Chapter 26
Twenty-Six
ROME
“Did watching all of that turn you on, beautiful?” I brace my hand on the door above her head and lean into her, brushing my nose down her soft cheek. Her hands glide up my chest, but she doesn’t respond. “Answer me, Eloise.”
“Yes.”
Her voice is breathy and small, so I pull back to look into her gorgeous eyes. There’s lust there, but something else as well that I can’t put my finger on.
“What’s wrong?” I brush my thumb under her eye, over the apple of her cheek. “Talk to me, firefly.”
“What—” She swallows hard, and her brows quickly pull together before relaxing again. “What’s wrong with me that I’m so turned on by—”
“Absolutely fucking nothing is wrong with you.” And I hate that she’d question it for even one second.
She pulls in a shaky breath as I pepper kisses on her neck.
“It should turn you on to see others enjoying themselves. To know that what they’re doing is consensual and safe and that they’re getting exactly what they want and need, even if it’s not something that you yourself would enjoy. ”
Her hands move farther up into my hair, and I pause. It’s a knee-jerk reaction. Aside from my barber, no one has touched my head in years.
But when she pushes her sweet fingers into the strands, it feels like heaven, and I resume kissing her jawline.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I tell her again. I can’t stop telling her because it’s true. “So sweet. This hair …”
I push her thick, dark locks over her shoulder, exposing more skin for my lips, and lightly nibble on the fleshy part of her shoulder before I sink my teeth in and mark her.
“Your skin is so fucking soft,” I continue, moving back to her neck, hovering over her pulse point. “And I can’t wait to sink inside you.”
She whimpers, pushing her stomach against my already hard cock, and I can’t help but grin against her neck.
“You like the sound of that, do you?”
“Yes.” Her breathy responses are going to be the death of me.
“Me, too. But right now, we don’t have time for me to lose myself inside you. Once I get inside that sweet little cunt, I won’t want to leave for a good long while. I’ll bet you’re tight as fuck.”
My hand glides down her side, and I bunch the skirt of her dress up so I can ghost my hand up her soft-as-fuck thigh.
Christ, I can’t wait to push my face between these soft thighs and devour her.
And suddenly, a wave of jealousy rolls through me at the thought of anyone enjoying her like this.
“How many men, Eloise?”
I’m watching her face, wanting to see every reaction as my fingers move up, and I find her panties soaked as fuck.
“Wh-what?” she stammers.
“How many fuckers have been here before me?” The thought of it sets me on edge. The idea of anyone seeing her like this makes me want to kill someone. “Tell me.”
She scowls. “No.”
“Wrong answer,” I whisper against her cheek and push the tip of my finger over her slit, over the panties. “Tell me how many have had the privilege of touching your sweet little pussy.”
She shakes her head, but I nudge my finger inside her panties and lightly brush her hard clit, and she gasps.
“If you don’t tell me, this stops right now.”
“Don’t stop.”
“How many?”
She whimpers, swallows hard, then says, “One.”
Fuck. One?
But then I’m reminded that her father ruled with an iron fist, and it’s a wonder anyone was able to get their hands on her.
Was he selling her to a man expecting a virgin? Fuck the bastard.
She’s mine.
I push my finger inside her wet heat. She tips her face forward onto my chest and groans deeply while her tight muscles pulse around me.
“Fuck, baby. You’re so tight.”
“Please don’t stop.” She’s circling her hips, sucking me in all the way to my first knuckle. I can’t wait for it to be my cock.
A second finger joins in the fun, and she groans again.
“Rome.”
“That’s right. Say my name, firefly. Who’s finger-fucking you up against this door?”
“Rome.” She tips her face up to look at me. “You are.”
I nip at her chin, and I know she wants me to kiss her.
But I love edging the fuck out of her.
So she can’t have that quite yet.
“Fuck, you’re soaked. Did you need me to take care of this for you, Eloise?”
She nods, and her jaw drops into an O when I cover her clit with my thumb and brush back and forth. My hand is soaked from her, and I’m so tempted to unfasten my slacks and take her right here.
But then I feel her quiver, her cheeks flush even more than they already were, and her eyes go glassy.
“There it is.” I can’t take my eyes off her perfect, expressive face. “That’s right, take it, baby. This is what you needed, so you take it. Come for me.”
She cries out with it, not caring in the least if anyone can hear her.
They can’t.
Her body jerks, her pussy clenches down hard, and she falls apart with her orgasm.
“Stunning,” I murmur as I kiss her neck and pull my hand free of her, then lift my fingers to my lips and taste her.
So fucking sweet.
She blanches as she watches me lick every drop as if no one has tasted her before.
“Did he not do this for you, Eloise?”
She bites her lip, breathing hard, those gleaming eyes pinned to me, and shakes her head.
“Good. This is mine. Only I get to taste you.” I step back far enough to make sure she’s straightened out, then I close the gap and kiss her forehead. “Now, you’d better get back to work.”
She huffs out a breath. “At least I’m not fired.”
“Are you kidding? That was worth a raise.” I wink at her, then open the door. “Go on. Have a good night, firefly.”
She looks like she wants to say something, but she just offers me a smile and walks away. As she gets to the end of the hallway, I hear her mutter, “Holy fucking shit,” and it makes me chuckle as I leave the door open and return to my desk.
Three texts are waiting for me from Luke that I ignored while I was getting my little firefly off.
Totally worth it.
L: Ten minutes.
L: Need you down here, boss.
L: We have a problem.
I shove my gun in its holster, grab my suit coat, and hurry down to the loading dock. It’s a ten-minute walk from my office, and when I get there, I snarl.
“Oh, good. You finally fucking showed up.” That’s not Luke.
My second watches me with rage-filled eyes. He has three semi-automatic weapons trained on him. Three of my men are dead. The others are also held at gunpoint.
“What. The. FUCK!”
Mendoza, the new head of the cartel since his father died last month, grins, showing off a gold tooth.
What a fucking tool.
“We’re going to change our terms.”
“I’ve done business with your family for a long fucking time, Mendoza,” I reply, ignoring the snick of more guns being cocked and turned my way as I casually walk toward the man. “The terms have been mutually beneficial.”
“I’m the head now,” he sneers. “And I’ve decided that it’s not beneficial for me.”
Fuck you.
But I keep my face bland. “What would you like the new terms to be?”
His eyes gleam. He’s such a greedy fuck. “I’m raising the price by one hundred percent.”
I simply tip up an eyebrow and let the statement hang in the air for a moment.
“Let me get this straight. You delivered my product, but rather than make the transaction as agreed upon and then setting up a meeting with me at a later time to discuss further business dealings like a respectful head would do, you came to my dock, killed my men, and have changed the terms.”
Mendoza tips his head to the side as if he’s thinking about it.
“That’s right.”
I shake my head and walk to Luke, staring him in the eyes, and have a silent conversation.
There are eight of Mendoza’s men here, all with weapons drawn. I have myself, Luke, and four other men.
The odds are excellent, given that my men are highly trained in hand-to-hand, but I don’t like that they’re not armed.
“I want you to toss your gun aside,” Mendoza thinks to add, and I smile at him, knowing that the look on my face makes most men piss themselves.
Mendoza’s men shift, share a look, and we use that moment to strike.
I draw my weapon and kill four of his men immediately, while Luke snaps the neck of one, and the other four of my men wipe out the rest.
Mendoza’s eyes are wide. The whole altercation took less than ten seconds.
And now he’s alone, unarmed, and fucked.
“If you kill me, you’ll start a war,” he says, lifting his chin.
“You just did that all on your own,” I reply, holstering my gun. “Now, to repay me for this inconvenience, you’re leaving the product here free of charge.”
His face goes beet red as rage fills him.
I don’t give a fuck.
“And this will be the last time you sell anything not to only me but also to anyone else in Vegas. You’re done in my city.”
“We’ve had this territory for three generations—”
“I don’t fucking care,” I roar over him.
“Your father was an honorable man. He was a pleasure to do business with. Now I have to deal with a sniveling, greedy, entitled piece of shit like you? No. I don’t do business like that.
Get the fuck off my dock and don’t come back to Vegas, or you won’t leave alive. ”
I turn my back on him, further disrespecting him, and walk to Luke.
“Call Sven,” I tell him, irritated that I just ruined yet another suit with blood spatter. “Get this cleaned up, and make sure he leaves town immediately.”
“On it,” Luke says with a nod, frowning down at the four we lost.
“Make sure their families are paid.”
He nods again. “Will do.”
Before returning to my office, I go up to the penthouse and shower. After I change into a clean suit, I return downstairs, where I plan to sit at the bar and fluster my firefly.
Instead, I run into Loveland. I haven’t seen much of her since the other day in my office, but when she catches sight of me, she pauses. Her eyes widen, but then she lifts her chin and approaches me.
“We had a problem in the playroom,” she says.
What the fuck is going on tonight?
“What kind of problem?” I ask her.
“Mr. Sanderson brought his own flask in. Apparently, he’s not a fan of the two-drink rule.”
My eyes narrow. “Where is he?”
“He was escorted out. I informed him that his membership was revoked, and he wouldn’t be getting a refund.”
“Did he hurt anyone?”
Her eyes soften just a bit. “No. He was obnoxious, lewd, and annoying. But he didn’t get his hands on anyone.”
I nod and walk past her. “Good.”
“Rome.”
I turn back and lift an eyebrow.
“I hope she’s worth it.”
I step back to her so I can talk low in her ear.
“She’s worth everything. And you’ll do good to remember to mind your own fucking business.”
I leave her and decide to make a pass through the playroom, just to make sure that everything is okay.
I glance at the bar in the lounge and see Eloise smiling as she passes someone a martini. She glances my way, and her smile widens. But when she sees me reach for the playroom door, that smile dims a bit.
Don’t worry, firefly.
I’ll make it clear to her later that she’s the only one I’ll have my hands—or anything else—on for the rest of my life.