Chapter 13 #2
Santino chuckled as he kicked open a wider-than-standard door.
“Theoretically, yes. In reality, I can see where I might spoil my daughters a little bit more than my sons.” He gave her a squeeze, stopped walking, and met her stare with a suddenly serious expression.
“What I will never do is not love them, cast them aside, or treat them as a subpar species. I will spoil all of you fucking rotten. I will protect you. Never doubt that.”
Her heart choked the air from her throat and Reiko swallowed hard. Her fingers clenched into the collar of his shirt. “Can we … have one at a time?” It was a stupid question, seeing as that was out of either of their control.
His smile made it seem valid all the same.
“We can even have a year or two in between if you want,” he said, his tone lightly teasing and gentle all at once.
It was what she needed. He leaned closer and kissed her cheek, then nipped at her jaw.
His next words were murmured into her skin. “Are you on birth control right now?”
There was the restless need to squirm again, accompanied by a demanding heat and pulsing ache low in her belly. “No,” she gasped. She’d had no reason to be.
He growled low, the sound vibrating through him, and moved forward again. Seconds later he was setting her down on what she presumed without even looking was his bed. He caught her chin as he straightened, holding her stare. “Do not move.”
She barely had time to blink before he was walking away.
Watching him gave her her first real opportunity to take in the room.
Of course, it was ridiculously spacious.
The décor was masculine but refined, and thankfully not all shades of black.
She spied what she assumed to be the ensuite through a partially shut door off one wall, and by the time she’d taken that much in, Santino had closed the bedroom door and was striding back toward her.
Not only that, he was also rapidly unbuttoning his shirt.
Her breath quickened. Am I ready for this?
Probably not. She wasn’t sure anyone could be ready for a man like Santino.
Certainly not a woman like her, so riddled with anxieties that she’d kept as much to herself as possible.
But not being ready didn’t mean she didn’t want to keep going. It was time to break out of her shell.
The man had shown up for her, literally, when no one else cared. The man had killed for her. The man had kissed her tenderly and felt for her, sympathized with her pain.
If she was going to be safe with anyone, she believed it was with him. That was crazy, in so many ways, but it might also have been the truest thing she had known in a long time. So, she licked her lips and reached for the knot at her hip.
“Don’t do that,” Santino said, his voice rough, as he let his shirt fall to the floor. His heated blue eyes raked over her. “I want to thoroughly ruin that dress before I get you out of it.”
A thrill sparked in her blood and she let her hands fall away.
Santino stepped out of his shoes, toed off his socks, and kicked it all aside before moving closer and gliding the pads of his fingers down her thighs. “Spread your legs for me, baby. Let me closer.”
Reiko opened for him and watched as he dropped to his knees. She’d never had a man in that sort of position before.
He dragged his hands up her sides, leaned forward, and kissed her hard once more.
One hand tangled in her hair, his fingers digging through and finding the band that held it up.
He bit down on her lip as he tugged it free, letting her hair tumble down past her shoulders.
Then he ran his tongue along her lip where he’d bit it before murmuring, “Fuck. Even your hair is sexy.” His kisses moved to her jaw, lighter and almost flirty.
“You have a safe word, beautiful? I need to know if I push you too far. You need to know you can stop me.”
A safe word. Control. It hadn’t occurred to her.
Her arms came around him, fingers digging into his warm muscle. The obvious answer popped into her head. “Scar.”
Santino lifted up enough to meet her gaze, his serious expression almost startling.
“I’m going to have to veto that one, baby.
Your scar is a part of you. The experiences that drove you to hurt yourself, the way you were treated after—all of that was fucked up beyond words.
I know. But you’re not that little girl anymore.
It’s time to stop hating yourself because someone else told you to.
” He moved a hand to her hip again and squeezed hard.
“Your safe word is your control word, your safety net. Not your trigger point.”
Emotion burned in her chest and up behind her eyes.
It flared like embarrassment at first, then quickly melted into a form of relief.
She thought her choice would be easy to remember, easy to think of in times of uncertainty or panic—but that wasn’t what he was really telling her to decide on. It wasn’t a ‘panic button’ word.
He’d called it a safety net.
Her vision blurred for a moment before she managed to blink back the tears, but she never looked away from him.
She never looked away from his intense, strikingly handsome face.
If she was choosing from something that gave her strength and security, then …
she had another idea. And it was staring right back at her. “Sapphire,” she finally said.
Santino arched a brow, his expression softening. “Sapphire? Is that a hint?”
Amusement bubbled up with the near-choking emotion and she smiled. She moved one hand, slipping it between them to reach up and trace her fingers along the side of his face. When her fingertips were up next to his eyes, she calmly repeated, “Sapphire.”
He smiled. “That I can get on board with.” He heaved a breath.
“Fuck. That’s hot as hell.” Then he surged up, crashing his lips to hers once more, his momentum tackling her to the bed.
The movement brought his pelvis almost directly over hers and he rolled his hips as her fingers threaded through his hair.
There were layers still separating them, and her concentration was poor, but there was no denying the rigid erection that was pressed between them.
Least of all when he ground it into her and sucked her tongue into his mouth.
Then he retreated, leaving her gasping for breath and her entire body flushed and aching.
His hands landed on her knees and he pushed them wider as he lowered back to his own.
“You were so damn strong today, baby,” he said, his voice rough with desire.
He swept his hands beneath the hem of her dress skirt, pushing it up her thighs.
“Lie back and let me reward you. Let me make you feel how fucking proud of you I am.”
Something in her core clenched at his words, at the tone in his voice, and Reiko could only comply. She dropped her body back to the bed, instinctively widening her legs more to fit the broad shoulders between her thighs.
Santino ducked beneath her skirt and breathed out a quiet curse. His hands brushed over the hem of her panties, his touch light to start. Then he gripped one edge, pulling the material taut, and in a moment her panties gave way. In another moment, she felt him pull them away from her altogether.
Her eyes widened. Surely that was not what it felt like to have underwear ripped off.
The curiosity vanished, chased from her mind a heartbeat later by the sound a deep male groan and the feeling of a thumb rubbing along the edge of her labia. Then his thumb moved away and his tongue was there. His tongue was everywhere.
Reiko gasped sharply as bright, pleasurable jolts of sensation fired through her. Her hands grasped at the comforter.
Santino was grunting and groaning and making wet, sloppy sounds as he devoured her neglected pussy like a madman.
His hands swept up and down her thighs, squeezing hard before moving to a new spot, as if he were branding every piece of her he could touch.
He teased her clit, bringing her close to the edge with expert swirls of his tongue, then switched back to long, exploratory strokes that left her panting with need.
Eventually, he dipped his tongue into her opening.
He teased her there, as if listening to the way the pitch of her moan changed, then sank his tongue inside.
His hands curved around her hips and took hold of her bare ass, gripping tight and holding her steady as he began tongue-fucking her in earnest. His tongue made contact with something inside that had her back bending sharply off the bed and she felt the vibration of his growled approval in response.
He did it again, and again, with alternating pressure, then swiftly licked up to her clit and adjusted to push two long fingers deep inside.
Reiko cried out as the orgasm burst from her like a dam. Her body shook, her hips undulating of their own accord against the face still lost beneath her skirt, her vision blurry. She could scarcely breathe.
Santino eased back, appearing in her line of sight as it cleared.
A shameless grin split his glistening face and he held up his hand, angled so the sunlight that streamed in through the windows reflected off the sheen of her that clung to his skin.
“You taste fucking divine, baby.” He licked his lips, leaned forward, and trailed his fingers over her bottom lip.
“Be a good girl for me and lick me clean.”
Her mouth opened before he even finished the request and a fresh pulse rolled through her at his words.
She closed her lips around his fingers and met his heated stare as she slid her tongue over them, taking her time.
She didn’t much care for the taste, but the action?
The moment? That moment was hot enough to have her body forgetting she’d already orgasmed.
Santino withdrew his fingers with a grunt. “I need to ruin this dress that you wore for him before I can get you naked. And I need you naked.” He ran a finger around the collar. “Are you able to loosen it, enough to get your tits out?”
Reiko blinked, too worked up to fully process his words. “I think so.” She reached again for the knot at her hip, and this time he didn’t stop her. The fabric quickly loosened, but as she moved to push her arms from the sleeves, she confessed, “I do actually like this dress.”
He smiled as he popped his belt open. “It’s a pretty dress. It still has to go.” He reached out, took the loosened top hem in both hands, and ripped it downward. The motion was more jarring than whatever he’d done with her panties, but it also succeeded in fully exposing her bra.
She’d chosen a matching set that day, in remembrance of the humiliation she’d felt when Santino had seen her plain-Jane bra previously.
Santino groaned at the sight before meeting her gaze again.
“I’ll buy you two new ones to make up for it.
This one hits the burn pile tonight.” Before she could question any portion of his reasoning, he tucked a hand behind her neck and drew her in for a deep kiss.
She tasted more of herself on him, but it was the sense of his urgency—his need for her—that chased away her fleetingly distracted thoughts.
When he broke the kiss, he mumbled, “The bra is sexy. I assume you wore that for me?”
She flushed stupidly and nodded.
He grinned, reached behind her, and swiftly unhooked it. “Then we’ll keep it. If you want.” He kissed her cheek. “Now do me a favor, baby, and take out my cock.”