Chapter 9
NINE
Hades
Managing Capri was the easy part. She had fallen for me long before she realized what she had gotten herself into. If I was being completely honest with myself, being with her affected me more than I thought it would.
If I continued down this treacherous road, would I be able to control the outcome? By blowing Leo’s life apart, could I keep Capri safe? Or would I be okay with her being a victim in the aftermath?
She would be on a plane back to New York in the morning. I could stop what I had started and spare her from any pain. I’d have the memory of this last week and the satisfaction that I took something from Leo’s daughter that was pure, even if he never knew.
Let her go. You’ve had your revenge.
Capri came up from behind me, wrapped her arms around my waist, and kissed my back as I stared out at the ocean from my bedroom window.
“You didn’t get dressed,” she said.
When I turned to face her, she had her towel around her body too. My towel wasn’t as secured as hers. After spending all day on my boat, we opted to come back for a late lunch, and then showered together. I left her alone to finish; otherwise, we would still be in there.
“I figured there was no rush.” I smirked. “Why put clothes on if we’re only going to take them off in a few minutes?”
“I’m going to miss you,” she said. “This has been the best week of my life.”
“It isn’t over until tomorrow morning.” Although, I wasn’t quite sure we were ever going to be over. “Let’s not dwell on it tonight.”
“I like that idea.”
“I have something for you.” When I tapped her nose, her bright, unassuming smile chipped away at my cold, dark heart. This girl had no idea what she did to me. It was probably best if she never knew. “It’s in the closet.”
She followed me into my massive, walk-in closet and looked around. As she ran her hand along my suits, shirts, and ties, she laughed.
“What?” I asked.
“We have huge closets at home, but this is like a spare bedroom.” She gazed up at the loft. “It’s two stories?”
“I’m practical.” I shrugged. “When I had the place remodeled after I bought it, I noticed the loft was wasted space, so I utilized it. There’s a fantastic view of the ocean up there.”
“I’ll have to check it out.”
I opened the wardrobe doors to reveal a shimmery, light gold formal dress and a pair of Manolo Blahnik stilettos.
“Is that Gucci?” She hurried over to the dress. “This is stunning.” She reached down and picked up a shoe. “Are you kidding me?”
“You said you had to attend a reception in a few days. I thought you would like something new to wear.”
“Sebastian.” She looked between the dress and the shoes, and then at me. “I can’t accept this.”
“Why not?” No woman had ever attempted to say no to any of my gifts. Come to think of it, none of them had ever even pretended to not want to accept my generosity. Most of them were always searching for more.
“Because I know how much these cost.”
“You don’t think I can afford it?” I leaned against the wall. “Look around, little minnow. You’re standing in my two-story closet that overlooks the ocean. I have to have a separate insurance policy to cover the clothes in here.”
“It’s too much.” She placed the shoe next to the other one. “The bead work on this dress is next level.”
“Does that mean you like it?” I took her hand. “Because nothing is too much for you.”
“I love it.” She stretched up on her toes and kissed my cheek. Without her heels she was considerably shorter than me. “Thank you.”
“My only regret is that I won’t be able to see you wear it.”
“I can send you pictures.” She rested her head on my shoulder. “But I wish you could be with me too.”
The look on Leo’s face might be worth the risk of me showing up in New York. I’m deranged enough to do it.
“What is this reception for?” I asked.
“All I know is that important associates will be there, and my father wants me to be there too.”
“Is that usual?” I stroked her hair. “Do you often accompany him when he entertains business associates?”
“Sometimes.” She touched my bicep. “I don’t really get involved with his business. Before you, I didn’t even know about assassins and the real dangers of what he does.”
I needed to find out who these people were and why it was important for her to be there. I vowed to protect her even if that meant keeping her away from the father who didn’t have the sense to do it himself.
“It’s probably better you don’t know,” I said.
I held the side of her face as I kissed her. Her willingness to surrender to me so quickly made it difficult to let her go. But aside from holding her hostage, I didn’t see how I could keep her with me. For now, I’d have to let her return to her family while I worked to bring her back.
“Let’s make the most of the time we have.” I led her into the bedroom. “I want the memory of tonight to sustain us both while we’re apart.”
“What did you have in mind?” She glanced at the bed, eyeing the bottle of massage oil I put there while she was in the shower. “What is that?”
“Something I thought you might like to try.” I picked up the bottle and flipped open the cap. “I hope you like mango.”
She sniffed when I brought the bottle to her nose. “It smells good.”
“It’s lick-able.”
“Why would I want to lick… Oh.” A blush filled her velvety cheeks.
“Oh.” I laughed at her naivety before pouring some of the liquid into my palm. “Your skin is so soft.” I smoothed the oil over her shoulder and across her chest. “I want your silky flesh to glide along mine when I fuck you.”
The hue of pink that covered her body when I yanked her towel away, stirred feral desires within me. The kind that could only be sated when I claimed her. But even then, that wouldn’t be enough.
She dropped her gaze, following my fingers as I circled them around her nipples, covering them in the sweet-scented lubricant. I lowered my lips and traced my tongue over them, coating my tongue with the mango flavor.
“Can I?” When she held out her hand, I squirted some of the oil in her palm. “You must work out for hours every day to look like this,” she said.
“I’m disciplined.” I followed the path of her hands as she smoothed them along my chest and down my abs. “Except when it comes to you.”
“What do you mean?” She closed her eyes and bit the corner of her lip when I ran my slick hands down her back and to her backside.
“Isn’t it obvious in the way I want you?”
“I don’t know what it’s like to have someone want me like this.” She glided her hands over my hips, releasing my towel to join hers on the floor. “This much.”
“I shouldn’t want you this much.” I stepped closer to her, pushing my erection between her inner thighs. “But I do, and I make no apologies for it.”
“Because you take what you want.”
“Only if it’s worth it.”
She tenderly touched the faded scar along my ribs, studying it for a few seconds.
“Curious?” I asked.
“No.” She gazed into my eyes. “It isn’t just tattoos that you’re covered in. You must have plenty of stories.”
“Little Miss Inquisitive doesn’t want answers? Ask what’s on your mind.”
“Now you want to answer my questions?” She shook her head. “What changed?”
“Nothing.” I smirked. “I’ll answer them for a price.”
“There’s always a cost where you’re concerned.” She swiped her thumb along the old gash just below my heart. “That looks like it hurt.”
“It could have been worse if it were a few inches higher.” I pressed her hand against my chest. “I’m going to teach you that you should never give anything without getting something in return.”
“I want answers, and you want…” She kissed the ancient bullet graze on my shoulder. “Me.”
“I would want you whether you wanted the answers or not, but we can explore mutual pleasure.”
“Where did this one come from?” She rubbed her fingers under the scar in my ribs. “A knife?”
I nodded.
“Why would someone do that to you?” The distress above her brows bothered me. I never wanted to see her be anything but happy. “I mean, aren’t people afraid of you?”
“They are now, but when I was sixteen, they weren’t.
” I didn’t allow myself to rehash such unpleasant memories.
“This was from a fight I got into in the streets of Manhattan a long time ago.” I removed her hand from my ribs and kissed her wrist. “The kid pulled a knife, and I broke his jaw. I’d say we were even. ”
“And this one?” She circled her finger around the raised scar from a bullet. “That doesn’t look like it came from the blade of a knife.”
“It didn’t.” I led her over to the bed and took a seat. “That came from the end of a gun.”
“Aren’t you the one who does the shooting?”
“Typically.” I brought her into my lap and hooked her slippery legs on either side of my hips. “I was eighteen when that happened. It was the one and only time I ever took a bullet. It was just a graze, but I swore I would never let it happen again.”
“How?”
“I became Hades.” I tangled my fingers in her hair, tugging her face to mine. “When people fear you, they don’t come for you. They hide and stay out of your way.”
“That shouldn’t be such an arousing quality in a man.”
“It should be when that man will do anything for you.” I tightened my grip on her hair and smashed my lips to hers, kissing her with an unguarded passion. “It turns you on because you know I’ll kill for you.”
“Sebastian.” She shook her head. “You don’t have to kill anyone for me.”
“You never know.” I kissed her neck. “Let’s get back to that mutual gratification I spoke about a few minutes ago.”
“What about it?” She shifted, pushing her body against my cock. “What do you want me to do?”
“Give me your hand and I’ll show you why I wanted flavored oil.”
I poured the oil into her hand and dipped my fingers in the small puddle that formed in her palm before tossing the bottle on the bed.
“Let’s taste one another.” I leaned back on the bed and turned her away from me. “Let’s get to the mutual part.”
Dragging her slick body closer to me, I positioned her pussy to my mouth. When I dipped my fingers inside her sex, she got the message, wasting no time to grip my cock in her lubricated palm.
Fuck… As she jerked me off, I darted my tongue inside her, licking her sweet essence mingled with the mango; my new favorite flavor.
“Suck Daddy’s cock, precious girl.” I spread her wider, granting me deep access.
“Oh…” She rocked against my face as she leaned down and covered my shaft in her warm, wet mouth. Squeezing the base, she pumped me in and out as she hummed around me.
Our bodies created a sleek friction as we pleased one another with our mouths. After a few moments, she abandoned her actions with her hand and mouth in favor of riding my face. The faster I flicked my tongue, the harder she pushed back.
As I kept a quick tempo with my fingers, I issued a gentle reminder. “Baby, this is a team effort.”
“I know but…” Her soft, slow breaths transformed into long, muffled moans. “Hades.”
At least she got my name right. I smiled against her as I continued my motion between her legs, indulging in the pleasure I gave her.
Her fluids covered my lips, enticing me to make her come in my mouth.
Gripping her hips, I set the pace, shoving her into me until she shuddered and screamed out her orgasm.
A loud, unfiltered display of chaos. It was beautiful. She was beautiful.
I rolled her off me and hovered over her. “You don’t follow directions,” I growled.
“I’m not good at multi-tasking.” Her explanation was honest and sincere. So fucking cute.
She cupped my jaw and brought her lips to mine, and then she licked her arousal from my face. I almost came. That had to be one of the most erotic things I’d ever experienced. The first one being, popping her cherry.
“We can fucking work on it.” I lifted her leg and pounded inside her. If I was going to come, it was going to be inside her, losing my sanity as I did it. “Capri…”
“Yes.” She laced her fingers through my hair, tugging on the ends in perfect sync with my thrusts.
I got up on my knees and slammed the backs of her legs against my chest, driving as deep as I could into her while staring down at her perfection. She held my gaze with hers, amplifying this intense moment.
“I’m never letting you go,” I grunted.
That wasn’t a statement I made while caught up in a haze of lust. It was a promise. I would do whatever I had to do to make her mine.
“Oh, I…”
She reached for me, so I took her hand. With our fingers interlocked with one another’s, we both let go, diving off a cliff of ecstasy and spiraling to the bottom together.
Would we survive this union unscathed? There was no way for me to know that.
But we had already taken the leap. There was no going back now.
I released her from my hold and dropped down onto her, resting my head on her flat, tanned stomach. Our erratic breaths filled the room as the sun set and the sea swayed in the distance. The warm summer air swept over us, signifying a change on the horizon. One that I wasn’t ready to accept.
She lazily threaded her fingers through my hair, creating an unfamiliar calmness.
Sex had never been about the emotional connection for me.
I had used it as a way to relieve tension or bring momentary pleasure, but I never thought of it as a tool to link me to someone in ways that I couldn’t comprehend.
How had a woman I had no business pursuing, invade my world in a matter of days, and show me what I had been missing? Fuck! I needed to get myself together before I destroyed her. She might never recover from me.
“Five days.” My words came out in a deliberate demand.
“Five days for what?” she asked.
“You have five days to come back to me. If you’re not here by then, I will come to New York to retrieve you.”
“Sebastian,” she said. “I don’t know if I can make that happen.”
“Then I’ll make it happen for you.” I kissed her hipbone before holding up my hand to indicate the number of days she had to return to me. “Five, little minnow, and that’s me being generous.”
I was determined enough to accomplish my goals. If I wanted something, I went for it. I would find a way to enact my revenge and still have what I wanted.
I covet her, and no one will stop me.