Chapter 21
LOCHLAN
Something's different about her tonight.
I noticed it in the car on the way back from the hospital.
The way she sat in the seat with her shoulders back and her chin up.
There was zero evidence of the tension that usually lives in her spine.
She just stared out the window and smiled.
Not the polished, professional smile she uses in meetings.
A real one. A happy one. One that made my heart jump in my chest at the sight.
She won today. She knows it. And it changed something in her.
Back in the penthouse, she stands by the windows, staring down at the world below. The city lights cast shadows across her face. Reaper is asleep on his bed in the corner, breathing softly. I stretch out on the couch, relaxing against the cushions.
It’s nice. Cozy. And for the first time since I moved in, this place actually feels like home.
A real home.
And it’s all because of Adriana.
She turns to look at me.
“Thank you,” she says. “For today. For being there.”
“I didn't do anything. That was all you.”
“Yeah, but you stood behind me. You didn't try to take over. You let me handle it.” She walks toward me, her movements slow and deliberate. “Do you know how rare that is? A man who doesn't need to be the one in charge?”
“I know exactly what you're capable of. Why would I get in the way of that?”
She stops in front of me and puts her hands on my shoulders. Her perfume wafts into the air, teasing me, taunting me. Fuck, she’s driving me crazy.
“You really mean that,” she says, and it’s not a question.
“I really mean that.”
Her dark eyes search my face. I don't know what she's looking for, but whatever it is, she must find it.
Because the next thing I know, she lowers herself onto my lap.
She fists my shirt, pulling me close before crushing her lips to mine.
Her tongue plunges through my lips, her hands lost in my hair as it coils around mine.
The kiss is different from before. When I kissed her on the bridge, she melted in my arms. When I kissed her after Moretti's, she let go of all control. But this? This is her taking. Claiming. Like she's done waiting for me to make the moves.
Fuck, it's hot.
I let her lead. She presses herself tight against me, straddling my lap, never breaking the kiss. It only deepens with each passing second.
She pulls back just enough to yank her blouse over her head. “I've been thinking about this all day.”
I run my fingers up and down the sides of her torso. “You were in a meeting with capos.”
“Yeah. I was in a meeting with capos thinking about this.” She reaches behind her, unhooks her bra, then tosses it to the floor. “You have a problem with that?”
I stare at her. This confident, powerful woman who just decimated a room full of made men is now sitting half-naked in my lap with fire in her eyes.
My cock strains against my pants, anxious to get in on the action. “No problem,” I manage to croak out. “No problem at all.”
She grins. It's wicked and dangerous. Good Christ, I'm so fucking gone for this woman.
She pushes my shirt up and pulls it over my head. Then she stares at my tattoos and drags her nails over every swirl of ink covering my chest before leaning in to trail her lips down the side of my neck.
“I keep thinking about what you said in the car,” she murmurs against my ear. Her lips trace over my collarbone next. “That I was incredible.” Her voice hums against my prickled skin. Sparks of lust flare deep in my groin.
“You were.” I lean forward, bringing my mouth to her breasts, nipping and suckling each nipple.
She lets out a hiss of breath. “Say it again.”
Something in her voice makes me pull back. I stare at her flushed cheeks; her dark eyes flickering with need and want. But there's something vulnerable underneath the heat. Like she needs to hear it. Really needs it.
So I give it to her.
“You were incredible,” I say it slower this time and watch her face as the words sink in. “The way you handled Riccardo. The way you commanded that room. Every single person at that table knew they were looking at someone who could destroy them.”
Her breath catches. Her hips roll against me, just slightly, like she can't help herself.
I file that away, then keep talking.
“You're brilliant.” I kiss her jaw. “Powerful.” Her neck. “Sexy as hell.” Her earlobe. “And watching you put Riccardo in his place was the hottest thing I've ever seen.”
She makes a sound… a half moan, half whimper… and grinds down against my cock.
“More,” she breathes. “Tell me more.”
I flip us so she's underneath me on the couch. She gasps at the sudden shift, but her legs wrap around my waist immediately, drawing me close. I shove her skirt up to her hips and pull her panties aside.
"You're everything, you know that?" I slide my fingers into her pussy and her hips buck, a sharp gasp escaping her lips.
“Smart. Strong. Stubborn as hell.” I lower my head and kiss her stomach, just above her hip bone, driving my fingers deep.
She clenches, crying out as she thrusts against my hand.
“You don't let anyone push you around. You don't back down. You make me want to be better just so I can deserve you.”
“You—” She arches her back toward me, her eyes glittering with pent-up hunger. “You already deserve—”
“No. Not yet,” I say. “But I'm working on it.”
I take my time with her. I explore her body with my hands and my mouth, learn what makes her moan, what makes her gasp, what makes her scream my name.
And through all of it, I talk. Tell her how beautiful she is, how good she tastes, how perfect she feels.
Every word pulls another reaction out of her, builds her higher, and drives her absolutely fucking crazy with need.
“Lochlan, oh my God—” she gasps, bucking her hips against my mouth as her juices explode on my tongue. “Please…”
“Please what?”
“Please fuck me.”
She doesn’t need to say it twice.
I strip off my pants and boxer briefs with lightning speed. She watches me, her chest heaving, eyes glazed with want.
When I push inside her slick walls, we both let out a groan. She stretches around me, slow at first as she gets used to me. I move slowly, not wanting to hurt her. She's so tight and hot and perfect, I have to hold still for a second just to keep from losing it completely.
Her eyes are squeezed shut; her teeth clenched as I inch deeper.
“Okay?” I ask, trailing kisses down the side of her neck.
“More than okay.” Her hands grip my shoulders. “Move.”
So I move. I do exactly what she commands.
This time isn't like the first time. The first time was desperate, frantic, both of us tumbling over an edge we'd been fighting against for weeks. This is slower. Deeper. Intimate. And something I know I’ve never experienced with another woman.
I watch her face with every push and pull of my cock, I see every flicker of pleasure when I slide against her clit, I hear every sound she makes when I find her spot. I drink it all in, completely in awe of the woman underneath me.
“You’re so fucking perfect,” I murmur against her lips.
“Don't stop—don't stop saying—” she chokes out, scraping her nails down my spine. It burns so fucking good. My skin is on fire, my cock throbbing as her walls quiver and quake around it.
“Never.” I pick up the pace, the air around us thick with the scent of sex and sweat and unbridled need. “I'll never stop telling you how incredible you are. How strong. How beautiful.” I thrust harder, hitting the spot that makes her scream. “How you're the best thing that's ever happened to me.”
Oh. Shit. Those words slip out before I can catch them and swallow them back down.
Her eyes fly open, flickers of gold flaring in the depths.
“Lochlan,” she breathes right before she cries out and spasms against me, her pussy clenching tight around my cock.
Only then do I let go. I bury my face in her neck, everything going white at the edges as the orgasm tears through me and I fill her with everything I have to give.
Time stops after that. We lie tangled together on the couch, spent and unwilling to part, our limbs entwined. Her head rests on my chest, my fingers tracing lazy patterns on her back. Reaper hasn't moved from his bed. Smart dog. He knows when to give us privacy.
“So,” she says after a while. “That was...”
“Yeah.” I press a kiss to the top of her head. “It was.”
She's quiet for a minute, tilting her head to gaze up at me. I let the silence sit. She'll talk when she's ready.
Her phone buzzes on the coffee table. She reaches for it and squints at the screen.
“It’s Luna,” she says. “Checking in after the Riccardo thing.”
“She knows about that already?”
“She knows everything. It's her superpower. And, of course, Vincenzo would have called to let her know.” Adriana lets out a little laugh and types out a quick response. Then she tosses the phone aside. “She wants to have lunch tomorrow to catch up.”
“That’s a great idea. You should go.”
“I know. I've been neglecting her since all this started.” She settles back against me. “She worries.”
“Sounds like she’s a good sister.”
“The best.” Adriana nods and pauses for a second. “Did your mom worry about you? Before she died?”
The question catches me off guard. We don't talk about my mom much. I don't really talk about her with anyone.
“Yeah,” I finally say. “She worried constantly. About all of us, but me especially. She used to say I carried too much on my shoulders for someone so young. My brothers say that, too.” I let out a dry laugh. “My dad doesn’t think enough about it to give a shit, though.”
“And you were seventeen when she died, right?” She shakes her head, her hand flattening on my chest, right over my heart. “That's too young to lose a parent.”
“Any age is too young.” I think about her dad in that hospital bed, hooked up to all those machines. “At least you still have a chance. Your dad could still wake up.”
“He will.” She says it like a fact, not a shred of uncertainty in her voice. “He has to.”
I don't argue, just hold her tighter.
“I should tell you something,” she says after a while.
“Okay…” My brows furrow because her tone of voice does something to my chest, something I’m not used to. Then again, everything about her is something I’m not used to.
“I just… I don't know how to do this. The relationship part. I've never let anyone get this close.” She bites her lip. “I’m probably going to screw it up.”
“You won't.”
“You don't know that.”
“I do know that.” I tilt her chin up so she's looking at me. “Because I'm not going anywhere. Whatever you throw at me, whatever walls you try to put up, I'm staying. Got it?” I grin. “You can’t get rid of me.”
She stares at me for a long moment. Then her expression softens, erasing the fear.
“Got it,” she whispers, her lips gently grazing my chest.
“Good. Now let's go to bed. This couch is killing my back.”
She scoffs. “You're only twenty-eight. You don't have back problems.”
“I do when I'm folded like a pretzel underneath a very demanding CEO.”
She grins and lets me pull her up from the couch. We head toward the bedroom. Reaper finally lifts his head and scampers across the room to follow us.
And as I climb into bed with her, her naked body warm against mine, her breathing already slowing, a realization startles the hell out of me.
I'm not just falling for my wife anymore.
I'm already there.