Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16
Nero
S he’s trying her best to look brave and daring, but she’s not pulling it off at all. Sofia looks nervous and unsure, worrying at her lips and shifting from foot to foot.
“Tell me again why you’re here.”
Red rises up her cheeks and she lowers her lashes. “I told you already.”
“Tell me again,” I assert more firmly.
She raises her chin into the air, defiant. “I want you to teach me how to please a man.”
“Did you miss the way to your husband’s room?” I spit out the words and, as I watch her flinch, I’m immediately filled with regret.
“If you don’t want to teach me, you can just say no.” And when those green eyes meet mine, they are filled with a challenge. Her eyes are taunting me.
Are you going to say no, Castello? They’re asking.
The silence stretches endlessly between us, and then her mouth tightens into a tight line. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—I’m going to leave now, I?—”
As she makes to move past me, I grab her by the back of her neck and pull her into me till our mouths are an inch apart.
“You came all this way just to leave?”
She opens her mouth to say something, but Cat decides that’s a good moment to reveal himself. He meows and we both glance down to where he’s staring between us in open judgment.
“Oh my God!” Sofia exclaims, immediately pulling away from my hold and dropping to her knees. “He’s so cute. Aren’t you the cutest?”
The Cat from hell, who won’t even let me get him into his carrier without taking off layers of my skin, begins to butt his head against her outstretched hand. And soon, Sofia is scratching behind his ears and he’s purring contently. I narrow my eyes at Cat and then wonder why I’m surprised.
Like owner, like pet.
At that moment, my eyes land on the collar of her dressing gown. From my position standing above her, I can see down her neckline to the top of her breasts.
My cock stirs in my pants, and I’ve had enough of Cat. I swoop down, grab it, and head for my bathroom.
“What are you doing? Nero, stop.”
I drop the animal in the bathroom and shut the door behind it, ignoring the way he stares at me with betrayal.
“He’s had his turn,” I tell her. “Now it’s mine.”
I clutch the hem of my shirt and quickly whip it off my head. Her eyes drop down to my bare torso, and I stalk towards her, enjoying the way her eyes get wider and wider with my approach.
“Take off your robe,” I tell her. “Slowly. I want a show, Princess.”
Gulping, she reaches for the ties wrapped around her waist and begins to undo the knot. Our eyes are locked together as the robe drops open. My jaw drops open as the wrap pools down to the ground and my gaze finally lands on her body.
“Sofia.” The sound is as rough as gravel.
The see-through material of the body suit clings to every slight curve of her body, making her look decadent. She looks like a present, all gift wrapped and presented to me with a strained smile.
Her hair falls down on one side to cover her breast while the rest of it goes down to her back, a cascade of chestnut and bleached gold waves. She’s a goddess, and I’m the lucky bastard who gets to put his hands and mouth on her.
I walk over to the chair and settle down on it, leaning back into it, legs spread.
“Come here, Princess.”
She takes a single step forward and then something in her eyes changes. She thrusts back her shoulders, flicks her hair over her them and continues toward me, hips swinging in a move that makes me spread my legs further to give my aching cock some relief.
“On your knees,” I tell her when she’s standing before me.
One corner of her mouth curls up and she bends at the waist, one hand on my shoulder and the other digging into the short hair at my nape. A groan is ripped out of my mouth as she begins to slide down to her knees, palms moving over my bare chest and down my thighs till she’s kneeling before me.
I can’t help myself. I fist her hair and smash my mouth into hers, licking into her mouth with a reckless hunger. When I finally pull my mouth off, her eyes are glazed and her mouth is wet and a little bit swollen.
“Nero.”
I nod down at my lap. “Take my belt off.”
Her hands are steady when they make quick work of my belt, sliding the leather out of the buckle. Then she undoes the button of my pants and drags down the zipper.
“Take out my cock.”
Her throat trembles with a swallow and she pulls down the band of my briefs and takes hold of my length. She watches in fascination as my erection stiffens and becomes engorged, rigidly hard and long. As soon as her hands wrap around it, it jerks in her hand, and she giggles. A smile pulls at my mouth and only widens when she releases it from the confines of my briefs and her jaw drops open.
“Oh God.” Her tongue swipes across her lower lip.
“Put the tip in your mouth and suck,” I order.
She bends her head and wraps those plump lips around my head. All the muscles in my body tense at the contact, and I lean forward, teeth clenched together.
“That’s it, Princess. Now flick your tongue around it before taking me deeper.” Again, she obeys. “Breathe through your nose, baby. Yes, like that.”
She inhales deeply, like she’s savoring my scent and the taste of me on her tongue. The sight of her aching for me, wanting me, wanting this possession, like she couldn’t get enough of me, is driving me to total madness.
“That day in the garden was all about you, Sofia. Now it’s all about me. Open your mouth.” She barely had time to process my demand before I’m sliding, hard and deep, into her mouth.
My hands tangle in her hair, gripping her head, holding her as I withdraw and then push into her mouth again. “Ah, Sofia. Your mouth is so damn sweet. I’ve been dreaming of this. Of those pretty lips on my cock, and coming all over your mouth.”
She closes her eyes, her entire body quivering as my movements become more forceful.
To my surprise, she begins to suck on it like I’m her favorite flavor of lollipop. The hand that isn’t in her hair is clutching the arms of the chair in a death grip.
“Open your mouth wider for me, baby,” I pant, and she follows the instructions, head moving down as more of me disappears into her hot, wet mouth.
Christ Almighty . Sofia is going to be the death of me, and I’ll thank her while digging my own grave.
“Wrap your hand around the base. Yeah, Princess, right there.”
She makes a choking sound as she tries to take too much of me and I immediately tighten my fists around her hair, stilling her movement. When she looks up at me in confusion, I shoot her a warning look.
“We’ll work you up to taking me in your throat, baby,” I tell her. “Okay?”
She nods and then makes a sound of agreement that rumbles through my cock.
“Stick out your tongue,” I order her. “Each time you move, you’re going to be dragging it down the underside.”
“Hmm,” she hums.
“My God, Sofia,” I moan.
Sofia takes to sucking cock like she takes to everything else, with an eagerness that drives me crazy. What she lacks in skill, she more than makes up for in pure enthusiasm. I’ve never been with a woman who makes such happy sounds with her mouth wrapped around me.
She moans as her head bobs up and down my erection, her hand following the movement of her mouth. It’s wet and sloppy and very fucking perfect. My hands dig harder into the armchair and my hips begin to twitch, chasing the sensation.
I shout when she pops me out of her mouth and then her tongue laps at my slit, where I’m leaking precum.
“Hmm,” she moans, “tastes so good.”
And then she’s on me again, sucking and licking and making sounds that make my balls tighten and my muscles lock into steel.
“Your mouth should come with a warning. Damn, Princess.”
“Hmm.”
“That’s it, Princess. Take me deeper, just like that. Harder. Yes. Yes. Yes. I love the feel of you. I love the way your wet mouth sucks me like you’ll die without a taste. Yes. Let that throat convulse around my dick. Take it. Take more. All of me. That’s it.”
My fingers curl more tightly in her hair until it is impossible for her to move. Relaxing, she tilts her head back so she can take me deeper and forces herself to take whatever it is I’m giving her.
Sofia wants me to be satisfied. She wants to rock my goddamn world.
“You’re taking me so good,” I tell her. “Your mouth—” I begin to plunge faster into her mouth, my hips thrusting up into her while my hands on her head begin to guide her faster. Tears run down her eyes as I fuck her mouth brutally, her moans getting louder and louder.
I thrust, forcing himself deeper than before, and then I hold myself at the back of her throat, her nose pressed into my groin. Just when she struggles for air, I release her, withdrawing and allowing her time to breathe. Then I guide myself back to her mouth, still holding her hair tightly in his grasp.
“I want to fill you with my cum, that sinful mouth, your wet pussy,” I grunt. “Jesus, what you do to me,” I say in a raspy voice. “I love you on your knees, Sofia. I’m going to come in your mouth, and I want you to swallow every drop.”
I reach down and twist her nipple from the lace of her lingerie, and a muffled sound vibrates around me. I pinch them harder, and her hand wrapped around my cock tightens.
“Princess!” I bark, loosening my hold on her so she can pull away if she wants, “I’m close. I’m?—”
She pushes her mouth down around me and glances up at me with hunger-filled eyes. My entire body bristles with tension. This is no slow, sensual dance to completion. It is down-and-dirty, quick pleasure. I begin to thrust fast and hard, wet sucking noises echoing in the room as her cheeks hollow with each surge forward.
Gritting my teeth, I continue to pound into her, thighs straining. Desire gathers at the base of my spine and then it erupts.
“Sofia,” I growl as I start to cum, filling her mouth. She makes a choking sound and then she moans and swallows me down. She’s trying to catch up, but I keep coming and coming, the forceful jets hitting the back of her throat just before the head of my cock does. My hand tightens in her hair to the point of pain, but she ignores it.
This damn girl.
I keep pushing into her until she is nearly overwhelmed by the depth of my entry. For a long moment, I hold myself there as the last of my release pumps into her mouth. Finally, my grip on her hair eases and I slowly allow my cock to slide from her mouth.
She swallows and coughs and then swallows again, her eyes watering, but her gaze doesn’t stray from mine. She wants to see my satisfaction. My approval. And so, I nod. Still very much trying to catch my breath.
When she finally pulls away, she locks her gaze on mine and then drags her tongue around her mouth with relish. One second, she’s kneeling between my legs. The next, I’m picking her up, tossing her into the bed and ripping the triangle of material covering her pussy apart.
“Nero!” she chides, but there’s laughter and desire blazing in her eyes.
I throw her legs over my shoulder, bend my head to her soaked pussy, and feast. At the first taste, I already know I’ll never taste anything as good in my life ever again. For a man like me, this is the closest I’ll ever get to Heaven, and so I eat her like a starved man, drawing out cries, pleas, and screams from her.
She writhes on the bed, hips thrusting into the air and trying to move away at the same time. I hold her in place and drink her down. I allow myself to get intoxicated, damning myself to a life where everything else will taste like cardboard in comparison to her.
When she comes, it’s with a scream that I’m barely just able to muffle with my hands. Afterward, she drags me up to her and kisses me, tongues twisting against each other lazily, allowing each other to taste the evidence of our downfall.
“Was that good enough a lesson for you?”
“Hmm,” she murmurs. “I forgot to take notes, though. I’ll have to take the class again.”
I hide my smile in the curls of her hair. Then I wonder what the hell I’m doing and why, instead of tossing Sofia out right after I had come, I’ve eaten her out and am now curled up in bed with her. I’m getting in over my head and I know it, but there’s nothing I can do about it other than wait to see it play out.
You’re making a mistake; you’re destroying everything you’ve worked for with your own hands.
I ignore the warning voice in my head.
Her hand begins to trace the vines curling around my shoulder and neck. “What does it mean? The tattoo, what does it mean?”
“It’s a tree,” I deadpan.
“I know that.” She rolls her eyes. “I won’t believe you just thought the tree was cool and decided to get it. You don’t—” Her words trails off and then, more cautiously, she asks, “Who’s Jacobe?”
I still, then curse myself for allowing her to view the tattoo up close. “It’s nobody.”
“His name is etched into your skin, Nero,” she points out.
I’m tired and my defenses are down. That has to be the only reason I open my mouth and say, “He was my father.”
She tenses against me. “Your father? What happened to him? Where’s he now?”
How did I forget how curious the green-eyed princess can be? I sigh. “He’s dead. Died fourteen years ago. He was close to the former capo, Sebastian’s father.”
“Is that why you left? Because he died?”
I swallow. “Yes. He was a good man, and an even better father. He was my mentor and my friend, raised me to be good, too. After he died, I couldn’t stay here. I couldn’t look at the places we had walked together without feeling betrayed by fate. And so, I left.”
“How did he die?”
I chuckled bitterly. “Transaction gone wrong. The bad guys didn’t want the deal he was offering, and things got out of hand.”
“You say it like that’s not really what happened,” she whispers.
“I found out a year later he had been executed, and all because of someone’s greed. All because they thought he didn’t deserve everything he had worked hard for.” I close my eyes, and my fist tightens.
“Some people think that people like us, born from a line of nothing, should stay there. It doesn’t matter how hard we try to claw our way out; they’ll always be waiting to get rid of us when we start to threaten their throne.”
“Who executed him?”
“That’s enough heavy conversation.”
I feel her raise her head and peer at me. “Was he going to be the next capo?”
“You should work on your pillow talk skills.”
She sighs, frustrated. “You don’t trust me.”
“I don’t trust anyone, Princess.” I open my eyes and our eyes meet, the now familiar wave of heat curling through me at something as simple as eye contact.
Hurt fills her eyes, and I immediately look away, because that sad expression on her face is making me want to get to my knees and confess all my sordid plans to her.
“I’ve already been betrayed by someone I considered family,” I admit with a low voice, and her eyes narrow. “How am I supposed to trust another person?”
Her gaze is steady and piercing, and I have the odd feeling she can see into my soul. “Are you going to kill Sebastian?”
I drag my thumb down to the fluttering pulse between her collarbones. “Yes.”
I wait for the shock, surprise, or terror to fill her eyes, but her expression remains just openly curious.
“And are you going to kill me, too?” This time, her voice trembles.
“You shouldn’t ask me that.”
“I’m asking it anyway.”
“Sofia—”
“Are you?” she cuts in.
I imagine her lifeless eyes staring up at me and I recoil from the thought, my heart thudding violently. I’m not supposed to leave anything of Lucchese’s empire standing. It’s all supposed to be razed to the ground. Every. Single. Thing.
But when I look at Sofia?—
“Princess, I?—”
Suddenly, there’s a loud knock on the door. Our heads whip to the door as whoever is behind it tries to turn the knob and finds it locked.
Sofia’s brows bunch up. “Oh my God, is it?—”
“Castello,” an impatient voice calls, “It’s Sebastian. Open the door, my friend.”
Shit .