by Julia Sykes
I leaned over her, pressing her deeper into the mattress with my weight. She squirmed beneath me, rubbing herself against me like a needy kitten. But she still didn’t move her arms from above her head.
“Such a good girl,” I praised, brushing her hair back from her cheek. “Are you ready for me, angel?”
“Yes,” she panted. “Please, Joseph. I need you.”
I sank my fingers into her hair, tightening my grip around the lustrous strands as I tipped her head back for a ruthless kiss. She cried out into my mouth when I thrust into her at the same time.
Her inner walls contracted around me, struggling to take to my size after a month of emptiness. My lips firmed around hers as I struggled to control myself. I stilled within her, allowing her time to adjust. I should have kissed her more gently, coaxing her. But I couldn’t. Need drove me to the edge of sanity, and I couldn’t be as careful with her as I’d been in the past.
Her muscles finally began to relax around me. Shock tore through me when my little innocent angel wrapped her legs around my hips and dug her heels into my ass, pulling me deeper.
I groaned against her and pulled almost all the way out before driving back into her, hard enough to rock her body beneath mine. She moved with me, drawing me in to the hilt. Animal instinct took over, and I snarled into her mouth. She moaned and opened for me, her tongue dancing with mine.
She hadn’t tried to move her hands, but I curled my fingers around her wrists and pinned them against the pillow. I needed to feel her trapped beneath me, writhing and whimpering as I took her, hard and relentless. She screamed out her orgasm, the sound of her pleasure vibrating into my mouth.
I didn’t want to finish with her just yet, but too much time had passed without her in my life. Her ecstasy triggered mine, and I came undone on a shout, driving into her without finesse as I rode my release. Her pussy fluttered around me with the aftershocks of her own orgasm. She went limp beneath me, exhausted and sated.
I finally broke our kiss and gasped out a curse as the last of my orgasm faded. I rolled off her, but I pulled her with me so she was draped over my chest.
“I missed you so much,” she murmured against my neck.
I didn’t have words heavy enough to express how empty I’d been without her, how happy I was to have her back in my arms.
I captured her lips again, kissing her slow and deep this time. If I couldn’t tell her how I felt, I’d show her.
Chapter Eight
Ashlyn
Joseph collapsed beside me, breathing hard. I rolled with him, keeping him inside me. He’d just given me yet another explosive orgasm, but I wasn’t ready to be parted from him. When we’d had sex last night, he hadn’t taken off his clothes. I’d needed him too desperately to care about it then, but now, I definitely appreciated his naked body. He was even harder and bulkier than I remembered. I wasn’t certain what he did with his days—I had no clue what it meant to be a mobster—but whatever he did, it required more physical exertion than bartending. I’d thought he was massive and muscular when I’d first met him, but now he was impossibly more ripped. His abs flexed against me as I trailed my fingernails over them, memorizing the way his muscles rippled and danced beneath my light touch.
I explored further, running my palm over his hard chest and down his corded arm, feeling his strength. His masculine perfection was enough to make my mouth water and my pussy clench. He grunted as my inner walls contracted around his cock.
“You shouldn’t do that, angel,” he warned.
“Why not?” I squeezed again, and he groaned. He began to stiffen inside me, even though we’d just finished a few minutes ago. Knowing I had this effect on him made a sense of feminine power course through me.
He chuckled, low and dark. He shifted, withdrawing from me so he could manhandle me into position. He grasped my ankles and guided them up to rest against his shoulders before he moved over me. His weight forced my thighs close to my chest, spreading me wide for him. He gripped my wrists and pinned them at either side of my head. We’d played a few games like this back in Cambridge, but he was different now. More demanding. Less restrained.
My pussy wept for him, swelling and growing slick in response to the way he handled my body.
A sharp knock on the door made me yelp, shattering the moment. Joseph wasn’t in any particular rush to roll off me, and I barely managed to get my legs down and jerk the sheet over my body before the door opened.
I gaped at Marco where he stood at the threshold.
“Close the door!” I demanded, pulling the sheet up to my chin.
His heavy brows rose. “It’s my bedroom.”
“Joseph,” I said sharply, looking over at him. I expected him to come to my defense and throw his overbearing friend out.
He didn’t appear upset in the slightest. He’d almost beaten a guy for grabbing my arm once, but he’d allow his friend to walk in on us when we were about to have sex?
“What?” he asked his friend, but he still didn’t sound aggressive or even annoyed.
“I made breakfast,” Marco told him. “Finish up and come down, or it’ll get cold.”
A little noise of disbelief huffed from my chest when he sauntered off, not bothering to close the door behind him.
“What the hell?” I asked, looking back to Joseph. “You almost ripped Stu apart for touching me at the bar in Cambridge, but you let your best friend ogle me?”
“He wasn’t ogling you. He came to tell us he made breakfast.”
“I’m naked,” I reminded him, wondering what had happened to my fierce, possessive protector.
He gave me a lopsided smile. “And you pulled the covers up high enough that he could barely see your face. Marco won’t touch you, Ashlyn. You don’t need to be afraid of him.”
I scoffed. Of course I was afraid of him. Marco was even more heavily muscled than Joseph, and he lacked any kindness in his hard black eyes. The only times I’d ever seen him look remotely amused, it had been at my expense.
“Hey,” Joseph said, more gently. He took my hand in his. “I know he scared you yesterday, but Marco was just trying to help. He was trying to make you understand that he brought you here for your own good. We just want to protect you. Both of us.”
I searched his face, studying him. He seemed completely sincere, but I wasn’t certain that he had an accurate view of his friend’s true nature. There was something dark about Marco, something deep in his soul. Joseph might hate his life of violence—he’d made that much clear—but Marco didn’t seem at all bothered by it. He probably thrived on it.
“I want you to come back to Cambridge with me,” I announced. “After, I mean,” I said before he could start lecturing me about his enemies again. “After the danger has passed, I want to go back to school, and I want you to come with me.”
Something shifted in his eyes, but the shadow was gone so fast, I was sure I must have imagined it.
He brushed a kiss against my forehead. “I’d like that, angel.”
“Good. Then I’ll stay here with you. I can take a little time off school, as long as I try to keep up with my coursework. I don’t suppose Marco grabbed my books when he abducted me?” I asked, although I knew that was highly unlikely.
“He didn’t, but I’ll buy new editions for you. Can you access your syllabi online?”
“Yes. I just need the textbooks so I can follow along with the assignments. If I can send another email to my professors, I’ll ask if someone will volunteer to upload their class notes for me. Would that be okay?” I didn’t like asking for permission, but I doubted I’d be granted access to the internet. Joseph might be pleased that I’d agreed to stay, but I didn’t believe for a second that Marco would trust me near a computer.
“Of course,” Joseph agreed easily. “Just write out the message, and Marco will send the email. I’ll order your books online today. We can go over what you need after breakfast.” He gave me a crooked smile that made my heart melt. “We really s
“Why doesn’t he just eat without us?”
I followed Joseph out of bed and went through the shopping bags he’d brought me last night, looking for something to wear.
“He probably won’t wait for us, but he doesn’t like when his culinary creations aren’t enjoyed properly.”
I shot him an incredulous glance. “Marco doesn’t strike me as the type who would care about something like that.”
“I think you have the wrong impression of him. Marco likes cooking for people. It’s one of his hobbies.”
“If you say so,” I allowed. I couldn’t imagine Marco caring enough about anyone to worry what they thought of his cooking.
I kept searching through the bags, but I couldn’t find what I was looking for.
“Where are the bras and underwear?” I asked.
Joseph’s smile turned wolfish. “There aren’t any.”
“I can’t go around without a bra,” I said, aghast at the thought of my nipples poking through the thin camisoles he’d gotten for me.
“Yes, you can. There’s no one here to see.” He stepped toward me, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me close so he could whisper in my ear. “I want access to your body at all times. Does it bother you that I want to be able to fuck you without panties getting in the way? If I’d gotten them for you, I’d just end up ripping them off. That would be a waste, don’t you think?”
“But… Marco’s here,” I spluttered.
“He’ll be fine.”
“I don’t want him looking at me.” Marco made me uncomfortable. He liked to get in my personal space. He liked intimidating me. I could see it in the way emotion sparked in his eyes when he got close to me. At all other times, he appeared almost bored, detached. But when he made me squirm, I saw pleasure stir in his dark gaze. It was beyond unnerving.
“Then I’ll tell him not to look,” Joseph promised, as though that settled it. “Now, get dressed. I don’t want Marco getting pissy.”
“But I…”
“Now, Ashlyn.” He fixed me with a stern stare he’d never turned on me before.
I was pulling on the camisole and yoga pants before I fully processed my actions. I wasn’t scared of Joseph, but that deeper note in his voice warned me not to defy him. I wasn’t sure what would happen if I did, but I didn’t even think about testing him.
When I was dressed, the stern expression melted, replaced by a dazzling smile that knocked the air from my chest. He planted a swift kiss on my lips and took my hand in his, leading me out of the bedroom.
I finally had a chance to look around the house a little as we made our way to the kitchen; I’d been too emotional last night to really take it in. Well, house wasn’t an accurate word. From the little bit I’d seen, Marco lived in a mansion, with enough white marble and gold gilding to make it look like an Italian palace. The effect was ostentatious, and that didn’t fit with the no-nonsense vibe I’d gotten from Marco.
“This is really Marco’s house?” I asked as Joseph kept step beside me, holding my hand as we made our way down the elegant curved staircase. On the way down, we passed a low-hanging chandelier with enough dripping crystals to throw rainbows onto the domed ceiling. I glanced up and noted the painted fresco above us. The art historian in me was interested, but I was still puzzled by the fact that Marco had cherubs depicted on his ceiling.
“It’s his father’s house,” Joseph told me. “But Leo rarely comes here. Marco has had the place to himself for most of his life.”
That sounded kind of lonely. “What about his mother? Doesn’t he have any siblings?”
Joseph’s expression shuttered. “That’s for Marco to tell you, if he wants to.”
I wanted to ask why it was such a secret, but deep in my heart, I understood. I didn’t want people knowing about my estrangement from my mother, either. It was so much easier to plaster on a smile and talk about what a great surgeon she was, how proud I was of her achievements. When in reality, all I felt was resentment and abandonment.
“Oh. Okay.” I let the subject drop, but I’d never ask Marco about it. I didn’t want to be anywhere near him, much less have heart-to-hearts about our families. Besides, I wasn’t sure if Marco even had a heart.
When we got to the kitchen, Marco was nowhere to be seen. Two perfect, fluffy omelets were plated and waiting on the marble-topped island. Joseph pulled out one of the barstools for me, treating me with the same gentlemanly consideration he’d always shown me when we were together in Cambridge. It seemed that part of him had been genuine.
Last night, he’d said he wanted to protect me and make me happy. I believed him, even if my mind was still reeling from the revelations about his lifestyle. It would take time for me to fully accept that my sweet Joseph was a criminal, but the fact that he’d tried to escape and make a new, better life for himself made it easier to swallow. If we just waited until the danger passed, we could go back to Cambridge together, and he could start over. I could go back to my life, with Joseph at my side.
The knowledge made it much easier to accept my situation. Marco might have kidnapped me, but I wasn’t a captive here. Not really. Joseph was just trying to shelter me and keep me safe. It would be foolish to reject his protection.
And I wasn’t certain that he would give me the option to reject it. A part of me recognized that the dynamic between us might be very different if I’d continued to defy his decision to keep me here.
I remembered the way he’d wrapped his hand around my throat, pinning me down and kissing my desperate tears. I’d never seen that side of him before. It made my stomach drop and my pulse race.
“I guess Marco already ate,” Joseph said, breaking into my dark thoughts. He touched two fingers beneath my chin, redirecting my gaze to his. “You okay, angel?”
“Yeah,” I answered, and it was the truth. When he was looking at me with soft concern, touching me with such gentleness, I couldn’t be frightened of him. “I’m just hungry.”
He grinned. “Then we’d better eat before it gets cold.”
The eggs had already cooled to a lukewarm temperature while we’d lingered in the bedroom, so I ate them quickly before they got rubbery. The omelet really was delicious, just the right consistency and stuffed with bacon and cheese. Apparently, Marco really did like to cook. It seemed like a weird hobby for a ruthless criminal, but I supposed even mobsters had to eat.
Although, given the opulence of his mansion, I suspected Marco’s family could afford a live-in chef.
I shrugged off my curiosity, deciding I didn’t really care what Marco liked to do with his free time, when he wasn’t intimidating people and committing horrible crimes.
“Do you want to see the rest of the grounds?” Joseph asked when I set down my fork, my plate completely cleaned. It really had been delicious.
“Sure.” It would be nice to go outside. I’d spent most of yesterday sleeping, and when I’d woken up, it had been dark. Before my futile attempt to discover a tablet to access the internet and get a message to Jayme, I’d checked out the window as a possible escape route. Floodlights had illuminated the brick walkway below, at least a two-story drop. I’d definitely break something if I attempted to escape that way.
Other than that, I hadn’t been able to make out much more than a grassy expanse that disappeared into darkness.
I no longer intended to escape, but I’d still like to check out my surroundings. If I couldn’t leave this place, I might as well become familiar with my gilded cage. Because no matter Joseph’s pure motives in keeping me here, I was still restricted to the confines of this estate for the foreseeable future.
I shook off the thought before the sensation of being trapped could set in. This wasn’t a cage; it was a refuge.
Joseph took my hand again, and all my worry melted away. I walked with him out of the kitchen, across the foyer, and out the front door.
It was a chilly autumn day, and goosebumps instantly broke out on my exposed skin. I was only wearing the thin camisole Joseph had bought for me, and my peaked nipples pressed against the fabric in response to the cold.
To my surprise, Joseph frowned and rubbed my arms, his eyes focused on my face rather than my breasts. He was more concerned with my comfort than checking out my tits. The knowledge that he cared more about seeing to my needs than satisfying his own lust for my body made warmth flood my chest.
“I’ll get you a jacket,” he said. “Wait here.”
I hugged my arms across my chest when his heat receded. A light shiver wracked my body in the minute it took for him to return. He held his leather jacket, and he stepped behind me so I could slip my arms into it. The leather was heavy on my shoulders, the jacket far too big for my much smaller frame. It smelled like Joseph, and I breathed in deeply as he zipped it up to keep me warm.
“Thanks,” I smiled up at him, completely content in this moment with him. When he took care of me like this, I couldn’t worry about the dark events unfolding around me. I knew he’d do more than keep me safe; he’d cherish me. The knowledge was heady, and pleasure flooded my system.
He traced the line of my jaw, staring down at me with open admiration shining in his eyes. “You are so beautiful,” he murmured before he pressed a quick, sweet kiss against my lips.
I flushed as my pleasure intensified. This was more than the physical ecstasy that his touch elicited from my body; this was a soul-deep satisfaction that I’d only ever felt with him.
Despite everything that was happening—despite the horrible truths I’d learned about him—I was still infatuated with him. I wasn’t ready to fully trust him yet, but my heart still yearned for his affection.
I kept the love locked in my chest, not willing to voice it aloud yet. I needed to know more about the real Joseph before I could fully open my heart to him again. Trust had never come easily for me, and he’d violated it by hiding his past from me. It would take time for him to earn it back.
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