CHAPTER 6
ANGELO
Even though anger is simmering right under the surface after finding my brother in my kitchen and degrading my woman, her question has me chuckling. Our age difference? Is she serious right now?
I know that Romeo is going to continue to be a problem, but he will continue to live as long as Dove continues to tell me she’s fine and there isn’t an issue. Or until he pisses me so much that I’m unable to stop myself from killing him. At this point, I’m not sure which one will come first.
Would it just be easier to take Romeo out, brother or not? Yes, of course. Still, I need Dove to find her strength. I’ll never allow her to be harmed again, but if she’s not willing to be honest about what my brother is doing, she’ll never survive in my world.
And her not being part of my world isn’t an option.
My voice is filled with amusement, “I’m not worried about the difference in our ages, Dove. Why would I? Considering I’m 38, it seems I’m coming out on top of this issue,” I admit while eyeing her.
Her legs are peeking out of the bottom of the shirt I was wearing last night.
She was sexy as hell in the lingerie she had on when I found her, but this is next fucking level.
I’ve had women slip on a shirt of mine thinking they looked enticing before, but it never really worked for me. I found it presumptuous and annoying.
Not with Dove.
I’m tempted to throw her over my shoulder and take her back to bed, but I don’t. Not yet.
First, she needs to be taught a lesson. I won’t have her lying. Not to me and not when it’s important. While she might be trying to protect Romeo because he’s my brother, she needs to realize she is my priority now.
Everything else could burn and I wouldn’t care. Her though? I need her safe and whole. Always.
Or I’ll bathe the world in blood. The violence I would reap would be an endless vignette of pain and suffering. It would mirror my own heartbreak, and nothing less would be acceptable.
But right now, she’s safe. And standing in front of me while looking like the definition of temptation and sin.
“I like you in my shirt,” I murmur the words and step closer to her, wanting to feel her body against mine. “Do you know what I don’t like?”
Dove blinks a few times and then whispers, “No.”
I make a humming sound before wrapping my arm around her waist to hold her in place. The last thing I want is for her to try and escape. She struggles against my hold for a moment while she eyes me warily.
Smart girl.
“I don’t like you telling me lies.”
My words land like grenades between us and she starts to shake her head as if that would be enough to alleviate the accusation that I just lobbed at her. It won’t. And I know she was lying.
“I didn’t,” she insists.
“You did,” my voice is a rumble, a warning of imposing danger. “You said Romeo didn’t hurt you, but he did.”
“No,” she whispers, “he didn’t touch me. He didn’t hurt me.”
“I heard what he said to you,” I admit. “He didn’t have to put his hands on you to hurt you. If he had touched you then cutting his hand off his body would have been bloody, but not as difficult as you might think given the right sharpened blade.”
She gasps, “What?” When she tries to wrench herself out of my hold, I make sure to keep her pressed against me. I start walking us backward until her ass hits the kitchen island. “They were just words,” she tries to tell me. “I don’t care about what he has to say.”
I lean down and run my nose up and down her neck while taking a deep breath of her sweet and spicy scent. My cock goes from half hard to a steel rod in the sweatpants I pulled on after noticing Dove was not in bed, which is where I left her before taking a shower.
“That’s not the point,” my words are sharp.
She stiffens in my arms and I hate it, but I need her to hear me.
“I don’t need you to manage me or my reactions to the truth.
I need you to trust me with all of you. I told you last night that you’re mine.
All of you is mine,” my voice is firm because there is no other way for this to go.
“That includes your truth. You do not need to protect anyone, including me, by maintaining your silence. I will not accept it, Dove.”
“I’m not going to be what gets in the way of you and your brother.”
I almost chuckle because she’s so sure of her words. But she doesn’t understand. Not yet at least.
“My brother is not who has my loyalty.” She jerks in my arms, but I hold onto her, only allowing her to pull back enough to look into my eyes.
She studies me to make sure I’m telling the truth, and it reminds me about her past and how she’s always had to be on the lookout for a threat.
“We have never been close,” I admit. “My father saw him for who he is, which is why he was never allowed to hold any real power in the organization. Romeo doesn’t think, and he has a cruel streak. ”
Dove scoffs, “I’m aware of that.”
My heart sinks and my gut clenches. “We took on our positions around the same time. At first, I kept a very close eye on him to make sure that side of him wasn’t an issue.
Then some shit went down, and some changes were happening in the power dynamics of the city.
I couldn’t keep as close an eye on him as I wanted to. ”
“That was almost an apology,” she sasses me and I can’t help but smirk.
She might be scared of Romeo, but she knows I won’t hurt her. It’s the only explanation for her speaking so freely.
I love it.
“Yes, almost,” I agree and chuckle when she rolls her eyes. “My point is that my loyalty is to the business and what my family has built, not my brother. He may be family, but he is not above facing the consequences of his actions.”
When her gaze falls away from mine, she looks at nothing, and it’s clear she’s thinking about something that has happened in the past. I don’t want to push her, but the need to know about what Romeo did to her burns in my gut.
“He’s not a good man. He is cruel and violent. No one is above his wrath, and he doesn’t try to control it. He’s beat clients and has used the women who work there.” Her voice drops and I have to strain to hear her confession, “Including me.”
My hands tighten on her body, and I can barely stop myself from hunting my brother down to kill him right now. All the ways I could make him pay for hurting my woman flashes through my mind.
As much as I want to, I know Dove will never feel truly safe if I do this in the shadows. She needs to know, without a doubt, that I would choose her. I can’t just tell her; I have to show her.
“You are not above facing the consequences of your actions as well, la mia pace.”
Dove freezes and looks up at me with curiosity and suspicion. “What does that mean?”
Before she can stop me, I turn her around and bend her over the kitchen island. My large hand presses down on her back to hold her in place while I take in how this new position has caused my shirt to ride up her legs.
The bottom of her ass cheeks play peek-a-boo with me and my cock throbs in my sweats.
“I think you’ve earned a little punishment.
” She looks at me over her shoulder, and something flashes in her eyes.
“Before we get started,” I tug my shirt up and expose her to my hungry gaze, “you need to be aware that you can always tell me no. If you’d feel more comfortable with a safe word, that’s fine.
But no, and stop will always work with me.
Uncertainty, I will push. Limits, I will not. ”
Dove swallows hard and nods slowly. “I trust you, Angelo.”
As much as I want to push my sweats down and thrust into her, I hold myself back. When my hand slides over her plump ass, she startles but I keep my touch gentle. Her skin is so soft and tempting.
I just know she’s going to turn the most delicious shade of pink.
Just as she starts to relax, I spank her. The sound of it is loud in the quiet of the kitchen and she jerks against my hold, but she doesn’t cry out, and she doesn’t tell me to stop. My hand rubs over her slightly pink skin.
As I start raining spankings on her delicious ass, I become mesmerized by the way it moves under my hand. The way she reacts to my touch is addicting; I’ve had a taste and I’m hooked. Every time I rub over the curve of her ass, she shudders and whimpers.
When she turns her head and looks the other way, hiding her face from me, my fingertips dig into her ass cheek and hold her in place.
“Don’t hide from me,” I growl. “I need to see you because I watch everything about you Dove. I savor every breath, every twitch of your lips, and the different ways you whimper and pant. You tell me so much without even meaning to. I need to know, and be able to see you, because the last thing I ever want to do is to hurt you.”
When she turns back toward me, I can see the tear tracks on her cheek. I lean down and kiss her there, chasing her tears and tasting them on my tongue.
“Don’t lie to me. Even if you think you’re protecting me. I can’t do the one thing I was made to do if you hobble me.”
“Ho-hobble?” She shakes her head and whispers, “What do you mean the one thing you were made to do?”
“Take care of you.”
Dove turns and presses her forehead against the smooth marble and lets out a groan. “How are you both a walking red and green flag?”
I move until I’m behind her while I push my sweats down. My cock bobs between us and I let out a groan at the feeling of finally being free. After I kick her feet farther apart, my hands slide over her ass. The way she arches her back and lets out a breathy moan is fucking sexy.
“How am I a green flag?”
“I think most people would be curious about why they’re a red flag first,” she giggles.