Forty-Four
Montana
Than stalked toward the cabin door ahead of me. He’d stayed silent on the drive back here from Linc’s. And all I could do was think about what he’d said to Linc about me—what Wayon had seen and how he had gotten obsessed. Linc’s response to him had been equally interesting.
I was probably reading into it, but…well, when it came to Than, I was weak. Desperate for him to feel even a tiny fraction of what I felt for him.
Emotions I’d never meant to have.
They’d just shown up, guns blazing. Taking over my good sense and my heart.
When he reached the door, he unlocked it, then held it open for me. I glanced at him as I passed, and the wild gleam in his eyes was similar to the one he had on the night he’d read the letters. Except it was much darker. There was a ferocity to it now.
The door closed, and I wasn’t sure what to say or do. I wanted to talk. I had questions, and he was wound up so tight. I wanted to know why.
Was there bad blood between him and Wayon? Was that it? Maybe it had nothing to do with me at all.
“What will Linc do? Who’s Blaise?” I asked him the easier questions.
“Blaise is the boss. There are those who lead each branch, but only one boss. And Linc will do whatever Blaise tells him to do.”
I licked my lips nervously. This was a lot to take in. “Um, how do you get to be a boss? Or the boss?”
He tossed the keys to his truck on the coffee table. “You don’t get to be one. You’re born into it. Jediah Hughes started the Southern Mafia in the early 1900s. It’s been handed down to the oldest son in Jediah’s line since then. Blaise is Jediah’s great-great-grandson. He took over a few years ago when his father wanted to retire and spend more time with his new wife.”
Than cut his eyes to me. “You’re handling it better than I expected.”
I let out a strangled laugh. “Am I? Because I can’t decide if I should freak out or not.”
He smirked, then sat down on the sofa.
“So, all of you—Gathe, Oz, Bane…”
When I said Bane’s name, I realized he had a young wife and baby. Did she know? Of course she did. She lived with the lot of them. She had to know.
“Yep. All born into it. Our fathers and their fathers.”
“Oh,” I said, thinking back to the night I’d had dinner with Wayon. “I don’t think Pax knows about Wayon being a part of the Mafia.”
Than sneered. “Not just a part, but the next leader of the Louisiana branch.”
Wayon was handsome and charismatic. Now that I knew he was wealthy and powerful, I wondered, why would he stalk me? That made no sense. It couldn’t be him.
“I don’t think it’s him. He wasn’t the kind of person to stalk someone. And the things he said in those letters, I can’t imagine he’d—”
Than shot up off the sofa, and I stopped talking. His eyes narrowed as he moved toward me. Okay, so I hadn’t been scared of him before, but the look in his eyes right now was frightening.
“Are you defending him?” he asked. “Are you fucking defending him?”
I shook my head. “No, I—”
He continued closing in on me, and I backed up until I hit the wall and couldn’t go any further.
“Do you like him? Were you attracted to him?” His tone was dark and sent a shiver through me—I wasn’t sure if it was from fear or arousal. Maybe both.
I jumped as he slammed his palms against the wall on either side of my head, caging me in.
“Answer me.”
“No! I don’t. He was nice and attractive, but I didn’t—”
He hit the wall again, and I closed my eyes. Okay, now, I was scared.
“You thought he was attractive?” he demanded.
His mouth was so close to my ear now that I could feel his breath. I opened my eyes enough to peek at him. He inhaled deeply as he pressed his nose into my hair.
“I didn’t. He—he—I wasn’t attracted to him,” I stammered.
He ran a fingertip down the side of my cheek. “But he saw this face,” he said, softer now. “This fucking beautiful face.”
I left my eyes open, watching him. My body felt like it was a live wire. Every nerve alive and sizzling beneath the surface. I was panting, but I couldn’t help it. I’d been scared, and maybe I still was, but this was Than, and he was calling me beautiful. He was touching me.
“Mmm,” he hummed. “Did he make your pussy wet?”
I shook my head. “No,” I breathed.
“Do I?” His eyes locked with mine then, and he stilled, waiting for me to answer.
There was no use in lying, and I didn’t want to. No matter how stupid this made me, knowing the ache that would follow when he ran off and hid from me again. I wanted any part of him he gave me.
“Yes,” I whispered.
He tilted his head, and his nostrils flared as his glare softened.
“Fuck it,” he muttered when his eyes dropped to my mouth.
I stopped breathing altogether.
Then his mouth covered mine, and my knees buckled instantly. He wrapped an arm around my waist and held me up as his tongue slid inside my lips, flicking my bottom one several times first. The minty taste, along with his spicy scent, pulled me in.
I was lost, floating on my own little cloud.
The roughness from his unshaven face chaffed my skin, and I loved every scratch. The press of his erection against me made me moan and cling to his arms, wanting more.
I’d been kissed. But never— never —like this.
“Do you have to look and taste like my favorite sweet treats everywhere?” he asked as he trailed kisses from my mouth to my ear. “I want inside you,” he said huskily in my ear, then pressed against me again. “I know it doesn’t fall under the friend thing, but I need to feel you.”
I whimpered and nodded. Then he claimed my mouth again, cupping my face in both hands, like he couldn’t get enough and he was making sure I wouldn’t take it- me – away from him.
If only he knew he could have me whenever he wanted. But that wasn’t what we were. What he would want when he wasn’t hard and in need of a release.
In order to protect my heart, I should stop it. Shut this down. Be smart.
But then my heart might never forgive me if I did.
He released my face, and his hands went to the hem of my sundress, pulling it up. “Since you walked out of that bedroom in this dress, all I’ve thought about is jerking it up and doing this,” he said hoarsely, then shoved his hand into my panties.
I opened my legs wider, and he made an appreciative sound in his chest.
“It’s soaked. Dripping.” He pumped his fingers into me. “Listen,” he said in my ear. “You can hear how wet it is.”
I moved against his hand as my head fell back.
“If I take you here, it’ll hurt. Sweet pussy can’t take it yet. Let’s go to the bed,” he told me, but I was already shaking my head.
No more bed. I struggled to sleep there already. No more memories of him to keep me up at night.
“Here. Fuck me here,” I panted.
His eyes darkened with excitement. “Say that again,” he groaned as he unzipped his jeans, shoving them down.
“Fuck me here,” I repeated.
“Such a good girl,” he praised as he freed his cock and stroked it. “You obey so sweetly.”
He pulled my right leg up to his hip, and using his other hand, he moved the crotch of my panties aside. The swollen head of his cock pressed against me teasingly as I begged and lifted my hips, wanting it inside me. Aching to feel full again. Feel connected.
“That’s it. Coat my head with your juices,” he said, then pushed in further. “Fuuuck, baby. That’s my pussy.”
I cried out, and he drove all the way in with one thrust.
“Goddamn! A pussy shouldn’t feel so fucking incredible.”
“Oh God,” I moaned.
He began to grind his hips, getting as deep as he could go, taking my breath away, before he started to pound into me like a man possessed. His mouth covered mine again. Our tongues licked and teased, and then his mimicked his cock.
“God, I love your mouth,” he swore, tearing his off mine.
Our eyes locked as his hips bucked, and the sound of our bodies slapping against each other grew louder, the more frantic we became.
“Shit! No fucking condom.”
“Come inside me,” I told him, so lost in the heat and promise of pure bliss that I wanted to feel his seed spilling inside me.
“Oh God, baby. Don’t say shit like that.”
“I want to feel it,” I pleaded, clawing at his arms.
“Fuck,” he growled.
Pulling my leg up higher on his hip, I wrapped it around his waist. I was so close.
“Oh! Than!” I whimpered, feeling my orgasm crest. “OH GOD!” I screamed as tremor after tremor shook my body.
“GAH! FUCK!” His body shuddered, and he held me tightly against him as he unloaded hot spurts of his release into me.
His head fell to the curve of my neck, and we stood there, locked together. Still breathing heavy. Sated.
The reality slowly sank in, but I wasn’t ready yet.
“I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not. Fuck, baby. This feels…there aren’t words for it.” He moved his hips, staying buried inside me.
“Oh.” I let out a small gasp.
“You’re gonna be leaking my cum for the rest of the day.”
A phone rang in the background, and Than swore under his breath before easing out of me. We stared at each other as I winced slightly.
“Don’t clean up. I want to see it. Keep my cum in there.”
I shivered. “Isn’t that dangerous?”
His pupils were dilated. He nodded then. “Probably. But I just…I’m not going to do it again, and I want to see it.”
I broke a little more at the not going to do it again , but I nodded.
He turned and went to answer his phone while I prepared to put my pieces back together, hoping I could make them stay.