Merger: A Just Business Mafia Romance

by Kiera Silver

  Larenz frowned. “Why would your father be humiliated if his ex-wife was arrested for an altercation with her current husband?”

  She paused for a sip of wine before answering him. “My father’s the police commissioner, so you can see how it would have been embarrassing for him, even though he probably would have gotten a kick out of being able to throw Mom in jail.”

  His expression showed his comprehension of the situation, and he laughed. “And has your mother moved on to your next stepfather yet?”

  Grace shrugged. “Nothing official yet, but I’m not really sure if she has a candidate in mind. I’ve been living in the sorority house this year after joining Delta Kappa Delta, which was my mom’s idea. I don’t really give her dating advice, and we don’t talk about that stuff anyway.”

  “Not even your relationships?” There was definitely a gleam of interest in his eyes when he brought up that topic. “I thought girls told their moms all those details?”

  She gave him a skeptical look. “Perhaps some girls, but I don’t have that kind of relationship with either of my parents.” Her father had pigeonholed her into the perfect daddy’s girl role, and her mother saw her as a bit of a bewildering puzzle she didn’t quite know how to solve.

  Her mother had always been beautiful and popular, a fact that hadn’t changed even as she had left college and entered the real world. She always knew the right thing to say and do, and there was no hint of awkwardness or anxiety when she interacted socially. To her, Grace was a conundrum, and after she had given up trying to make her daughter conform to the standards she understood, her mother had seemed not to exactly lose interest in her, but to accept that they were vastly different people with little in common. She didn’t bear her mother any resentment, but she did wish they could be closer.

  “I suppose you confide in your sister about your relationships?”

  She shrugged. “I’ve mentioned dates and such, but I don’t really talk about those things.” One of the reasons was that there wasn’t much to talk about. She’d had two relationships she would consider semi-serious, meaning they had lasted for weeks or a few months, and she’d slept with her second boyfriend, but it had been lackluster, and certainly nothing to discuss with her younger sibling.

  If Brenda had been inclined to listen the details were so boring she probably wouldn’t have stayed awake to hear how uninspired and downright painful the whole experience had been.

  Jerry had tried, but he hadn’t been very good, and she’d had trouble mustering any enthusiasm for the whole process, so it had hurt. After three tries, when things weren’t getting any better, she’d broken off the relationship.

  “Are you close to your siblings though?”

  She nodded. “I love them, and they love me, even though they’re far more like my mom than I am. I don’t think they quite get me, but that’s okay. I don’t really understand their interests either, but I still love them.”

  He nodded, seeming to approve of her comment. “I feel the same way about my brothers, and my sister too, though she’s a decade younger than me. I feel more protective of her, which makes it hard to see her as a peer.”

  “I’m sure that’s normal. If my brothers were older, they might be protective too.”

  The conversation continued as they discovered that they lived in the same city, shared mutual interests, and debated the merits of various musical groups. They had completely opposite tastes in music, but surprising similarities in movie choices. The conversation lasted well into dessert, and they were still talking even after Larenz signed the bill, and they left the restaurant.

  They stood in the lobby for a moment, and he took her hand again. “Do you want to go to the nightclub?”

  She really didn’t with her feet hurting, but she wanted this night to last, and if it meant having sore feet, she could endure that. She nodded, following along behind him as he led her down the marble corridor, seeming to know exactly where he was going. Either he had good instincts, or he’d been there before. She found she didn’t like the idea of him having been there without her, dancing with other women and pressing his body against them.

  The surge of jealousy caught her by surprise, because she wasn’t the jealous type, especially since she had no proof that he’d ever done such a thing. What did it matter if he had? They weren’t involved in any fashion, and she had no claim to him. If he wanted to dance with every woman in the place tonight in front of her, she had no right or reason to complain.

  The music playing in the club was slow and sensual, with a heavy thudding beat that she could feel all the way into the center of her body. She didn’t resist when he pulled her onto the dance floor instead of heading to the bar. She glanced quickly around her when he pulled her body close to his; soon realizing that other couples were standing in similarly intimate poses. She wasn’t certain if she wanted to pull away for self-preservation or wiggle even closer.

  Instead, she fell into rhythm with him, doing her best to follow the beat of the song and the slow steps he took. Before she realized it, they had moved to the edge of the dance floor, into a shadowed area. He stood behind her, his hands on her hips as they gyrated to the music. At first, when his hand slipped from her abdomen to brush against the top of her pussy, she thought it was an accident. When it happened a second time, and his hand remained there, she realized it wasn’t. She swallowed the lump that appeared in her throat, not certain how to proceed. It wasn’t as though she didn’t want him to touch her. She was just surprised that he had chosen to.

  She remained passive, forgetting all about dancing as his hand moved lower, fingers sliding under the hem of the dress where the slit met her upper thigh. She couldn’t hold in a small groan when he brushed his fingers against her panties and the moist heat beneath them.

  He didn’t speak, but he kept his body molded to hers and one hand on her hip while the other explored her folds. She bit her lip in an attempt to keep from crying out when his fingers slipped inside the elastic of her panties so he could stroke her directly. Two of his fingers glided easily along her slit, pausing briefly to circle around her clit before dipping lower to press gently, but insistently, into her channel.

  “So wet,” he said in a voice that was more of a growl than actual words.

  She whimpered, trapped at the mercy of his fingers as she began to buck her hips against him. She was certain that anyone looking their direction could tell what they were doing, and she was relieved that he’d brought her to the shadowed area near the corner, keeping her back turned to the dance floor as he touched her.

  She swayed and collapsed against his chest as he caressed her clit with his thumb while his fingers thrust in and out of her. She had never been so turned on or slick before, and she quickly realized the lack of enthusiasm she’d felt with Jerry had been due to his inadequate skills and her tepid attraction. It was completely different with Larenz and she knew that sex with him would be insane and intense. Considering where his hand was, and what it was doing, she would have been surprised if he didn’t want to follow through with something else.

  As Larenz continued to touch her, he buried his mouth against the back of her neck, nibbling lightly before sucking with more intensity. She could well imagine she’d have a string of hickeys around the back of her neck tomorrow, but she couldn’t care about that at the moment. She could barely think rational thoughts as her world reduced down to her, Larenz, and his hand between her thighs.

  He seemed to realize the moment he brought her to the cusp, because he clamped his hand over her mouth before pushing her over the edge. She let out a ragged moan that would have been audible to anyone nearby if not for his hand muffling the noise. Her juices drenched his fingers as she trembled in his arms before collapsing against him in the aftermath of her release.

  His facial hair tickled the lobe of her ear, and his voice vibrated through her when he spoke a moment later against her ear. “I want to fuck you, Grace. Do you want that?” For emphasis, he
ground his cock against her buttocks to show her how much he wanted her.

  She could already tell even without the emphasis he had provided. She nodded her head, temporarily robbed of the ability to speak as she recovered from what was likely to be the first of several orgasms of the night. She wanted it more than anything, and with absolute certainty.

  Chapter Three

  They made it back to the suite in record time, with him half-dragging and half-carrying her a good part of the way because she couldn’t keep up with the rapid pace he set in the crazy high heels she wore. As soon as the door to the suite closed behind them, he pressed her against the door, placed both hands on either side of her head, and slammed his mouth onto hers.

  It was a rough, demanding kiss, but she felt no fear or hesitation. His desperate need was obvious and fueled her desire, along with plumping her ego. She had reduced him to this primal state of need, and though she was in a similar state herself, she could still appreciate the moment of holding all the power in her hand.

  The power dynamic shifted a moment later when he lifted her into his arms, his mouth keeping contact with hers the entire way as he carried her from the entryway to his room in the suite. She locked her thighs around his waist and put her arms around his neck to anchor herself against him. Instead of laying her on the bed, he set her on her feet, her back to him for a moment.

  His fingers were smooth and confident when they undid the zipper, and he tugged the straps of the dress over her shoulders and slid it down over her body. It was a garment designed for seduction, with its easy-on/easy-off features. She admitted to herself she had worn it hoping for this outcome. At the time, she’d told herself she simply wanted to see a hint of interest in his eyes, but she’d been lying to herself. She’d hoped to seduce Larenz, and she had succeeded, but at this point she wasn’t entirely certain who was seducing whom.

  He spun her in his arms to face him, pressing her nearly naked body against his still-fully dressed one. It seemed unfair, so she began to unbutton the buttons on his shirt, pushing apart the fabric to reveal his lightly hairy chest. She ran her fingers through the crisp brownish hair before raking a fingernail over one of his nipples. He breathed in harshly and cursed when she did it again, his hands tightening on the globes of her ass.

  As soon as she had dispensed with the buttons, her hand went to the waistband of his pants, eliciting a groan from him when she unbuckled his belt and unzipped the zipper. His groan turned to a husky utterance when she slipped her hands inside the waistband of his pants to push it down his hips. She turned her attention to his underwear next, grasping the elastic and pulling it down.

  As she did so, she sank to her knees at the same time. She wasn’t certain where this streak of aggressiveness was coming from, but she wanted Larenz, and she wasn’t going to be deterred. Not that he seemed inclined to stop her. In fact, he tangled a hand in her hair and dragged her mouth closer to his large shaft when she took the root in her hand, angling the head to bring it to her mouth.

  She opened her lips and slowly swallowed his cock an inch at a time. She couldn’t handle all of it, but she wrapped her hand firmly around the base and rotated carefully as she began to suck and bob her head. At first, her movements were experimental as she figured out his most sensitive spots, judging them from the way he bucked his hips or the sounds he made.

  As soon as she had learned the geography of his cock, she focused on the pleasure zones, while letting instinct guide her. She had done this a couple of times with her ex-boyfriend, but it had always been a chore, and she was certain that she hadn’t been very good at it, because he’d never asked her to do it again.

  With Larenz, she was thrilled to be on her knees before him, servicing him with her mouth. Each sound of pleasure he made gave her pleasure, and her focus became about pleasing him and reciprocating by giving him an orgasm as he had given her.

  Both of his hands were tangled in her hair now, which had fallen from the pins she had used to confine it earlier. He had twined strands around both hands to hold her against him, as though determined not to let her escape. She didn’t want to escape, and she was hoping he understood that, and that she was able to transmit it well enough through the blowjob.

  When he stiffened, surging into the back of her throat as his cock began to twitch a millisecond before he found release, she considered it a personal victory, and a smug surge of satisfaction went through her at having brought him to this point. For the first time in their short acquaintance, she saw him lose some semblance of control as he moved forward, stumbling slightly in the pants that were still around his ankles, while bringing her to her feet and pushing her onto the bed.

  She landed on her stomach, and he trapped her there with his body before she had a chance to roll over. She barely had time to grasp what was happening before he’d angled her hips into the air and buried his face between her thighs. He was clearly intent on returning the favor, or else reducing her to the same state of helpless surrender, and she dug her fingers into the comforter as she rode out the storm his mouth brought, stirring her desire anew, while quickly bringing her to the edge of climax.

  She whimpered her protest when he eased away before allowing her to come, and seconds ticked past. She turned her head from the comforter, drawing in a deep breath and trying to speak in his general direction, though she couldn’t fully see him from how she lay on the bed with him dominating her from behind. “Please…” was all she could manage, but she put in all the longing and intensity she was feeling.

  With a dark chuckle, he sucked her clit into his mouth forcefully, and it was all she needed to send her tumbling over the edge. She grasped the blanket and bucked her hips backward against him as she came, a low, keening cry escaping her.

  Her pussy was still convulsing when his cock pressed into her opening seconds later. Briefly, she realized he wasn’t wearing a condom, but she was too far-gone to remind him to put one on.

  He drove his cock in and out of her body with single-minded precision, as though chasing his own orgasm and determined to force her to run with him. She surrendered everything she had and strained to reach completion with him, already feeling the desperate need to come again despite her two recent orgasms from his hand and mouth. The head of his cock was pounding against her g-spot with every thrust, and she was close to the edge. He seemed to be on the verge as well, his cock twitching inside her in preparation of releasing his satisfaction.

  She bit her lip and circled her hips in an attempt to bring herself over the edge, and it was successful. The first spasms of her pussy around him must have been all he needed to come too, because he began to spurt inside her, splashes of his hot cum filling her.

  She’d never had sex with anyone without a condom before, and she was amazed at what a difference it made. It was far more primal and raw to have this union than it was to be separated by a thin latex barrier.

  When they had both recovered slightly, he pulled away from her carefully, finally allowing her to roll onto her back. She slid up the bed in an awkward fashion, having no energy to do anything else. He seemed to be in a similar state as he dropped onto the bed beside her, his arm over her stomach and hip, keeping her pressed tightly against him.

  They didn’t speak, and she could see why if he was feeling as breathless and lethargic as she was after their blissful interlude. It was simply too much effort to stir herself to say words when their bodies had already said everything they meant to communicate that evening. Instead, she surrendered to sleep within seconds, certain that she heard him snoring softly even as she slipped over the edge into slumber.

  The rest of her vacation passed far too quickly. She spent all of her time with Larenz exploring the Mexican Riviera and partaking of the various activities available. She kite-surfed and parasailed for the first time, and she recalled how much she enjoyed snorkeling after an afternoon spent doing just that. The food was amazing, and the alcohol flowed freely. It was a heady experience that had all ta
ken on a dreamlike quality by the end of the week.

  As heady as every experience had been, nothing could compare to the man himself. He was unlike anyone she’d ever known, and Larenz had started to take on a larger-than-life aura for her. She knew she’d remember this vacation and this week with him forever, and she was certain he would be the man against whom she would measure all future partners.

  That was a depressing thought, because she was certain no man could ever measure up to Larenz Moretti. She was feeling morose on their last night together, as they shared an excellent room service dinner on the balcony of his suite. When he had suggested eating in, she had jumped at the opportunity to have him all to herself for a few more hours. As much as she enjoyed the activities that kept their days full, she much preferred the nights when it was just the two of them, lost in each other’s arms.

  “What’s wrong?”

  She looked up at the question, shaking her head. “Nothing. Why?”

  With a small laugh, Larenz got to his feet and walked around the table, taking the large prawn from her hand and laying it on her plate. “If you dunk that shrimp any harder in the cocktail sauce, you’re going to spill it all over the table. You’ve been quiet tonight too, so there’s clearly something bothering you.”

  She weighed honesty against being the pathetic little girl who had fallen in love in less than a week. She was certain he wouldn’t greet that news well, so she pasted on a thin smile. “It’s nothing. I’m fine. I’m just tired, I guess, and I’m dreading the flight home tomorrow.”

  He leaned against the table, propping his hip on the corner as he took her hand in his. “I’ve been thinking about that. I’m not due to fly out for another day, so why don’t you stay longer?”

  It was so tempting, but she didn’t have the budget for it, and she certainly wasn’t going to call and ask her father to buy her a ticket that was a day later, not since she had stayed with Larenz to hide the fact she was in Mexico to start with. Over the last few days, her reasons had changed drastically, but she still wasn’t ready to admit to her father that she wasn’t the perfect girl he thought she was. Instead, she forced a smile and shook her head. “Thank you, but I can’t. My ticket is nonrefundable, so I’ll be leaving in the morning.”