by Meghan March
Bishop’s gaze dropped to the table as his shoulders tensed again. “He passed away. My cousin too.”
Kicking myself for probing what was obviously a painful subject, I apologized. “I’m so sorry for your loss. I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have brought it up otherwise.”
He held up a hand. “Don’t worry about it. It’s been a long time, but you know some things just take a hell of a lot longer to fade.”
I thought of the flashes of memories I had of my mother that weren’t even fully formed. I was four when she died. I still missed her, even though I’d never had a chance to actually know her.
“I understand.”
Our conversation trailed off as the food began to arrive. Crawfish four different ways, and I loved every single one of them. I steered the conversation back into lighter territory, and the easy, fun Bishop I’d had all night surged back to the surface.
“Did you save room for dessert?” the server asked as he cleared away our plates. “We’ve got a phenomenal crème brûlée and a fabulous apple dumpling.”
Bishop shot a look at me before answering. “I’ll let the lady decide if she wants anything, but I know what I’m having for dessert, and it’s not on the menu here.”
A shiver ripped through me at the heat in his gaze, and I knew exactly what he was talking about.
“I’m good. No dessert for me.”
“We’ll take the check,” Bishop said, his tone husky.
THE WALK BACK TO VOODOO Ink and my apartment seemed to take forever as we dodged the people clogging the streets. No one was ready to call it quits on Mardi Gras, and I knew the party would last until the sun came up, just like it did every year.
After three hurricanes, Eden’s steps were more measured and deliberate as the buzz hit her harder.
“Come on, cupcake.” I swept her up into my arms as she shrieked.
“You can’t carry me all the way back! I’m too heavy.”
“Watch me.”
She wrapped an arm around the back of my neck and with her other hand, stroked my beard. “I like the beard. A lot.”
Immediately, an image of how she’d ridden it popped into my head. I fucking liked my beard too. “Is that right?”
“Yep. You should probably think about taking up lumberjacking as a second career if tattooing ever falls through. Is that a thing?”
“Lumberjacking or tattooing falling through?”
“Either.”
I shook my head. “No way am I gonna go somewhere cold and dress up in flannel in order to chop down trees. If you’ve got a lumberjack fantasy, you’ll have to lock it away for a while.”
She looked up at me, her eyes shining as I turned the down the alley that led to the back of Voodoo, and the crowd thinned out. “Nah, I’d rather have you than a lumberjack.”
“What a coincidence. That can be easily arranged.” I set her on her feet, and she held on to my arm.
“You make me feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life to meet you. Like everything was in a holding pattern until I got here, and now I’m finally getting a chance to live.”
Her words hit me somewhere deep and resonated. I’d been existing, never letting anything go beyond superficial. Eden had plowed through my walls without trying, and from the moment I’d met her, everything had become more vivid. She was the turning point. She was a wild card.
What I didn’t know was if this could ever be more than an adventure for her. More than one of the experiences she wanted to have. She still hadn’t figured out how long she was staying, and as much as I wanted to tell her she wasn’t leaving, it wasn’t my choice.
All I could do was wait and see. And give her a reason to stay.
“Meeting you has been just as much of a revelation for me as it has been for you.”
“Really?” Her dark gaze filled with longing.
“Yeah, cupcake. Really.” I leaned down, cradled her face in my hands, and poured all the crazy shit I was feeling into a kiss.
Even though I was consumed by Eden, a noise grabbed my attention. Yanking my lips away, I shoved Eden behind me as movement came from the shadows of the alley.
“Who the fuck is there?”
The light on the back of the building that should have been shining over this section of the alley was out, but it hadn’t been the night before. No one answered my demand.
All my senses jammed into high alert as I reached into my pocket and pulled out the keys. I held them out behind me to Eden.
“Open the door. Get inside. Single key on the big ring.”
Eden’s hand shook as she picked them out of my palm, but she didn’t say a word.
I heard the door open and said, “Hit the light inside.” I couldn’t make out whoever was in the alley, but I heard footsteps as someone ran for the street.
When the light from inside the tattoo shop flooded a small section of the darkness, I caught a glimpse of the back of a dark hoodie as a guy turned the corner.
I stepped inside the shop. “Go upstairs. I’ll be right there.”
“Are you going after him?” Eden asked quietly.
“Just checking shit out as soon as I can get a flashlight from the break room. I’ll be right up. I promise.”
With a small, uncertain nod, Eden opened the door to my apartment and climbed the stairs as I stepped into the break room and retrieved a flashlight.
The first place I pointed it was up at the light fixture Con had added to the back of the building for security. Power ran up the back in a piece of conduit rather than through the brick.
Crouching down, I checked the wire. Cut.
I locked the door before stepping farther out into the alley. If someone took me out, there was no way in hell I was letting them get to Eden.
The first noise I’d heard had come from near the Dumpster on the opposite side. Scanning the area, I found three cigarette butts in a pile. Someone had been watching. Waiting.
Anger and unease pooled in my gut.
Was my past finally catching up with me? Had they finally decided to collect? Fuck.
I knew I should have taken them out first, but that was like attacking a snake that would regrow three heads when you chopped off one. What was that Hercules shit called? The hydra?
If it wasn’t them, then who? The question gnawed at me as I headed back inside. Fuck whoever that asshole was for screwing with our night. I wasn’t going to let them wreck a goddamned thing.
I’d made promises to Eden, and I was keeping them.
I SHOULD HAVE BEEN FREAKED. I should have been terrified. But instead, the adrenaline pumping through my veins manifested in a completely different fashion. When Bishop cleared the stairs, I was ready for him.
“I want more. Tonight. I want everything you promised me, and I’m not going to let anything get in the way.” I wasn’t sure I’d ever spoken bolder words that were more true.
His neutral expression changed in an instant.
“Fuck, I’m glad you said that. Because I’m dying for you, cupcake.” Bishop crossed the floor and lifted me into his arms. “Fuck the world. I don’t care if it burns to the ground. I need to be inside you.”
His lips crushed to mine, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He carried me to the bedroom and lowered me onto the bed. Ever since I’d come in the middle of the courtyard at Pat O’Brien’s, I’d been wet and ready for more.
Before the bitchy hostess incident, I’d been teasing myself with the thought of Bishop dragging me off to the ladies’ room and taking me against the wall. I made a mental note to add that to my list for later.
It seemed the man had quite the talent for checking things off my lists.
When he pulled back, my gaze zeroed in on the bulge beneath his zipper. I already knew what I was getting, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t just as excited to get my hands on it.
But Bishop had other plans. He tossed my dress up and buried his face between my legs.
“Fuck, baby. I wanted to feel you comi
ng on my tongue earlier. I’m gonna eat this pretty pussy for dessert, and then I’m going to make you scream.”
My hips lifted toward him, sending an undeniable message that I wanted this just as bad as he did.
“Please.”
Bishop splayed his hand out over my center. “If you were wearing panties, I’d rip them off you like the guy did at Pat O’Brien’s. But you’re such a naughty fucking girl that I don’t have that option.”
He dragged his fingers over my most sensitive skin. “You know how fucking hot it was to watch you walk through the streets knowing I could reach under your dress and touch nothing but bare skin? Do you know how many times I had to talk myself out of dragging you into an alley and finding out how tight this little pussy would feel around my cock?”
“I want it. I want it all.”
His lips twisted into a smile. “You want to be my bad girl, don’t you? My naughty girl? If you only knew all the things I wanted to do to you.”
I started to reply, but whatever words I meant to speak died as Bishop moved his hand and bent between my legs. His tongue stroked me from top to bottom before spearing inside. He moaned against me, like he was truly enjoying every lick and suck as much as he might his favorite dessert.
The feeling was decadent, and heat radiated from my pussy outward.
“So fucking sweet.” He lifted a hand and slid two fingers inside me, reviving all the nerves that had been so overwhelmed by my earlier orgasm. They were ready for more. I was ready for more.
And he gave me more.
Curling his fingers, he found that perfect spot at the same time his lips closed over my clit, unleashing an orgasm like a tsunami. I gripped the sheets of the bed with both hands as I writhed against his face, shameless as I took my pleasure. I didn’t feel inexperienced with Bishop; I felt amazing. Desired. Wanton.
It was fabulous.
Slick with my wetness, he pulled a finger out and slid it lower, brushing over a part of me that I’d never expected him to touch.
My entire body jumped, not out of fear, but from surprise and a sensation overload.
“You’ve never tested this sweet little ass, have you, cupcake? Never had anyone play with it and get you off just from the thought of how dirty and bad and naughty you’d be if you let someone touch it?”
I shook my head.
“Sweet little virgin asshole.” His eyes darkened. “It’s sexy as fuck to know that I’m the only guy who’s ever touched it.”
He dropped his mouth back to my pussy and proceeded to tease my clit until I was screaming and pressing against the finger he hadn’t moved. It breached the muscle and slipped inside, and I froze.
A riot of sensations rolled through me. Oh my God. He had his finger in my ass. I didn’t even know how to process it, but Bishop had no such difficulties.
“Someday you could take my cock here, but I gotta work you up to fitting it in that tight little pussy of yours first.”
His dirty words sent me over the edge into another orgasm, this one darker and more delicious than the last.
When Bishop rose above me again, he was tearing open a condom packet with his teeth. “You’re so fucking soaked. I can’t wait to slide every inch inside you.”
Everything in my body felt like it was moving faster, down to the very blood pumping through my veins.
“Yes.”
He rolled the condom on and pressed my legs open wider. “I wanted to take this slower, but you’re killing me, cupcake. You’re fucking killing me.”
“I don’t want slower. I want you. Now. Right now. Don’t make me wait.”
His gaze heated again, and he lined up his cock and notched it against my entrance.
“So fucking tight and so fucking wet. You’re going to milk this orgasm right out of me. I’m not going to stand a chance.”
He pressed inside inch by inch, and my nipples hardened as he filled me. Twinges of sensation, not quite pain, not quite pleasure, zinged through my body until his thumb landed on my clit and I screamed.
Screamed.
Everything was a blur after that. I bucked up against his cock as he began to move and groan and fuck.
The orgasm hit me so hard and so fast, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Stroke after stroke, I writhed beneath him and begged him not to stop.
It was a revelation. It was everything.
When Bishop’s groan filled the room and he fell to his forearms above me, I knew I was screwed. Not just literally, but every way imaginable.
Everything I’d wanted, he’d delivered. And now I had absolutely no idea what to do next.
THIS WAS THE PART I’D never liked. The part where I rolled over and felt like it was just another empty fuck. But with Eden, everything was different. I never wanted to roll over. I wanted to stay buried inside her for as long as I possibly could.
I kept my weight braced on my forearms, not wanting to crush her. Her heart hammered against my chest almost as hard as mine did against hers.
I’d fucked up my plan, though. I knew she wasn’t wildly experienced, and instead of taking things slow, I’d just barreled right through.
Jesus, I’d told her I wanted to fuck her ass.
Don’t get me wrong, I did want to fuck her ass. What sane guy wouldn’t? But she wasn’t like any woman I’d ever been with, and I needed to tread more carefully so I didn’t fuck this up.
From beneath me, Eden shifted, and I knew I had to move off her whether I wanted to or not. I rolled over onto my back beside her, and still the only sound in the room was our pounding hearts and uneven breathing.
“Wow,” Eden said, her voice hushed like she was praying.
A smile tugged at my lips.
“Definitely, wow.”
I unrolled the condom from my dick, grabbed a handful of tissues from the nightstand, and wrapped it up before tossing it in the trash next to the nightstand.
Eden rolled over onto her side. “Do you want me to go?”
I pulled my head back so I could see her face. “You think I’d let you leave right now?”
A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “I hope not.”
I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into me. “No way in hell, cupcake. I like you in my bed, and I’m sure as hell not letting you out of it now.”
FOR THE SECOND TIME IN my life, I woke up with the heat of a man at my back and his morning wood pressed into my butt crack.
I liked it, for the record. But only because it was Bishop. Maybe it was proof of just how little experience I had, but it was hard to picture waking up like this with anyone but him.
He liked to spoon, keeping me tucked in close to his body all night, and I slept like a rock in his arms.
But now the light of morning spilled through the shades, and I had to force myself out of his bed before I overstayed my welcome. Yes, he’d told me he wasn’t letting me leave last night, but that was then.
My body twinged in places that hadn’t twinged in a long time. Bishop’s chest rose and fell behind me, and I carefully lifted his arm to sneak out from under it.
Except my careful sneaking wasn’t very careful.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Bishop’s sleep-roughened voice broke the silence of the room.
“I’m getting up.”
“That’s a terrible idea.” His arm tightened around me, and he pressed a kiss to the back of my head. “I think you should stay right here. Are you sore?”
The question sent a shaft of embarrassment through me that I shouldn’t be feeling considering everything we’d done together, but I couldn’t help it.
“A little.”
“I’m sorry, cupcake. I should’ve taken it easier on you.”
I twisted my body around so I could see his face. “Why would you have done a stupid thing like that? That would have been a terrible idea.”
His concerned expression shifted to one of satisfaction. “Just trying to be a gentleman. Not sure I know how.”
“Maybe you should just worry about being you.” I shifted the rest of the way so I was facing him in the circle of his arms and pressed a kiss to his lips.
“I think I can handle that. Are you working today?”
I nodded. “Yeah, from twelve to six.”
“That means we’ve got time to get breakfast before my first appointment.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Gotta feed my girl.”
My girl. Two words that sent a shaft of belonging through me and made me never want to get out of this bed.
“But first, we should probably shower together. Just so I can make sure you get all those hard-to-reach places nice and clean—after I dirty them all up again.”
Heat bloomed between my legs, but I kept my tone nonchalant. “I think I could manage getting out of bed to do that.”
Two hours later, we left Bishop’s to head to my apartment so I could change out of my dress. We ventured to a little hole-in-the-wall place Bishop preferred for breakfast and settled on a bench near the front while we waited for them to set up our table. Beside me sat a stack of newspapers people had left behind.
My father’s picture, albeit small and in the dot style that particular paper was known for, stared back at me from a column on the front page. The headline read WILL THE CASSO EMPIRE CRUMBLE?
Bishop stood to hit the restroom, and I grabbed the paper.
Dominic Casso’s seemingly untouchable empire has come under attack from all sides. Feds have crippled the economics, and rival families are attempting a power grab while he’s investigated on several counts of racketeering and fraud. Through it all, Casso remains a stoic head to what is suspected to be one of the most profitable organized-crime families since the 1970s. A long, detailed history of my father’s rise through the ranks followed, but no new information about what was happening.
If I knew anything about Dom, he wouldn’t let a single charge stick. He’d been questioned many times in the last ten years, which was when I started to become aware of the nature of his business, and nothing had ever stuck.
There had been no trials, no sentences, and nothing else that could slow him down. But he had to believe that whatever was happening right now was different from those other times because he’d never sent me away before.