Chapter Twenty
Milo
I never wanted to leave the bed.
If I thought falling asleep with Roe was amazing, waking up with her was something else entirely.
But she was more nocturnal, so she was sleeping in, and I needed to check in with Remo and Luca.
I slid out from under her slowly, not wanting to wake her.
She let out a sweet, sleepy little grumble at the loss, but quickly decided my pillow was a suitable replacement.
I stood at the side of the bed, glancing down at her.
Her dark hair spilled across the white linens, her gorgeous face soft in sleep, her dark lashes contrasting with her pale skin.
Something seized in my chest, the sensation sharp and intense enough to make my hand press there.
But nothing was wrong.
No, it was the complete opposite.
Something felt entirely too right.
Her.
There.
Like she belonged.
She does, my heart insisted.
She belonged.
There in my bed.
In my life.
In my heart.
The realization nearly knocked me back a step.
I always knew I’d find someone. That was the point of busting my ass all the time: to be able to give that someone the life she deserved.
But I guess I always thought it would be an intentional thing. I’d decide I was ready, and I’d start taking dating more seriously. There’d be dates, a timeline, easy rules to follow.
Not some random woman.
Not some fucked-up situation.
Though, to be fair, I didn’t know where the fuck that idea came from. Pretty much every member of my family had some insane, sometimes fucked-up origin story for their love stories. Why did I think I would be the exception to the rule?
I walked into the bathroom, wincing at how loud the damn shower was when I turned it on. But when I glanced back out, Roe was still sleeping peacefully.
I showered and dressed in slacks but paired them with a tee, leaving me half-dressed for either way my day was going to go: suited up and hitting the streets, or naked and wrapped up with Roe.
“Remo, talk to me,” I said as soon as I was in the sitting room.
“Assuming you’re whispering because you still got company,” he said. He was teasing, but he sounded tired as fuck.
“Tell me you heard something.”
“I didn’t,” he said, exhaling hard. “Look, I got a kid walking around town with a picture asking if anyone’s seen his dad. People respond to kids.”
“You employ kids?”
“It was me or the local heroin dealer. At least he’s safe working for us. Besides, he’s thirteen, not eight. And he mostly just reports shit he’s heard on the Boardwalk. This is a special circumstance.”
I wasn’t naive. Kids would always look for ways out of poor socioeconomic situations. Local street crews often preyed on that, roping them into some shady shit like dealing so their own hands stayed clean.
Remo was right. If the kid was looking for work, it was better he worked for us than one of those crews.
“Has he had any luck?”
“Got lots of people at Frank’s place to say that, yes, they’ve seen him a lot, but he wasn’t in yesterday.”
It was a good thing, I felt, that he hadn’t disappeared from there. That maybe Frank or his goons were onto us or, at least, Dom.
“I’m working on someone at your hotel.”
“For what?”
“Security footage. I’m sure we’ll see him leave your place, but I want to know if someone was watching, if someone went into his room, or if he just…
walked out. There aren’t a shit ton of working cameras on the Boardwalk right now to look into.
And, fuck, I don’t even have a hacker to help me with that shit. So this is an old-school search.”
“Do you need me to try to talk to someone here?”
“Nah, man. I’m gonna meet with the security guy in… two hours. If you want, I can bring the footage to your room. We can review it together.”
“Yeah, that’d be good. Thanks, Remo.”
It was hard as fuck to be a boss.
I’d never wanted that responsibility.
That was too heavy a crown for me.
But I had to admit, it seemed like Remo could pull it off.
His style was different from Luca’s, but I think that was needed. Navesink Bank was established. Atlantic City was still being cultivated. It required a different set of leadership skills.
“Hey, Milo?”
“Yeah?”
“Make sure you’re dressed when I get there. Monroe, well, clothing’s optional.”
He was teasing.
But a strange growling sound escaped me.
It got a chuckle out of my cousin.
“Yeah, figured it was heading in that direction.”
With that, he hung up.
I checked on Roe again before leaving a quick note on the hotel stationery, telling her to stay in the room, that I just went to grab coffee and breakfast.
My phone blew up the second I walked through the hotel lobby.
“Hey, Ma,” I said, trying not to let any tension about the whole Domenico thing slip into my voice.
The women in our family obviously knew what we did, that there was often a lot of dangerous shit going on. But we tried not to worry them unless it was absolutely necessary.
“How many weeks is my table going to have an empty seat?”
“I dunno, Ma,” I admitted. I winced at the too-bright morning sun as I walked out of the hotel and headed down the Boardwalk. “Things are… moving along. But I don’t have an end date for this job.”
“How’s your cousin?”
“Dom?”
“Remo.” At my pause, not sure who talked to her or what she knew, she let out a little huff of a laugh. “I’m not completely out of the loop, you know. I always wondered about those kids. I kept in touch with their mom for a while, but eventually, things just… fell off.”
“Remo’s a good guy. Mix of capable and a little feral.”
“He has his mama’s eyes, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah. He’s got his brothers here too. The youngest isn’t even drinking age yet.”
“Good. I like that they stick together. And his mom?”
“She’s got advanced MS,” I told her. “Seems like Remo and the brothers are taking care of her.”
“Good boys. Like mine,” she added.
I don’t know what possessed me to say it. Maybe it was just the urge to be able to talk about it to someone, and my brothers weren’t the ones who called me.
“Think I met someone, Ma.”
There was a pause long enough to make me think the call had dropped.
Then, well, the squeal.
I yanked my phone away from my ear. Even the man passing me while walking his dog looked over, startled.
“Ma, calm down. I didn’t say I married someone.”
“No, but you, my dear sweet boy, have never even mentioned a woman to me.”
“Maybe because I knew you’d act like this?” I teased as I walked closer to the bagel place.
“Yes, well, can you blame me? I want my children to be in love. How terrible of me. So tell me all about her.”
“She’s fucking beautiful.”
“I bet she is!”
“And she’s… a singer. Former model, but she’s a singer now.”
“Just think of how beautiful it would be to hear her sing your babies to sleep.”
“Ma..”
“Let your mother have this, will you?”
“I don’t want you to get your hopes too high.”
“Honey, my hopes are on the moon for you already. They always have been.”
“There’s no guarantee this is going where you want it to.”
“There’s never any guarantees in love, Milo. But it’s always worth the risks.”
I glanced back at the hotel, thinking of Roe up there in my bed.
“Yeah,” I agreed, feeling the rightness down to my bones.
“What’s her name?”
“Roe. Well, it’s Monroe. But she likes being called Roe.”
“Well, I’ll let you get back to her. I really hope she will be beside you the next time you come for dinner.”
“Me too,” I agreed.
“Love you.”
“Love you too.”
I hung up, feeling a little calmer about my morning revelation after talking to my mom. Who’d have thought that?
But she was right.
This was worth the risk.
Even if she didn’t want me the way I wanted her.
I got us bagels, hash browns, coffee, and some orange juice before heading back to the hotel.
I dropped off the food on the coffee table and brought the coffee into the bedroom just as Roe sat up. The blankets fell, pooling around her waist.
“Fuck,” I groaned at the sight of her.
The sunlight streamed through the windows, kissing her skin and highlighting each perfect fucking inch of her.
“Morning,” she said, all soft from sleep. “Is that coffee?”
“It is.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had coffee brought to me in bed.”
“That’s a fucking crime, baby.” I sat down next to her and handed her one of the cups. “I didn’t know what to get you, but I figured you can’t go wrong with caramel and half-and-half.”
“That sounds perfect.”
She didn’t reach to cover herself, and, fuck, if that wasn’t the hottest part—that she was comfortable with me already.
“Any word?” she asked after taking a long sip.
More proof that she was something special—being so worried about a man she’d met once.
“No. But Remo is working on getting the security footage from the hotel, though. He’s gonna be here in… about an hour and a half to review it.”
“Hour and a half, huh?” she asked, putting her cup down, then taking mine too.
Then she shifted up and climbed onto my lap.
My hands roamed down her back, sinking into her ass, dragging her against my cock as it stiffened between us.
Her head lowered, kissing down my neck.
Her hands tugged at my shirt until I reached down to pull it off.
She was sliding down, off, going down on her knees between my legs.
Her hungry gaze was on me as her hands slid up my thighs, across my waistband.
She undid my pants and then reached inside to pull my cock out.
Then I was in her mouth, and she was sucking me fast and deep.
“Fuck, baby,” I groaned, gathering her hair and fisting it at the back of her neck so I could watch.
But I wanted more.
I wanted her.
I pulled on her hair, loving the way her eyes went small and her lips parted at the sting across her scalp.
“Get up here and ride me,” I demanded, reaching into the nightstand for a foil and sliding the condom on as she moved to stand, then straddled me again.
Her hand moved between us, guiding me.
Then she was sinking down.
Her walls tightened around me, inviting me in.
My groan was drowned out by her cry as I filled her.
Her blue eyes went heavy-lidded as she dropped down fully.