Chapter Sixteen
Alessandro
I stalked away from my four-car garage and into the open dining and kitchen area. Tony approached from the guest bedroom on the ground floor, and I nodded before I asked in a clipped voice, “Everything okay?”
All I wanted was to find and fuck my little sparrow.
Tony nodded. “Yes, everything is fine.”
“Good,” I said brusquely. When he opened his mouth again, I added, “We’ll talk in the morning.”
I took the stairs at a run, leaving my soldier to stare after my disappearing back. I was certain Tony would have stopped me if he’d had something urgent to tell me. Whatever he had to say could wait. My need to see Jane most certainly couldn’t.
I smiled as I stuck my hand into the pocket of my jacket, touching the gift I’d bought. I was certain Jane would love the chunky vintage necklace with its heart pendant. That I’d won it at auction had been a rush I was still coming down from.
My smile thinned as I stalked through the sitting room, glancing out at the empty balcony along the way before I entered the master-suite...only to find it empty too.
What the fuck?
Splash.
My smile reinstated itself as I hurried out to the other balcony with its infinity pool. But I slowed when I saw the back of a blonde woman in a chocolate, string bikini as she waded through the shallow end.
She was stunning. But although my body reacted, anger surged.
All I wanted was Jane. “Who the fuck are you?”
She froze, then slowly turned to face me. “Alessandro,” she said huskily. “You’re home.”
My heart crashed to my toes, shock barreling through me. My voice cracked. “Jane?”
“Who else?” She gave me a half-smile. “Guess I’m not your little sparrow anymore.”
Anger surged ten times harder. She’d deliberately defied me! But why? I sucked a breath in through my nose. I’d find out soon enough. “Come here,” I commanded.
She waded back toward me then climbed the steps, water streaming down her throat and her barely contained breasts, her flat belly and thighs before splattering onto the tiles. She stopped in front of me and I lifted a hand, running the pad of my thumb along her crimson, lower lip.
“Lipstick now, too?” I asked.
She blinked, her mascara just as evident. “I’ve been practicing. The little sparrow you knew would never have survived in this environment.”
I curled my hand under her jaw, keeping her gaze on mine. “Do you really think a makeover will change who you are at the core?”
Her eyes flashed. “Then my looks shouldn’t matter.”
My dick thickened and throbbed painfully. Didn’t she realize she was beautiful either way? I just wanted the real, authentic version of her, not this cookie cutter adaptation.
She’d known how much I’d loved her being one-of-a-kind. I’d never doubted she’d stay that way.
How wrong I’d been.
Not that my body complained. I was primed and ready to take what was mine as I eyed the chocolate string bikini that barely covered her pussy and tits, her blunt cut blonde hair showcasing the stunning bone structure of her face, her big green eyes and pert nose, her lush, kissable lips.
Apparently it didn’t matter what she looked like. She still affected me on a primal level I’d never experienced with any other woman.
With a harsh groan my head swooped low and I covered her mouth with mine. All my desire, my pent-up need for her coalesced into an unstoppable force as I kissed and sucked on her plump lips, pushing aside her string bikini bottom to strum her clit until she was quivering and moaning against my mouth.
I jerked my head back, my heart twisting with lust and betrayal, my dick a pike in my pants. “On your knees.”
She glared up at me, her green eyes caught somewhere between glacial and magma. “ What ?”
I pushed back a rush of guilt. “You want to look and act like the women I’ve been with in the past, then this is your chance to prove it.”
I half-expected her to back down, to tell me it was never her intention to be like anyone else in my life. Instead she did as I asked, dropping to her knees and looking up at me with wide, trusting eyes even as she unzipped my pants.
I was commando as usual and my dick launched through the opening like a heat seeking missile. I ran my hand up and down its vein-roughened skin. “You know what to do.”
She enclosed the head of my dick with her moist mouth, and I dropped my hand away and closed my eyes, tipping my head back as ripples of pleasure grew stronger and stronger. When she sucked my shaft to the back of her throat I almost buckled, completely overwhelmed.
This. Was. Heaven.
I wrapped my fingers around the blunt cut of her now blonde hair, urging her to take even more of my sizeable dick. That she didn’t protest caused a low growl to form at the base of my throat, my balls lifting just as fast.
She seemed to know how close I was, her lips suctioning harder and her head bobbing up and down, taking me deeper and deeper.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
I was about to lose it.
I’d probably already lost it from the very first time I’d set eyes on her in her vintage shop. She’d been my precious jewel.
Had been?
I shoved my fingers deeper into her hair, my hips ramming forward. She made a distressed sound, close to gagging even before I growled out her name, my seed exploding down her throat in great, pulsing spurts.
It wasn’t until my pleasure dimmed and sanity returned that I withdrew from her. After gently pulling her to her feet, I used my thumbs to dry up her tears.
“Fuck,” I muttered hoarsely. “I never meant to hurt you.”
She blinked, her eyes so dark green they looked bruised. “Didn’t you?”
I sucked in a breath. Was she right? Had I taken my own form of revenge out on her by making her do what I’d expected any other woman to do? Except the whores and occasional mistresses I’d screwed had been experienced and up to the challenge. Jane was still innocent, despite her sexy appearance.
“I’m sorry,” I offered.
She lifted her chin. “Are you? I’m certain you enjoyed humiliating me and bringing me down to a level you imagined I belonged, thanks to me daring to change my looks.”
More guilt surged through me, swift and sharp. I deserved her scorn. “Let me make it up to you.”
“How?” She cast a quick look at the infinity pool and the sun lounges and rattan tables. “By fucking me out here in full view of the other home-owners?”
I didn’t need to look at the neighboring mansions to know at least half-a-dozen had a bird’s eye view of this balcony. That it also left Jane vulnerable—any one of my enemies could blackmail or coerce a neighbor into entering their home and shooting at us—made me physically ill.
Yes, I had safety measures in place to ensure that didn’t happen, but nothing or no one was truly invincible.
“No,” I finally answered, my voice stark. “Let’s go inside and talk.”
She nodded. “Good idea. I have questions.”
She sat on one of my couches. I sat next to her, noting how she shuffled away ever so slightly. That she was all but nude with her breasts bouncing and her pussy enticingly close made my dick rise all over again.
Her gaze slid down to my crotch before she looked back up, her face going pink. “I, ah, I want to know if my shop window is fixed yet?”
I shook my head, pushing away misgivings. “There have been some...issues.”
She frowned. “What do you mean? What issues?”
“Stock running late and still in-transit,” I said on the fly. “Nothing that can’t be rectified.”
Her eyes narrowed. “But I have to reopen my business.”
“Your vintage shop isn’t going anywhere.” I leaned close and touched her thigh. “And despite your attempt to suppress my interest, neither am I.”