Chapter Thirty-One
A Deal’s A Deal
Juliet
“ M Y MOTHER WAS a dancer at a strip club in Buffalo.”
Maximo’s eyes flared at my sudden admission, but he didn’t speak.
“My dad met her when he went to celebrate a win. After a weekend together, he convinced her to move in with him. Used his charm and big talk, and she bought into it. She probably thought the next Ali or Holyfield was rescuing her from the trailer park. Instead, she ended up pregnant by a man who had problems with rage, gambling, alcohol, and fidelity.”
She thought she was getting a prince but ended up with the villain. At least I’ve always known who I’m with.
“Nine months later, I was born on Valentine’s Day. And in the most obvious omen to how their love affair would end, my mother named me Juliet because she thought Romeo and Juliet was romantic.” I shrugged. “I don’t think she ever read the book.”
“Still a beautiful name,” he said. “What happened to her?”
“She took off three months after I was born. Having a baby didn’t soften Shamus.
It didn’t slow him down. He was still out drinking and fighting and fucking while my mother was stuck in a tiny apartment with no money, friends, or family other than a crying newborn.
Claiming she had to get groceries, she left me with a neighbor and never came back. ”
“You sure she left on her own?”
I knew what he was asking. Before I was old enough to know better, I’d built up a fantasy that Shamus had forced her away and she was searching for me. Or that he or someone he owed had killed her. It was a gruesome thought for a kid to have, but it was better than my mother abandoning me.
“I’m sure,” I said. “I found her online when I was twelve and made the mistake of reaching out.”
“That bad?”
“Worse. She didn’t ask how I was. She didn’t ask if I was safe even though she knew damn well how Shamus was.
She just fed me excuses about how she was too young to be stuck at home with a screaming kid.
Then she told me not to contact her again because she had a new boyfriend and she’d lied about her age and didn’t want him to know. And then she blocked me.”
His palms glided up my sides. “Christ, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I looked her up a couple years later because I hoped time would make a difference. It had, but not in a good way. She’d racked up arrests for DUIs, theft, that kinda stuff. I’d lucked out. Going with her would’ve been jumping out of the pan and into the fire.”
Maximo sat and wrapped his arms around me. I greedily soaked in the comfort and attention before leaning back.
Taking another of those easy breaths, I unloaded the last bit of weight from my soul and shared something I’d never spoken out loud. Something I’d barely allowed myself to think. “I was happy you killed him.”
A flurry of emotions ran wild across his handsome face. He opened his mouth, but I put my fingertips to them.
I needed to get it all out. Let it all go.
“Shamus being dead meant I wouldn’t have to be on guard against his fists or his enemies’ knives or his buddies sneaking into my room or bill collectors or any of the other shit I dealt with because of him.
When you brought me here, it was the first time in my entire life I could sleep through the night.
That I could relax. That I didn’t look over my shoulder.
” Tears blurred my vision, slowly sliding free.
“It was the first time I felt safe and like I had a home .”
Even with loathing burning in his gaze, his touch was gentle when he cupped my cheek and wiped away my tears.
“Thank you for giving me that,” I whispered through the lump in my throat.
When I dropped my cheek to his chest, he wrapped me tight in his arms and pressed his lips to my forehead. “I’ll always give you everything, Juliet.”
“I just want you.”
“Always give you that, too.”
Feeling emotionally drained, I’d shared all there was to share. It was his turn. “Tell me about your family.”
I didn’t think he actually would, but with only a brief hesitation, Maximo said, “My old man was a lot like yours. Greedy. Always out for more. Blinded by it. He never appreciated what he had,” he gave me a pointed squeeze, “and he lost it all.”
“How?”
“Remember I told you I inherited three of my casinos?” At my nod, he continued. “My great-grandfather built Moonlight and Star. My Grandpa Sal took over and added Sunrise. When he died, he didn’t leave them to my father. He left them to me.”
“Why?”
“Because my father would sell out at the first decent offer. He was an entitled bastard who had no interest in putting in the work, whereas I’d been learning the business since I was a kid.
Grandpa Sal knew I’d die before I let our family’s legacy go.
Unfortunately, he was the one who died when I was sixteen, so my father got temporary control anyway. ”
Maximo got a faraway look in his eyes, the shadows of ghosts haunting him.
“We can talk about something else.” I shifted to climb off him but didn’t get far.
His palms slid to cup my breasts, the shadows in his eyes growing into a different kind of darkness. “Having these perfect tits right here is very distracting.” He pinched my nipples, squeezing to the point of pleasure-pain.
When he released them, I moved fast, rolling before he could grab me again. A moment of panic widened his eyes, making my heart pang with guilt and regret. But I wasn’t running. I just grabbed his tee off the floor and pulled it on before straddling him again.
He ran his thumb across his bottom lip. “You wearing my shirt is not helping me focus.”
At his tell, I had to know… “What’re you thinking?”
His lips curled into a hot, wolfish smirk. “That I can feel my come mixed with your sweetness dripping out of you.”
A tremor went through me. He’d made me come so hard, there was no way my body could handle more. But I found myself willing to take the pain.
There’s a reason I put on the shirt, and yet I don’t remember why…
Oh. Right.
“Now who’s being distracting?” I asked.
“Still you.”
I understood if he didn’t want to talk about his family drama, but I still wanted to know about him. “Tell me more.”
He stroked the flyaway hairs from my face, his gaze landing on my messy bun and his jaw clenching. “Put your hair in a ponytail first,” he shot back, like we were in some bizarre negotiation.
“That’s all? And here I thought you were some big shot businessman. I’d have negotiated for more.”
“In that case—”
“Nope, too late.” I undid my bun and shook out my hair before refastening it in a high ponytail.
“You’re a fucking wet dream,” he murmured as if I’d performed a striptease rather than a hairstyle change.
“You keep this up, it’ll be me with the unreal, massive ego.”
“Good.” His fingers absentmindedly played with my hair.
“A deal’s a deal,” I prodded when he remained silent. “Tell me more.”
“Control freak,” he teased, tugging my hair gently.
Inhaling, he launched back into his story.
“My father couldn’t get over the insult of not inheriting Black Resorts.
Sal left my parents an insane amount of money, but he wanted the power.
Rather than letting Sal’s experienced team run things, he took over. ”
“Which didn’t end well,” I surmised.
“He had no clue what he was doing. And since learning would’ve been too hard, he threatened, blackmailed, and double-crossed. He got in over his head and nearly lost everything. And then he died—alone and despised.”
My eyes widened. “You didn’t…”
“Kill my old man? No.” He stared me down, unapologetically honest. “But I was going to, Juliet. I was going to pay him back for every punch, knife, and bullet I took thanks to his bullshit. And then I was going to put a bullet between his eyes. But there was a long line of people in front of me and one of them got to him first.”
“You took punches, knives, and bullets?” My anger and outrage grew as I leaned back and scanned his beautifully-marred torso.
My eyes snapped back to his when I felt his silent laughter. It became outright laughter when I glared.
“Christ, you’re perfect,” he said, amused at my rage. “I just admitted I planned to kill my old man, and you’re concerned with my old injuries.”
“What else would I be concerned about?” I asked as my stomach loudly growled.
It was his turn to glare, looking displeased. “You haven’t been eating enough.”
I’d barely eaten for three days thanks to my churning stomach, so he was right. I climbed off him but didn’t stop talking. “You said your dad died when you were nineteen. Have you been running the resorts since?”
“Unofficially. Sal’s will had stipulations about college and age because he knew I’d try to get right to work and he didn’t want me missing out. After my father died, Ma became the legal trustee, though it was in name only. I started running things and cleaning up his mess while I got my degree.”
I didn’t bother to ask how he’d cleaned up the mess because I was certain I didn’t want those details.
Instead, I jerked my head toward the door. “Feed me, Daddy.”
Standing, his body cut and muscular and hard , he rubbed his thumb across his bottom lip. “And when I’m done, you’re gonna ride my face and feed me.”
My nipples tightened and a fresh wave of arousal rolled through me. “Deal.”
Maximo tugged on a pair of shorts, and we went to raid the kitchen. And after he fed me, we made it as far as the living room before his back was on the floor and I was riding his face.
Because a deal’s a deal.