Chapter 29
DAN
She’s like a fucking dog with a bone and won’t let it go.
I close her front door and lock it, setting the alarm. The soft beep echoes through the hall, but it does nothing to drown out her temper, or the fire in my belly.
“I think there’s been enough secrets between us, don’t you?” She throws her purse on the kitchen counter and kicks off her shoes, her tone clipped, her eyes sharp like laser-cut diamonds.
“Funny that the secrets between us were of your doing.” I match her hard stare but keep my voice low and controlled despite the frustration bubbling beneath the surface.
She clenches her fists at her sides, her lips parting as if she’s about to argue—no, fight. And fuck, I love it when she fights.
“Ugh. You’re so annoying. You know that?”
I sneer, stepping closer, close enough that I can hear the sharp inhale of her breath. “So you keep telling me.”
She crosses her arms over her chest, her wide hip cocked, eyes full of heat. “What was on that ID, Dan?”
I exhale slowly, rolling my shoulders. “Let it go, Rose.”
“Not happening.” She tilts her chin up, defiant as ever. “What are you? A cop? Military? A bloody spy?”
I huff out a laugh. “A spy? That’s what you think?”
She shrugs, but there’s a flicker of doubt in her eyes. “You don’t exactly scream ‘normal’ anymore. You’re different. Sharper. You take charge, you don’t hesitate, and people back down the second you flash that ID. You’re not just some guy who—”
I grab her waist and tug her against me, forcing a startled gasp from her lips. “Not just some guy who what?” I murmur, my lips brushing her ear.
She stiffens, then glares up at me. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Distract me with… with this.” She gestures between us, but her hands tremble slightly, betraying her.
I slide a hand up her back, threading my fingers into her hair. “This?” I tug just enough to make her tilt her head back, exposing her throat, making her pulse hammer against her skin. “I thought you missed this.”
Her breath shudders. “That’s not the point.” I see the flicker in her eyes—a war between longing and pride—and my chest tightens, but I keep my grip firm, because I want her to know that no matter how much she fights me, she wants this too, even if she won’t admit it to herself.
“The point,” I murmur, my lips hovering over the pulse hammering beneath her skin, “is that you want answers.”
“Yes.”
“And I want you.”
Her lips part, her pupils blown wide. “Dan—”
I brush my mouth against hers, teasing, barely a kiss. She sways towards me, her resolve cracking. I feel it in the way she grips my t-shirt, the way her body leans in despite the fight still raging in her eyes.
“Tell me to stop,” I challenge, my lips ghosting along her jaw. “If you really want to keep talking, tell me to stop.”
She sucks in a sharp breath but says nothing.
I smile against her skin. “That’s what I thought.” I slide my hands lower, over the curve of her hips, gripping tight before lifting her off the ground. She yelps, her legs instinctively wrapping around me, but she doesn’t stop fighting.
“This is manipulation,” she huffs, her hands fisting in my hair.
I lift her onto the counter, my fingers digging into the soft flesh of her ass. “This is inevitability.”
Her nails bite into my shoulders. “You’re such a cocky bastard.”
“Yeah?” I say, unbuttoning her dress at the front. “And you love it.”
She glares at me, chest heaving. “Debatable.”
“Then let me convince you.” I dip my head, kissing her neck, the scent of her filling my lungs.
Her breath catches, her body already arching into mine. “Good luck with that,” she whispers.
“I don’t need luck, sweetheart.” I take her mouth, swallowing whatever argument she was about to make, drowning her in the thing that’s always been inevitable between us.
She resists—just for a second—before her hands clutch at my shirt, fingers fisting in the fabric like she’s torn between pushing me away and pulling me closer.
I slide my hands lower, over the curve of her hips, gripping tight before lifting her dress.
“You want answers?” I growl against her mouth. “Then you’re going to have to earn them.”
Her nails sink into my shoulders. “That so?”
“Yeah,” I pull my City shirt over my head and throw it to the floor where it belongs. “Now strip. I want you naked so I can worship you.”
Her face twist. “I can’t strip, Dan. I’m not comfortable being naked with you. Please don’t ask me.”
I lean my fists on the worktop on either side of her thighs and gaze into her eyes, wondering what’s going through that head of hers. “You straddled me in the car and came on my cock in front of a copper, but now you’re shy? Make it make sense.”
“I’m just not ready for you to see me naked.”
I can’t stop the small chuckle tumbling out of my mouth. “But I’ve seen you naked before.”
“Just let me get my dressing gown.”
I throw my hands up in the air. “Not the fucking dressing gown again.”
“Why are you angry?” She folds her arms over her chest, covering the white lace of her bra where her dress is unbuttoned.
I close my eyes, my hand flying to my head and gripping my hair in frustration. “I’m sorry. My balls have been fucking blue since the hard shoulder incident.”
“Maybe you should take a shower. You always seem in a better mood after a shower.” She smiles like she’s remembering something, her legs swinging as they dangle from her counter.
I slide my hand over the curve of her lace covered breast, the soft skin of her chest until I reach her neck and curl my fingers around the faint bruise left from my hickey. “If I’m taking a shower, you’re joining me. I want you on your knees sucking my cock.”
Her pulse quickens beneath my thumb. “I told you I’m not comfortable being naked.”
I grip her throat a little tighter, but not tight enough to hurt.
Her eyes sparkle as if she enjoys the dominance but is too fucking stubborn to admit it.
“And I told you I want you on your knees.” I release her throat and undo my belt, then tug down the zipper on my jeans.
The wet patch of pre-cum on my boxers is fucking embarrassing, but that’s the least of my problems.
Her eyes drop to my engorged dick as if drawn to the silver piercing like a fucking magpie, her mouth lazily opening and drooling as she takes in the sight. A satisfied smirk tugs at my lips. She might fight me with her words, but her body never lies.
“I’m not a patient man, fiore mio and you’ve tested my patience for too long now.” I fist my dick, my eyelids flickering as heat floods my groin.
She jumps off the counter. My eyes lock with hers in a challenge.
I’m about to twist her around, bend her over the counter and spank her silly for tormenting me so damn much, but she drops to her knees, her eyes lined up with my cock, and I’m actually surprised that she submitted to my demands.
Could it be that she’s learning to trust me?
A small step, but it’s one in the right direction.
Her delicate hand cups my balls and massages them, then she peels my fingers from my length and wraps hers around the shaft, taking over my movements.
A groan rumbles from my chest. Heat coils low in my belly, tight and desperate.
Her touch is gentle yet claiming, like she’s teasing her own power over me.
I have half a mind to grab her wrist and pin it above her head, but there’s something about watching her take control of my pleasure that makes my cock throb harder.
My dick weeps from the tip as I try to hold back from exploding all over her face. Not because I don’t want to, but because now she’s on her knees, I want to make this last. I want her to work for my orgasm and want it as much as I do.
“Why Dan, you’re so wet.” Her lips quirk in the corner, her tongue laced with sarcasm. “Is all that for me?”
Another rumble from my chest, but this time it’s with a laugh. “You know it is, baby. Lap it up.”
Her tongue swirls around the head of my shaft, and I tilt my head back with a groan. “Eyes on me, Signor Inferno.”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“If you mean having you at my mercy with blue balls, yes.” She licks the vein from the tip all the way down my length until she reaches my balls. Her eyelashes flutter as she licks back up, then kisses the tip.
I growl. “You’re fucking killing me here.”
Her eyes flash to mine. A slow, sexy smile curves her lips. “I haven’t even got started yet.” She pops a button on her dress, then another. Like some trick from a magician, she takes off her bra without taking her arms out of her dress.
“Kiss it again. Look at me while you do it this time.” I can’t take my eyes off of her as she swirls her tongue around my girth.
My muscles twitch, causing my dick to nod approvingly as she presses another kiss on the tip, then wraps her lips around it, French kissing the head as if my dick is a tongue and she’s duelling for dominance.
“Suck it.” A growl tears from my chest, raw and impatient. She can have all the dominance she wants while giving me head. She can own me in this moment—because her mouth is fucking perfection. But I own her. She’s mine to cherish, mine to protect, and mine to worship. And when she sucks…
“Fuck,” I say, pulling in air through my teeth as my hands grip the edge of the worktop. The way she works her mouth, she’s like a fucking goddess who knows how to turn me inside out, making me hers as much as she is mine. “Finally, you’re putting that mouth of yours to good use.”
She flicks her eyes to mine. “Careful Dan, this mouth has teeth.” With a sinister curve of her lips, she hollows her cheeks and takes me deeper, swallowing around me. Each inch she takes a personal challenge in her eyes. Then she pulls back, scraping her teeth along my shaft, making my legs quiver.
“Your mouth is incredible.”
Her eyes water as she swallows again. She moans around me as if enjoying it just as much as I am, but I fear another moan like that will have me spilling down her throat and I want my cum inside her pussy.
“Come here. I need to kiss you.” I’ll never stop kissing her. Fucking her without kissing was torture and now she’s given in to the inevitable, I’m making up for lost time.
She rises from her knees with my help as I hook my arms under hers, her dress unbuttoned at the front, exposing her naked body underneath.
I crash my lips to hers, my fingers digging into every soft curve of her body, imprinting myself on her skin.
My hands pull at her knickers. Once past her thick thighs, they drop to the floor and I squeeze her fleshy cheeks before lifting her up, but this time I pin her against the wall, taking her breath away.
“I think I like this side to you.” Her fingers run through my hair as I push my dick through her tight walls.
“Good. Because I might be controlled with everyone else, but where you’re concerned, there’s no taming me.” I grind my hips, my dick filling her up to the hilt.
Her eyelids flutter closed at the sensation. “I thought you hated me.”
“I do. I hate how you drive me crazy.” I tug at her lips with my teeth.
“Your scent, this smart mouth.” My hands squeeze her arse cheeks.
“And let’s not talk about how you kept our son away from me all these years.
” I devour her, licking every corner of her mouth in a frenzy to show her how crazed she makes me.
She moans as I thrust into her, her cunt slick and dripping with arousal. Her nails bite into my shoulders. “I hate you, too.”
“You love my dick, though.” I power into her, her tits bouncing with every thrust.
“Yes. Don’t stop.” She kisses my lips, wrapping her tongue around mine as if tangling us together and sealing our fate.
She comes up for air, her panting breaths warm on my face.
“I hate how you’re the only person to make me feel good.
” Her palms cup my cheeks as she presses her lips to mine again.
“I hate how my body betrays me whenever you’re around. ”
I pound my cock inside of her, my balls tightening as the heat of an inferno rages low in my belly. “I hate how you’ve melted the ice around my heart. How you make me feel things I haven’t felt for a long time and how you make me sick with worry when I’m not with you.”
We lock eyes, hers full of warmth and devotion as she holds my face in her palms. My chest aches with a brutal twist of desire and something far more dangerous—hope. I don’t want to feel it, but with her wrapped around me, it’s impossible not to.
Gazing into her eyes while buried deep inside her is too much. Too raw. Too beautiful. Too painful. And I can’t hold back any longer. I let go of it all and release every pent-up emotion into her with a final thrust and a guttural groan from deep in my throat.
She takes it too, clamping down around me, her legs tightening around my waist, her moans matching mine as we climax together and I feel everything as I hold her in my arms, our chests pressed tight together, as if our hearts beat as one.
Our movements grind to a halt. I let go of her legs, letting her stand. Our foreheads touch as we catch our breath.
“Are you going to take this dress off, or is this your new dressing gown?” I tug at the sleeve, but she pulls it back over her shoulder, covering the scar there.
“You don’t have to be worried about me seeing your body. There’s nothing about you that would make me want you any less. You’re mine. Every inch of you is mine.”
“I’m not worried. I just can’t sleep naked, that’s all.” She smiles and looks down. “Every inch of you is shrinking as we speak.”
My chest shakes with a laugh. “Give me ten minutes and I’ll be ready to go again.”
She nuzzles into me and we just hold each other, her arms clinging to me as if she’s afraid to let go. It’s not just the aftermath of sex. It’s something deeper, fragile and rare, like if she lets go now, we’ll both shatter into pieces. And maybe we will.
She kisses my chest. “You know what I hate the most?”
I swipe the hair back from her face. “What?”
“I hate that we’ve lost so much time together.”
A heavy sigh leaves my lips as I pull her back to my chest, cradling her head. “That just means that we can appreciate the time we have now.” I kiss the top of her head, her dark hair that I love coming through. “And we make every second count.”
My mind wanders. A million scenarios flash through my head of all the different ways I can remove Magnus from our lives. But with my men and Riccardo working on other matters with Matteo, I’ll have to either deal with him myself or wait it out.
Trouble is, he’s back in the UK and time is the one thing I don’t have.