by Bethany-Kris
FOUR
“Okay,” Lucia said, huffing as she pushed up from the couch and rested the controller on the coffee table. She didn’t know how the two of them could continue to stand to play their game because after a couple of minutes, she was ready to sit her ass down. Which she had done, but now she really needed a break. The two of them could play for hours, if they were really into it, but she wasn’t like them. “That’s enough of getting my butt beat, thank you very much.”
Diego’s laughter colored the room.
Renzo smirked her way—the ass. And she only called him that because he looked damn good, even when he was gloating. Because yeah, it was just like she’d said earlier. He needed to get back into the groove of his game. He was always crap when he first picked up the controller again after leaving it for too long, and then he went right back to beating all of them at the game.
Although, Diego gave Renzo a good run for his money.
“Anybody want drinks?” she asked.
“Water, thanks,” Diego mumbled, already restarting the game and trying to take a cheap shot at his brother when Renzo didn’t turn his attention right back to the screen. Not that his attempt worked. “Dammit, Ren!”
Renzo had pressed the pause button just as Diego’s character came up behind his brother on the screen. “Watch your mouth.” Then, to her, he added, “And I’m good, babe, thanks.”
Sure.
She bet he wanted a beer. Maybe a blunt. Or a good shot of whiskey, but he was always careful whenever Diego was near. Given their family history of addiction, not to mention the fact that Diego had been born addicted to whatever his mother’s vice had been at the time to use, the kid had a higher statistic for things like drug use or worse, full-on addiction. It’d taken an incident the year before—with Diego getting mixed up in a crowd of boys who had the police bringing him home one night—for Ren to put a stop to it all.
Ren took a lot of steps to make sure his brother didn’t see him drinking. Or smoking a joint before he went to bed. The kid didn’t even see Ren carrying around a pack of cigarettes. Was it all a little much?
Maybe.
All that shit Renzo made sure his brother didn’t see him doing was still out there in the world. There was no way for them to control and protect Diego from seeing it all whenever he left his house, went to school, or hung out with his friends. So, they basically hoped that the example they all set forth for Diego was enough to allow him to make the right choices when he was faced with those things.
Truth was, Diego looked up to his brother like nobody else would ever understand. He’d always been the kid’s hero, even after it wasn’t cool for Ren to be that anymore. That didn’t make a difference to the fact Diego regularly looked to his brother first as a role model. So, if Ren did something, it must be good enough for him to do, too.
If Ren didn’t stop doing something altogether that wasn’t the best influence, then he made sure his brother didn’t see him doing it at all.
Was it easy?
No.
Fun?
Certainly not sometimes.
Ren still stuck to it, though.
She respected that.
It was her turn, then, to wink at him before she turned and headed for the kitchen. She was just pulling Diego’s bottle of water from the fridge, the condensation slicking her fingertips, when Renzo came up behind her.
God.
He could be silent when he wanted to be.
Sometimes, it freaked her out.
And at the same time, she still always knew when he was there. That was why it unsettled her; she could know he was there, but not hear him. Through his scent; his presence; the way he affected her, just by being close.
She hoped that never changed for them.
Ever.
“I’ve got like thirty seconds,” he murmured in her ear.
That was all she heard before his lips grazed the side of her throat and he yanked her away from the fridge. Just as quickly as her feet had been on the ground, he lifted her to sit on the counter facing him. The bottle of water was forgotten to the counter while she focused on her husband. He didn’t even have to ask, she just widened her thighs to let him step in between her legs—she was grateful for her choice in pants that morning. A black material that looked classy but had just enough stretch to move.
And it was just thin enough to let her feel the hard length of him pressing against her pussy in the best way. It made her want to grind on him and get what she wanted the very most. Not that now was the best time for that, but it didn’t seem to matter to her because she pushed back against him to get more.
His fingers found her thighs, curving over the muscles before flexing tightly as he closed the distance between them for a hard kiss that had her aching inside. It was nothing like the sweet, but still hot, kiss from earlier. Because there was nothing sweet about the way he kissed her like he was two seconds away from dragging her upstairs to bed.
And damn, she wanted that.
Except …
“Ten seconds,” he muttered against her lips, pulling away just slightly.
“Before?”
“Diego figures out we’re in here doing this.”
Ah, right.
Diego was at a funny age. He noticed girls, likely had less than innocent thoughts, and was like every fourteen-year-old boy who needed to quickly learn how to do his own laundry, lest his older sister kick him out for not doing so.
At the same time, he wasn’t very fond of seeing any grossly public displays between his older brother and Lucia. At least, not moments like these.
Renzo stepped back quickly from Lucia, giving her far too much room to breathe as he cleared his throat right before Diego called out, “You better not be—”
“We’re not,” Renzo called back dryly.
It wasn’t a lie.
Technically.
Lucia shook her head, laughing softly under her breath. “How long do you think this stage is going to last, huh?”
“You want an honest answer?”
She kind of did.
“Yeah.”
“Long enough for him to have sex for the first time. Then, he’ll really get it. What all this fuss is about. Why he’s got raging hormones. Why he wakes up with a morning—”
“That’s enough, thanks.”
Renzo shrugged. “All part of being a teenage boy. Maybe it’s easier on him because he’s got lots of guys around him to answer questions when he gains up enough courage to ask, but for me? Man, that part of growing up fucking sucked. Part of him still thinks some shit is gross, while other parts figure … it might be kind of awesome. He’s gotta figure it out.”
“I guess one good thing is he isn’t having sex yet, right?”
“I mean, we’ll see how long that lasts. He knows what to do, either way.”
Right.
Because he had Ren for that.
Even if it was awkward.
Renzo stepped forward again, but still somehow managed to keep a slightly respectable distance between them. At least now she couldn’t feel his erection driving between her thighs while his tongue slashed against hers. She liked both, honestly, but this was easier for talking.
“So, you had a rough week, huh?” he asked.
Her brow furrowed. “Pardon?”
“Your week. Probably a bit longer than you expected it to be.”
All at once, Lucia finally understood what he was getting at. All those texts of hers, which she’d sent to him while he was away on his assignment. Keeping him updated with everything, from the fact that the coffee shop she went to every morning ran out of her favorite donuts before she could get one, to the difficult client toward the end of the week.
Instead of replying to his statement about her week—hell, it didn’t even matter anymore with him here—she said, “I love you, Ren.”
And she did.
More than he would ever know.
She didn’t know how to explain a love like
this. Something this consuming and perfect … because nothing else about life was perfect. Except them.
And this.
Renzo smiled. “Love you, too.”
“But yes, I do think I might need a vacation.”
“I could do that for you.”
Lucia rolled her eyes. “It was a joke. I don’t have time for—”
“What if time was made for you instead?”
She gave him a look.
He looked right back at her.
“Don’t tempt me.”
“Okay,” he said, leaning in to press a soft kiss to her lips before he continued on with, “then no temptations. But we’ll see what I can do.”
“Mmhmm.”
“Come on, Ren!”
“The prince calls,” he muttered, kissing her once more.
“Keep pretending that you don’t like it, then.”
A shrug fell from his shoulders as he stepped away from her with that sexy, playful grin of his right back in place. “Listen, I gotta do what I gotta do for this pride of mine.”
“Right, right.”
God.
She loved that man.
FIVE
“So, did the fourteen-year-old cramp your style last night or …?”
Lucia laughed at Renzo’s sister’s suggestion as she moved from the smaller illuminated table to the bigger one with an art print in her hand. She needed more space to do what she needed to do. Setting the print to the table and grabbing her magnifying glasses, she answered Rose back with, “You know I don’t mind Diego staying the night.”
“Yeah, but Ren just got home, right? How long was he gone?”
“Three weeks this time.”
“Right, so again …”
“I promise I don’t mind. We had fun. He passed out on the couch after I filled him full of soda—”
“You did not give him soda.”
Lucia barked out a laugh. “No, I didn’t.”
“Good. Swear the kid’s fucking addicted to the shit.”
“And he asked when Ren was going to take him to see that show … the uh, the car one he’s talked about for the last year.”
“Are you asking me? Because as long as the car works and takes me from point A to point B, I am a happy girl.”
Lucia shook her head and pulled the glasses from her eyes to blink over at the phone resting on the table where she had it set on speaker for this conversation. “Anyway, that’s coming up, so you might want to get all the details hammered out with Ren.”
“Will do. Thanks again, huh?”
“You know I love that kid.”
“Yeah, I do. Let me get back to this painting.”
“Mmhmm. Are you ever going to let me have a showing for you or what?”
“Someday,” Rose joked.
She didn’t know if she believed it or not, but she wasn’t going to push. Some artists just had their own way of doing things. To be honest, Rose had carved out her own path and name in the art world without much help from anyone else. Plus, there was that whole don’t mix family and business thing.
It might be better if they didn’t work together.
Either way, she was proud of Rose.
Absolutely.
“Later, Lucia.”
“You, too.”
With the phone call ended, Lucia went back to her work of surveying an art print that she was supposed to find a buyer for, after a client decided it was no longer needed for his personal collection. Which didn’t make that much sense to her, considering the piece originally sold for over twenty thousand American dollars.
And now, it was worth more.
But whatever.
He wanted to sell it; she’d sell it.
That was part of her job.
Lucia was so lost in her work that she didn’t even hear the buzz of her intercom, which signaled her assistant at the front of her gallery was calling through for whatever reason. In fact, she stayed so focused on the print in front of her that the only thing to drag her attention away from it was the sound of a familiar voice echoing down the hall.
“Nah, it’s fine, I’ll just go back and get her.”
She looked up from the print, pulling the glasses from her eyes, in just enough time to watch a gorgeous sight walk through the doorway of one of her back offices. Of course, Renzo looked good. He always did.
But when he threw on a leather jacket?
A pair of ripped jeans?
Combat boots she loved?
Yes.
It was like he walked back in time and she was staring at that boy she’d met on the streets of Brooklyn all over again. And she truly loved nothing more than that feeling of nostalgia.
He closed the door behind him, giving her a sly grin as he did so. “What are you doing back here?”
“Working—like always.”
“Mmhmm. You got five minutes for me or what?”
“Always.”
Just to prove her point, she reached over and turned the table off—so the light dimmed entirely—before setting the print aside, too, for safe keeping.
By the time she turned around to face Renzo again, ready to ask him what was up because she was sure he said he would be visiting with Rose today, there he was. Right there behind her, already reaching for her and closing all the distance between them in a blink.
His kiss took her breath away.
His hands grabbing to her waist had her moaning.
“Didn’t get to do this last night,” he murmured against the column of her throat, “so I figured I better make time for it today.”
“Oh, my God.”
“Yeah, you’re gonna be saying that a lot.”
It took him all of a blink to lift her from the floor and twist around to set her to the closest flat, sturdy surface. Which just happened to be the illumination table she thankfully hadn’t been using for that very expensive art print. He bunched her skirt up around her waist, his hand slipping between her thighs to grab her panties and rip them away from her body.
She couldn’t widen her legs fast enough because he helped, those strong fingers of his digging into her thighs hard enough to make her moan.
“Wet for me?” he asked.
Lucia licked along the line of her bottom lip, replying, “You know all you have to do is be near to get me fucking wet for you, Ren.”
And he did know that.
What she knew was that he fucking loved it.
“Fuck, yes, that’s what I wanted to hear. And people wonder why I miss you so fucking much when I’m gone. They don’t know what kind of woman I got here, huh?”
“Shame.”
“Fuck ‘em.”
Lucia laughed, but it was quickly swallowed by his lips finding hers again for another bruising kiss that would certainly ruin her makeup … but fuck, she couldn’t find it in herself to care in that moment.
“God, I missed you,” she breathed into his kiss.
Renzo’s laughter coated her in the most sinful and delicious way. Especially because while his dark amusement mixed in with his pleasure, his cock filled her in one hard thrust. He had her flat to the table in seconds, hands slipping under the stretchy fabric of the top of her dress to splay against her stomach as he started a rhythm that would have her flying in no time at all.
He knew what worked best for her body.
How to get her so high, so fucking fast.
And after he’d gotten her off, she knew he would then take his time to drive her crazy before he made her fly one more time. Just because he loved to see her high off him.
Like a drug.
“Jesus Christ,” Lucia mumbled against her palm, “you do know I’ve got a meeting in like … twenty minutes, right?”
That tempting, husky laughter of his filled the room again. His pace never faltered even once as he fucked her closer and closer to an orgasm with every goddamn thrust.
“Oh, no … I just had your next week cleared, Lucia.”
Her gaze flew ope
n.
He smirked above.
“What?”
“Exactly what I just said, babe. Time for a break. Now, come.”
She did.
God.
She loved this man.
Entirely.
SIX
At one point in his life, Renzo thought there would never be a time when he walked into Lucian Marcello’s house, and have it feel welcoming to him like a home should. And yet, with years put between their wrongs, time spent respecting each other for more things that were good around them, and a mutual love between them in Lucia, Lucian’s home felt like one of the most welcoming places he’d ever been to.
And more often than not, when Renzo needed that fatherly figure in his life that he still didn’t have in anyone else, he went to Lucian. He didn’t know when it’d happened, or why he’d started crossing that bridge with his father-in-law, but he did it and he couldn’t find a single reason to regret it, either.
Lucian came around the corner of the kitchen entry as Renzo entered the man’s house, already hearing Jordyn Marcello’s laughter drifting from somewhere behind the man. He wasn’t privy to whatever joke Lucian had told his wife before their guest arrived, but he didn’t feel like he needed to know, either.
Something else Renzo had come to learn about Lucian?
He loved one thing the very most.
His wife.
And the man he became around that woman, in private when he thought no one could see, was someone the outside world never got to see. Their children did, sure, but no one else.
And when he did see Lucian share those moments of affection, Renzo never said a word. But it did make him respect Lucia’s father more to know there was a woman in his life who made him just as crazy in love as the rest of them, really.
“You owe me and my wife big time for this one,” Lucian said, giving him a wag of his finger. “Jordyn’s been planning this thing to Bali for months now.”
“I know, I know—”
“And I know you appreciate it!” Jordyn shouted from the kitchen.
Lucian rolled his eyes. “Come on, woman, I’m fucking trying to make him at least think he could owe us for it.”
Renzo just shook his head. “No, I do. I really appreciate this. Turns out you can’t actually plan a whole vacation in a day, no matter how hard you try or what amount of cash you say you’re willing to pay. So, yeah, I appreciate you letting me do this.”