“I understand, Damiano. But that doesn’t change what you promised me.”
I press my lips to her forehead, breathing in her scent beneath the smoke. “Then we have a pact. Together against the world.”
“Together,” she echoes, her arms tightening around me. “Always.”
The sirens are very close now. I help Lucy off my lap and we both stand. My legs aren’t quite steady. In the distance, red and blue lights are starting to flash against the buildings.
We pull apart reluctantly. I open the passenger door for her, and she slides inside. As I drive us away from the burning warehouse, away from the sirens and the dead men, I reach over and take her hand, threading our fingers together on the center console.
Everything has changed tonight, and we’ve crossed a line we can never uncross. Despite the danger we’re in, or maybe because of it, I’ve never felt more certain of anything in my life.
This woman is mine. And I’m hers.
I moan softlyas I awaken. My bed smells like Lucy. She came to me after another nightmare, just like she did when we were children.
I shift on the mattress, and the sheets drag against my hard cock. I linger over the memory of Lucy’s delectable body in my lap as she let me squeeze her ass and press my face into her soft breasts. The way she kissed me back with desperate hunger, surrounded by fire and death. The way she looked at me when I promised her we’d find a way to be together. Really together.
With my eyes still closed, I push the sheet down and wrap my hand around my morning erection. I squeeze and stroke myself, groaning softly, remembering Lucy’s lips on mine as she whispered that we can have whatever we want. I stroke my hot, hard flesh, imagining that Lucy’s mouth is wrapped around my shaft as she sucks me.
Something moves in my bed that’s not me.
I freeze and open my eyes. Not one foot from me, Lucy is laying on her side facing me. I’ve dragged the sheet from her body as well, and she’s dressed in one of my T-shirts that’s as long as a dress on her, and her legs are bare.
Her eyes are wide open, without a hint of embarrassment that she’s caught me jerking off.
A smile tugs at her lips. “Don’t stop. Pretend I’m not here.”
“Fuck. What are you doing?” I hiss in a whisper. “I can’t pretend you’re not here.”
“Then enjoy that I’m here.”
I’m frozen with my hand wrapped around the head of my swollen cock. She openly watches me, not one trace of embarrassment or shame on her beautiful face. Blood pounds in my ears and throbs in my dick. She looks so beautiful with her golden curls spread out on my pillow. She’s so close that I can feel the heat from her body.
“I dare you to keep going,” she whispers.
“You should be in your own bed,” I seethe, trying to pretend I’m angry to mask the rapid beating of my heart.
“That’s the thanks I get for comforting you in the middle of the night? It’s not my fault that you fell asleep with your arms locked around me.”
The sleepy memory of my darkened bedroom and Lucy in my arms comes back to me. She woke me from a fiery nightmare, which was worse than usual after the warehouse explosion, and soothed me with kisses on my brow. I clung to her. I never wanted to let her go.
Lucy nestles closer to me and threads her fingers through my hair. Her touch sends golden sparks through me. “You’re so hard, Damiano. You must need to come very badly.”
Her touch makes me want to give in and take what I was just fantasizing about. It would take one second to tug her underwear down her legs, if she’s even wearing any, roll her beneath me, and then I’d be between her thighs.
I scramble to remember what I said last night about being patient and careful.
Lucy trails her fingers down my chest, sending warm shivers through my body. I squeeze my cock without thinking.
“Damiano, you’re a capo in the Barone crime family. One of the most powerful men in the city. You can have whatever you want.”
That would be utterly reckless, but right now I can’t think straight. Her fingers wrap around mine on my shaft, and a pleasurable shudder goes through me. “Lucy,” I breathe. “You shouldn’t do that.”
“And you shouldn’t stare at my mouth like you want to fuck it.”
My breath catches. “I do not.”
Lucy’s lips brush mine—just like last night, that teasing almost-kiss—and heat explodes through me. “Liar. You’re not subtle when you’re horny, Damiano.”
