Kosta grabs me and slings me over his shoulder. I shriek with laughter as he climbs the stairs, patting my ass in a way that makes me tingle all over.

The sun’s low in the sky, so he starts lighting candles around the bedroom. I breathe in vanilla and sandalwood and resist the urge to tackle him and tear his clothes off. When he finishes, turning toward me with a gleam in his eye, anticipation dances in my stomach.

“I still can’t believe our first time was on the desk at your club,” I say as he prowls toward me.

“Gonna bring that desk home when I sell. Maybe have it bronzed.”

I giggle, then do a double-take. “Sell?”

“My little brother Carmine’s been training to take over, but he’s not quite ready to run things on his own. Now that everything’s settled down, he and my cousin Joey are gonna buy me out.”

Joey must be the other man I saw in the booth at the café that day. “Wow. That’s a big change.”

“I’m ready for change.” Pulling me to him, Kosta grabs the hem of my top and peels it off over my head. He cups a breast in each hand, his thumbs flicking over the sensitive peaks. “Kosta,” I groan, my hands curling around his wrists, my head tipping back. He presses my nipples between thumb and forefinger, pinching lightly, then harder, as my grip on him tightens.

“Baby …” I’m soaking wet and we’re just getting started. Kosta scoops one breast out of my bra and sucks the nipple into his mouth, and every tug sends pleasure jolting straight to my pussy. I drag his t-shirt out of his jeans, desperate to touch him, and run my hands up the broad expanse of muscle, then down to his ass.

He switches to my other breast, then goes back and forth between them until my nails dig sharply into his back, which only makes him suckle me harder. “Kosta!” I cry.

“Love your tits, babe.” He nips the underside of one, making me gasp, then eases the tiny hurt with his tongue. “Love every inch of you.”

“Baby, please, I need you inside me.”

“Uh-uh,” he says. “Not tonight. We have time and we’re gonna take it.”

It’s the day after he brought me home. My dad called me this morning and confirmed that the organization that killed the dead guy, abducted me, and had been pressuring Kosta had been decimated by a massive sting operation with “inter-agency cooperation.” I wonder about Commando Guy Adamo, who cut me free, but don’t ask. Nor do I mention Dad and Kosta, who is definitely not any kind of a cop, coming through the door together when they rescued me.

But on top of cleaning up that mess, the operation also netted several individuals who were willing to testify in exchange for lesser charges or reduced sentences, and what they said has completely exonerated Kosta. His family may still be on radar with law enforcement, but he is no longer under suspicion. He’s free to pursue his own interests without a cloud over him … and right now, his only interest is driving me crazy.

I attack his belt buckle and get it undone, determined to free his cock and give him a taste of the torment he’s subjecting me to, but he grabs both my wrists in one hand, easily containing them. “Naughty girl,” he says, and I hear the smile in his voice as his other hand pulls the belt free from its loops. Then he spins me around and with a hand in the small of my back, pushes me down so I’m bent over the bed.

“Kosta …” The belt whistles through the air and cracks against my ass, still covered by my shorts and panties. I gasp and jolt. “Oh, god,” I moan. This is what Cait was talking about when she said context was everything. The belt lands again, and again. “Oh, fuck.”

“Love the way you take what I give you, babe,” Kosta says. “Take it all and ask for more.” Another lick of the belt. “Love giving you everything.”

“Baby, please.” I’m so wet I’m dripping.

Three more times the belt does its work, each blow slow and deliberate, and I think I’m going to come from sheer sensory overload. When he tosses it aside, I’m trembling with need.

“Sweetness,” he says, his fingers stroking the bare skin at the small of my back. “Talk to me.”

“Fuck me, please, fuck me.” I’m begging and I don’t care.

His lips replace his hand, pressing a kiss to the base of my spine. “My baby’s greedy little cunt is hungry, huh?”

“Touch me,” I plead. “Feel how much I need you.”

I don’t expect him to acquiesce, but Kosta unzips my shorts, then tugs them down. His hand dips into the back of my panties, smoothing down over my ass, and delves between my legs. “Holy mother of god,” he says when he touches my sodden flesh. “My cock just got ten times bigger.”

“Hurry, baby.”

“Can’t say no to you.” My underwear join my shorts around my ankles, and I step free. He takes off my bra, leaving me naked, and gets me bent over the bed again. One hand stays at the small of my back, and the other cracks against my bare ass.

Heat sears through my clit. “God!” He spanks me four more times. “Please, baby, fuck me hard. I need your cock.”

The rustle of clothing behind me tells me he’s getting naked too, and that whole process only lasts about five seconds. My man’s as hungry for me as I am for him. His cock slides through my slickness, then seats itself at my opening.

He surges inside me, and god, he feels so much bigger from this angle. I cry out and he stills, buried in me up to his balls. “All right, baby?”

“Yes,” I gasp.

“I wish I could show you what you look like right now. Your ass red, your pussy full of my cock, your little pucker begging for its turn … you’re so fuckin’ beautiful.”

I clamp around him like a vise, and he starts to move. Slowly, at first, the flared head of his cock dragging against my sensitive ridges, his hard length stretching my pussy. From this angle he’s hitting that magic spot deep inside with every thrust, and I’m making animal noises when he fills me.

Soon he’s as rough as I want him to be, pummeling me with his thick cock, his hips slapping against my ass every time he drives home inside me, and my first climax is on me with almost no warning. “Yes!” I scream, and Kosta fucks me harder and faster, and then I’m scrabbling against the covers, frantically trying to anchor myself because I can’t stop coming.

I lose track of how many orgasms I’ve had long before Kosta’s finished. When he yanks me against him a final time, the heat of him pouring out inside me triggers a fresh round of shockwaves before I go limp.

Somehow, with an arm around my waist, he gets us both up onto the bed, spooning on our sides, our bodies still joined. He draws the spread up and over from his side of the bed to partially cover us, and then we lie there a long while in silence. It’s probably only a few minutes, but it feels like epochs pass and history rewinds itself to the beginning of time. Like we’re the only couple on earth.

Eventually, Kosta goes up on his elbow, brushes my hair aside, and kisses my ear. “Hungry, babe?”

I smile. “Starving.”

“Let’s get cleaned up and we’ll eat.”

I go down on him in the shower, my knees hitting the hard tile before he can stop me. He fucks my mouth, holding my head still, staring into my eyes as he thrusts. Then he picks me up, sets me against the wall, and drills into me under the pounding spray.

When we finally finish our shower and dry off, I dress in one of his t-shirts again, this time with nothing at all under it. My mom brought a few things over this morning, but I still don’t have most of my clothes. Cait and Tonio went and got a lot of them, but didn’t get to bring them by before I was kidnapped.

As we reach the kitchen, Kosta’s phone rings. He reads the display, and his expression changes to what I can only describe as exasperated affection before he answers it. “Mama, what’s up?”

Ohmygod. “Yeah, she’s here,” Kosta says, his eyes warm on me. Then he listens. And listens some more.

“Mama,” he finally says, his tone gentle. Then, “Yeah, okay, I’ll tell her. But I’m not promising.” More listening. “Mama, we haven’t even been on a real date yet.”

His eyes come back to me. “I’ll tell her. No, don’t set a date. I’ll get back to you about that. Mama, I’ll get back to you. Yeah. Okay, gotta go. Love you too.”

He ends the call and says, “She wants you to come to dinner.”

“That’s all right,” I say with a laugh. “From the sound of it, I thought maybe she wanted to reserve a church.”

Kosta grins at me, and my heart skips a beat at the sight of so much masculine beauty. “I think we should have at least one date before we get into that. Tomorrow, I’ll take you to dinner.”

“Okay.” My smile turns shy; his eyes turn hot. Then my phone signals a text message. “That was Cait,” I tell him after I read it. “She and Tonio are on their way with my clothes and stuff.”

“I’ll go up and get my robe for you,” Kosta says, and pats my ass. “Stay here, Blondie, and drink some more water.”

I grin at his retreating back. He’s right; staying hydrated is important after vigorous physical activity. I get down two of the cut-crystal glasses from his cupboard and fill them from the filtered dispenser in the refrigerator.

Kosta’s barely made it back downstairs when the doorbell rings. I shrug the robe on and wrap it around me, following him as he goes to let my bestie and his cousin in. At least, I hope that’s who it is.

Cait comes in first, her long, dark hair worn loose, the way Tonio likes it. She has my carryon over one shoulder, my purse over the other. Antonio follows at a normal pace, carrying more luggage. It looks like they packed at least half my belongings.

“Hey,” I say, wiggling my fingers at Tonio while Cait rushes me for a hug. He’s as tall as Kosta, maybe even a hair taller, and even broader through the chest and shoulders, but with that same Adamo sexiness. I’ve always found his intensity a bit intimidating, which is kind of funny now that I’ve been claimed by my own hot alpha.

“Hurry,” Cait says, letting go and shoving the bag at me. “You have to get changed.”

“What’s wrong?” I say, bewildered by her urgency.

“There’s an Adamo invasion on the way. They’ll be here in fifteen minutes, if you’re lucky.”

“Holy crap!” I know exactly what that means. Grabbing her hand, I drag her to the stairs with me.

As we go up, I hear Kosta behind me. “You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me.”

And Tonio laughs and says, “Welcome to the club.”

* * *

In the bathroom, Cait sits on the toilet lid while I unzip the carryon and root through it. She’s got all the essentials in there: makeup, toiletries, and a cute outfit that’s appropriate for an unscheduled visit from your unofficial boyfriend’s huge, nosy Italian family. “You’re a lifesaver, Cait.”

She sets my purse on the counter by the sink. “Thought you might want this too.” I glance at her, puzzled, and then it hits me. My birth control pills are in there.

“Oh, wow,” I breathe.

“How many days have you missed?” she says.

“Just today.”

“You don’t seem too upset.”

I give her a look, and her face turns dreamy. “You’re gone for him.”

“Completely and totally gone.”

With anyone but Cait, this conversation would sound more like “Are you freaking crazy? You barely know the man!” But when she and Tonio finally got together it happened fast, so I don’t have to explain the irresistible, brain-melting charisma of an Adamo male.

“And it’s mutual, right?” she says. She’s not too lost in her own romantic dreamworld to realize a happy ending isn’t guaranteed.

“He kidnapped me from the hospital after I tried to break up with him,” I share, and Cait’s smile spreads until she’s glowing with happiness. If she and Tonio weren’t such a recent couple, I’d wonder if she was pregnant herself.

I peel off the robe and t-shirt and start getting dressed. The dress Cait brought is a creamy ivory that comes halfway to my knee. It’s soft and clingy, but the cut is very modest. For jewelry, there’s a simple gold chain and little pearl studs. Thigh-high stockings and low-heeled pumps, and I’m all set except for my makeup.

“This is perfect,” I say. “Kosta told me I should dress like a nun around other men.” Cait snickers. “On the other hand, it could be misconstrued as a bridal-looking dress, which might give his mother ideas.” I glance at her. “I assume she’s part of the invading horde?”

“Oh yes. I got the word from Tonio’s sister, Anjelica, who heard it from Kosta’s sister, Dani — who’s dying to meet you, by the way.”

“Kosta has a sister?” I should know that somehow. It brings home how new he and I really are, even though the connection between us doesn’t feel that way.

“She and Carmine are twins. And then there are two older brothers. Kosta used to be the baby, once upon a time.”

“Was he jealous when they came along?” I ask as I swipe on mascara, shamelessly pumping her for any information I can get.

“No, he was a teenager by then. He adores Dani, and you know Carmine works with him at the club.”

I put on a little blusher and lip gloss, take a final look in the mirror, and decide to call it good. “Okay, let’s do this. I have to say, I don’t know how you faced this all by yourself. I’m glad I’ve got you for backup.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” she says as we exit the bathroom and bedroom and make for the stairs. “Even though they interrupted a heavy makeout session, the signs of which were more than obvious, they all went easy on me.”

“That’s good.” I try to calm the butterflies in my stomach. “Here’s hoping they’re all in a generous mood today, too.” Our timing is perfect; just as we reach the ground floor, the doorbell rings again. Cait gives my hand a squeeze as we join our men in the foyer.

Kosta opens the door, and in they come. Gorgeous Adamo men, vivacious dark-haired women, babies and toddlers, teenagers and grandparents, and a few who look like great-grandparents. They’ve brought enough food for at least fifty people, and judging by the stream of visitors still filing into the house, we’ll need all of it.

Cait, taking on the lifesaver role once again, handles the introductions. I’m impressed that she’s somehow managed to learn this many names so fast, but it’s not only that. She’s greeted by each new arrival with hugs and kisses, as if she’s been a member of the family forever.

Kosta’s mother, Paola, is a curvy brunette with the same amber eyes as her son. His father, Desi, has dark eyes but otherwise looks like an older version of Kosta. He greets me with warmth, if slightly formal courtesy; his wife has no such reservations.

“Look at you! You’re like an angel. Desi, doesn’t she look just like an angel?” She pulls me in for a hug, then takes my face in her hands. “You’re so young; that’s good. My Kosta, he needs someone young, full of energy, not set in her ways. My cousin Bettina is a nun; for years now she’s been saying novenas that Kosta would find a good woman.”

“Mama.” Kosta appears at his mother’s side and gives her a kiss on the cheek. “Stop harassing my girl.”

My girl. I catch his eye. His gaze takes in my demure, almost virginal, outfit, and then he gives me a look that burns my panties to cinders. I do a full-body shudder and get his wicked grin.

Paola is watching us avidly. “I’m just talking,” she says. “Can’t a mother talk to the girl her son is seeing?”

Kosta doesn’t respond, just sends his father a look. Desi puts a gentle hand on his wife’s arm, and she allows herself to be led away, but not before kissing me on both cheeks and welcoming me to the family.

The invasion lasts for hours. The women take over the kitchen and I’m free to wander in and out and talk to everyone. I meet Dani, who’s just a couple of years older than me and feels like an instant friend. And I get to watch Tonio with Cait, which I love.

I’m probably not the only one who sees them slip away, but no one says anything, even when she comes back with flushed cheeks and bright eyes, and he’s watching her like he’s just had the most delicious appetizer and can’t wait for the main course. She catches my eye and wanders over, leaning against the wall in a studiedly casual pose. “So … made any discoveries?”

“Oh. My. God,” I say, and we both collapse into giggles. Then Kosta’s coming my way, and Cait gives me a knowing look and heads back to her man. I watch mine move and wonder if we can get away with disappearing for a few minutes.

Every corner of the house, except possibly his bedroom, is packed with Adamos. The garage and back yard probably aren’t safe, either. Cait and Tonio must have found an empty bathroom.

He reaches me, and his hands come to my hips. “Sweet,” he says, his voice a sensual caress. “This outfit makes my cock ache.”

“This outfit?” I repeat softly, amazement penetrating the haze of lust that’s shrouded my brain.

“So proper.” His thumbs draw little circles at the tops of the creases where my legs join my body, sending heat shooting to my core. “It makes me want to do such filthy things to you.”

That fast, my panties are soaked. “Would it be rude for us to leave our own dinner party? Not that there’s anywhere for us to go.”

“Come on,” he says, taking my hand. “I want to show you something.” I try to keep a bland expression on my face as we move through the house, not the horny, needs-to-get-laid look I suspect is there regardless.

He leads me around a corner into seemingly nothing, touches what looks like a blank spot on a wall, and it slides away to reveal a small, windowless space. We slip inside, the room seals us in, and Kosta hits a few buttons on a panel. “All set. No one will find us or disturb us.”

“Gives a whole new meaning to ‘safe room’,” I say with a grin.

Kosta settles on the straight-backed chair against one wall and pulls me down to straddle him. “So, my little innocent. Anything to confess?”

“Yes.” My hands go into his hair. “I have such wicked thoughts.”

He find the zipper on my dress, and a few seconds later it’s pooled around my waist. “You gotta purge the wickedness,” he says, drawing my bra cups down and clamping his mouth over one breast.

“Yes.” He sucks harder, and I moan. “I want to purge all of it.”

His mouth still on me, Kosta gets his hands under my dress, finds my panties, which have somehow reconstituted themselves, and rips them apart. He releases me long enough to say, “Penance,” before addressing himself to my other breast.

“Whatever you think,” I gasp, working to free him from his pants. Once his cock is spearing into the air, he holds me over him while I guide the tip to my opening and start to sink down. I have to rise and fall several times to take him all in.

When I’m full to bursting, I brace my hands on his shoulders and start to ride him. Kosta waits until I have a rhythm going before he pulls the back of my dress up, exposing my ass. My breath catches, and his hand cracks against my bare skin.

With every slap I go faster, until I’m driving down frantically onto his cock, my moans and cries filling the room. “Clit, baby,” Kosta orders me, and I reach down to find my swollen point. It only takes me seconds to bring myself.

As soon as I go off, both his hands grip my hips and he starts slamming me down, hard and fast, while he thrusts up to meet me. I keep a hand on my clit and come twice more before he buries himself in me a final time and lets go, his release sending another cascade of pleasure through my body.

“I don’t think your safe room has a bathroom,” I say a few minutes later, when I have my breath back.

“Just a composting toilet. But I’ve got baby wipes in here somewhere.”

“Okay.” I don’t move. He’s still inside me and I’m boneless with satiation.

“Babe.” At his tone, I lift my head to look down at him.

“Hmm?”

“I’m not lettin’ you go.”

I sift my fingers through his hair. “I know.”

He shakes his head. “I mean, we’re new, sweetness, but we’re not the kind of new that feels fragile. We’ve shown each other a lot these last few days. We build on what we’ve got, keep goin’ strong, I want a life with you.”

My heart soars. “Baby,” I say in a shaky voice, and lean down to kiss him. “You’re not worried that I’m too young?”

“Are you?”

I give it serious thought, try to imagine meeting some other guy who would somehow be more The One for me than Kosta, and shake my head. “There’s a lot I haven’t seen yet, a lot I haven’t done. But I want to share those things with you.”

“I’ll give you the world, babe.”

I kiss him again. “I love you, Constantine Adamo. I love the way you take care of me. I love your eyes and your smile and your cock. I love the way you push me, and protect me. And I love the way you take me.”

He pulls me down to him, and this time the kiss is long and deep and searing. By the time it’s over, he’s fully hard again. “I love you too, carina.”

“We should probably get back to our guests.”

“Yeah,” he says, and his fingers flex on my hips. But we don’t move.

I smile down at him. “I need to go first, don’t I?”

“We could always put you under me,” he says in a languid tone that makes me melt. “Then I’d have to go first.”

“I somehow don’t think that would lead to us getting back to the others,” I say a little breathlessly.

“We stay gone too much longer, they’re gonna send out a search party.”

He smiles. I give him a goofy grin.

And I know whatever the future brings, my beautiful man and I will get through it together.