Chapter 10
Lucca
Break her heart. My beautiful, perfect, sexy amore worries that I’m about hurting her.
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
In fact, over the past week, I’ve been moving things around and making deals to ensure she isn’t targeted because of me.
I hold her too close to my soul to ever think of hurting her, but I understand her fear after being burned her whole life.
Her parents, her foster homes, schools, too many people to count.
Her trust has extended to Sabrina and Janet, but only after knowing them for months first.
Guilt assaulted me after learning that, because I asked Janet to deceive Coco so I could be her hero.
I’m not a hero, never have been, never will be.
I’ve been a cold, calculated monster most of my life.
Nothing has mattered more than business.
No one has mattered more than family. There was never any need to care about anyone else, and now I have Coco Spencer counting on me for her happiness and safety.
It’s the most incredible honor ever imposed upon me.
One I’ll never screw up. Not so long as there’s breath in my body.
“Say goodbye, Chris. I have better things to do than dole out punishment to a man who deserves a grave.”
Preston’s shock at my about-face is like a living entity in the room.
“Sir?” my oldest friend asks for clarification.
“Send him home. Let him be a warning to others.” My frigid eyes spear Chris Parin, an adversary for years, only made worse when he tried to encroach on my territory by selling his knock-off clothing line. “But Preston, first, take his tongue.”
Parin’s face pales and turns a little green, but who cares? I have a woman in desperate need of my attention, and I intend to give it to her.
Exiting my office, I close the door after locking it, grateful that the room had been soundproofed years ago. Coco doesn’t need to hear what often happens in that room.
I find her and Jason setting the dining room table, and I’m pleased to see the candles lit and the wine chilling in a bucket.
“I asked you to be her right-hand, J, not enlist her help to do your job.”
Coco tries to defend him, but he stops her with a hand on her arm. “Wouldn’t dream of it, sir. Coco was actually directing me on how she would like the table set.”
Good. That’s how it should be.
“Thank you, J, that’ll be all.” My woman’s confusion by the interaction is palpable, and I give her my attention.
“You don’t like that I scolded him, but you don’t understand why he didn’t lash out or argue back and accepted it.
” She nods. “Jason has a strict regimen he follows. You being here has thrown him off his game. He needed a reminder, wanted one.”
“I like him,” she says, sitting as I pull out her chair. “But I don’t want to screw up his position here.”
Pushing in her seat, I lean down to kiss the side of her neck. “You always smell like sugar cookies. How is that possible?”
Turning her head a bit, our lips are a breath apart as she says, “Do you want to know the secret?” I immediately nod. “It’s a body scrub. I make it myself.”
Inhaling deeply, my tongue moves up her throat to her ear. “Do you use it on your pussy, too?” Fuck, the tease only works to make my dick throb.
For the last week, I have been sleeping in the same bed with this woman, and not fucking her has been slowly killing me inside. I need a taste of her badly.
“You have a filthy mouth, Lucca.” Her cheeks bloom bright as she struggles to meet my eyes while I move to sit at the head of the table.
“You like it,” I retort. She shakes her head, with a cute smile on her lips, but doesn’t answer my original question. “I’ll find out tonight anyway.”
Her knee is healing quickly, and while her fractured wrist still gives her a bit of trouble, she’s able to maneuver well enough that I can feast on her pussy for dessert.
“You… I… What?”
Teasing her has fast become a form of entertainment for me.
“Your pussy, my mouth, they have a date tonight.” Leaning forward, I hold her stare and ask, “Do you object?” Her emerald eyes shine with excitement and a hint of fear. “You’ve never had a mouth on your honey pot before, have you?”
“I’ve never been spoken to like this, let alone had someone do that.” I find her scandalous tone amusing.
“Good, I like the idea of being your first.” She snorts adorably. “What?”
“You’re apparently going to be my first everything, but I don’t get that same privilege. Kind of sexist, don’t you think?”
Well, shit, here we go. Dragging her chair closer, I need her to see me clearly as I say, “Coco, you’re the first and only woman I’ve ever wanted to be mine.
” Her jaw drops, and her pupils blow wide open in shock.
“Hear me when I tell you that you’re mine now.
I’ve been trying to go slow because I can see you’re skittish, and I know you don’t trust easily.
But this”—I gesture a hand between us—“this is it for me. Without you, there is no forever. Without you, there is no happiness.”
Tears pool in her eyes, and for the first time, I know it’s because she’s overwhelmed with positive types of emotions. “You really mean that.” Her fingers trail along the scruff of my jaw, up my cheeks, and across my eyebrows as she reads me, seeing that I mean precisely what I’m saying.
“With every fiber of my being, amore.” Bringing her in closer, I brush my lips across hers once, twice, her tongue flicks out, and I capture it between my teeth.
Sucking it into my mouth, my hands glide up her thighs, needing to feel the heat of my soon-to-be favorite dessert.
“I can’t wait to have your flavor coating my tongue.
It’s how I’ll put you to sleep every night and wake you up every morning for the rest of our lives. ”
“That’s a long time,” she whispers, her eyes sparkling with awe. “How can you make that kind of promise?”
“Because I know a sure thing when I see it, touch it, taste it. I make quick decisions based on my gut, and that gut has been screaming at me for months to stop wasting time and claim you already.”
“Whoa,” she whooshes out like a stormy breeze.
“Too much?” I smirk as her breathing accelerates while my hands brush along her thighs.
Pinching her fingers together, Coco whispers, “Maybe a little.”
“Too bad. It’ll only get more intense now that I know you share the attraction.”
Speechless, Coco studies me as I serve her dinner. Chicken stuffed shells with a creamy sauce and roasted vegetables—one of my favorite dishes.
“This is so good,” she murmurs after taking a bite, pure bliss lighting her face. “I never get to eat like this. I’ll miss it when I go home.” The sad note to her tone elicits a growl, and she freezes with a forkful of food halfway to her mouth.
“This is your home now, Coco.” I try to restrain the snap in my voice, but I realize it doesn’t work when she sits back a bit and slowly places her fork back on her plate.
The tears that fill her eyes as her lip trembles make me feel bad for half a second until she speaks.
“I’ve never had a home before.” Her sorrow is agonizing and infuriating because how the hell has no one ever provided one for her?
“Foster homes are just a temporary bed. With temporary people who probably don’t even want you there. They never wanted me, at least.”
“I want you.” I feel murderous with the sharp anger rushing through me because of these people who have rejected her.
“No one has ever wanted me.”
Fuck it. Plucking her from her chair, I plop her in my lap and grip the back of her throat so she can’t escape me.
“I. Want. You.” Each word snaps out, unable to mask my obsession.
“I’m keeping you.” Brushing my cheek along hers, I murmur in her ear, “Whether you want me to or not.” Her gasp is stolen by my mouth covering hers.
“I’m not property,” she argues half-heartedly.
“You are.” She growls at my response, and it’s adorable. “Stop fighting me, and you’ll see how good it is to belong to me.” She sighs into my mouth, her eyes fluttering open, and bites my lip. “Vixen.” My teeth snap back at her.
“Does that mean you’re mine, too?” The vulnerability in her eyes will be my undoing one of these days.
“Every bit as much,” I reassure and nuzzle into her throat, needing to inhale her deeper into my lungs.