Brenna was tearing at my shoulder with her fingers, her legs locking around my lower back, her heels digging into my ass, when I finally slid all the way in and stayed there.
She was so fucking tight, hot, and wet, her walls squeezing around me. I was trying to let her get accustomed to me before I moved again. But Brenna was squirming under me, looking up at me, and whimpers were fluttering between her lips.
It was fucking torture.
I was barely holding on to a single goddamn thread that kept me from fucking her fast and furious – the kind of fuck that would have her screaming my name by now – and the kind of fuck she would for sure, never forget.
But just as the Ruffinos had promised – Brenna was a virgin.
Or at least, she had been.
I’d felt that brief resistance right before she’d gone rigid, as her nails bit into my shoulders. But when I’d broken through, she’d trembled in instant pleasure, with breathy moans escaping her luscious lips. Now my legs were shaking from holding back, my mind tumbling down a black rabbit hole, as the thirst to take her relentlessly surged through me. As much as I wanted to rock her world with the kind of pounding, reckless sex to slake that which had been building since the moment I’d seen her, I was determined to make it good for her. So good, she’d want to come back for more and more.
I dug deep and found a steady rhythm. Full, long, deep strokes, pulling back until I almost slid out of her clutching heat before surging forward again until I was buried to the hilt. She was moving her hips against me now – hell, if she wasn’t a fast, instinctive kind of learner. And I couldn’t help but move a little faster as well.
I tried not to look down at her. It was only making the already Herculean task of not exploding even harder, but when she called my name again, I couldn’t help it.
I stared down at that flushed face, those lips made for sucking, her perfect tits with those pink nipples straining toward me, and I grunted.
“Ah, fuck.” The need to come rode me like a jackhammer, my blood going hot and thick, my balls pulling tight.
Now she was thrashing under me, lost in pleasure, her skin glistening, and sweet, breathy moans coming faster and faster.
Intoxicated, I leaned down, kissing her neck and letting myself get lost as well – lost in her scent, her sounds, and her hot, tight little body.
I gripped her waist harder and she mewled again. “Fuck yes,” I murmured against her skin, purposely grinding at the end of each thrust making sure I hit her G-spot on the way in and her clit when I was buried deep, working those little bundles of nerves faster for all I was worth as her hips jerked against me.
“Oh my God, Axe!”
My blood sang and roared through my body
Exhilaration poured through me as the waves of pleasure reached a crescendo. Thank God she was right there with me. Her breathing was coming in harsh blasts against my neck, her fingers digging into my back...
Then her body seized up, her center clenching tight around me like a fist. Her head fell back, as she cried out. “Angelino, oh God!”
As the ripples of her orgasm crashed through her, a white, blinding pleasure pierced me. My entire body quaked as I came hard, gritting my teeth not to bellow her name.
We were both gasping – that was the first thing I noticed as my dazed thoughts came together. Slowly, I pulled out, more or less on auto-pilot. Electricity kept sparking, like mini-aftershocks of ecstasy, all up and down my body and I didn’t want to leave her.
What the fuck…? It was Brenna’s first time, not mine.
Then Brenna whimpered, snuggling up closer, and those thoughts spun away. Dazed, I tugged the pillow free from her lower back and tossed it. And I collapsed against her, pinning her completely between myself and the mattress, looping my arms tightly around her.
My breathing and heart rate slowly returned to normal as time started up again. Brenna’s soft breaths fluttered past my ear and I knew I should move – but I didn’t want to. Instead I just pushed my face even deeper into her neck and she let out a deep hum of contentment.
Her legs moved from around my hips and I felt her slide them under me, then hook around my leg, as Brenna moved even closer, letting out another hum.
I just held her, eyes shut – my body completely relaxed for the first time since I could remember.
Suddenly Dante’s voice echoed in my head, stiffening my spine.
I got it. It’s you know… Colpo di fulmine!
I swallowed hard and viciously tried to dismiss it. But hadn’t that very same thought occurred to me last night?
Sicilians had long had a history of being an island of exceptionally excitable people whose passions ran away with them. So one turn of phrase that has been passed down for generations was that of the fulmine, the lightning.
It was when a Sicilian was taken, he or she fell instantly, helplessly, and irrevocably in love – like being struck by a thunderbolt.
If it happened, it happened. That’s it. You can’t stop it, change it, or fight it.
They said the thunderbolt could remake a man’s soul...
I adjusted my arms, letting one hand tangle in her hair, while valiantly trying to dismiss the idea. Brenna was a beautiful, sassy badass – who wouldn’t think the lightning bolt had hit them?
But my heart raced and now a cold prickle of unease skittered across my skin. I found myself thinking back over the past two days. From the moment I’d laid eyes on Brenna, I’d been consumed by her. I’d put it down to protectiveness, but that didn’t explain this possessiveness. I mean, hell, I’d been ready to break that gun shop guy’s jaw, and even I wasn’t that much of a hot-headed asshole.
At the end of the day, though, I’d convinced myself it had to do with being hard on the outside, but softer on the inside. Standing up for injustice. Came along with being Mama Ange’s namesake. Didn’t that explain why I was so terrified and pissed when I saw her look at Volkov’s gun or when she tried to jump out of the car? Why I’d been worried about scaring her? And keeping my distance?
But now, that conviction was crumbling – and I had to wonder just how deep all of this went with me. Especially since I’d realized I’d had a heart after all.
I’d thrown all caution and logic out the window when it came to Brenna.
I’d defied my father, stood up to him, and rallied my family. Gone
on the run, without a second thought, from a powerful crime family, by stealing a girl who was worth millions to them.
I’d started a war.
Colpo di fulmine.
I heard Dante’s voice again and saw his beaming face. And for the first time ever, I cursed my Sicilian heritage and heart. But then Brenna let out a sigh, rubbing a soft cheek against my shoulder, and my body instantly relaxed into hers again.
Squeezing my eyes shut tighter, I told myself I could just ignore it. I couldn’t let that happen anyways. Not with everything on the line right now. It was bad enough we’d just slept with each other. And nothing had really changed. I was still part of a mob family and would be for life. Surely Brenna and I could never be together for the long haul.
But even as I tried to convince myself – something deep and gut-wrenching pulled at my heart.
Dante picked a hell of a time to be right for once.
Chapter Fourteen
Brenna
I woke up in stages, as though my body was unwilling to leave the deep comfort of this new, pure sleep. Blinking my eyes open, I tried to discern where I was, and pulled in a breath through my nose.
Oh, who cared? It was so warm and I was so content – my eyes fluttered shut and I started to nod off again.
But some half-thought tickled my mind, nudging me awake, and I opened my eyes again. Looking over, I saw a gorgeous room, full of lovely furnishings, and a breathtaking view of green mountains against a pearly pink sky.
My heart leapt at the sight. This must be a dream.
I shifted, trying to get my head into a more comfortab
le position on the pillow, eyes riveted on the window. My eyes were just getting heavy again, until I heard a masculine sigh.
I froze as everything came rushing back. Where I was. Who I was with. And exactly what had happened.
Heart pounding in my ears as I woke up completely – I was overwhelmed with a swift series of sensations – each one going off like a mini explosion ‘til the grand finale.
A hard, ridged stomach and chest cradled my back, a solid thigh was under one of my feet, and a heavy arm was slung across my waist. Fluffy blankets surrounded us. Soft breath teased across my shoulder. The clean, minty scent of him was everywhere.
I was naked.
In bed.
With Axe.
And I wasn’t a virgin anymore.
Holy shit!
Panic swept through me as I fought impending claustrophobia. Inching over, as silently and as stealthily as possible – I slunk out from under his arm. The last thing I wanted to do was wake him when I was in a full-on spiral to Crazy-town.
Even in my fear, as I stood up, I couldn’t help but turn to get a peep of him. His muscular arm was flung over his head, his body bared to the waist. His face looked utterly relaxed. Young and carefree, and my entire body trembled.
Not from the cold.
It was like I was seeing the man behind the nickname – Angelino. Yet even in sleep a slight smile was on his face, crooking up one corner of his mouth. He was still a cocky Capestrana, after all. So handsome, my heart swelled. Then, as my eyes drifted down, I saw faint red lines marking up one broad, bare shoulder.
Puzzled, I squinted, then I clapped a hand over my mouth.
I did that.
The panic that had started to subside came back full-force and I fled the room like the hounds of hell were on my heels. All I could think about was getting in the shower and trying to process what had happened. Nervous laughter kept threatening to spill out of me as a hysterical, giddy kind of triumph came over me. Then, just as quickly, I was overcome with fear and on the verge of tears.
Was this what sex did to a person?
I made quick work of finding a towel and getting myself into the shower.
Tilting my face up to the blast of blessedly hot water, I hugged myself, my brain spinning like I’d chugged three espressos.
It had been one thing for Axe to say he wanted me.
But it’d been another thing entirely for me to discover just how much.
For a while, I stood there, daydreaming in short bursts about Axe, and everything that had happened. It had been so intense, so heated. Profound, even. The ache between my thighs was a constant reminder.
Now he not only owned my thoughts, it felt like he owned my body as well. For a girl who had risked her life to avoid that very thing, I had to admit, with Axe, I didn’t hate the idea. Because something told me, I owned him too.
“I’d do anything for you, Brenna.”
Tears welled up in my eyes, mixing with the water sluicing off my face. It felt good to be cared for. So damned good.
I couldn’t help but wonder if I was so emotional because it was my first time. But, no… I didn’t think so. At least, that wasn’t the way I’d heard girls from high school talk about it. A few said it was awkward and uncomfortable, while for a few it had been just painful. And a couple of the auction girls had even giggled about how bored they were, and had faked coming, trying to get it over with.
I knew this much – there had been nothing fake about that orgasm last night.
And I had not wanted it to end. My nipples peaked and the heaviness between my legs grew.
I wanted him then and I wanted him still. But had it been a fluke? Could things ever go back to the way they were? And did I even want them to?
No way, not after that night of inexplicable intimacy.
Not after the way he’d made me feel, the way his body and mine had come together, the way he’d even said my name…
Not after Angelino had connected with me like that.
I blinked, remembering how I called him Angelino. Every time, too, his eyes seemed to soften, and my heart tingled.
It was as though I was irrevocably bound to him – changed forever. Not because I’d lost my virginity or had sex with him – but because of him.
Angelino.
As I scrubbed my body and hair, I couldn’t help but marvel at my body in a whole new way. It was almost kind of a magical thing, it seemed, as silly as that sounded. I remembered the girls had warned that after good sex, all you wanted was more.
Oh, did I understand that now. There was a new craving deep in my gut that hadn’t been there before. And if I had been able to give Axe even a fraction of the pleasure he’d given me… Damn. I shook my head.
It was like we’d belonged together. We fit in all the right ways – in spite of our height difference, in spite of his huge frame to my tiny one. Even our very souls had seemed to snugly lock together.
I wouldn’t mind fitting together again and again with him – for the rest of time.
I shivered, recalling his mouth on mine and realized that the inside of my thighs were still tender and sore. And as I stretched, I realized my arms, neck, and back were sore too.
But it was a good kind of sore. I felt whole. Complete. Adored. Plus pretty damn sexy and confident, if I did say so. Closing my eyes, I tried to commit every detail to memory. I was so lucky my first time had been like that, with a man that I--
The water abruptly went cold and I yelped, my eyes flying open. As I twisted the nozzle, I shut down my haywire thoughts.
Because underneath all my dazed exhilaration was a thread of anxiety.
I had no idea if Axe had felt the same way last night. As I dried my hair and got dressed in my room, my fingers began to tremble, no matter how much I tried to squash my worries.
Axe was attracted to me and I was to him. It was going to be fine.
But as I sat down, shaking my wet hair over my shoulder, combing through it – I knew I was kidding myself. I even went so far as to French braid my hair in two tails, just to have an excuse to stall. I wasn’t the kind of girl to fall into bed with a guy because he was hot, with big shoulders, and a dimple in one cheek. Even before the Ruffinos, I’d just been through too much to let myself be that vulnerable with another person so easily. Which meant this went deeper. Much deeper.
I was falling hard for Angelino Capestrana.
The rubber band I was slowly winding around my second braid snapped against my fingers and I winced.
Finally dressed, hair done, I sat on my bed and watched the door, telling myself the whole time that I couldn’t have feelings for him – it was too terrifying. Too fast.
But you believed in love at first sight once upon a time…
I shoved those thoughts to the side. No. My head was just spinning from the sex. That was it. It was fine. I’d be fine.
Everything was fine.
My face went hot as I forced myself to stand.
I couldn’t hide in here forever. Better to get it over with fast. Rip it off, like a Band-Aid.
Taking a deep breath, I crossed the room and resolutely opened the door. I was met with the strong smell of coffee and looked over to see Axe, freshly showered and dressed, sprawling on the couch.
He was chewing on a bagel and smiled at me as I walked over. As soon as he swallowed, he said, “Good morning, beautiful.”
“Morning,” I said, my voice small. Silently, I prayed I wasn’t blushing, and that the heat rolling off my cheeks was just my imagination. For a second, I panicked about where to sit. Finally I walked over and plunked down on the couch next to Axe.
All the sexy confidence I’d felt in the shower was evaporating into a staccato nervousness, jumping up and down in my stomach.
Axe handed me a coffee and then gestured to the table. “I wasn’t sure what kind of bagels you liked, so I grabbed a bunch. If you don’t like any of them, we can go get something else.”
My heart melted a little. �
��You didn’t have to do that,” I murmured, unable to meet his eyes. I pawed through the bag of bagels, happy to have something to do with my hands. “But thank you.”
“Only the best for you, pecorelle,” he responded, and that time I heard a warm kind of amusement under his words.
I turned to meet his gaze. His eyes were soft, and his face seemed less hard, more boyish. He was so relaxed, it made it even more frustrating that I couldn’t un-knit my emotions and chill the fuck out.
To add to the confusion, too, Axe was clearly giving me some space. But why? Was it because he didn’t want to freak me out? Or was it because that was a one-time thing and now we were going back to being buds?
Dear God, why couldn’t there be a manual for this?
Grabbing a bagel at random, I ate it on auto-pilot, at a loss for what to say or do. Then I took a huge gulp of coffee, burned my tongue, and almost cried at the pain.
Shit! I screamed in my head. I had to chill. It was just Axe. Nothing had changed.
But that annoying little voice in my head smugly whispered one word.
Liar.
“So I was thinking,” he started to say, then paused to give me a funny look. I realized I had stopped chewing and was just staring at him. Nervously I swallowed and almost choked. “Forget how to eat?” Axe asked, raising an eyebrow.
Eyes watering, I coughed and nodded. “Haha. No, just hungry. Super starving. Like, famished.” Oh God, why couldn’t I stop rambling? I looked down, then put my coffee and half-eaten bagel on the table.
“Okay,” Axe said, looking from me to the table. “So, I didn’t know what you wanted to do today. Maybe go for a drive or a hike or something?”
“Oh, uh, sure.” I wasn’t sure what I’d even agreed to. I was too busy focusing on being tranquil.
Breathe. Inhale. Exhale.
“Which one?”
“What?” I asked.
“Brenna.” Axe laughed. “Drink some coffee, you’re like in outer space right now.”
Our hands bumped as we both reached for my coffee and I snatched mine back, heart racing. It was like a shock of electricity had gone through my body at that touch. I kept my eyes fixed on my knees, knowing I was bright red.
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