Mafia Romance

by Aleatha Romig, Skye Warren, Annika Martin, Natasha Knight, Kaye Blue, Michelle St. James, Renee Rose, Parker S. Huntington, Alexis Abbott, Willow Winters

  “My insurance company or the complex’s?” I asked, remembering what Louisa had said.

  “Not ours, so I assumed yours. He asked for your email address and the best way to reach you.”

  My pulse increased as I stood and walked closer to Sterling.

  Hitting the speaker button, I said, “Can you please repeat that?”

  “The insurance guy asked how he could reach you.” Her voice dropped a decibel. “I thought it seemed strange that your insurance company wouldn’t have your contact information. I should have taken his picture. He was blond. I remember that.”

  “And you’re sure it wasn’t someone from your insurance company?”

  “I’m positive. I didn’t give him your number or email. I said I’d relay the message.”

  “Did he leave a number?” Sterling asked, too softly to be overheard.

  I repeated his question. As she replied, Sterling typed the number into a text message. “Thank you,” I replied. “Contact me if you need to. I may not answer right away…” I wouldn’t. “…but you can leave me a message.”

  Upon disconnecting the second call, Sterling extended his hand. I thought about my emails and other places I could access from my phone and just as quickly decided it wasn’t worth the argument. As I gave him back my phone, I said, “You really do need to work on that asshole thing. I repeat, it’s not a virtue.” Before he could respond, I asked, “You don’t think that insurance guy is connected to this mess you were talking about, do you?”

  “We’re going to find out.”

  “Louisa said someone called the office too. Winnie told him I was out of town.”

  Sterling shook his head.

  “Now that I have his number, I could call him?” It was meant as a statement but came out more like asking permission.

  “Not now and sure as fuck, not from your phone.” He tilted his head toward the windows. “It’s beautiful out there and unlike the summer heat in Chicago, it’s in the low sixties. That’s why I built this cabin up here. Those plans we have… we’re going down to the lake.”

  “Down. How far down and what about up? Wait? Rita said something about bears.”

  Sterling had begun to walk down the hallway toward his office, yet he turned back with a grin. “Only black bears, the grizzlies are mostly farther north. And as long as we don’t get between a mother and her cubs, we’ll be fine.”

  “But what if we end up between a mother and her cubs?”

  Sterling shook his head. “Araneae, I wish you’d get your priorities straight. Someone set your apartment on fire. An unknown man is trying to reach you, the plane you were supposed to be on crashed, and you’re worried about bears.” He turned away. “As for all of it, as I said, you belong to me. I protect what’s mine.”

  I watched his fading outline, wide shoulders, and long legs as he disappeared into the dimly lit hallway. Once he was gone, my knees gave out, landing me back on the soft leather sofa. I wasn’t prepared to again fight his declared proprietorship. My mind was on something else he’d said.

  A plane crashed?

  A plane crashed—were there casualties? Two people were dead from the fire, and who was the man trying to reach me?

  Somehow bears didn’t seem as important.

  Araneae 23

  My ears buzzed with the silence of the cabin and the aftershock of the bomb Sterling had just dropped. Finding my way to my feet, step after step, I followed the path Sterling had just taken until I was standing outside a mostly-closed door to his office. Rita had pointed out the room last night. Even if she hadn’t, I would have known its purpose from the fury of voices coming from within.

  I recognized Sterling’s and Patrick’s. It was the third voice I didn’t know.

  “The number goes to a burner phone,” the unknown voice said.

  “Find out where it was purchased. See if there’s a money trail.”

  “Boss, it was purchased with cash in Schaumburg. That’s where the trail ends. I’m looking into security cameras. Once I find him, I’ll do face recognition.”

  There was a beat of silence before Sterling replied. “So this man in Boulder has a phone from outside Chicago. What a fucking coincidence.”

  “There’s something else,” the unknown voice said.

  “Wait,” Sterling said, “The lady from the apartment complex said he was blond.”

  “Shit,” Patrick said. “I know that’s not much of a description, but Andrew Walsh has gone MIA since Kansas.”

  I knew that name. How did I know it? I took another step toward the door.

  “Sparrow,” the unknown voice said, “you should know, the pilot of the 737 died last night.”

  I sucked in a deep breath as Sterling yelled, “Died or was killed?”

  “Freak accident. He’s from New York. He’d just gotten back to Manhattan when he slipped from the platform in the subway. The train was moving fast…”

  I groaned as my stomach lurched at the image playing in my head. The Sinful Thread New York market was mine. I rode the subways there. I’d been on those platforms. They were usually filthy dirty, and I’d seen my share of rats, but they weren’t slippery.

  “What have you learned about his financials?” Patrick’s voice asked as the door was abruptly opened inward, and I was met by Sterling’s dark expression.

  “Get out,” Sterling barked to Patrick. “The call is done for now.”

  Neither Patrick nor the other person on the speaker phone responded.

  My heart beat wildly as I watched Patrick close the laptop that had been in front of him on a long table filled with papers. Lifting the computer, he stood to leave. Though he didn’t speak, his blue eyes flashed my direction screaming what I already knew. I was in trouble.

  I took a step back as Sterling reached for my arm, changing my direction and pulling me inside the room.

  The silence grew as Sterling closed the door and spun my direction. The man from earlier at the banister and even the asshole with my phone was gone. Rage seeped from his every pore as his jaw clenched. If I knew him better I might assume he was weighing his words or perhaps his future actions. Contemplation was in his expression, and the sensible part of me feared what he would decide.

  “Don’t be upset with me,” I said, breaking the silence. “You’re the one keeping information from me. You’re the one who dropped the bomb out there…” I pointed toward the door. “…about a plane crash.”

  “I tried to tell you last night, and you said you didn’t want to know.”

  “That a plane crashed! In the future, if it’s something that big, tell me. Besides, you can’t just say something like that and not expect there to be—”

  His lips crashed with mine as simultaneously his fingers reached for my ponytail and entwined in my long hair. His kiss sizzled and bruised my lips. He was stealing not only my words but also my breath. Gasping, I moaned as a strong arm pulled me against him, smashing my breasts against his wide chest and uniting our hips. There was no mercy or tenderness as his tongue filled my taste buds with coffee and mint.

  He was a starving man and I was his meal.

  This was more than lust. It was a power struggle, and I’d be damned if I would back down. My hands moved up to his chest, my fingers fisting his shirt, as I lifted myself up on my toes and my tongue continued the battle of wills.

  Beneath my grasp, his heart beat in time with mine, fast and furious. Moving from my waist, his large hand found its way under my sweater, his fingers splaying on the skin of my back as heat radiated from his touch and the tugging of my hair intensified. Every nerve in my body was on fire. Like gasoline to a flame, from my rock-hard nipples to my now-drenched core, I was ablaze.

  Abruptly, he released me, turning to the table where Patrick had been seated and sweeping the papers off the edge, the neat piles now fluttering haphazardly to the floor. Before I could comment or even form words, Sterling reached for my waist and lifted me as if I weighed nothing, placing me at the ta
ble’s edge. With another tug of my hair he brought my eyes to his.

  “I’m either going to fuck you or spank your ass for eavesdropping. Either way, those jeans are coming off.”

  “I-I…” My tongue grew thick as he reached for my boots, yanking the small zippers at my ankle and dropping each one to the floor, followed by my socks. “Sterling…” With the exactitude of an aficionado, he undid the button of my jeans and lowered the zipper.

  I was too twisted and tied up with emotions to argue as I lifted my ass from the table’s surface, allowing my jeans to be pulled down my legs. As my white lace panties came into view, a long, deep hiss filled the air.

  His stare seemed to go on forever as I willingly lifted my arms, and with one quick motion he added my sweater to the papers and clothes on the floor.

  “Which is it going to be?” he asked, eyeing me up and down, taking in my attire or lack thereof.

  Good girls get to come. I recalled his declaration from the plane.

  I lifted my chin and with all the dignity I could muster, I asked the question I never imagined uttering—to anyone. “Are you going to let me come?”

  He didn’t answer. Pushing my legs farther apart, he stepped between my knees, his hand going to the crotch of my panties. “You’re fucking soaked.”

  Instinctively my thighs tried to close, yet his body wouldn’t allow it. “Sterling.”

  “One more second and I’m making the decision for you, and the result will be a fire-red ass and my cock buried deep inside your dripping pussy.”

  I shouldn’t like the way he was speaking to me. My mind knew that, but again I wasn’t listening to my mind. No. All I could hear was the deep tenor that even without his dark stare or the way his fingers rubbed over the crotch of my panties had my nipples rock-hard and me on the verge of a spontaneous orgasm.

  “Fuck me.” The words were barely out of my mouth when his large hand came to my chest, his fingers splayed, and he pushed me back until my spine was flat against the cool, hard table. The rip of lace and sound of his zipper were barely heard over the pounding of my heart. I tried to sit upward to see the cock I’d watched explode a day before, but each of my movements came up against the pressure from his hand. The ceiling above glistened as sunlight danced over the knotty pine when all at once it happened.

  I screamed out as he filled me completely with one thrust. Like his kiss from before, there was no warning shot, no preparation. Not that it mattered. I was so wet his length and girth met little resistance as he stretched me to where pain and pleasure intersected.

  “So fucking tight.”

  Clawing at the shiny wood, I found the edge of the table. My fingers curled, trying to hold on as he pounded, hard and fast. Sterling was a man consumed. Each thrust filled me as never before as the pressure within me began to build.

  The second his hand left my chest, I sprang upward, no longer satisfied with this being a one-man show, and reached for the hem of his t-shirt, pulling it upward. It too joined our growing pile of clothes. My hands roamed his tight abs as his continued motion rubbed over my bundle of nerves, relieving the building ache in my clit and sending shock waves in every direction.

  I couldn’t repeat anything I said. Though my own voice was recognizable, the sounds were not. I wasn’t alone. We were a chorus of words and primitive noises, like none I’d ever heard.

  My nails dug at his broad shoulders as I leaned forward. No longer supported by the table, it was Sterling’s grasp of my ass that kept me from falling. The new position was everything as my toes curled. My lips covered the tight cord of his neck as I tried to stifle my scream.

  I didn’t succeed.

  Every nerve within me detonated as my entire body convulsed. From my toes to my scalp, I was a mass of explosions. The sensation flooded my circulation like nothing I’d ever experienced. My fingers blanched as I held tightly to his shoulders, the muscles within me contracting, and stars appearing behind my now-closed eyes.

  Secure in his grasp, I floated, falling from the highest high when my pants, whimpers, and gasps for breath were lost to the deep roar coming from Sterling. I opened my eyes in time to watch his beautiful expression as his cock buried deep within me throbbed. It was better than watching him pleasure himself, as for a moment he basked in the sheer bliss of our union.

  I couldn’t register what we’d done until he set me again on the table’s edge and eased out. As I gazed down at his glorious cock, shiny from our connection, it hit me.

  “You didn’t use a condom?”

  “And I won’t.”

  “What?”

  “We’re both clean and you have the birth control insert. I’ve never had skin-to-skin sex with anyone else.”

  How could I believe him?

  “But…” I could have asked how he knew my medical status, but the question would be pointless. Sterling Sparrow knew everything.

  “Araneae, you’re mine in every way.” He ran his finger over my core and brought the glistening digit to his lips and sucked. “I plan to take you in every way. The sooner you get used to that idea, the easier it will be to accept what’s happening.”

  Jumping from the edge of the table, muscles I didn’t know existed announced their presence. Nevertheless, I refused to show Sterling the effect he had on me.

  Okay, I supposed I showed him when I screamed out his name or was coming hard on his cock. That didn’t matter. Now was different.

  Lifting my sweater, I turned and met his stare. Wearing only my bra, I lifted my chin. “This changes nothing. I will repeat it until you get it straight. I belong to no one. I decide what I do and when. Yes, I chose sex, but only because you looked…angry and I didn’t trust you with my ass.”

  His dark eyes smoldered as the asshole had the audacity to smile. It took all my self-control not to slap the smirk from his arrogant and too-fucking-handsome face.

  Sterling took a step closer, his beautiful cock still free and bobbing heavily with each step, and reached for my ass. “Sunshine, I was angry. I still am. And as for your ass, you will trust me with it.” He ran his thumb over my lips. “And this mouth too.”

  A long breath exited my nose as the fever within me burned. It wasn’t the lust and desire of minutes ago. No, this was pure, unadulterated irritation, like a small pebble in the bottom of your shoe that you couldn’t dislodge. Sterling Sparrow was like that to me—no matter my concessions, he still continued to rub me the wrong way. “You don’t get it. I’m here for one reason.”

  “To protect your friends.”

  “Two reasons,” I corrected. “There’s that, but you promised me information and so far, it seems that you’re falling short.”

  In reality there was nothing short about Sterling Sparrow. And even though I’d just had the absolute best sex of my life, I wasn’t giving in.

  “You still aren’t seeing what’s right in front of you.”

  I refused the temptation to look down at what had just been inside me. “Then tell me. Tell me everything.” When he started to respond, I lifted a finger to his lips. “No, Mr. Sparrow. It’s your turn. I’m going back upstairs and cleaning up. I suggest you do the same. When I come back, you owe me.”

  He stepped back from my touch as he tucked himself back into his jeans. Licking my lips, I tried not to notice that he wasn’t wearing underwear or that his shirt was still gone and his six-pack abs were really eight.

  Obviously, I noticed.

  He eyed me up and down. “Don’t leave this office until you put your clothes back on.” His gaze narrowed. “No one gets to see that pussy but me.”

  He had no idea how close I was to opening the door just as God had made me and walking naked up to my room. Hell, I was almost ready to take off the bra. And I would, except pissing Sterling Sparrow off more than he currently was wasn’t my goal. I pulled the sweater over my head. “Fine.”

  “Tell me, Ms. McCrie, what do you think I owe you?” He lifted his brow. “After all, I just gave you the best o
rgasm of your life.”

  The words to argue were on the tip of my tongue. I could tell him that it wasn’t even close, that I could give myself a better orgasm even without a vibrator, but it would all be a lie. My knees were still weak from what we’d just done.

  Peering down at the floor, I reached for my jeans. To the side of them was what used to be my panties. They were now rendered useless; one leg having been ripped before he pulled them from my body. I stepped into my jeans, closed the button and zipper, and picked up my socks and boots.

  Sterling eyed the destroyed lace still on the floor. “It appears my collection is growing.”

  “Fuck you.” I stood straighter. “You owe me my secrets. You owe me the truth of who I am and why you are now a part of my upside-down life. And today you’re going to give me answers.”

  Sterling 24

  The smile I’d been fighting bloomed, covering my face as Araneae turned her regal jeans-covered little ass to me, and after making her demands, walked away, slamming the door in her wake.

  My siren, my temptress, my sunshine—I wasn’t sure exactly what she was, other than mine. I’d known that when I had her, it would be better than any other sex of my life, and I’d been right about that. What I hadn’t expected as I watched her walk away was my uncertainty. I wasn’t one hundred percent certain if I’d been the one to take her or if she’d taken me.

  Lifting her ruined panties from the floor, I reached the edge of the table and cleaned the shiny surface with the lace, wiping the remnants of our connection. With each swipe, I heard her melody of a voice as she made her choice: fuck me. I saw her nearly naked body lying back, her legs wide as she opened herself to me.

  I saw her pouty lips and shimmering coffee-colored eyes as I drilled into her. My God, she was so snug that my balls grew tight, and I worried I’d blow as soon as her taut walls contracted around me. And then after all of that, after letting her—making her—come undone, Araneae had the audacity to question me about the condom, to make demands of me.