Chapter 24
The bedroom was dark, except for the moon and streetlights coming in through the windows.
Dario pulled her close and kissed Frederica again, making her hum.
She stood in the dim light with her damp hair and her oversized shirt and her bare feet, and she was the most beautiful thing he had ever stood in front of.
"Stop looking at me like that," she whispered.
"Like what?"
"Like I'm something worth keeping."
Dario could hear the small tightening of her voice right at the end. She must have realized what she said, and her chin came up a fraction in automatic defiance.
"Don't tell me what to do." Dario cupped her face in both hands and kissed her again, slow and unhurried.
Frederica went still under his hands, then kissed him back with a fullness that felt like surrender, except that nothing she ever did was surrender.
Dario walked her back to the bed, and she sat down and looked up at him with those dark eyes and said, "I want you to actually look at me this time."
"I'm already looking at you."
"You know what I mean." Something in her voice made him still. "The last time was the job still in us, and it was hot, but it was hurried and—"
"Don't worry, Spartana. I know what you are saying.
I'll take care of you." Dario pulled her shirt over her head without rushing it, and when it was gone, he did exactly what she asked.
He admired the long athletic lines of her, the muscle and the scars, the soft brown skin, the body that had survived everything her life had thrown at it—and she watched him do it with her spine straight and her chin up, like she was braced for a fight.
He ran his hand down her shoulder, her arm, her ribs. "You are so beautiful."
She snorted in response.
"You have a problem with that?" he asked.
"I have a problem with believing it."
"So I noticed." He leaned in and kissed her shoulder, her collarbone, the hollow of her throat. She tipped her head back, and he ran his stubble and lips up the column of her throat. "Maybe you need to work on taking a compliment."
"You are incredibly annoying," she said before grabbing his shirt by the hem and yanking at it. Dario took the hint, undid a few buttons, and pulled it over his head. He undid his belt and took off his pants.
Frederica pulled him down on top of her, her hands running over his shoulders and chest. "I really love how big you are."
"Do you?"
"Yeah. It makes me feel like I'm normal-sized for once."
Dario cupped her breast before dipping his head to suck one nipple into a tight little peak. "You are the perfect size, and I don't have to worry about accidentally hurting you."
Frederica's nails scratched down his back. "You won't, and if you do, it's because I want you to."
Dario glided his hand over her waist and cupped her pussy. She was so hot, he bit the inside of his cheek to keep from moaning. He stroked her with two fingers, found her already wet. He kissed and nipped his way to her other breast, as his slick fingertips ran over her clit.
"Fuck," she exhaled, her hands burying into his curls. Dario continued to cover her in kisses, his fingers working her pussy slowly. Like he had all the time in the world to get her off. He wanted to give her what she needed, and that was his time and sole focus.
Dario watched her face as the smooth lines of her body moved, her hips lifting, trying to get him to go faster. He glided his soaked fingers into her pussy, making her moan, and worked her gently, thrusting them in and out and stretching her to make room for him.
"You want to come, tesoro?" he asked, scraping his teeth on the underside of her breast. Her fingers tightened in his hair so he did it again.
"Yes… Oh, fuck, right there," Frederica panted.
He dragged her nipple into his mouth as he changed the angles of his fingers, finding that sweet little rough part inside of her.
She came apart with a breathless, unguarded cry, her pussy clenching around his fingers.
His dick was leaking against the sheets, but he needed to make sure she came good and hard first to take the edge off.
"You stay right here, and I'll find a condom, hmm?" Dario said, gently sliding his fingers free. He couldn't resist wrapping his hands over his cock, wiping her release on it.
"I told you in the hotel. I'm covered," Frederica said, watching him stroke himself with hungry eyes.
"I know. I just—" he began.
"Dario." She gave him a flat look. "Get inside of me right now before I change my mind."
"Si, signorina. Right away." He laughed, low in his chest, and she made an exasperated sound, trying to hide a smile. He climbed back onto the bed, between her thighs, and kissed her smiling mouth. Her long legs wrapped around his lower back.
Dario pushed inside her slowly, keeping his eyes locked on hers. Her breath caught, and she dragged him down, right to his hilt.
"There," she said quietly. "That's where I need you."
"Perfect fit," he managed, struggling to be coherent. Being inside her was always too much and not enough simultaneously.
She was so hot, so wet, so fucking perfect, it made him want to do stupid things like claim that she was his, and that he'd kill anyone else who tried to take her from him.
Agrippa had tried tonight, and he wanted to rage about it.
Frederica didn't need his protection or his rage.
She needed him to fuck her fear away, and that was what he would do.
Dario moved, thrusting in and out, claiming her even if it was silently in his head. Frederica rose to meet him, finding their rhythm the way two people do when they've already learned each other once, and their bodies remember.
It was slow, deep, and every time he was fully inside, she gripped his hips tighter, grinding up against him and making stars dance in front of his eyes. He kissed her, sucking inside of him every little gasp and moan she made.
Her nails scraped up his back and ribs, and he welcomed the sting and fucked her harder. He pressed his forehead to hers, breathed her in, and tried not to think about all the feelings rushing through him. He put a hand between them, his fingers circling her clit as he fucked her deeper.
"Fuck, Dario!" Frederica clenched tight, coming hard with a ragged exhale. Electric shocks flew down Dario's spine, and he followed her, filling her up with so much come that it started leaking out around him. Fuck, it felt so good. So right.
He didn't move immediately, and she didn't make him. She held him tight to her, their hearts hammering against each other.
"God, I needed that," she said, her pussy fluttering around him.
"Me too." Dario kissed her again, before moving to kiss the tip of her nose, her jaw, her temple. He moved down her body, slowly pulling his spent dick free from her. He spread her legs wider, the sight of his come shining on her pussy making him moan. "Fuck."
Frederica slid her hands over her breasts, and his dick twitched. "You like seeing your come leaking out of me, don't you?"
Dario hummed. "Yeah, I really do."
Frederica's hand moved to touch her leaking pussy. "What about when I do this?" She gathered up some of his come on her fingertips and put them to her mouth, sucking them clean.
"That…is a really mean thing to do when I'm going to need some recovery time," he growled.
"Recovery, huh? Pity. I needed at least one more orgasm to sleep tonight. I suppose I'll have to do it myself."
The sound that came out of Dario was all animal as he dragged her hips up and buried his face between her thighs. Frederica cried out as his hot tongue thrust back inside of her. Dario groaned, the taste of both of them on his lips, in his mouth, drowning out all other senses.
He didn't stop until she screamed his name again, her orgasm reducing her to a shaking mess. Dario finally relented, kissing the inside of her thighs and her hip before lying down beside her and dragging her limp body across his.
"Good job, Colleoni. Five stars," she panted, making him laugh.
"You're welcome."
Dario was almost asleep when she spoke again. "I should have handled tonight better."
"What do you mean?" he asked, not wanting to push her into conversation if she wasn't ready for it.
"If I were my parents, I could have had Agrippa eating out of the palm of my hand and offering the mirror to me for free.
My father made stealing look like art. I loved watching him work when I was small.
I thought it was the most elegant thing I had ever seen.
" She went silent for a long moment, and he was about to ask her what was wrong when she added, "I never had that ability. "
"You're exceptional at what you do," Dario said, stroking her arm.
"At killing people and intimidating them and getting in and out of places fast," she replied.
"Yeah, that I can do. But I'm not great at being a thief.
He walks into a room and people like him immediately.
My mother, too. She looks like a movie star when she wants to.
It's like she can make the world stop and hold everyone's attention. "
Her thumb traced an absent pattern on his chest. "I look like what I am. A soldier at best, a killer at worst. I was always the one they put at the door while someone prettier ran the distraction. I don't have the ability to be… soft."
"You were a damn good distraction in Ephesus," he pointed out. "You pulled every eye in that room."
"Because I was angry and running on adrenaline, and it sold.
I can make people look when I need to, but it's usually by being the biggest threat in the room.
The Princess with great hair, who is ready to fight.
" She shook her head, the movement small against his chest. "That's not the same as my mother walking into a room and having everyone want to tell her their secrets.
That's not my father running a shell game and having people thank him for it.
" She paused and let out a defeated sigh.
"I was supposed to be the best of both of them.
If I had, I could have taken Agrippa on tonight without batting an eye.
Most of the time, it doesn't bother me, but on nights like tonight, it pisses me off.
I was meant to get half her softness, half his cleverness. Instead, I got none of it."
"No. Instead, you got all of it but cranked to eleven," Dario replied honestly. "All the deadliness, none of the soft wrapper."
She made a sound that wasn't quite a laugh. "You make it sound like a good thing, but really, I'm too much. I'm all of their extreme qualities and none of their good ones."
"Your father loves your mother partly because she contains a contradiction that turns him on," Dario continued.
"She is deadly under the softness. That's what he loves about her.
You gave yourself the worst possible rubric to measure yourself by with those two because they both love each other's secret sides.
You know what I see when I look at you?"
He shifted, tilting his chin to see the top of her head.
"Someone who thinks too much is a bad thing because you can't be them.
I've been doing the same thing my whole life, but in the other direction.
I was never enough for my mother, no matter what I did or how hard I tried.
My father died, and I could never measure up to the memory of him.
Both of us have been building these bullshit ideas about ourselves and calling them self-knowledge. "
"That's uncomfortably perceptive of you," Frederica said, into his chest.
Dario grinned. "I have my moments."
"Sadly for you, you're going to have your job cut out for you to make me believe you are actually like the way I look and act. Guys like you always go for the soft, little, pretty type, the ones that need you to protect them."
"Firstly, I don't have a type. I'm all hearts and not parts.
" Dario couldn't stop the laughter from bubbling up out of his chest. "And secondly, I fucking love that you can protect yourself.
Mio Dio, it's such a fucking relief to know you can handle any situation you walk into and protect your own ass and mine while you are at it.
The day we were besieged in Italy? It was amazing to have you fight by my side. "
He kissed her forehead, and she didn't move away, which for Frederica was the equivalent of most other people clinging to him with both arms.
"The woman Agrippa knew," she said quietly. She wasn't letting it go, but he hadn't expected her to. A mind like hers hated a mystery. "The way he said gifted is driving me crazy."
"You think she was gifted as in a present to him, like a slave? Or something to do with magic?"
"I don't know. Maybe both? I think Altun has always taken an interest in me that goes beyond professional courtesy, and people would always go to my father and mother to find magical shit." She paused, her fingers moving over his chest in thoughtful circles.
"You think there's some magic ability in the family that you don't know about?"
"I'm not frightened of it if there is," she replied firmly.
"I just want to know why he fucking said that.
Magic runs in many families, and most of the time, people have no idea.
I don't like this being something I don't know because I hate not knowing what I'm actually walking into when it comes to a job. "
"He might have said it just to fuck with you, but we can dig into your family tree tomorrow if it will help clear your head." He ran his hand up her spine, and she softened into him. "Try to sleep. We've got a bunch of shit we will have to do tomorrow to deal with the fallout of this."
Frederica groaned into his chest. "Why are you already thinking about tomorrow?"
"Because one of us has to."
"Annoying," she said, but she settled against his side. "You go to sleep too."
Dario closed his eyes and tried not to think about how gone he was for her. He had been ever since Treviso when they'd stood, laughing over dead bodies. Seeing her pissed off, drunken glare in Crete had been the last nail in his coffin.
Every day it got worse, but he kept his mouth firmly shut. They had bigger things to worry about than the feelings he had caught.
Dario kissed the top of her head, listened to her breathing even out as she fell asleep, and let himself be content with what he had.