There was a reason he’d come here immediately after he’d dropped Cassandra off with Seth.
“I needed to talk to you in person,” Lucian said.
Damien scoffed, then took another drink. “I don’t care. Sell the fucking company, give it away. Just leave me alone. I’m busy,” Damien said.
Lucian couldn’t stop the bitter snort. Damien was busy, all right, busy trying to do what no one else had been able to: kill himself.
Damien struggled up from his seated position, only wobbling once, and then made his way to the wooden cabinet and grabbed another bottle.
It seemed Damien didn’t bother with decanters anymore, for he poured some of the dark liquid directly out of the bottle and into his glass. Then he tossed it back quickly and poured another.
“You gonna offer me one?” Lucian asked.
“No,” Damien said.
Then he slammed the glass down and turned to face Lucian.
They watched each other for a moment, and Lucian couldn’t help but wonder how it had come to this.
Damien was only two years older, but there wasn’t a time Lucian could remember not looking up to him, respecting him, admiring him. That childhood adoration had only increased as they had moved into adulthood, Lucian following his brother into the Navy just as soon as he could. After their father had finally drunk himself to death, Damien had gotten out of the military, brought their father’s company back from the brink of ruin, and single-handedly built one of the nation’s most successful defense contractors.
But that was a long time ago, and looking at Damien now, it seemed impossible to reconcile the man he had been with the person who was in front of him now.
“Dad would be proud,” Lucian said, unable to leave well enough alone, not when the bitter, ghostly imitation of the man who used to be his brother stood glaring at him.
“No. You know Dad was a vodka guy. I prefer scotch,” he said, taking another drink, no doubt to prove his point.
“Different drink, same disease,” Lucian said.
They’d vowed to each other they’d never be like their father, and years ago, even hinting at such would have been enough to make Damien enraged or ashamed.
Not now, though. Now, Damien simply poured another drink.
“Did you drive all this way to give me a lecture? Don’t you have anything better to do?” Damien said.
“I know this is hard for you to believe,” Lucian said, his anger and disappointment getting the better of him, “but not everything is about you.”
“Don’t be an asshole. What the fuck do you want, Lucian?” Damien said around yet another swallow.
What the fuck did he want? He’d come with the vague notion of seeing his brother, maybe finding someone he could talk about Cassandra with. It had been a week since that shit with Tammy Miller, and Lucian’s entire world had changed and all because his feelings for Cassandra had changed. He didn’t know how this had happened, didn’t know what to do with them, so advice would have been welcome.
He glanced at his brother again.
Damien’s advice probably extended to which vintage tasted as good going down as it did coming up and not much else.
“I didn’t come here for anything,” Lucian said flatly.
That got Damien’s attention. The changes were subtle; Damien stood a little straighter and his bloodshot eyes got slightly more focused. At least his brother could still spot a lie.
“Cassandra good?” Damien asked.
Lucian lifted a brow but said casually, “Why do you ask?”
Damien shrugged, took another sip. “I heard there was some excitement,” he said nonchalantly.
From Adam or Sloan, Sloan if he had to bet. He didn’t care. He was just happy someone was still keeping him in the loop. Instead, he focused on something else.
“You heard there was excitement, and you didn’t ask about it?”
“Figured you could handle any imminent physical threats,” he said.
“So why would you ask about her?”
Damien took another sip. “Not all threats are physical, little brother,” he said, his voice taking on an even deeper weariness.
Lucian brushed his hand over his hair, frustration rising at his brother and at himself, and these new feelings for Cassandra. “So what do I do?” Lucian asked.
And just that quickly, Lucian lost him. Damien’s expression, which had only barely opened, shut down completely.
“How the fuck should I know?” he asked, his voice tight with anger.
He put his glass down and began pacing a small lap in front of the cabinet. Damien looked at Lucian again, his eyes now narrow, bright with rage. “You always were an asshole. Get the fuck out. I have brunch plans.”
Damien grabbed his momentarily discarded glass, gripping it tight.
Lucian couldn’t gather the strength to be angry. Mostly he just felt sad for his brother.
“See you around, Damien,” Lucian said.
After one last look at his brother, he left.
Chapter Sixteen
Seeing Damien always left him scrambled, but Lucian knew the coils of tension in his body had little to do with his brother and more to do with the woman who waited for him in his home.
The ride felt interminable, but when Lucian opened his condo door and found Cassandra standing at the patio windows, time stopped. This was where he should be, who he should be with. He closed and locked the door behind him and then let the frenzied need for her take over.
“Lucian—”
She cut off when Lucian slammed his lips against hers, kissing her hard but without even a fraction of the emotion he felt. As he kissed her, he pulled her clothes away and guided them toward the bedroom. Cassandra quickly began removing his clothes as he did hers, and by the time they reached the bedroom, they were both completely naked.
He wanted her, but he paused long enough to clumsily roll the latex over his shaft. Then he pulled her on top of him and bracketed her legs around his waist. They stayed that way for a moment, his hardness against her slick sex, her full, ripe breasts within kissing distance.
Deciding that was an excellent idea, he leaned forward and closed his lips around one of her tight, protruding nipples and pulled hard, sucking the hard nub of flesh between his lips. Cassandra arched her back, which fed more of her sweet flesh into his mouth.
He sucked hard again and she moaned, the sweet sound, the feeling of her hands roaming over his chest, then lower, only increasing his need. When she gripped his cock, it was his turn to moan, and he did, releasing her breast with a wet-sounding pop.
Eyes glittering, Cassandra squeezed him tighter and began to rock her hips, brushing the tip of his cock against her slick lips, her low breaths, the little smile that played on her lips showing her pleasure.
When she settled his cock against her opening, Lucian took over. He anchored his hands on her hips, the generous flesh warm against his palms but not nearly as warm as her heated core.
Lucian thrust up, cock barely breaching her, but the barest feel of her silken walls against his cock was so intense, he tightened his hold on her. When she dropped her hips, taking him in another inch, he lost the last strands of his control. Hands tight on her hips, he pushed inside her, entering her in one unyielding thrust.
She clamped her walls down around him, squeezing him so tight, he again cried out. Her tight cunt around him, her warm, soft body above him, were better than anything he’d ever felt, and he wanted to stay this way forever.
Which wasn’t possible, not with Cassandra atop him, riding him, her passion matching his own.
Desperate to hold out, but not sure if he could, he reached between their bodies and teased his thumb along her hard clit, allowing himself a moment’s smile at her sharp inhale. She clenched around him again and squeezed his shoulder, and at the contact, Lucian’s cock hardened and jerked inside her. He pinched her clit and she cried out her pleasure, her body fluttering in time with her climax.
/> They stayed connected until Lucian softened and pulled out of her. He discarded the latex and then returned to her, and when Lucian lay against her, she immediately curled against his side, her presence giving him an uncommon peace.
“How is he?” she asked a few minutes later as she lay with her body against his side, lazily brushing her fingers against his chest.
Lucian exhaled and then glanced at her and saw the knowing expression on her face. “How did you know?” he asked.
“Damien has a certain effect on people,” she said, laughing lightly though there was hardly any humor in the sound.
“He didn’t used to,” Lucian said, giving voice to some of the sadness he felt.
“No, he didn’t,” she replied.
“He’s…not well,” Lucian said.
“I know. But don’t give up on him. He’ll fight back,” she said, her voice laced with iron certainty.
A certainty Lucian wished he shared with her, but at least Damien still had people in his corner, good people like Cassandra. Speaking of…
“How are you?” he said, changing the subject.
She moved away quickly, putting space between them, though she made no move to get out of bed.
“I’m fine,” she said, the eagerness and excitement of earlier gone.
He moved to close the distance between them, put his arms around her and pulled her body to his, the faint restlessness he’d felt instantly gone when Cassandra was again in his arms. “Yeah, fine. You’re sticking to ‘fine’?”
She nodded. “I am.”
He looked at her and stared, searching her face. Maybe there were a few more shadows around her eyes, but her expression was serene; it was Cassandra.
“Okay. But I’d like you to stay for a while longer,” he said.
Her eyes narrowed slightly but then she said, “Why?”
Were he telling the truth, he would say because he’d gotten used to her, couldn’t imagine a day without her in his life, a night without her in his bed. But he didn’t. Instead, he went with the easier answer. “I want to finish looking into Tammy’s background before you go home,” he said.
“Is there something to worry about?” she asked.
“I don’t think so, but I want to know everything. We’ve hit a couple of roadblocks, but Seth is going to chase down everything. Until then, you’re with me. You good with that?” he said.
“I’m good with that,” she said.
They sat silent for a moment and then she turned her lips up and locked eyes with him again.
“So when will Seth get back to you?” she said.
“Tomorrow, hopefully,” he replied.
“That means we have time?”
“Time for what?”
She pushed him back and then straddled him, and then began to kiss her way down his chest. Lucian responded immediately, his cock beginning to harden.
She moved lower until she hovered just above his stiffening shaft, her lips close but not touching, her breath warm against his skin.
“Time for this,” she said as she leaned forward and slid her tongue along one of the veins that outlined his shaft.
He was fully erect by the time she circled her tongue around the crown of his cock, and when she closed her lips around him, all thought fled.
Chapter Seventeen
A little over a week later, Cassandra roamed the halls of Silver Industries, headed to the break room.
Things at work were slowly getting back to normal, and that included working hard and drinking her tea far later than she should have been. She’d seen Lucian almost every day, though not today yet. He’d given her the clear to go home, so she’d spent the last three nights back in her house, in her big, lonely bed. Odd how quickly she had acclimated to having Lucian around, how positively bizarre it was to be without him.
But she hadn’t talked to him about it, deciding instead to simply let it play out.
And she was fine with that for the moment.
What had happened with Tammy had taught her she could relax, let what would come come, and trust herself to deal with it. So she hadn’t been in any real rush to clarify things with Lucian, no rush to define them, and she contented herself with the status quo.
She turned in to the break room and headed directly to the machine, attention completely focused. As she prepared her drink, she felt a tingle at the back of her neck, and she smiled before she even turned. She recognized that feeling, the one that he sparked even when she wasn’t consciously aware he was in the room.
But what her conscious mind didn’t know, her body seemed to and she felt alive, abuzz with his presence.
She turned and looked toward the door as he turned the corner and walked into the room, getting close enough to her that she could see the faint stubble on his cheek, smell his masculine scent.
“You were looking for me earlier?” he said.
She’d gone in search of him this morning and hadn’t found him, but left a message with Sloan to find him. That had been hours ago, but he was here now. She smiled, deciding to take care of business first, then pleasure later.
“I needed you to sign—”
Her words were cut off by the hard press of his lips against hers.
He kissed her in that way she had never experienced with anyone but had come to crave. His mouth moving over hers possessively, strongly, kissing her like he had every right to. That kiss, the rightness of Lucian touching her, was like a deep sigh, one that set all in the world as it should be.
When he broke away, he looked down at her with almost hazy eyes, and then in the next moment she didn’t see him anymore and was instead staring at the glass-front cabinets. She reached out to grip the smooth marble countertops to balance herself and let her eyes drift close as she felt him press against her.
“I think you were looking for this,” he said, his breath a whisper against her ear, his deep voice warm, prickling her skin.
As he spoke, he had one hand anchored against her hip, the heavy weight of his palm pressing against her. And soon that pressure was matched as he anchored his other hand on the opposite side and then pulled her hips toward him, molding her ass against the hardness of his cock.
He kept one hand on her hip and let the other roam down her form and across her thighs as he rocked his hips against her.
Without conscious thought, she gripped the countertop tighter and then spread her thighs, giving him permission and access, both of which he took advantage of.
He lifted his hand and began to work her skirt up and over her hips.
As a part of her newfound freedom, Cassandra had eschewed pantyhose today, and for that she would be eternally grateful.
As the cool air brushed against her thighs, she shivered, and that shiver intensified when the coolness was replaced by even cooler air when he pushed her panties aside and then scorching heat when his hand touched her skin. Cassandra cried out at the weight of Lucian’s palm against her sex, fingers pressing into her, her pussy lips sticky with the wetness that flowed from her freely.
“Yeah,” he said, breath again coming out against her ear, “this was what you needed.”
As he spoke, he moved his fingers back and forth across her labia, and then once her lips were soaked, he pushed his finger to part them slightly.
She stood a little taller on her tiptoes and exhaled deeply at the first touch of his blunt fingers so close to her core, but then she gripped the counter even tighter as he stroked along, toying with her pussy at a leisurely pace that only intensified her need.
His cock throbbed consistently against her ass, but he didn’t seem hurried, and instead barely explored her sex with his fingers, his breath harsh against her ear as he flicked her clit and then coated his finger with her juices and finally inserted one, then the other, pushing him inside of her with short, hard thrusts.
She clamped down on him automatically, the fullness nothing compared to what she would feel when his cock was inside her, something she hope
d to happen soon, but still pleasurable nonetheless.
When he pulled his fingers out, she moaned her disappointment, but the sound died in her throat as he quickly pushed her panties down until they fell around her ankles. The next moment she heard the sound of his belt opening and then felt his hardness as he pushed it between her thighs.
At the touch of his hardness against her soaking-wet sex, she cried out, reached behind her, groping for him, groping for anything. He paused for a moment, interlaced his fingers with hers, and then he moved their hands up and pushed hers back against the counter.
She returned the grip and then focused on the feeling of his skin against hers, the sensation more intimate than almost any they had shared before.
For a fleeting moment, she wanted him to push himself inside her, wanted to feel him with no barrier, but in the next moment he was gone.
Cassandra heard the rip of foil and then felt him probing at her entrance with his latex-covered hardness.
She spread her thighs wider, and in the next moment he reached for her, grabbed one of her hands with one of his, and entwined their fingers.
With their fingers entwined, not an inch between their bodies, he pushed himself inside her.
Full, almost overflowing, but the slight discomfort of his entry soon faded, became nothing but an insistent pounding of pleasure as he moved inside her.
He moved with a purpose, his thrusts needy, insistent, almost bordering on urgent, an urgency she understood. She was already teetering on the precipice, but his hands atop hers, his cock inside her, pushed her over, and after a few more short thrusts, she came on a harsh breath.
Lucian stayed inside her, thrusting for a few seconds longer and then followed, sighing out his own climax on a low breath.
They stayed connected, his fingers entwined with hers, her body resting against his for several moments until he finally broke away. She was sad at the loss of the contact, but also felt warmed when he lifted her panties and returned her skirt to its original location and then capped his actions with a soft kiss on her neck.
Mafia Romance Page 87