Chapter 26
Zeno
The front door to Paulo’s apartment opened, and I tried to brace myself for the hell I could feel coming our way. I’d been on the phone with Paulo when his driver dropped him off at the front door to his penthouse, and when he’d told me he had to go because Cosimo was waiting for him downstairs.
I’d rushed Mario and Nadia into the safe room tucked inside Paulo’s closet so fast, I was sure they had whiplash. The entire time it took him to come upstairs, I was on edge, my handgun burning a hole in the waistband of my pants as I tried to sit casually in the living room.
As if I wasn’t willing to murder someone for even thinking about hurting Nadia again.
When the door swung in, it wasn’t Cosimo I saw.
But damn, if I didn’t feel like drawing my gun anyway.
Paulo ushered Clara and Mic through the door, and the sight of them together had blood boiling in my veins. I rose, intending to… I didn’t even know what. Whatever it was, the idea hadn’t fully formed before Clara was racing my way and jumping into my arms.
When our mouths collided, that was the only thing on my mind.
The weight of her against me, the feel of her warmth, the taste of her mouth as she swirled her tongue against mine.
For one brief, uncontrollable moment, I wanted nothing more than to strip her bare and fuck into her so hard, she’d never again think of hanging out with that kid.
But that moment ended with the quiet clearing of a throat, and though Clara clung to me like she’d never let me go, some string of logic floated up through my foggy brain and told me to stop.
I wanted to disappear. I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole. Because, while I wouldn’t trade Clara for the world, I hadn’t thought about breaking the news of our relationship to Paulo or anyone else.
Lifting my gaze from the bright eyes of my little hurricane, I found a look of shock on the face of my oldest and dearest friend. Paulo wasn’t easily perturbed. Seeing him with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open had me feeling like the lowest sort of scumbag.
You’re a forty-one-year-old man fucking a girl twenty years your junior.
As if I could have forgotten. As if, for one fraction of a second, I could have forgotten how it felt to be wrapped around her, filling her, kissing her until there was no me without her and no her without me.
“Are you alright, Paulo?” Mic had a sneaky-ass grin on his face that told me this was no surprise to him. That revelation calmed the boiling in my veins.
Paulo closed his mouth, cleared his throat, and smoothed a hand down the front of his shirt. He glanced at Mic before turning his gaze back to me.
“Michele, could I bother you to retrieve your mother and uncle from my saferoom please?”
“Will do, sir.”
As the kid walked away, Clara twisted in my arms. “You might want to take your time.”
I would have watched the smirk on his face all day if it meant I didn’t have to turn around and face D’Angelo. Unfortunately, that was one luxury I didn’t have.
“Zeno—”
“We’re in love, Paulo,” Clara said, cutting him off like she could somehow save me from this.
My friend smiled, though it was tighter than Clara’s painful grip on my arm. “I believe you. I’m just…” He scrubbed a hand down his face, then turned his eyes on me. “I’m surprised. Though now I’m wondering why I didn’t see it before.”
“See what?” I tightened my grip on Clara, as if doing so could somehow keep him from taking her away.
Paulo lifted his hand, gesturing to the two of us, like that was answer enough. “This. You. Your relationship.” He dipped his chin. “I always knew you two had something special between you. I just didn’t realize… How long?”
“I’ve loved him my entire life.” Clara straightened her back and lifted her chin, a storm cloud of emotion emanating from her.
Despite my discomfort, I pressed a kiss to her head. “If you’re asking about our physical relationship, it’s recent.”
Paulo’s shifting didn’t go unnoticed. “I…” he shook his head, then wiped his palm down his face. “I’m assuming your father doesn't know?”
“Why would he? Until this afternoon, I hadn't seen him for months.”
“This afternoon?”
She looked up at me, but any happiness she might have felt was hidden behind that dark cloud. “I tried to take Mic to my favorite coffee shop, but I found him sitting on the patio with Raoul Provenza.”
Pressing my lips into a thin line, I dragged my gaze over her face.
There was something off about her, something about the way she spoke those words, and I couldn’t put my finger on what it was.
Jealousy flared to life inside of me at thoughts of what she and Mic had done.
Worry swirled in my gut as I pondered another change to her meds.
And guilt ate at me as I wondered what lies she was readying to tell.
“Paulo.” Nadia swept past us, rushing to his side. It didn’t escape me that he kissed her much the same way Clara and I just had. When she finally pulled from his grasp, she peeked up at him. “What are you doing, harassing Zeno and Clara? You leave them alone.”
Feathers ruffled, Paulo shook his head. “I wasn’t—”
“You were.”
“Clara—” I couldn’t say more to her, not when Nadia raised her hand, calling for our silence.
“They are doing nothing wrong. They are both consenting adults. That’s more than I can say for us when we first—”
“It’s not the same, Nadia!”
“No, you’re right. It’s not. They’re two adults who love each other and can make their own choices.” She reached out and cupped Paulo’s cheek. “I was still a minor, and you were my stepbrother.”
“By marriage—”
She placed a finger to his lips. “Shh. I know.” She kissed him again, though thankfully, this time was more brief. “You can hardly complain, my love. Let them enjoy their love. God knows, we were never able to.”
He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them, he turned his attention my way. “I’m sorry.” He released Nadia and came to stand in front of us, holding his arms out and wrapping Clara in an embrace. “Nadia’s right. And I am happy for you. You just took me by surprise.”
Paulo released her, then surprised me. He pulled me into a hug, and for a moment, I couldn’t find it in me to move. As I did, as I returned the gesture and hugged him back, he said quietly near my ear, “When I told you to live your life for yourself, I didn’t believe you’d actually do it.”
“What do you mean?” I pulled away, brow furrowed and the desire to pull Clara close nearly crushing me.
He shook his head, a wry smile on his lips. “You’re one of the most stubborn people I know, Zeno. You do everything for everyone else, but never anything for you. I was prepared to revisit that conversation another twenty times. Yet here you are, taking my suggestion as if it was an order.”
A long breath left me, but my chest swelled with one look Clara’s way. She wrapped herself around me, as if she could feel my love for her calling her to my side. “She didn’t give me much choice,” I murmured before pressing a kiss to her head.
Paulo laughed, his eyes bright as Nadia joined him in front of us. “At that, I’m not surprised. Because you, Clara, are one of the most determined people I know.”
Most determined. Hardest working.
The most beautiful, wonderful, most infuriating woman I’d ever met.
The only woman who could have ever made me break my vow.
Paulo told me to, a voice said in the back of my head.
Otherwise, I’d still be fighting.
Or losing her, likely to the kid smiling her way from the kitchen.
I tightened my grip on Clara, knowing my fingers were biting into her and not giving a goddamn if it hurt as she smiled right back at him.
With a hand on her lower back, I opened my mouth to excuse ourselves. I had things I needed to do.
To her.
To her weeping, swollen pussy.
But before a word could pass my lips, life—and the vow I’d made—came crashing down on me in the form of my cell phone ringing. I dragged the device from my pocket, and all my plans and my lust were placed firmly on the back burner when I saw Sarah David’s name on the screen.
“Hello?”
Before she could speak, Chaya’s cries wailed through the phone. “Zeno?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Chaya has a fever. She’s refusing to eat, will hardly sleep, and she’s been screaming bloody murder for the past hour. Would you be able to swing by when you have a moment and check her over?”
“Of course.” I meant to say more, but Clara slid her hand into my back pocket, distracting me.
“It’s no rush,” Sarah said as Chaya’s cries lessened for a brief moment. “I’m just worried something is going on.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Clara squeezed my ass, which left me flustered enough that I hung up on Sarah without saying goodbye. I glared down at my girl, at the twinkle in her eye and the wicked smile on her lips.
She knew exactly what she’d done.
“Are we going somewhere?” With her body pressed close to mine, where I needed to go and where I wanted to go warred within me.
“Need to go to the Davids’s to check on Chaya.”
“We won’t keep you then,” Paulo said, extending a hand my way.
I accepted it with more gratitude than I knew how to express, because it knocked Clara off my side and gave me room to breathe without the threat of her body short circuiting my brain.
“You’ll be okay here?” I asked, worries for Nadia and Mic pulsing through me at the mere thought of Cosimo coming back.
“I’ve got Mario with me,” Paulo said. “And I can always have Jet send one of his crew over if I feel we need more.”
With a nod, I turned toward Clara, ready to take her hand and lead her out the door. But she’d moved on from hugging Nadia, and now she was wrapped around Michele like he could save her from drowning.
“Clara.” There was a snap to my voice, and the two jolted apart. She licked her lips, then slipped her hand into mine. “Let’s go.”
I jerked her toward the door and had to listen to her fucking laughter the whole ride down the elevator to the parking garage.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I spun her around and pressed her up against the door to my car.
“I’m not doing anything.” There was a feigned innocence in her voice that screamed that it was nothing but lies. “I was only giving my new best friend a hug.”
“Clara!”
“Yes, Daddy?”
My mouth was on hers in an instant, my hand biting at her flesh in an effort to get her close. But Clara had different ideas. Her fingers danced over the buttons and zipper of my pants, then she palmed my aching cock before she lowered herself to her knees.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to let you punish me for being bad.” She pulled my pants down my calves, and the horror of those words finally reached my ears. Before she could slide her hot mouth over the head of my cock, I grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her off the ground.
“No.”
Not here.
Not like this.
I hadn’t fucked Clara’s mouth yet, though I’d been wanting to since before I’d ever dreamt of taking her the way I did. It felt dirty, thinking of her like that. Thinking of thrusting down her pretty throat and spilling my cum across her lips.
It felt just as dirty as when she called me Daddy, and I wasn’t going to stand for it.
As it turns out, I didn’t have to.
Somehow, while my brain had been hoodwinked by her, the girl had stolen my keys, unlocked my car, and opened the door. She shoved me inside, then was right back on the ground between my knees, and this time, when she reached for my throbbing dick, I couldn’t stop her.
The groan I let loose when her lips closed around my shaft had what little blood was left in the rest of my body rushing toward my face. Because holy, fuck! No blowjob I’d ever had felt anywhere near as good as this.
“Clara.” I strung my fingers through her hair, guiding her up and down my length as she went at this the way she applied herself to any task. Her focus and skill —Jesus, fuck! Where’d she get skills like that? —were beyond compare, and each swipe of her tongue had me losing my grasp on reality.
The sounds from her mouth were dreadfully erotic, and I knew if she didn’t stop, I’d be spilling myself down her throat. But there was no stoping this girl. If I wanted her to do something, I knew I’d have to force her.
So I did.
I yanked her off the ground, pulling her by the hair until her mouth was on my own. Then I tore down her shorts, grabbed her ass, and jerked her toward me until I was balls-deep inside of her, devouring her scream as it billowed out of her mouth.