Even though the hospital she worked at was in Brooklyn, it wasn’t considered Rossetti territory as much as O’Malley’s was.
Everyone knew this was our bar.
No member of the five families would have dared step foot inside, just like none of us stepped foot in Hell’s Kitchen.
Roxy said we needed to stay on our own sides.
And as far as I was concerned, she had just crossed enemy lines.
I had been brimming over with excitement and adrenaline just moments ago.
Now, with Ace’s insistent hands on my body, both were still there. They were just originating from an entirely different place.
Before, I had been thrilled for my best friend. Now, I was thrilled about what was going to happen next with my best friend’s brother.
Ace was impatiently pulling me through O’Malley’s crowd, refusing to slow down. He politely skirted around most people and growled at the ones who wouldn’t take the hint to get out of his way. Bursting out the door, he pounded down the sidewalk and yanked me around to the side of the building. My breath lodged in my throat when he pressed me against the aged brick, trapping me there between his muscled arms.
“What were you thinking coming here tonight, Rox?” His voice came out low, almost too low.
The calm before the storm.
I narrowed my eyes. My shock at seeing him in the bar had long since faded. “I was thinking that I’m tired of everyone telling me what I can and cannot do. So, I came here tonight to spend time with my best friend because I wanted to.” I leaned forward to add in a whisper, “And no, I didn’t ask permission first. You know why? Because I’m a grown-ass woman who doesn’t need to ask permission to live my life however I want to. Do you have a problem with that, Ace?”
He inclined his head in a way that said he was impressed.
I mentally gave myself a pat on the back. I had never said those words out loud to anyone. Ever.
“What I have a problem with is you telling me we had to stay away from each other,” he said, brushing his denim-clad thigh against my bare one, “and then I find you in our bar. The same bar where my brothers and I basically have a table permanently reserved for us. FYI, Rox, I don’t do mixed signals.”
I didn’t usually have much of a temper. But I was sick of being surrounded by all these overbearing male attitudes. I had lost my temper more in the past few weeks than I had in the past few years.
“How was I supposed to know that?” I asked in a clipped tone. “I haven’t lived in this city for five years. I just thought Gia and I were going out for a drink.”
“So, you can hang out with my sister in Brooklyn but not with me?”
The question surprised me, though I wasn’t sure why. He had more than made his interest known on the subway. And I guess that’s what I still had a hard time believing. After years and years of wanting Ace—dreaming of what it would be like to be his—he was finally giving me the kind of attention I’d always longed for.
I just didn’t know what to do with it.
“How long have you guys been hiding this from everyone?” he demanded before I could answer. “And how long has she been playing in public behind our backs?”
“Tonight was the first time we’d seen each other in years, thank you very much,” I said through gritted teeth. “And I was as stunned by the performance as you were. She didn’t tell me anything about it beforehand.”
That seemed to mollify him, though only slightly.
Then his entire body language shifted to something more…sensual. The change was dramatic, from the way his eyes grew heavy, to the way he put all his weight on one foot so he could bend his knees and put our eyes at the same level.
“You’d have no problem if you were caught hanging out with Gia, then,” he concluded. “Are you ashamed to be seen with me?”
How in the world could he ever think that?
“No.”
Understanding made his eyes light up. “Then you’re afraid.”
I huffed. “I am not.”
“What I can’t figure out is,” he continued as if I hadn’t spoken, “if you’re afraid to be seen with me, or if you’re afraid of me.”
My lips clamped shut as I grappled for a plausible answer.
Of course, I was afraid of him. I was afraid of how powerful his hold on me was. How easily he could manipulate my emotions if he really wanted to. I was afraid of how much of myself I would lose if he gave me all the things I wanted but didn’t reciprocate my feelings. Of getting a taste and then having it all stripped away.
I was afraid of what I could gain just as much as of what I could lose.
“I’m not afraid,” I lied. “It’s just not smart to be around each other.”
He hummed in the back of his throat. “That’s the Roxy I know. Always doing what’s smart, what’s logical. But even you have to admit that coming here with Gia tonight was a risk. Why not take the same risk with me?”
No greater temptation was there than to take him up on that offer.
Especially since his perception of me seemed almost…boring. Smart, logical Roxy. I knew it was true. That had been my vibe since I was a kid, and I couldn’t exactly change who I was.
But why couldn’t I be more than that?
I wanted Ace to look at me and see something different, something unexpected. I wanted him to describe me as being unpredictable, wild, fun. In my experience, guys like Ace tended to be drawn to those kinds of girls, mainly because he was all of those things himself.
Guided by my own curiosity and instincts, I went up on my toes and brought our mouths closer together. “You’re saying you’re willing to risk your relationship with your family in order to spend time with me?”
His nostrils flared. “If the reward is as sweet as I think it will be, you’re goddammed right I’m willing to risk it.”
The floppy part of his hair fell across his forehead. It took everything inside me not to brush it back just for another excuse to touch him. I wanted to run my fingers over the stubble on his jaw, just to hear that scratchy sound as my nails made contact. I couldn’t put a name to his scent, but whatever it was, it was intoxicating. Clean, crisp, fresh, and all man.
“How about you, Rox?” he murmured, his voice coming out as a throaty rumble. “Are you going to tell the rational side of your brain to shut up for once and just live in the moment? You said it yourself earlier. You didn’t ask permission to come here tonight. Don’t ask permission now.” He lowered his mouth to my ear. “I dare you.”
My eyes about rolled back in my head at his deep rasp. The feeling of his hot breath on my skin made every nerve ending tingle with desire. The amount of need I’d built up over the years for this man was so great I was surprised I hadn’t exploded yet.
My eyes caught on his arm that was braced against the wall. His black T-shirt was stretched around his thick bicep, an enticing sight all on its own, especially with the light smattering of his dark arm hair. But the tattoos scattered over his upper arm and forearm made the whole thing even better. I’d gotten a glimpse at the ones that had peeked out of the sleeves of his Henley the other night, but it hadn’t registered that there were more hidden underneath.
Just when I think he can’t possibly get any hotter.
I quickly averted my gaze. I didn’t need to make it too obvious how much his body enthralled me. That’s when a bright neon sign over Ace’s head grabbed my attention.
And I took it as my literal sign.
“Okay,” I said, matching his challenging tone. “I accept the dare. I’ll do something with you that I’ve never done before but always wanted to. That is, if you’re up for it.”
His gaze darkened, indicating exactly where his thoughts wandered off to.
And as much as I wanted to follow him there, I would have to disappoint him. This spontaneous idea had suddenly become a very important and necessary task. I wouldn’t go back to my father’s house until I saw it done.
“What d
id you have in mind?” he asked heatedly.
The inner vixen in me did a cartwheel. He thought I meant something that involved much less clothing…and the notion didn’t appall him. Guess I’m not his little sister anymore.
Screw the cartwheels. My vixen was doing back flips.
I nodded up at the sign behind him. “That.”
He wheeled his body around. When realization struck, he chuckled salaciously as he licked his lips. “You want a tattoo, baby?”
My knees went weak at the endearment. He couldn’t possibly have known what hearing him call me that did to my heart.
I nodded.
He grasped my hand and led me to the tattoo parlor. “Then let’s get you inked. I’d love to be there for your first time.”
I choked on my next breath.
In my dreams, Ace was my first time.
Matter of fact, he was every single time.
God knew I wanted to get Roxy on her back.
But this was just brutal.
I’d only been mildly surprised when she’d taken me up on the dare. Ever since that day in the church, she’d had a fire in her eyes. As if she’d been craving adventure so bad for so long but had needed an extra push to get her there. Or the right person to get her there.
No, my system hadn’t taken too much of a shock when she’d accepted my challenge.
Getting a tattoo, however, was leaving me feeling like I’d been electrocuted.
And fuck if it didn’t make me want to climb right on top of her in that chair.
She didn’t even need to lie back for this, considering where she would be getting inked. But after she’d confessed that needles tended to make her pass out, horizontal she went.
Duncan, the tattoo artist who also owned the shop, shot me a look while waggling his eyebrows. “The virgins always squirm the most.”
If I hadn’t considered him a friend, he would have been flat on his ass on the floor of his own shop.
But since my brothers and I had gone to him for all of our tattoo work for so many years, I simply skewered him with my eyes and snapped, “The only place I want you looking is at her goddamn wrist, D.”
His smug smirk told me I’d taken the bait.
I rolled my eyes. “Just do your fucking job, man, and try to act professional about it for once in your life.”
To Roxy, Duncan said, “It’s no wonder he won a stunner like you with all that charm.” His heavy Boston accent made “stunner” sound like “stunna.”
Instead of insisting that we weren’t a couple—as I’d expected her to—she surprised me again.
Smiling with satisfaction, she met my gaze. “Yes, aren’t I the lucky one?”
She’s sexy as fuck.
I was the lucky one. That couldn’t have been more obvious.
Lying back in the chair, Roxy tensed when Duncan started sterilizing her wrist and hand.
I squeezed her other hand and spoke in a soothing voice. “It won’t hurt as much as you think. The anticipation is usually the worst part. You’ll be fine.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You’ve done this dozens of times. You’re probably numb to the pain by now.”
She wasn’t wrong. I hardly noticed it anymore.
But Roxy was soft and delicate. Her skin was smooth and flawless. Despite what I said, this probably was going to hurt her. I wished I could take away the pain, just like I’d wished I could have taken away her pain the day of her mother’s and brother’s funeral.
Roxy should have never known devastation, yet she had on the worst level.
I’d see to it that she never did again.
She pinched her eyes shut when the buzzing of the gun filled the room. She remained motionless but for a tiny jolt when the needle first pierced her skin. Wrist tattoos were no walk in the park. There were definitely less painful areas of the body to ink. But even though she’d been warned, Roxy had refused to get this tattoo anywhere else, saying she had always envisioned it this way.
And because I was a jackass, I became helplessly distracted by how much her lower body really did squirm.
Her white tank was low-cut, providing a great view of the way her breasts jiggled every time she made the slightest movement. A section of her hair was tied into a small knot on top of her head, but the rest hung down in wild waves, just how I loved it best.
But her legs were by far the most enticing image.
Roxy was short, so she didn’t have long stems, but they were lean and toned. Those wedge heel things highlighted the shape of her calves and did great things for her ass. Whatever glittery lotion she was wearing made her caramel skin shimmer like gold and smell like fucking strawberries.
She’d taste just as delicious as she smells.
If not more so.
She didn’t cry or make any noise except for a quiet whimper when Duncan used the needle right over the major veins in her wrist.
“You’re doing great,” I praised. “Almost done.”
“Tell them to knock me out next time,” she mumbled, her eyes still squeezed tightly shut.
I grinned. “Next time, huh? They say a lot of people get hooked after their first.”
“Yeah, the masochists. The thrill wore off for me the second I saw the blood.”
Duncan and I laughed.
“You might change your mind after you see it.” I was staring down at Duncan’s work. “It looks amazing, Rox.”
She pried open her eyes, looking hesitantly at me. “Really? It does?”
I nodded, my gaze locked on her finger where Duncan had the needle. “You did an incredible job with the design.”
She’d come up with it herself and had described it in detail to Duncan since she’d claimed she couldn’t even draw stick figures. A rosary—one that looked exactly like her mother’s, which she now cherished and carried with her everywhere—wrapped around her finger and wrist. The beads draped over the top of her hand and down to her wrist, where a crucifix dangled from the end. On the posts of the crucifix were the names Cordelia and Filip, her mother and brother. It looked like a permanent bracelet, one she could never take off, which I assumed was the point.
I was honored to be involved with her tribute to them.
When Duncan was finished, he let her look before he placed the bandage over it. Her eyes filled with tears, but she never let them fall. It was the same quiet strength she had exuded the day of their funeral, the same enduring willpower I admired most about her.
Roxy was just a beautifully rare, resilient person.
“I love it,” she whispered, casting Duncan a grateful, watery smile. “Thank you.”
Clearly uncomfortable with sentiment, he cleared his throat and covered the tattoo with gauze while stating the care instructions for it. I almost laughed when she clung to his every word as if there was going to be a test over the information.
Then Duncan turned to me. “You next, Ace?”
I waved him off. “Nah, nothing for me tonight. This was all about her.”
Her eyes flew to mine. When she took in my heated expression and understanding dawned on her, her lips parted.
“You mind stepping out for a minute, D?” I asked without looking away from her.
Because the guy was practically family, I didn’t feel weird about making the request and he wasn’t offended by it.
He snapped off his latex glove and stood. “No problem.”
Once I’d closed and locked the door behind him, I was left alone with Roxy, who was still spread out on that chair, looking like the most gorgeous, wanton creature I’d ever laid eyes on.
And she was all for the taking.
My taking.
“You still feeling daring?”
Her eyes gleamed with curiosity, her mouth twitching in excitement. She propped herself up on her elbows and repeated my words from earlier. “What did you have in mind?”
“I want to touch you.”
She froze.
If she was shocked by that blunt admis
sion, the many others I had resting on the tip of my tongue were sure to knock her on her luscious little ass. She’d have to get used to it, though, since pretense had never been my style.
I slowly stalked across the room, gaze never leaving hers. As the tension thickened, she started with that squirming again. If she had any idea how quickly I got hard at the sight, she might not have been so inclined to slide her ass all over that leather. Then again, maybe she liked teasing me.
But I had news for her.
I would tolerate teasing for only so long.
“I’m going to kiss you, Rox.” I stopped at the end of the chair, right where her toes brushed against my jeans. “Tell me to stop now if you don’t want it.”
The only sound that came from her was heavy breathing.
Time to see how you taste, baby.
Ace placed his knee on the chair, right between my spread legs. The rest of his body followed, his fists sinking into the leather on both sides of my hips. I dropped back, lying flat, as he slowly maneuvered his way up the chair. The coarse material of his jeans chafed against my bare legs, but I hardly noticed, nor did I care. My heart was too busy beating a staccato rhythm. My pulse was too busy quickening.
Ace is going to kiss me.
That was all the time I had for contemplation because before I knew it, Ace’s body was on top of mine. And I could feel everything. Every ridge, every muscle, every bulge. I saw the lust blazing in his eyes, but feeling his hardness still took me off-guard.
I had done that to him? Me?
Shy little Roxy who used to trail after him with big puppy dog eyes? All I’d ever gotten in return back then were some friendly smiles and a few pats on the head.
Now…Ace’s eyes were devouring me.
Consuming me.
Promising to destroy me.
As he’d approached the chair, his grin had been wicked, almost secretive. But the moment he’d settled between my thighs, his eyes had glazed over and the wickedness had been replaced with an urgent, burning need.
His hands moved to the headrest, bracing himself right above me. When his head lowered, I prepared for his kiss. When he’d told me he was going to, his words had almost sounded like a warning. One I would obviously not heed because this had been far too long in the making for me.
Scars and Sins (Brooklyn Brothers Book 2) Page 9