Devil’s Deal (Love & Loyalty: Prequel)

Chapter 9

Chapter

Nine

CORY

“You’re doing awesome,” I praised Harlow. We were in my office, well, our office now, going over administrative tasks that he would be taking over. This was the first time he’d done the schedule completely by himself.

He bit his bottom lip. “Thanks, but I feel like it took me forever.”

Chuckling, I shook my head. “You’re picking it up much faster than I did. When I first opened this place, I’d be up all night trying to make the schedule for the next two weeks. You’ll get faster as you do it. Lord knows, it’s one of the most repetitive parts of the job. There have to be employees on shift, or we’d be closed.”

He snorted. “That’s true, but what if we broke some of these departments down and gave them managers who scheduled for their departments?”

Relief flooded through me. I’d been worried that even though I told him to think about other employees that we could promote up, he’d behave the way I always had. As I’d been making an official list of the things I did that I’d like him to take over, it hit me why my sister always told me that I did too much. Why Mac had always tried breaking things down so I could delegate.

There was no way that I wanted Harlow to manage my way and overwhelm himself. He needed to have a life. Because of that, I listened to Romeo when he started moving things off the list that I planned to keep for myself over to the general manager’s responsibilities and then moving tasks on that list over to a blank column with a question mark next to it.

We needed one hundred percent more leadership. And while Mac had adored me enough to let me have my own way, Romeo took his job as Daddy so seriously that all he cared about was what was best for me.

We both looked up when there was a soft knock on the door. “Come in,” I yelled.

Charity stuck her head in the door, her face pale and tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry to bother you, but?—”

She stumbled forward as a man pushed past her. “I’m sorry to bother you,” he said, not looking sorry at all. “But there’s a problem at your front desk that I wanted you to be aware of.”

Charity backed up against the wall, shrinking into herself. What the hell was going on? Standing up, I rounded my desk and stood directly before him, staring him down. “What seems to be the problem?”

“She’s a whore.” He pointed at my sweet girl.

Harlow jumped up. “Excuse you.”

With a smug expression, the man adjusted his cufflinks. “It’s true.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I asked, “And how would you know?”

His eyes widened, then narrowed at my insinuation. “Excuse me?”

I began tapping my chin as Harlow went over and enfolded Charity in a hug. “You heard me. How do you know?”

Harlow turned his head, glaring at the man’s back. “That’s a good question since I checked you and your wife in.”

I quirked an eyebrow. “Your wife, huh? Now, please continue. What makes you think you can come into my place of business, speaking about one of my employees like you think she’s trash?”

“Because she is,” he said, raising his voice. “I’m telling you, I know for a fact that she’s a prostitute.”

“So what?” my favorite deep voice growled from the door.

This man spun around and found Romeo mirroring my pose. “Who are you?”

“I’m the reason you’re checking out of this hotel.”

The man sputtered. “I most certainly am?—”

Romeo stepped all the way into his space, peering down at him. “I don’t take kindly to people like you,” he said in a harsh whisper. “You have two strikes against you. One, it sounds like you’re trying to make a girl I’m rather fond of feel badly about herself. I can’t have that.” He leaned closer. “Two, you’re yelling at my man. Disrupting his peace. I won’t have that.”

The man looked around, searching for someone in my office to be on his side. What he found was that Dante had joined the party. I had to admit, I wasn’t unhappy when he unbuttoned his suit jacket and pulled it back just enough for his gun to show. The unwanted guest stumbled back toward me.

Romeo growled deep in his throat. “You don’t want strike number three, friend. It won’t go well for you.”

Red-faced, the customer hightailed it to the door. Dante stepped in front, blocking him. “Make sure you don’t leave any negative reviews. As a matter of fact, leave a real good one.” Then he smiled in a way that sent shivers down my spine.

Applesauce . It was a good thing he was on my side.

I ran for Harlow and Charity. Romeo up-nodded Dante, who disappeared back out the door. He’d make sure the man checked out. “Are you okay, Charity?” I asked

Tears streamed down her face. “Are you going to fire me?” she asked in a small, shaky voice.

“Why would we do that?” Harlow asked before I could respond.

She swiped both hands at her cheeks. “What if it happens again?”

Romeo huffed. “We’ll handle them, too. Don’t you worry about that.”

“I’m so sorry. He came up to me at the desk and started taunting me and threatening to tell the owner about me, and I didn’t know what to do.”

“Coming to get me was exactly what you should’ve done,” I assured her. “And if I’m not around, get Harlow or Romeo.”

“Or Dante,” Romeo added, whipping a handkerchief out of his pocket for her to dry her face.

“Okay. If you’re sure.”

Breaking my rule again, I hugged her tight. “Ab-so-lute-ly. Now, let Harlow take you up to your room so you can pull yourself together.”

“But—”

“It’s the end of your shift. It’ll be fine,” Harlow said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and directing her out. “I’ll see you later, big cheese.” He gave me a strained smile before they disappeared down the hall.

Romeo shut the door, and I eagerly stepped into his warm embrace. “I’m so glad you found us.”

“Me, too. Dante was showing me the changes he made in the elevator when someone told Everest some guy was picking on Charity at the desk, and they’d headed for your office. I checked my app, and when we saw the?—”

“App?” I asked, stepping back and cutting him off.

Romeo’s jaw tightened. “Yeah, so…” He rubbed his beard.

My gaze narrowed in on him, then I looked back toward the wall that supposedly led to the tunnels. “Romeo. How did you know where to look for me the night that Huey took me?”

He cleared his throat. “So. Uh. I may have installed a camera in your office to keep an eye on you.”

“You what?” I yelled, startling myself. Speaking softer, I moved closer to him.

“Explain.”

He huffed, but all signs of remorse disappeared as he puffed up his chest. “I can’t protect you if I can’t see you. Look what’s happened already. You had a homicidal maniac, and then this guy stormed in. Who knows what would’ve happened in here if Dante and I hadn’t come in.”

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I paced my small space. I wasn’t pissed that Romeo had access to me and my office so much as annoyed that he hadn’t just told me. Not the night of Huey’s attack, nor the day after, or in any of the weeks since. It made a part of me weak in the knees that he was so…virile.

On the other hand, he still hadn’t moved his stuff from wherever it was, and the only reason his duffle bag had been emptied and the clothes put away was because I’d done it as I did our laundry. “You send mixed signals,” I said without preamble.

“How?”

“You’re so concerned about my safety and willing to…to…to kill for me, but you haven’t really committed to us.”

His jaw dropped. “Are you kidding me?”

“No,” I said stubbornly. Then I told him exactly why I felt that way.

Romeo sighed, sounding exasperated. “We need privacy. Harlow might come back.” He went over to the wall behind my desk and stuck his hand up under the picture on the wall, which then opened. He held out a hand. “Come on.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to go in there.”

He frowned. “This is part of your hotel, Cory. You need to see how cool it is. Don’t worry. I can lead you up to the belfry without us passing the room Huey camped out in.”

“Do I have to?”

He came back, clutched my hand in his, and tugged me into the dark tunnel. True to his word, we didn’t go anywhere near where Huey had taken me, and since he was walking like a speed racer, we reached the access to the belfry in record time. As much as I hated to admit it, the tunnels were creepy in a cool way. Since I’d studied the heck out of Mac’s blueprints, I could visualize this space utilized in a much better, less creepy way.

He pointed to the bed. “Go stretch out, boy.”

I wanted to argue, but I also wondered what he had to say for himself, so I lay down. He whipped off his shirt and lay down facing me. “I love you.”

“What?” That wasn’t what I expected him to say.

He reached his hand up and cupped my cheek. “I love you, Cory Letterman. I think I started falling for you the first time we talked on the treadmills. Once I knew you were a boy, forget about it.”

“You really love me?” I asked.

He smirked. “I’m associating with a crime Family I’d had every intention of avoiding for the rest of my life for you. I’m staying in one place, spilling my name to people who have no business knowing it, and spending every spare second searching for your nephew or helping your employees with things. I think it’s safe to say that I love you.”

“But your stuff?—”

“Is in transit. I hired movers to pack up my storage unit and drive it here. I had some delicate things in there, so I had to find someone to go clear out anything troublesome first. I’m not your average Joe, sweet boy. I can’t have just anyone pawing through my stuff.”

“It’s on its way here? Really?” I’d have been embarrassed by how excited I sounded if I wasn’t so desperate to know that this was it. That he was staying.

He pressed his lips to mine. “Not here, here. I rented space in the same storage as you.”

“You did?”

He chuckled. “Yes. Now, am I forgiven?”

I moved closer, slipping one of my legs between his. “Ab-so-lute-ly. I can’t believe you did that.”

“Well?”

“Well, what?” I asked, going in for a kiss. He was committed and staying with me.

“Do you love me?”

I blinked rapidly. “Is that a for real question?”

Both eyebrows rose toward his hairline. “Daddy, I’m so in love with you, and I feel like the luckiest boy that you came to my hotel and?—”

He cut me off, his lips on mine, and rolled me to my back. He made quick work of both our clothes. “Tell me again,” he said, hovering over me.

“I.” Kiss. “Love.” Kiss. “You.” Kiss. Then I pushed him back and stretched out on top of him. Straddling him, I sat up, watching with amusement as his cock thickened. “You like me.” I pointed down.

He reached over, running his finger lightly up my dick. “It looks like you like me, too.”

Here was the thing about Romeo. He enjoyed taking his time with me. Prepping me slowly, branding me with his marks. Sometimes though, a big confession of love or not, a boy just wanted to fuck. Reaching over, I grabbed the lube that I’d stocked up on and slathered some on my fingers.

“What are you doing there?” he teased as I reached back and began tracing over my hole.

“I need you in me now.”

His arm came up, and I slapped it down. “I don’t need help. Just give me a minute.”

His laughter died down as his eyelids grew heavier. His chest rose and fell like he was exerting himself as my breaths grew faster and louder in the quiet room. By the time I was fucking myself on three fingers, he ran out of patience and grabbed my hips. “Now,” he growled, reaching for a condom and taking care of wrapping himself as I slowly pulled my fingers out, leaving myself empty and ready for him to fill me up.

If this man only knew how much his growly voice turned me on, we’d never leave this bed. Carefully, slowly, I lowered myself onto his cock until fully seated. “Mm, that’s the stuff.”

“Yeah, it is. Now ride me.” So I did, rising and falling as he pumped up into me. “That’s it, boy. Take what you need.”

This was what I needed. The feel of his body against mine, a physical part of him in me, symbolic of a part of him that had taken up residence in my heart. His gaze moved, tracking every part of me as his hands grasped my hips tight enough to leave marks, guiding me.

“Fuck, I love you,” he said as I grabbed my cock, stroking it quicker and faster as he planted his heels into the bed and fucked up into me like he’d die if he didn’t come.

“I love you, too, Daddy. I love you,” I called out again as my cum spurted free. Painting his chest hair. His face contorted with blissful pleasure as his body spasmed with release. That look right there was my favorite of any expression he ever wore on his face. When his mind was empty of anything but me and what we found together. No concerns or worries. No hotel or mafia Family. Just us.

Fighting to catch my breath, I held the condom in place while I pulled off and fell to my side next to him. Romeo turned his head on the pillow and smiled. “Hi.”

“Hello.”

He rolled off the bed and got to his feet. I knew he’d go to the bathroom next, get rid of the condom, clean himself up, and come back with a nice warm washcloth for me. Then he’d pull me into his embrace, ask about my day with Harlow, bitch about the guy upsetting Charity, and tell me basically nothing about his day. But now, before I closed my eyes for a nap, he’d tell me he loves me, and I’d do the same. It was pretty close to perfect. The only thing missing in my life now was my nephew.

Please be alive, Emilio. Please.