by Bethany-Kris
“I love you, Daddy,” Lucia whispered.
Lucian smiled. “That’s all that matters to me, dolcezza.”
“We’ll take a walk around the hospital,” Renzo said from the doorway, “and then circle back around, Lucian.”
Her father nodded. “I appreciate it. Also, check in on … well, you know what I want you to check in on, Renzo. Make sure they don’t need you, or whatever. That should be happening soon, yes?”
Lucia cocked a brow, and glanced between her father and Renzo. It seemed like the two of them were having a silent conversation that she wasn’t included in on, and one that she didn’t understand. She figured it would be better for her not to question it. If the two of them were getting along, then she wasn’t about to go and ruin it with her curiosity.
“You got it,” Renzo replied. “Come on, Lucia.”
He held his hand out to her, and despite the fact that she still wanted to sit with her father to be with him while he finished his last bit of chemo, she stepped back. Taking Renzo’s hand in hers, he directed her out of the room as his fingers weaved with hers, and held tight. Like he was going to keep her right there with him, lest she try to dart back to her father.
“He’s going to be fine,” Renzo said, chuckling before he dropped a kiss to the top of her head. “Let him do this alone, Lucia. We all need those moments sometimes.”
Fine.
“He didn’t even want Ma here today,” she said.
“He’s got a lot going on, I think.”
“Yeah, about that.”
The two of them slipped down a stairwell, and Lucia turned fast with a sly grin on her face. She poked him right in the chest, and all Renzo did was arch a brow as if to challenge her. “What was all that about back in the room, anyway?”
“I don’t know what you’re—”
“Don’t even try it.” She put a hand to her hip, and squared him with a look that she hoped said she wasn’t fucking playing around, now. It was hard to say whether or not Renzo would take it as a challenge, but she welcomed it either way. “I saw that whole … silent conversation shit you and my dad had going on. Don’t even try to lie to me.”
Renzo tugged on her hand as they came to the first landing in the stairwell, and he took the door leading out to a floor that looked … empty. Wordlessly, he tugged her hand, peeking into door after door until he found one that he seemed to like. Renzo pulled her into the room behind him, and then kicked the door closed.
It took Lucia two seconds to realize they were inside a damn storage room. Rows of metal shelves had been filled with medical supplies. But hey, it gave them a bit of privacy for this talk, which she appreciated.
It was something.
“What are you doing?” she asked him when Renzo gave her a grin, and a wink.
“Come here,” he demanded roughly.
He pulled her closer to him, and his hands slipped up under her jaw. Tipping her head back, all she could see was him clouding her vision.
And God …
She loved it.
Loved him.
He dropped a quick kiss to her mouth, saying, “Don’t worry about it, Lucia. Me and your dad, I mean … it’s not about you.”
“But—”
Renzo kissed her harder.
He was trying to distract her, and it was working. Lucia wasn’t even sure if she minded, or not. She did like his hands on her. Loved the way he kissed her like he was hungry, and couldn’t get enough. It was enough to make her wet between her thighs even if here was the last place that she should be feeling that kind of way.
He probably knew it, too.
He knew exactly what he was doing to her. He had to, considering the way he drifted closer to her, shoving her body against the wall, and pressing his hard form against her softer lines. She was suddenly glad that she had decided on a flimsy dress for the day when it made easy work for one of his hands to slide up under her skirt and grip her inner thigh while his other one kept a firm hold on her jaw.
She couldn’t move.
She didn’t want to, either.
“God, you’re awful,” she breathed when he finally pulled away from their kiss.
Renzo chuckled. “Am I?”
“Just … it’s okay, right?” she asked, peering up at him. “You and my dad, I mean. You’re both okay, right?”
He nodded. “I promise.”
Okay.
That was all that mattered to her.
Lucia didn’t need details.
“But you,” he said, cocking a brow.
Lucia wet her lips. “What about me?”
“You get in a state here, I think. Watching him and worrying. I don’t like that.”
He moved a little closer.
His hand on her thigh moved higher.
Christ.
“This is not the right place for—”
“Tell me to stop, then,” he dared.
She couldn’t, not when his fingers were grazing her sex overtop her panties.
“I hate you,” she lied.
Renzo laughed. “Why?”
“I don’t have any control with you.”
“Just let me make you feel good, baby.”
How was she supposed to say no to that?
“Make it fast,” she muttered. “We do not need to be caught in here.”
“You got it. Scout’s honor.”
“You are so far from a fucking scout that—”
“I know,” he said, grinning.
His words were punctuated by his hand slipping up under her dress. Those deft fingers of his stroked her pussy overtop her panties. He knew just how to touch her—to curve his thumb against her clit as the tips of his fingers dragged across her cotton-covered sex.
“You’re already wet enough for me to feel it through these panties,” he murmured.
“Is that a surprise?”
Renzo winked. “I love it. I want it like that.”
Yeah, she knew.
His fingers drifted under the gusset of her panties to glide along her sex beneath the fabric. She felt him drag her wetness from her slit to her clit, and then he pressed hard, fast circles against the throbbing bud. Her thighs trembled and his mouth descended on hers. That tongue of his lashed against hers violently as his fingers went back to her slit. Two pushed in deep, and curved against the wall of her pussy. He hit her G-spot perfectly.
“Oh, my God,” she mumbled against his mouth.
Renzo chuckled again.
That same dark, husky chuckle.
She could come from that sound alone, surely.
“Come, and then get me ready with your mouth so I can fuck you,” he demanded.
Yep.
Damn.
That did it. Just his rough voice filled with the promise of sex, like his words, and the smell of him in leather. It was all the same to Lucia. It all spoke of man, sex, and love to her. Could someone bottle that scent for her?
She needed it.
Lucia came hard, but Renzo was quick to cover her mouth with his other hand to keep her noises muffled just enough. His laugh came off entirely too sexy. The way his gaze locked on hers made her feel crazy.
“You gonna get a taste of me on your mouth, baby?” he asked.
Lucia nodded, and he uncovered her mouth. She was fast to drop to her knees, then. He was already working his pants open, and shoving them down a little. His cock—already hard, and pulsing in her palms—came free from the confines of his boxer-briefs easily enough, and all she could think about was getting him in her mouth. The silkiness of his cock against the roughness of her tongue; the taste of his precum as he watched her swallow him whole … she wanted all of it.
“Lucia …”
She peeked up at him.
Renzo arched a brow. “Love you, huh?”
She smiled. “More than you know.”
There was nothing quite like the sound Renzo made when she first took him into her mouth. It was guttural, and raw. Like he was aching fr
om the inside out just from the feeling of her lips wrapping around his dick. She could get lost in the way he sounded out his pleasure as she sucked him off. It was beautiful.
“I thought you wanted fast,” he said through clenched teeth.
Christ.
She loved the way he looked like this. With her on her knees, his cock in her mouth … he looked like he was losing control in the best way. He was always steady—she made him unsteady. Nothing turned her on more.
“Because this is going to end way differently if you keep that up,” he warned.
He didn’t let her keep it up, either. He was quick to pull her off his cock, and make her stand. Those strong arms of his wrapped around her waist, his hands palmed her ass, and she found herself backed against the wall. Her hands worked between their bodies to get her panties pushed aside, and his cock where she wanted it to be.
Her back hit the wall hard at the same time he thrust in. Those fingers dug into her ass as his cock stretched her open in the best way. She barely got her legs hooked around his waist, and found support by holding onto his shoulders, before he was pulling out and then slamming right back inside of her again.
She swore his cock hit every nerve she had.
And her fucking G-spot, too.
“Oh, God, yeah,” she breathed.
Renzo leaned in close, his lips grazing hers as he spoke. “You want that cock, baby?”
“Yeah, give it to me, fuck.”
He did.
Hard.
And fast.
So deep.
Every snap of his hips against hers drove her a little higher. Closer to the peak of bliss, and the promise of an orgasm. His mouth slammed down on hers, swallowing every single noise that dared to slip past her lips. His tongue worked against hers—a war. And a gift, too. With a kiss, she swore he could hand over his entire soul to her.
There was so much about this man that was perfect.
Too much, really.
“Fuck, come with me?” he uttered against her lips.
Lucia nodded—it was the best she could do.
She was close.
So was he.
She could feel it in the tightness of his back, and the way his fingers trembled against her ass. Maybe that’s what did it for her, then—the idea that he was barely hanging on. That his control was about to slip, and he couldn’t hold it back.
“Yeah?” he asked her. “Yeah, you there?”
“Fuck yeah.”
She fell off the edge at the first feeling of his cock jerking inside her. He muffled her cry of his name with another bruising kiss, and he didn’t release her from that kiss until they’d both stopped shaking.
Only then did he let her down from the wall … with a mess between her thighs. She couldn’t even find it in herself to care, not when her legs felt like jelly and her mind was still humming with the orgasm she’d just experienced.
Damn.
“And you know what else?” Renzo asked as he found a paper towel to help her clean up. “Because don’t think I forgot.”
“What is that?”
“You didn’t eat lunch.” He tossed the used paper towel to a nearby trash can, and helped her to fix her panties and dress before he bothered to worry about tucking himself away and zipping up his jeans. “Just like I said you wouldn’t.”
Lucia sighed, and refused to meet his gaze even as his hands came up to cup her cheeks and his thumbs stroked her skin. “I just worry about my dad when I’m here, okay? Don’t judge me.”
“No judging, but you’re going to get food down at the cafeteria right now. I have to make some phone calls, anyway.”
Yeah … for her dad, probably.
Lucia settled herself on not asking questions.
“You have time to grab something,” he told her. “He’s not going to be finished for another half hour, or so.”
She nodded.
He wasn’t wrong.
“Fine, I’ll go get something to eat.”
Renzo dropped another kiss to her lips, and looked her over one more time to make sure she looked okay before they left the room. “That’s my girl.”
• • •
Lucia knew something was wrong the very second after she stepped out of the cafeteria’s doors. The sandwich and apple in her hand suddenly held very little appeal as she stared at the knot forming in Renzo’s brow as he talked faster into the phone.
“What the fuck do you mean he’s not answering calls, man?” Renzo shook his head, and he still hadn’t noticed Lucia standing right there. “I checked the fucking trackers—I put two others on the cars his men used. They haven’t left the hotel.”
Renzo was silent as the person on the other end of the call replied to whatever he was talking about, but it only seemed to piss him off more.
“I know the meeting should have started ten minutes ago, but that doesn’t mean—” Renzo cursed under his breath, adding, “Maybe he picked up another car, John. One I didn’t get a tracker on, right. It’s possible. I have to sleep; I can’t have my eyes on him twenty-four-seven.”
“Ren?” Lucia asked.
Finally, he looked her way. He didn’t seem all that surprised to find her standing there. He gave her a halfhearted smile, and a nod. It didn’t seem true. It felt more like he was trying to placate her, but something was certainly wrong.
She felt it in her bones.
“All right, don’t move,” Renzo said. “Don’t let anybody leave in case he’s got an ambush planned for when you all leave. I knew we couldn’t trust him. I knew this fucking meeting was a ruse for something else. Fuck.”
He hung up the phone, but didn’t give Lucia the chance to ask him anything before he was grabbing her hand, and tugging her toward the bank of waiting elevators. It would take them up to the floor where her father would probably be just finally finishing up his treatments. Renzo stayed quiet as he hit the button for the elevator at the far end, and five seconds later, it opened up for them to step inside.
It was only after the doors closed, and they were moving upward that he finally spoke.
“You’re going to have to stay here with your dad,” he said. “I have to head out. Your brother needs me for something.”
“For what?”
Renzo didn’t look away from the elevator doors that had yet to open for their floor when he replied, “That meeting for Christian, Lucia. It was today. But the fucker hasn’t shown up, and all the beads I have on him are dead right now. I figured he was planning something, but John was thinking with his emotions, you know.”
“Because of the threats, you mean.”
He nodded. “Yeah. And I get it—he was worried about his kids, and you. His fucking wife. I get it. But you can’t trust someone like Christian. He’s not the type to have one plan, not when several works far better.”
Something cold dripped down Lucia’s spine. It felt like it seeped into her bones and blood, then wrapped around her lungs, and finally, her heart, too.
It froze her to the spot.
Silenced her.
“Where are they?” she asked.
“At the meeting location,” Renzo replied.
“I don’t understand—”
“Approximately twenty Marcello men, including several of your direct family members, are in a warehouse in Brooklyn right now, ready to do this meeting with Christian as he demanded. Problem is, he hasn’t shown up, he isn’t picking up calls, and I don’t know where he is, either. That spells bad news.”
Lucia wet her lips, but damn, her mouth felt dry. She found Renzo’s hand with her own at her side, and wove their fingers together. She just needed to feel him a little closer to her—maybe his warmth would help her.
It did.
And it didn’t at the same time.
“Do you think he has something planned for them?” she asked quietly.
Lucia didn’t miss the way Renzo’s jaw ticked. “I would bet on it, actually.”
God, no.
&n
bsp; Not her brother.
Her family.
“Do you think they’re waiting for them to leave the warehouse?”
“Possibly,” Renzo said. “That’s why I need to get out of here, and get there. Scout the place, or see what in the hell is going on around them. I can feed John information from the outside, and then we can decide what to do from there.”
That made sense.
And terrified her.
It meant Renzo was about to go right into the line of possible fire, too. Wasn’t it bad enough that her brother and cousin was there along with God only knew how many other people she loved and cared about?
It was almost like he could feel her fear.
Like he could read her mind.
Renzo looked down at her, and his fingers tightened around hers. Lucia looked back at him, and didn’t hide the tears welling in her eyes.
“Why is he doing this?” she whispered.
“Christian?”
She nodded. “Is it because of me … or the business with John? I don’t understand why he would do something like this for that, Ren.”
The doors to the elevator opened to her father’s floor, but she didn’t look away from Renzo. She needed an answer to her question.
“Is it personal or business?” she asked. “Is something like that enough for a man like him to come after us like this?”
“It’s not about you, or business … or even John,” came a voice from just outside the elevator.
Lucia found her father standing there, dressed in his suit, and ready to go, it seemed.
“Business is the only thing John has with Christian, right?” Lucia asked her father.
Maybe that’s what her dad and Renzo had been talking about earlier. This mess. Christian, John, and the meeting. It all made sense. It’s exactly why he knew what they were talking about when the elevator doors opened without having to ask what they were discussing.
Lucian looked up from where he was finishing buttoning the bottom button on his suit jacket as he said, “This isn’t business, Lucia. It’s a vendetta.”
SEVENTEEN
Renzo shared a look with Lucian, and the man seemed to hear his unspoken words as he nodded, asking, “Is there a problem I should know about, Renzo?”
He almost wanted to laugh.