Or had my biggest fear come to pass? Was he truly lost to me?
But I digress.
The real reason I was going to Hell?
Whenever I’d been in the booth trying to explain my sins to the priest, my mind had drifted to Ace, as it often did when I wanted to avoid thinking of Papà. Of course, whenever I thought of Ace, those thoughts were usually of the dirty, very-inappropriate-for-church variety and were accompanied by images of Ace’s sweaty, naked body.
I’d gotten turned on with my priest sitting only a foot away from me.
So, yeah. I was going to Hell.
After exiting the confessional booth, I once again avoided going out to the cemetery where Mamà and Filip were buried. I knew I would fall into an emotional sinkhole if I saw their graves and re-visited that particular heartbreak.
Unable to face the ghosts of my past, I kept walking.
Today was my day off and Ace said he had a long day of work at The Met. So, I figured I would go back to his place, get some reading done, maybe binge-watch a little bit of—
Someone yanked on my arm and jerked me to the side just before I reached the church’s front doors.
“What the—”
“Shh, baby.”
I sighed. “You’ve got to stop doing that.”
I swear, it was like he knew whenever I needed him and would magically appear at the right moment. Although by the look on his face, I’d say he was the one who needed me this time.
“What’s wrong?”
His lips met mine in a deep, hard kiss.
“Nothing,” he breathed. “I just want you.”
My eyes darted in every direction. “Here? Right now? Ace, this is a church.”
His hands slid down below my waist and cupped my ass.
“Is anyone here?” he mumbled, his face buried in my neck.
“Just the priest, I think, but we still can’t—”
“Yes, we can.”
Refusing to leave room for argument, he led me across the tiled floors of the lobby and opened the door in the far corner—a coat closet. He pulled me inside, deaf to my protests, and shut the door behind us.
It was pitch black.
“Where the hell is the light in here?” he grumbled.
I heard his hand fumbling against the wall, looking for a switch that wasn’t there. He sounded so frustrated, it was hard to contain my giggles. Then he pulled on the cord hanging from the ceiling that was presumably hooked to the only lightbulb.
Nothing happened.
The bulb was out.
That’s when I really lost the battle with my laughter.
“I’m glad you think this is so funny,” he growled. “Let’s see if you’re still laughing when I do this.”
He shoved both my shirt and bra up with lightning fast speed. When his mouth latched onto my nipple and sucked, I lost another battle—this time with my resistance. I forgot where we were and how wrong this was. All I could process was the scorching heat emanating from his body that was making my growing desire rise to a fever-pitch.
When he repeated the action with my other breast, my panties were doused with arousal. He pushed both of them together and showered each with a tongue lashing, the likes of which I hadn’t seen from him before. I wrapped one leg around his waist in an effort to bring him closer, but our clothes were still in the way.
“More, Ace,” I panted. “Give me more. Lower.”
He tore his mouth away. “Yeah? Is your pussy hungry, baby?”
“Yes.”
“What is it hungry for?”
I hesitated, as the reminder of our location intruded once again.
He wasn’t having it. “Tell me, Rox.” He ripped open the button of my shorts and shoved them down my hips. “What does that hungry pussy need?”
“Your cock.”
He sighed. “Fuck, yes. That’s what I want to hear.”
He placed his foot between my legs and stepped on my shorts until they slipped over my ankles. It was so dark I couldn’t even see his face, but I heard him frantically working with his own jeans.
“I’m gonna feed you my cock, baby. And I’m gonna get it so deep inside you.”
The crinkling of a foil packet reached my ears moments before his fingers pushed my panties aside and his tip met my entrance. I felt his pre-cum leaking from the slit, coating his head. He rubbed it over my clit, although it was already wet and didn’t need the moisture. But the idea of him readying me with his own arousal was beyond intoxicating. So much so the air around us began to thicken. I couldn’t suck enough oxygen into my lungs fast enough, so my breathing shallowed and grew louder in the tiny space.
He rolled on the condom
“I think I also need…”
His body stilled just before he entered me.
I felt his gaze on my face, even though there was zero visibility. I didn’t need to see his eyes, though, to know they were burning through me. I could feel that like the force of a thousand suns.
“Words, Rox,” he commanded. “I want to hear you say them.”
I sucked in a deep breath. “I need you to be rough.”
He groaned. “That won’t be a problem. I don’t have it in me to be gentle right now.”
That deep breath left me when he punched his hips forward and slid all the way inside in one thrust. His steady drives quickly turned to urgent slams, and I had to cinch both legs around his waist just so he wouldn’t buck me off.
“Yeah, that’s right. Hold onto me.”
He spread his legs wider to find better balance and bumped into the metal hangers on the rack in the process, sending them clanging.
“Don’t you dare laugh,” he warned.
I was thankful he couldn’t see my face because I had to bite my lip just to keep my smile under control.
“Laugh at what?” I asked innocently. “Nothing about this is funny.”
Even though we were doing it in a darkened coat closet like a bunch of sex-starved teenage rebels who didn’t have anywhere else but the back seat of their car to have sex in. That was a little funny.
After he found his footing and braced us against the wall, he fulfilled his promise by reaching deep inside me and railing me hard. I flexed my inner muscles as his pumps quickened, clenching around his length.
“Love it when you squeeze my cock like that,” he panted. “You’re already impossibly tight. That right there… Jesus, it doesn’t get any tighter than that.”
So, I did it again and again until I wasn’t controlling the action anymore and my body took over. Those inner muscles clamped down on him as my orgasm completely consumed me.
“Oh, fucking come for me, baby. God, yes.”
I buried my face against his chest to muffle my screams. Without thinking, I sank my teeth into his pec, eliciting a sharp hiss from him. But I recognized that particular sound and knew I hadn’t hurt him. Just the opposite. I’d been unconsciously squeezing my legs around him so hard, his hipbones had dug into my inner thighs. I began to loosen my hold on him, but his hand grabbed my knee and held me still.
His last words before he found his own release were, “You. Are so. Fucking. Amazing, Rox.”
As he spilled his seed into the condom, his grunts vibrating against my neck, his words ran on repeat inside my head. He didn’t say your pussy is so fucking amazing, Rox. He didn’t say you feel so fucking amazing, Rox.
He said you are so fucking amazing, Rox.
I was amazing.
Which meant he must have felt something for me, right? We hadn’t exactly bared our souls to each other or discussed where this relationship was going. But he couldn’t have been blind to how I felt. Hell, half of Brooklyn had probably known of my feelings for him since I was ten years old.
And that was the point.
I had chased after him for years growing up. I had made a fool of myself over him countless times. I wasn’t going to make myself any more vulnerable now by expressing my feelings until I heard from him
first.
If he didn’t feel the same way, then I’d keep my mouth shut.
If he did, then I’d throw a damn party in the streets.
I cringed when I felt the sticky residue of us on my thighs. It was all well and good when that happened while we were in his bedroom, ten feet away from his shower. Now, I was going to have to ride the subway and walk the streets like this.
Meh. There were worse things.
It was only after we’d re-dressed and I’d straightened my hair that I remembered his all-day job at The Met.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
I felt his body stiffen slightly at the question.
“Yeah, why?”
“Shouldn’t you still be at The Met?”
“I was taking a break.” His voice sounded a little off, but I couldn’t pinpoint how. “I’m headed back now. I just wanted to see you.”
“How did you find me, anyway? I never told you I was coming here.”
Silence.
He should have been glad we were still in that damn coat closet so he couldn’t be skewered by my furious expression.
“Ace, did you seriously use the GPS on my phone to track me down again? I told you not to do that anymore.”
He’d confessed doing it anytime he couldn’t be there to pick me up from the hospital when I got off. I only walked a couple of blocks from there to his house, but he’d said watching me made him feel better.
I’d said it made me feel like I was being spied on.
And it was a little creepy.
“Cut me some slack, Rox,” he said, exasperated. “The Gabbianos are still in town and after what happened at the plant, I don’t know what the hell they’ve got planned next. The Niners are clearly out for blood, Santi and Dominic think your father is in their pocket—”
“Think?” I interrupted. “What do you mean? He’s not? How do you know?”
He paused. “I don’t. I’m just saying that they obviously have their sights set on you. Dominic thinks you’re engaged to him, for Christ’s sake.”
I slapped my hand over his mouth. “Shh, Ace! We’re in a church.”
I felt him grin against my hand just before he gently pulled it away. “You didn’t seem so concerned with that a minute ago.”
He chuckled when I shoved him.
“I’m just saying that I’m not taking any chances with your safety,” he went on. “I’m not spying on you, okay? I just took a break to grab some lunch and missed you, so I thought I’d check in to see where you were. If you weren’t close by, I wouldn’t have tried to meet you.”
I still wasn’t entirely happy.
“You could have just called and asked.”
The hungry kiss he gave me helped a little.
“And lose the element of surprise? Where’s the fun in that?”
He patted me on the ass for good measure.
He carefully pried open the closet door and peeked his head out. When he declared the coast was clear, he pulled me out behind him. I squinted against the bright sun streaming through the large front windows.
Then it all hit me.
Oh, my—What had I just done?
I’d had sex in a church!
I pulled Mamà’s rosary from my pocket and wrapped it around my wrist. It was practically a mirror image of my tattoo, but a tattoo didn’t count when I needed absolution. I clutched the crucifix like my life depended on it, because it very well might have.
Lord, please don’t strike me down. I haven’t even lived yet!
Ace turned and saw me cross myself while muttering Hail Mary’s to my Holy Father, begging for forgiveness.
He grinned, the jerk. “Couldn’t even make it outside the church before you sinned again. Such a bad girl, Rox.”
Yep. I was definitely going to Hell.
“Keep them closed.”
Roxy laughed.
It was the third time I’d given her the same command. I didn’t trust her not to peek, and I didn’t want her to ruin my surprise.
“They’re closed,” she said impatiently. “How much longer?”
I led her inside my foyer and back to the dining room that hadn’t been used in years. Not since my parents lived here. It wasn’t like I had much need for it since I didn’t live with anyone and didn’t have a ton of guests. I’d converted one of the bedrooms upstairs into my office, so the dining room had just become awkward extra space.
I itched to remove my hand from her eyes as we stopped in the doorway to the room. At this point, I wasn’t sure who was more eager—her or me. We’d just had the most perfect day, and I wanted it to end with the perfect night.
Today was the Fourth of July and Roxy had begged me incessantly to let us enjoy the day’s festivities outside somewhere. Even I could admit to getting a little cabin fever ever since we’d gone on lockdown four days ago. Right after I’d shared getting my little visit from Dominic with Dad and the others. To my relief, they’d all agreed that he could shove his seven-day countdown offer up his ass.
Nevertheless, Dad hadn’t let Mom out of his sight since.
And the five of us had kind of put a kibosh on Gia’s bar performing for the time being. She’d been less than thrilled about being “bossed around like a child,” but she was just going to have to suck it up. After Dominic’s threats, we were taking no chances. She went to and from her classes every day and that was it.
But when Roxy had promised me a blowjob first thing after waking up this morning if I took her somewhere this afternoon, I’d given in.
Hey, I wasn’t made of stone.
We all had our limits.
So, I’d taken her to Coney Island, a place neither of us had been since probably our junior high days. We played carnival games, rode the rides, and gorged ourselves on every kind of unhealthy food we could get our sticky hands on—hot dogs and funnel cakes to name two. I’d watched for tails the entire time and made sure no one was paying us any undue attention. Thankfully, all had been quiet on that front.
The weather had been sunny.
The breeze had been light and pleasant.
And Roxy had been breathtaking.
Wearing a bright red halter top that looked like one of those old school pinup girl numbers, white shorts, and her hair piled on top of her head, she had been the personification of pure temptation. A vision I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off of all damn day. And a lot of other men had seemed to be afflicted by the same problem.
They’d all wound up on the receiving end of my murderous glare.
The pain had started when the clouds in the sky dissipated, and the sun really started to beat down on us. Her skin had glistened with a thin sheen of sweat, the wispy hairs that had fallen out of her bun clung to her neck. All I could think was she looks so damn juicy, like a—
Like a goddamn strawberry.
Between the red top, her red lipstick, and the scent coming off of her hair, she was a walking, talking confection. My mouth literally watered with the need to bite into her savory sweetness. By the time she’d started sucking cotton candy off her fingers, I was practically moaning in agony with every step I took.
She was the most delicious treat I had ever laid eyes on.
But I’d held off on hauling her onto my lap on the ferris wheel the way I’d wanted to. Today had been about us having fun together without sex being the driving force between us. I’d been worried she might have gotten the idea that lust was the only thing that had pushed us together—or that was holding us together.
Hopefully, I’d firmly established that was far from the case.
With that now taken care of, I was ready to switch gears. Today had been a carefree, drama-free day. But tonight was solely about reveling in each other.
I mean, a guy could withstand only so much.
“You know how I couldn’t figure out what to do with the dining room?”
“Yeah…”
“Well, I think I found a solution.”
I dropped my hand a
nd instantly felt her jaw drop along with it.
“Oh, Ace,” she breathed, her hand over her heart. “It’s… It’s beautiful, I… I can’t believe you did this.”
I watched, transfixed, as she slowly walked over to the shiny white piano in the middle of the room. She stroked her fingers over the keys, appearing mesmerized.
“I don’t know anything about pianos, but I was told this is one of the nicest ones on the market?”
Her eyes shot to mine. “Are you kidding? This is a 1916 Steinway Grand M. It’s one of the finest ones ever made. When did you even have time to do all this?”
I shrugged. “I may or may not have had Gia’s help.”
She smiled brightly for a second before jerking her hand back as if the instrument had bitten her.
I frowned. “What is it?”
“You shouldn’t have bought this for me, Ace.” She shook her head. “It’s way too expensive. You have to take it back.”
I strode over and took her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at me. “This is a gift for you, Rox. Voglio che tu l'abbia.” I want you to have it.
We’d been speaking a lot of Italian in the last few weeks. She said it reminded her of her parents because they’d spoken to each other more often in Italian than in English.
“È troppo,” she whispered. It’s too much.
“Believe me, I’ll get just as much enjoyment out of it as you, if not more so.”
She tilted her head to the side. “How so?”
I gave her what I knew was a wolfish grin. So glad you asked, baby.
I nodded toward the piano. “Go sit and play and I’ll show you.”
Her eyes gleamed with curiosity as she silently obeyed and took a seat on the bench.
I crossed the room to the white settee I’d purchased expressly for this purpose and sprawled out on it. I had the perfect view of her profile from this angle. It was exactly how I’d imagined this tantalizing scene when I’d first come up with the idea. Watching her play while I lounged back from here.
Looking like she still didn’t get it, I dipped my chin down at the instrument. “I want to watch you play.”
Scars and Sins (Brooklyn Brothers Book 2) Page 19