, she touched base with him every night but he did not seem to be any wiser to what she was doing than he had been before.
The more Andrea spoke to the FBI man, the more she realized that she was nothing more than a pawn in a game she didn’t understand.
She had also come to realize that Marco had nothing to do with Valentina’s disappearance, although how she was certain that either understanding was fact, she couldn’t say. She just knew both were true.
You’re falling for a guy who could be a killer, was the refrain that constantly played in her mind, but Andrea knew that it was her acute instincts which had enabled her to become a detective when others were still earning their pross collars in Hialeah, so she decided to trust her intuition while on this case. It wasn’t like she felt like she could trust Draggan anyways.
Marco is not deceiving me. I know it. But Terry Draggan is. Why?
It hadn’t taken her long to figure out that Draggan knew much more about her cousin’s fate than he had let on.
On some level, Andrea knew she was playing with fire, working both sides of two potentially corrupt organizations.
At least the mob doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not, she thought bitterly.
The gig at Il Toro was an undercover dream come true, but Andrea didn’t even know where her loyalties lay recently. When she was working with the local police, she had often felt left out because she was a woman. No one would deny that the ‘men-in-blue’ were just that – ‘MEN-in-blue’. But at least she knew that any one of those officers would have her back if she needed it.
But working with the FBI seemed to be different. She was almost positive that they were actually working against her. She knew that there was something else going on and her contact agent seemed to be completely willing to sacrifice her for the greater good. Scratch that, I don’t even know if he’s working for ‘the good’.
She had an uneasy feeling that Agent Draggan may be working for the wrong side. There’s something awfully sketchy about this whole operation, Andrea thought.
Her feelings for Marco had likely clouded her judgement, but the need to know the truth about Valentina still trumped everything.
I need to step up my game here. But how?
She knew why Marco had brought her to work at Il Toro; he had somehow come to trust her, and she suspected that he wanted her to see him for who he really was.
I guess it shows that he cares about me, she thought and the realization filled her with guilty pleasure.
If he ever learned the truth about her, it would be a betrayal deeper than he would ever be able to forgive, she worried.
“Why did you take this job?”
Tracey’s voice brought her back to reality and Andrea glanced at her nervously.
“I need it,” she replied honestly, but Tracey just smirked, not buying the explanation.
“You don’t need this job,” she countered. “Did you accept it because Marco insisted?”
Andrea shook her head.
“No,” she replied. “He just suggested it and I needed – “
“Cut the horseshit, Sofia. You know what these guys are, and you’re trying to learn more, aren’t you?”
Her heart began to pound in her chest and she stared at the blonde bartender nervously.
“I don’t know what you mean,” she mumbled, turning back to her drink orders. “I – “
“Liar. You’re coming back to the scene of the crime for a reason.”
Andrea’s back became a steel rod but she kept her gaze averted.
How does she know?
“He’s not coming back,” Tracey continued. “Marco had August sent to Jersey. It’s like being sent to the salt mines.” The bartender laughed with satisfaction.
Andrea blinked several times, trying to make sense of what Tracey was thinking.
“Okay,” she replied evenly, her mind whirling. She willed herself not to say anything more.
I’m getting better at this, she realized. Keeping my mouth shut. Valentina would be so proud!
“So, any plans of revenge you may be having are not going to happen,” Tracey told her and Andrea suddenly understood what the bartender thought.
“No, I wouldn’t even think about that,” she replied truthfully. “And I wouldn’t have come to work here if I thought I would see him.”
“Marco won’t let anything happen to you,” Tracey sighed. “For as much of a dick he can be, he seems very protective of you. And he’s very loyal. To a fault, really.”
MAFIA BOSSES - The Box Set: An Enemies to Lovers Trilogy Page 19