Arlo texts me that he needs me to go with him to deliver our latest weapon tonight.

It’s not a question. It’s a command. I’m supposed to go with him. That’s what we do. He tells me what to do, and I follow.

But not this time.

I’m tired of doing everything that Arlo tells me to do.

These last few months have been amazing, but I can feel the pressure in our bubble building. And I know that it’s going to pop soon. I can feel it.

I don’t bother to text him back.

He’s going to be pissed, but I don’t care. I climb off the couch and go find Nina reading a book in my bed.

She smiles up at me when she sees me standing in the doorway.

I grin back as I fold my arms across my chest and lean in the doorway. Nina has quickly become my everything. All I can do is think about her. What she’s doing. What she needs. I think about her body. Her smart mouth. I think about fucking her. Talking to her. Holding her.

I can’t stop.

She used to be the one who was obsessed. But not anymore. Now, I’m just as obsessed with her as she is with me.

I can’t stop. And I don’t want to. I want her every second of every day. And, if Arlo thinks I’m going to be willing to leave her alone for one second in this house, even to go do work, he’s crazy. He knows how I feel about her. He sees it in my eyes every night when we fuck her together. Always fucking together.

We have each tried to get her on her own, but the other is always there. Nina always pulls us both in. But it can’t last forever. Eventually, whatever is going on is going to stop. Someone is bound to develop feelings. And, even if I know that Arlo has developed feelings for Nina, I know him well enough to know that he will never act on those feelings.

“What?” Nina asks, looking at me with her big brown eyes.

I step into the room and walk over to her, taking the book out of her hands and laying it on the nightstand next to the bed.

“I want you,” I say.

Her eyes grow heavy. “Okay, where’s Arlo?”

I shake my head. “No, not with him.”

She raises an eyebrow at me as I climb on top of her in bed, pinning her down. She doesn’t fight me; she just seems amused. We’ve fucked too many times for her to fear me.

“Where is Arlo?” she asks.

“He’s working. He never has to know. Just fuck me alone, just this once.”

I lean down and kiss her, tasting the sweet wine on her lips that I didn’t notice she was drinking. I kiss her hard, slipping my tongue into her mouth, making it impossible for her to say no to me.

“Don’t you have to work, too, then?” she asks.

“No, I don’t. Not tonight. Tonight, the only thing I want is to fuck you.”

She bites her lip as she looks in my eye. She hasn’t fucked either of us in two days. That’s the longest we have gone without sex. We were both gone working yesterday, and when we got back, she was already asleep. We all slept in, doing various things today, and then Arlo wanted me to work again tonight instead of having her. I can’t go that long without having her. Not now. Not ever again.

“Come on, beautiful. Let me fuck you. You know you want it as badly as I do,” I purr into her neck. I begin kissing her neck, surprised that she hasn’t stopped me already.

“Yes.”

“Yes?” I say, immediately stopping my kisses to look her in the eyes to make sure she is serious.

“Yes, but I have one condition.”

“Anything!” I say, already thinking about where I want to have sex with her.

“Afterward, I get to ask you any questions I want, and you have to answer honestly.”

I search her eyes, trying to figure out what her plan is, but it isn’t hard to figure out. She’s been asking easy questions for weeks, just waiting for the right time to get her real questions answered. Apparently, today is that day.

I’m ready though. I know how to answer any question to keep her safe and mine. This is the day I’ve been waiting for, too.

“I’ll tell you anything you want.”

Her face lights up at that. “I’m yours then.”

I hang on to her words. They were exactly what I wanted to hear. What I needed to hear.

I grab her hand and pull her out of bed, needing to come up with the perfect place to fuck her. Now.

She laughs as I pull her out of my bed with urgency. “Where are we going? I thought you would want to fuck me in your bed.”

I shake my head. That is absolutely the last place I want to fuck her. Too many memories of Arlo and me fucking her there. I want her someplace I can claim her as mine. A place where Arlo will know that I won. That she chose me over him.

She doesn’t move fast enough for me, so I scoop her up in my arms as I run out of my quarters.

She giggles again as she kisses my neck. “Someone’s in a rush.”

I growl when she kisses my neck. “Stop distracting me, woman.”

She bites her lip as I carry her through the mansion to Arlo’s rooms. I get to the door to his quarters and test it just in case he left it unlocked. But, of course, he didn’t.

I can’t pick the lock; I’ve tried countless times. The door is basically bulletproof, but Arlo does claim one other room that he doesn’t keep behind lock and key. The room he takes women to when he wants to fuck them.

I walk to the double doors at the end of the hallway and push them open as I carry Nina in. I don’t bother shutting the doors behind me. The maids know well enough to stay far away, and if Arlo comes home, I want him to see me with her.

But where to fuck her first? I’ve had her every way possible, and I can’t possibly choose a favorite. Every position. Every way.

I look at Nina, and I see her eyes light up when we enter the room. I don’t know what history she has in this room, and I’m not sure I want to know, but I don’t have a choice. I have to know.

“Did Arlo fuck you in this room?”

She motions for me to put her down. I reluctantly do, and I watch her sway her hips as she walks over to a large chair that looks more like a throne sitting in the corner of the room.

“No, I tried to get Arlo to fuck me. But he fucked three other whores instead.”

I smirk. I definitely chose the right room to claim her as mine.

She runs her hand over the velvet chair, most likely remembering that night.

“I want to ride you while you sit in this chair,” she says, standing behind it and pointing to it.

I suck in a breath, trying to control myself or this moment is going to end far too soon. She looks gorgeous, standing behind the chair like that. She’s completely irresistible. She doesn’t even have to try to be sexy; she just is. She’s wearing jeans and a dark gray shirt. Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail, but her confidence is what makes all the difference. It’s something she has always had, but as the weeks have gone by, especially since that night in Enrico’s room, she has changed into the strongest woman I’ve ever seen.

“Gladly,” I say with a smirk as I walk over and take a seat in the chair.

Her hands rub my shoulders, and I groan, loving her working for me for once. She slowly makes her way in front of me and begins to put on a show for me as she undresses, starting with her shirt.

“I wish I had some music to dance for you,” she says.

I smile. “That, I can give you.” I turn toward Arlo’s sound system. “Play us a song to fuck to.”

A sexy pop song comes on, and Nina starts moving her body to the music. She strips her shirt, shoes, and pants. I grip the chair, forcing myself to stay in it and wait for her to come to me, but waiting has never been my strong suit. As soon as she gets closes enough for me to touch, I grab her hips and pull her into my lap.

“I’m not a patient man.”

She kisses me, pulling my bottom lip into her mouth. “I know.”

“Then, what are you doing?”

“Making you crazy,” she says with a wink and then starts grinding her hips against my cock that is still trapped in my pants.

I growl and pull my shirt off, needing to feel her skin against mine. She gives in immediately, running her hands over my chest. I’m not used to her touching me. Most of the times I’ve fucked her, she’s been tied up or had to split her attention between me and Arlo. But, tonight, I get all of her attention. Her hands travel over my body, feeling every inch of me as my cock grows larger for her.

“Take off my pants,” I command.

She grins as she kneels in front of me. “Someone’s still bossy.”

“Always.”

She grabs my waistband, unbuttons my pants, undoes the zipper, and pulls my pants down along with my underwear until my cock is free.

Her large eyes get bigger, telling me exactly how much she really does want my cock. She runs her tongue across her bottom lip before devouring my cock with her mouth.

I close my eyes and let my head roll back as she wraps her lips around my cock. The way she moves her mouth over me makes it clear how much she wants this and that she is enjoying herself as much as I am.

I open my eyes, needing to see hers. She grins around my cock when I do, knowing exactly what she is doing to me.

I grab her chin, stopping her from fucking me with her mouth. As much as I want to shoot my cum down her throat, I want to feel her pussy pulsating around me more.

I pull her back up onto my lap, and her legs automatically go around me, startling me, as her lips lower to my mouth, kissing me hard and fast. One hand grabs her long mane of hair, and the other grabs her breast as her nipple hardens beneath my hand.

She moans, and the sound hardens my cock even more, pushing against her entrance. I want to fuck her now. But I need to hear her say my name first. I need her to want me as badly as I want her.

I bite her lip, bringing it into my mouth, as she purrs deep in her throat.

I grab her hips and grind them against me as she bites her lip to keep from screaming.

I lower my mouth to her nipple and suck at the same time I push my cock inside her.

“Fuck, Matteo,” she moans.

Finally.

She pushes my head back the second I enter her and takes the control back. She grinds up and down on my cock, riding me like it is her favorite thing to do.

I want the control back but not nearly as much as I want her to keep doing what she is doing.

“You like my cock, beautiful?” I ask.

She nods and licks her lips as she keeps fucking me, unable to say anything.

I thrust hard against her, meeting her thrust for thrust, as her grip on my shoulders tightens. Her nails dig into my shoulders as she holds on, trying to keep from coming.

“Come, beautiful.”

She keeps riding me harder, increasing her pace, as I barely contain my own orgasm.

“No.”

I growl, “Come. Now.”

“No.”

She rides me harder, and I can’t hold back another second.

“Nina,” I growl.

She milks an orgasm out of me.

Only then does Nina finally come.

She collapses onto my body, and I wrap my arms around her, loving having her body pressed up so closely against mine.

We stay that way for a long time, both passed out and just holding each other.

Then, Nina slowly lifts her head with a grin on her face. “Now, I have some questions for you.”

I firmly kiss her on the lips, slipping my tongue into her mouth, begging her to have sex with me again.

“But, first, you want me to fuck you again?”

She takes a deep breath and bites her lip, still grinning. “Yes.”

* * *

“As much as I want to do that again, my body can’t take much more,” Nina says, lying on Arlo’s bed in his playroom while I lie next to her, completely spent.

I nod. “I guess that means it’s time for me to stop stalling and answer your questions.”

She nods.

But neither of us says anything else as we just lie in bed, staring at each other. The sex was great. Nina and I share a connection like no one else. But it still doesn’t mean we have any sort of future together once we leave this room. I don’t know what feelings she has for Arlo. I’m sure she still hopes that she can find a way out of this mess and end up back with her husband. And, even if she does choose me out of all the men in her life, I’m not sure that we could have a future together. So, this might be it. The last moment I can claim her as mine and mine alone.

She knows it, too.

I can see it in the way she tries to slow her breathing down to really cherish me. I can feel it in the stillness. She doesn’t move or speak right away; she just is. Her eyes don’t look anywhere but mine. She’s just present with me, taking everything in.

“What questions do you want to ask me?” I finally ask, breaking our perfect moment that could have lasted forever.

She takes another deep breath, staring at me while I tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear.

“What do you and your family do for a living? How do you make money? Why does Arlo come home, covered in blood almost every night? Where is Enrico? How did your family gain so much power?”

I nod. I knew my family would be at the center of her questions even though she has probably guessed enough to know most of the truth. She needs to know about my family.

So, I tell her, “My family has lived in Italy for hundreds of years. We never had any power, no noble blood, nothing to tie us to royalty.

“But the story goes, one of the first members of my family had a son who was strong and good. He lived his life as a soldier, fighting for good. One day, he and his brother were traveling back to town when they came across a horse without a rider. The brothers searched and searched until they finally found the rider. A woman had fallen off in a nearby creek. They rescued the woman and brought her to the nearest town. That woman was the princess.

“The king knew he owed a great debt that could never be repaid to the brothers, but he vowed to give the brothers whatever they wanted. Jewels, money, power. But the brothers were more interested in his daughter than the money.”

“Naturally,” Nina says as she rolls over onto her stomach, resting her head on her hands as she listens to my story.

“The brothers fought over the beautiful princess. But, ultimately, she chose neither of them. She chose an actual prince to marry. The brothers were heartbroken and grew to resent each other until, one day, the king sent them money as payment.

“That money turned into more money. More jewels were sent. And those jewels turned into power. People would turn up at their doorstep, asking for their help. Giving them money. Giving them women. Giving them everything they could ever want.

“They soon learned the power they wielded if they had the richest people in the country in their debt. So, that is exactly what they did. Soon, they became as powerful as the king himself.

“My family continued the tradition for years, becoming more corrupt and evil as each descendant took power until here we sit.”

Nina bites her lip to keep from laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, come on! You don’t really expect me to believe that crazy story you so clearly just made up, do you? You just made up that story as an attempt to get me to choose one of you.”

I grin. “You can think I’m a liar all you want. I’m not. Now, do you want me to finish answering your questions or not?”

She sighs. “Continue with your lies.”

“My family still carries on with the old tradition of getting powerful men—”

“And powerful women,” Nina interjects.

I smile and nod. “And powerful women to owe us a debt, therefore giving us power over them. Our regular business and sources of income are building and selling powerful weapons. But we never give our enemies any weapons more powerful than what we already have. We build the weapons mainly for ourselves as a way to gain more power. We use it to protect our homeland here, which the Italian government allows us to do pretty much whatever we want with.”

“So, basically, you became the unofficial kings of Italy,” Nina says.

I smile, liking the thought of us as kings.

“Our work requires us to do a lot of different things. We have meetings during the daylight, negotiating terms of the debt our clients owe us or discussing weapons that we will sell or gain. At night is when we make the trades or deal with clients who think they don’t owe us a debt. We make it clear that no one gets away without paying back their debt.”

I watch her eat up every word I say even if she thinks part of it is a lie. Or all of it. But she still hangs on to every word.

“Sometimes, those meetings don’t go so well, and we have to use force to ensure the meetings go our way.”

She frowns. “But why does Arlo always end up hurt, and you never end up with much more than a scratch on you?”

“Because I’m that much better at avoiding getting shot than he is.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Fine. You already know the answer anyway. Arlo is a martyr who will take a bullet for someone he cares about. He won’t let me get shot even if it would do me some good to realize that I’m not invincible.”

Nina laughs. When her laughter settles down, she asks, “And Enrico?”

“He went to America to negotiate a trade we have been working on for some time. It’s tricky negotiations. He won’t be back for several months yet.”

She sucks in a breath and nods. I watch her as she opens her mouth to ask another question and then stops as she looks past me. I don’t have to turn around to know who she is looking at.

Arlo.