An hour later, I’d built two sand castles. When my stomach started growling, I told them I needed to leave. The sun was setting anyway. I would shower, open a bottle of wine, and order room service. I’d started watching 90 Day Fiancé and was hooked. As I set my things down in the room and kicked off my flip-flops, I took a deep breath, taking it all in. I’d only been here two days and was already dreading leaving. I was at peace here, away from everyone. I wish I could have brought the girls with me, their husbands, and Rocco. I bit my lip and beelined straight for the bathroom as I thought about him.
* * *
I was soakingin the tub when I thought I heard a noise. More accurately, I’d been touching myself soaking in the tub when I thought I heard it. I hadn’t ordered room service yet, so I knew it couldn’t be that. Maybe someone had checked into the place next door. I shrugged it off and returned to what I was doing, closing my eyes and thinking about Rocco between my legs as I moved my fingers between them. His blue eyes were on mine as he kissed down my stomach and settled between my legs. He touched me and licked me until I was screaming his name. I gasped, arching my back and moving my fingers faster as I pictured him touching himself before he pounded into me, and then I was gone, my orgasm washing over me like a wave. I set a hand on my heart to calm it and got out of the tub. I dried off and wrapped a towel around myself and another on my head. The room was dark now, and the only light was that of the moon. It was all I needed, anyway, as I walked over to the bed and picked up the phone to order room service. I hung up when I was done and let myself fall onto the bed with an oomph.
“I have to say, the only thing that rivals you coming on my face is watching you make yourself come and chant my name.”
At the sound of his voice, I screamed and sat up in bed. He turned on a floor lamp and remained seated in the chair on the side of the room. I set a hand over my pounding heart and backed up on the bed as I stared at him, unsure if this was real or a dream. It had to be a dream because how the fuck would he have found me? I thought about my mother’s words and how she’d said they’d send a Marchetti or Russo after me. And there he was, sitting with his leg crossed at the ankle, wearing khakis and a blue polo that matched his eyes, looking like a fucking Ralph Lauren ad. My heart kept pounding. He raised an eyebrow.
“What the hell, Rocco?” I yelled. “What the hell?”
His mouth twitched.
“It’s not funny. God.” I set a hand on my heart and tried to focus on breathing, but it was impossible.
“You want to talk about things that aren’t funny, Principessa?” He stood up, his amusement replaced by something that made my stomach clench as he prowled over. That was what his gait reminded me of: a prowl. A tiger’s. A lion’s. Some kind of fierce animal that was ready to pounce on prey. His expression was closed off. Serious. Scary. He stopped before me, and I craned my neck to look at him as he leaned over me. “It’s not funny to disappear and not tell anyone where you are. It’s not funny that you trusted me with your virginity and not with this. It’s not fucking funny for you to be here living the good life while we’re going out of our fucking minds with worry.”
“Is that why you’re here?” I asked, my voice as weak and shaky as I felt. “Because you were worried? Or are you here to hunt me down?”
“Hunt you down? That’s oddly specific.” He raised an eyebrow. “Tell me, Principessa. Did the person who told you about me tell you what I would do if I hunted you down?”
“No,” I gasped, finding it harder to breathe.
He covered my throat with his hand. “Use your imagination. What would I do if I was hunting you?”
My eyes blurred with tears. “Kill me?”
“Kill you?” Amusement lit his blue eyes as he took his hand away. “And you think I’d kill you?”
“Maybe? I don’t know.” I squeaked. “God. Rocco, just tell me. What are you going to do with me?”
His smile was as feral as the animals that pounce. When he held my throat again, it was to pull me into a bruising kiss.
19
ROCCO
After my mother was murdered,I became a very angry teenager. People thought I went into the military to follow in Michael’s footsteps. The truth was, I had no option. I didn’t know how to kill someone and get away with it. I was fighting anyone and everyone who got in my face. I got my ass kicked a couple of times because of it. Then, Mikey sat me down on the eve of what would’ve been our mother’s birthday, and told me that if I didn’t want to end up dead or in jail, I should join the military. “The Marines will be a good fit for you,” he’d said. I listened, obviously, and was turned into a human weapon. Then, they turned me into a monster. I had a lot to thank them for. Having to learn to hold back and not unleash when I got angry was something I wouldn’t have discovered how to do on my own.
Even when I went to laundromats and bodegas to collect a payment, I didn’t unleash that version of myself. Even when I’d helped my friends execute their vengeance against whoever hurt their women, I didn’t unleash him. Finding Lenora De Luca in a tiny red bikini having the time of her life made the monster roar, not because she was safe and had us worried. Not because one of her father’s men could find her there at any moment. The monster roared at the thought of handing her over to that motherfucker Adriano. This unexpected, complicated reaction made me decide right then and there that I wouldn’t. If I had to kill every duke and duchess, king and queen, and whatever other bullshit titles these idiots decided to claim for themselves, so be it. I wasn’t doing it because I wanted her to be with me. I knew that would be messy and complicated. I was doing it because she deserved this freedom.
I’d been watching her for the better part of the day, trying to figure out the best time to make my presence known. I’d watched her play with the kids at the beach, building sand castles as they ran around her laughing. I’d called Dom to let him know I had eyes on her as I watched her from afar, her brown hair whipping around her face, her perfect body in that bikini, her smile and little claps when the kids got the hang of how to build sandcastles and did it without her help. My heart ached at the scene. Fucking ached. I’d gone into her room to wait for her. I was going to speak up as soon as she opened the door, but I just wanted to watch her for a little while longer. I was going to tell her when she went into the bathroom, but I was afraid she’d slip and get hurt, so I waited some more, giving her privacy to wash off. And then I heard her moan my name, and my eyes snapped up from the text I’d been writing my brother. I hadn’t come here to hook up with her. I’d already told myself it was out of the question. I needed to keep this professional and take her to a safe place until we planned our next move. My name on her lips threatened to throw me over the edge, though.
That and the fact that she didn’t trust me with this. She trusted me with her virginity, but not her safety? I went from turned on to angry in less than a minute. By the time she’d ordered room service, I had to shut my eyes and focus on breathing so I didn’t explode. So, I sat. I waited. I finally made my presence known. I’d expected her to freak out, be angry, relieved. I didn’t know. But fear? Fear of me? I hadn’t expected that. When she said the word “hunt,” I knew someone had told her some elaborate, bullshit story about me. And then she asked what I would do with her, so I kissed her. Hard. It took her a second to react, but when she did, she wrapped her legs around me, wrapped her arms around my neck, and kissed me back fiercely. I groaned against her mouth when I felt the heat of her pussy on the front of my shirt. The towel fell on the bed as I carried her in my right arm, my left hand reaching for the ridiculous towel around her head and tossing it. She pulled back for a moment, just a moment to catch her breath, and then her mouth was on me again. She kissed me like she’d let this scene play out in her head millions of times. Like she’d been ready for me to walk through that door. Fuck, I hoped she was ready. Not breaking the kiss, I sat down on the armchair by the french doors that led to the balcony, my hands gripping her ass cheeks as she continued to shove her tongue in my mouth to dance with mine. I pulled away this time and looked at her. Her skin was flushed, her lips puffy, and her eyes shone. I was going to fuck that mouth of hers. I’d fuck every single hole in her body if she let me.
“Are you scared of me?” I asked, watching her expression morph from awe to a confused frown.
“No.”
“No?” I lifted an eyebrow. She looked away. I grabbed her chin and made her look at me again. She shut her eyes briefly. When she opened them, she looked a little sad.
“I’m sorry I said that,” she whispered. “I know you wouldn’t hurt me. I was in shock, is all.”
I gripped the nape of her neck and pulled her lips back to mine. When we broke the kiss again, she lifted my shirt over my head and took my pants off. I planted kisses on her jawline, neck, and chest until I got to her tits and started licking and nipping those. She had the perfect little nipples and the perfect tits. I covered them with my hands and squeezed. She threw back her head and moaned as she rolled her hips over my hard cock.
“Oh god, " she said in a gasp as I continued playing with her nipples.
I was sure I could make her come like this, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to make her come a million different ways, but right now, I wanted her to stay on top of me. I slapped her ass to get her attention. She gasped and straightened, her hands still on my chest.
