Captivated: A Mafia Romance (Carfano Crime Family Book 6)

~ Chapter 13 ~

Cassie

“Were you expecting someone?” Sean asks.

“No,” I reply, and his eyes narrow as he looks at my phone in my hands. It’s not a lie. I really didn’t think Nico was going to show up.

Sean’s chair scrapes against the linoleum as he pushes away from the table and stands.

“Sean, I got it. It’s fine.”

“Is it the guy who bought you that car? I should thank the man you used to help me.”

“Don’t be a dick, Sean.” I chase after him, but he gets to the door first and opens it, blocking me out.

“Who are you?” he asks nastily.

“Sean–” I start, but Nico beats me to it.

“Nico Carfano,” he says proudly, a dark note to his voice. He knows something’s up.

Sean’s eyes cut down to me. “You fucking serious, Cassie?”

Nico takes a step closer, and I can feel the controlled anger rolling off him. “Watch your mouth when you speak to her,” Nico warns.

I can’t take being blocked out like I need protecting. “Hey,” I say sternly, and push Sean out of the way. He winces, not putting up a fight, and I don’t bother apologizing because he’s being an asshole. “Go upstairs. I’ve got this.”

He looks between Nico and me, and then ultimately concedes and goes right upstairs, slamming his door like a petulant child.

I rub my forehead and sigh, then grab my jacket hanging by the door and step out onto the porch, closing the door behind me.

Now that it’s just us, a calmness washes over me that I don’t want to read into.

It also helps that Nico looks too good to be standing on my porch right now. He looks too good to be in this neighborhood. He looks too good in general, and I want to hate him for it, but my eyes enjoy it too much.

“What’re you doing here?” I ask him, shoving my hands in my pockets as the wind gusts a frigid blast at us.

He smirks when he notices my eyes appraising him. “I told you I was coming. And look” – he holds up a bottle of wine – “I brought wine to go with dinner.”

“Whose dinner? Because I didn’t invite you here.”

“I invited myself.”

My jaw hangs open for a second and then I snap it closed. “I’m going back inside and you’re leaving. Shouldn’t you be back in New York already? I didn’t think you’d still be here.”

His eyes roam over my face. “I’m not going back just yet.”

“Why? Don’t you have work?”

“Nothing urgent. Besides, there’s something keeping me here that I’m not ready to leave.”

“Your brother?”

Nico flashes me a sexy little grin. “No, not my brother.” He takes a step towards me and I stand my ground, not wanting to seem like I’m cowering away from him.

“Then what?”

“She’s a who.”

I lift my chin. “Then who?”

Nico lifts a single finger and lightly runs it along my jawline before taking my chin between his fingers. He brushes my lower lip with his thumb and my eyes flutter closed and open again, trying to remain strong when all I want to do is melt into a puddle at his feet.

“You, la mia rossa piccante.”

“I shouldn’t be your reason.”

“Why not? You’re the only reason I need to stay.” He leans in and I forget how to breathe. I forget common sense. I forget that I’m mad at him and the reason why. I forget everything.

With the way we’re standing, the porch light only illuminates half his face, but I can see the need and determination written in his gaze that he means what he’s saying and he wants me to believe him, too.

Nico closes the distance between us by another inch. “You’re the only reason I need to stay, Cassandra,” he whispers, and my brain doesn’t have the chance to argue with him or call him a liar before his lips are on mine, effectively silencing every part of me that’s screaming to not get in deeper with him.

His lips are soft, and it’s the gentlest he’s been with me.

I don’t know how to be gentle. I’ve never had gentle.

But with each time I’m with him, Nico makes me feel like for the first time I can soften, and I won’t be turned into a completely different person when I’m my most vulnerable.

He’s holding back with this kiss, and I appreciate that more than he knows.

There’s no rushing. There’s no endgame.

Despite the flirty and dirty texts, and alpha-man insistence earlier, he still respects my words and isn’t forcing more from me.

I cup his cheek and he breaks our kiss, leaning his forehead against mine. My eyes remain closed, wanting to savor everything about this moment, but I need to see his.

His deep brown eyes are waiting for me, and I feel his face muscles tick with the urge to smile when I caress his cheek.

Words fail me for the first time.

The intensity of the moment becomes overwhelming, so I pull away and take a small step back, needing a little breathing room before I’m consumed by everything about him. His eyes, face, voice, touch, smell…it’s all a dizzying storm that I can’t let myself be swept away in.

“Are you hungry?” I find myself asking, needing to break the silence so I’m less tense.

He gives me a smug smile that I would love to kiss off his face if I didn’t just tell myself I needed a little space.

“I am.”

I lead him inside, and after I take my coat off, he hands me the bottle of wine and shrugs his coat off as well. It seems like such a mundane thing, but Nico hanging his coat on the hook beside mine like he’s done it a thousand times when he’s come home, has my heart racing at the thought.

Nico coming home.

To Me.

It’s a scary thought, and I don’t know why I’m even thinking it.

I shake my head and go into the kitchen. “You can open this and I’ll heat the food again.” I can’t bring myself to look him in the eyes yet, so I shove the bottle and opener in his hands and turn the stove back on.

Why did I invite him in here? I said I wasn’t going to, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want him here. Just being around him is settling my nerves after everything with Sean.

“I like your house. It feels lived in,” Nico says in passing.

“I’m not sure that’s a compliment.”

“It is. I never had a home that had a homey feel to it.”

“What about your place now? Isn’t that a home you made for yourself?”

“It is. But it doesn’t hold memories like I know this house does.”

“Not all memories are good ones,” I tell him, finally looking him in the eyes.

“I know,” he says, a look of understanding flooding his gaze.

He doesn’t know, though. No one does. I haven’t told anyone everything about me. Not even Lexi. She and I have been friends going on four years now, but that doesn’t mean I’ve spilled my life story to her. Not even when I was at my drunkest did I let my secrets slip.

I was raised to keep things to myself. Everything stays within the family, is what my dad always used to say. And my brother and I learned the harsh truth of what happens when you don’t keep your mouth shut.

“What do you know?” I challenge.

“I know how a place that holds good memories can also be the same place that holds your worst. I know Lexi already told you who I am and who my family is, but you don’t know how it was before my cousin, Leo, took over as the head of the family.”

“I’d like to know. If you want to tell me, that is. I know you probably don’t talk about it or aren’t supposed to.”

“I can. To the right person who I know I can trust.”

He trusts me?

“How do you know you can trust me?” I choose to ask carefully. I don’t think I’ve given him much reason to.

Nico’s eyes remain trained on mine, never wavering in their intensity and sincerity when he says, “I know I can trust you.”

“How?” It comes out as a whisper through my tight throat that’s clogged with unknown feelings.

He tilts his head and his eyes narrow just the slightest. “Is there a reason I shouldn’t trust you?”

I swallow hard, pushing the lump in my throat down. I shake my head and whisper, “No.”

He gives me a small nod, but I see the flash of what I think is disappointment in his eyes. He casts them downward before I can get a good read.

I taste a piece of chicken to make sure it’s hot enough, and then turn the stove off and dish out a portion on a plate for him before reheating mine in the microwave.

I can feel his eyes on me the entire time, and they’re making me nervous. Like I’m in a fishbowl and everything is magnified rather than perfectly clear when we’re so close.

“Thank you,” he says graciously when we’re both seated with plates in front of us.

“You’re welcome.” I push my food around my plate like I did before he showed up and flick my eyes between my plate and him as he takes a bite.

“Mmm,” he hums, closing his eyes. “It’s fucking good, Cassie.”

My smile is instant. “You think so?”

“Yeah, I do.” He smiles back, and I can relax as the tension wracking my body melts. He eats another forkful and washes it down with wine before his intense gaze is back on me. “The Carfano name comes with a heavy weight we all carry. Leo, Alec, and Luca – my cousins – are the sons of my uncle, Michael, who was the head of the family before Leo took over after Michael and my father were killed almost six ago.”

“Oh, Nico, I’m so sorry.” I swallow every unfelt feeling about my dad I’ve kept buried deep inside me that threatens to escape the locked part of me I caged them in when I was twelve.

“Thank you.” He nods, his eyes becoming distant for a moment. “After that, the next generation stepped up so the family would have a fresh turnover and not have the older generation reporting to men half their age. It was a matter of respect, and they were willing to take a backseat to the day-to-day operations and decision making.”

“What’s your position?” I ask tentatively, not knowing what to expect him to say.

“I’m Leo’s consultant of sorts. His right-hand man who gives him the advice he needs to hear even when he doesn’t want to. The third in command you could say, with Luca being his second.”

“That’s an important job.”

“It is,” he says seriously. “We all take our jobs seriously, but we’re a family first, and job titles second. Family always comes before business.”

I blink away from his penetrating gaze. “That’s good. Family should come first.”

“Vinny lives and works here with Alec, running The Aces and our other various businesses here.”

“Various businesses? That’s an interesting way to allude to what you don’t want to admit to.”

“I can’t reveal every family secret to you just yet. That would be cheating.”

“Cheating?”

“You’d know everything about my family before I know anything about yours.”

“Oh, right.” I clear my throat. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I want to tell him. I want to share something with him. But I don’t know if I can. I’ve kept my mouth shut like I was supposed to. Even if that world was taken from me, I still resort to the scared twelve-year-old I was who didn’t know where or what my life was going to be after that day.

“We have time, Cassandra. You can tell me or not. But I’m here. I’ll be here to listen.”

I stare at him blankly. “You will?”

“Yes.”

“But you have a life. You have a home. You have a job and responsibilities. None of which are here in Atlantic City.”

“So? I made the decision the moment you got in your car and drove away last month that if I was put back in your path, then I wouldn’t let you walk right past me.”

“What if I turn and go back in the other direction?” I challenge.

“Then I’ll follow you.”

“You’d stalk me?”

“Stalking implies a stealthy operation. I’m telling you right now that I’m going to follow you, and will continue to do so, until you either turn around or I chase you down.”

I don’t know why, but my lips turn up in a small smile that has Nico’s eyes darting between my mouth and eyes. “Okay,” I finally say, and he raises his brows.

“Okay?”

“Yes. Okay.”

“Okay, then.” Nico and I eat in a comfortable silence for a minute, just basking in the notion that he will be here whether I try and push him away or tell him I don’t want him.

He’s simply going to be here.

For me.

Waiting.

No one’s ever said anything anywhere remotely as beautifully crazy before, and he declared it as a simple matter-of-fact statement. As if it was such a normal thing to tell someone.

“Should I risk it and ask you to go for a drive with me tomorrow morning? I’ll bring the coffee and breakfast.”

“I have classes tomorrow. But not on Wednesday, if you don’t mind waiting a day?”

“Of course not. So, Wednesday morning’s breakfast is lined up.” He winks. “But tonight’s dessert?” – he rubs his jaw and wets his bottom lip with his tongue – “I can think of only one thing on the menu.”

He says it while I’m taking a sip of wine and I cough into the glass, not expecting him to go there so brazenly.

“Oh,” I say, feeling my cheeks heat.

I’m not a shy person by any means, but the intimacy of the night mixed with him wanting to eat me for dessert, has me blushing.

“My brother is upstairs,” is all I say to deter him.

“So? I can be quiet. But wait…” He smirks, his eyes dancing with a gleam of a challenge. “I know how loud you get when my tongue is licking your pussy, so…” Nico leans back and drinks his wine like he just won something.

“I can be quiet if you have something to gag me with.”

It’s his turn to choke on his wine, and I just smile sweetly and flutter my eyelashes while he regains his composure.

“La mia rossa piccante,” he rumbles low and sexy. My God, when he speaks Italian, he could literally get me to do anything for him.

“My brother is probably back to playing video games now,” I add. “He wears headphones.”

“Stand up,” Nico commands, but I just prop my elbow on the table and place my chin in the palm of my hand while I pop a piece of gnocchi into my mouth.

His eyes narrow at my defiance, but he should’ve expected it.

“Stand up,” he repeats, his voice carrying the authoritative undertones I’d normally cave to. I want to give in, but I also want him to know that I’m not always going to listen to him. In fact, I rarely will.

“How about you get on your knees since you’re the one who wants dessert so badly.”

Nico flashes me a predatory grin. It’s pretty fitting considering I’ve felt like I’m being hunted by him. And while he’s already had me at his mercy, he hasn’t gone in for the kill yet.

He’s circling me.

He’s testing me.

He’s seeing how long it’ll take for me to tire before he can lead me willingly into the trap he’s set for me.

“I’d get on my knees for you,” I tell him. “In fact, I distinctly recall already having done so. If you ever want a repeat, then you can show me you have no problem dirtying your expensive suit for me.”

“Piccante,” he says smoothly, with an edge of amusement. “I have no problem getting any part of me dirty for you. I’d take you any way or place you’d let me.”

Standing slowly, Nico loosens then slides his tie free from its knot. Approaching me, his eyes never leave mine until he circles behind me. I sit still, and he grabs each of my wrists and brings them around the chair behind my back.

“What if I want to touch you?” I ask him, turning my head to the side so it’s near his as he’s bent down to secure my wrists.

“I want to see how fast I can get you to come with just my mouth, and I don’t want you distracting me.”

“What are you going to keep me quiet with if you’re already using your tie?”

“You’ll see,” he whispers in my ear, making me shiver with excitement.

Nico turns my chair out so my legs aren’t under the table, and lifts my chin with a single finger. “You look good like this. Even better if you were naked, but still…” He smirks playfully, and I scowl, pulling at my restraint to try and break free. “It’s no use. I know how to tie a knot that stays.” He winks, and my anger flares.

I don’t want to picture him with other women, tying them up, and fucking them so good they could pull at their restraints with all their strength and they remain tight through it all.

“Does that upset you, piccante?”

“No,” I say through a clenched jaw, and Nico smiles triumphantly.

“Don’t worry” – he leans down so his eyes are even with mine – “the thought of any other man having you like this has me thinking murderous thoughts, too.”

“That’s not what I was thinking,” I lie.

“I see it in your eyes, Cassandra. There’s no use in lying. But just so you know, I haven’t had another woman since I had you. The first time,” he makes sure to clarify.

“Sure you haven’t,” I counter, and his eyes flare.

“You think I’m lying? Am I lying when I say I’ve dreamt of you and your pussy every night, and had to settle for jerking off, wishing it was you. My thoughts have been consumed with you, Cassandra.” Nico rubs his thumb over my bottom lip. “Your lips. Your kiss. Your scent. Your touch. Your sounds. Your voice. Your warmth. Your hair. Your sassy mouth that loves to talk back. Your insatiable need to have me that matches my own for you. You. All of you. Everything about you haunted me, waking and sleeping, and if I hadn’t seen you Friday, I don’t know how much longer I would’ve lasted before I showed up at your door begging for anything from you. I would’ve taken any crumb of attention you were willing to give me. Still am.”

I’m rendered speechless.

I don’t even know how to process everything he just said, let alone form a coherent answer that doesn’t come out as fuck me, please.

“You don’t have to say anything,” Nico assures me, his voice soft like velvet as it caresses my racing heart to keep it from exploding. “Finally telling you is all I’ve thought about, and now that I have, I need to taste you again so I know you’re real and this isn’t just another dream.”

My head nods, with every word in my vocabulary frozen in my throat while my head is screaming to tell him that it’s been the same for me. That I’m just as haunted by him, day in and day out.

Nico places a soft kiss to my lips, sending a zap of electricity straight through me – setting every nerve ending on fire. I feel him everywhere. Inside of, and all over, me.

He lowers to his knees before me like a soldier or knight pledging his allegiance to his queen, and I can’t wait to be worshipped like one.

Nico’s hands reach for the waistband of my sweatpants and I lift my hips as he tugs them down and off me. My panties follow the same path, and the cold air hitting my wet pussy sends another shiver through me.

The way Nico looks at me… Like a hungry man who hasn’t seen a meal in days, or a thirsty man who hasn’t had a drop to drink while stranded in the desert.

“Così fottutamente bella,” he murmurs while his eyes roam all over me and settle between my thighs.

“Say it again,” I urge, and he gives me a little half smile.

“Così fottutamente bella.”

“What does it mean?”

Nico lifts my legs up over his shoulders. “So fucking beautiful. It means, so fucking beautiful. Now, since we’re not totally alone, I’m not going to waste any time getting you off. No teasing and no games.”

“I think you’re forgetting one thing.” I pop my mouth open and Nico’s eyes flare with heat again.

“I didn’t forget.” Nico takes my panties and brings them to his nose. He takes a deep inhale and sucks on the wet spot I already know I left there. “Mmm, a little appetizer. Now,” he says, “open wide for me, piccante.”

I do as he says and he stuffs the cotton fabric into my mouth.

“It won’t be enough to muffle anything too loud. So, I’m still going to need you to be quiet. Save your screams for when it’s just us.”

My answer to him is locking my ankles together around his shoulders and pressing him towards me.

He takes the hint and licks his lips, diving right into the task at hand – making me come hard and fast.

I grunt and bite down on my panties.

Why is it that when I have to be quiet, it seems impossible to do so? Only with Nico do I seem to not have any control over myself when we’re together like this.

His hot tongue circles my clit and I squeeze my thighs around his face, which has him groaning into my pussy. The vibrations travel through me and I shake with the need for just a little more. I was already close before he even started, because apparently, I don’t even need him to touch me to be turned on beyond belief. And now, I’m ready to come with just a few strokes of his tongue.

Nico slides his tongue down to my entrance and laps up the come already leaking from me before shoving his tongue inside me and sucking hard.

The chair creaks as I pull against the tie binding my wrists as my body shakes with how hard I clench my jaw and my thighs around him, trying not to make a sound.

Gripping my bare ass, Nico buries his face in my pussy, pressing his nose to my clit while his tongue is plunged inside me. With what little movement he can make with how tight I’m holding him, he shakes his head, and my already heated nerve endings send sparks off. I pinch my eyes closed and throw my head back.

Nico grunts into me, and I know he’s telling me to let go by that one sound.

He doesn’t want me holding back, but I’m a little afraid, not knowing if I can be quiet.

Sensing this, he grunts again and fucks me with his tongue while pressing his face harder against me and squeezing my ass.

I can’t hold back.

I can’t…

I…

My whole body shakes, and he all but sucks my orgasm from me with his magic mouth. And just when I’m about to let out a deep groan that I can’t hold back, he reaches up and closes his hand around my throat – making sure the sound gets stuck inside.

My eyes fly open and I see white flecks dotting my vision as the greatest orgasm I’ve ever had rocks through me like an angry ocean beating down on the shore.

I shatter on impact, and then I’m pulled back together by the sheer force of the tides.

I don’t even know how long it lasts, but when it becomes too much, and I’m deprived of oxygen for long enough, Nico releases me and I slump into the chair.

His tongue licks my pussy clean and I shudder at the continued onslaught when I’m already spent and sensitive.

Nico lowers my legs to the floor and puts my sweatpants back on me while I’m pliant and out of it. He unties my hands and takes my panties from my mouth, shoving both in his pocket.

“Così fottutamente bella,” he whispers in my ear as he picks me up and carries me to the couch in the living room.

Nico sits with me and pulls me against him, wrapping his arm around me. My eyes fight to remain open, and ultimately lose the battle when I rest my head on his shoulder.