LORIK
Holy fuck.
I jerked my cock hard and shot the white ribbons of my release on my own damn stomach. Karina had been riding me like a champ for I didn’t know how long. She moved those sinful, curvy hips like she was born to fuck. All I could do the entire time was dig my fingers into her waist and let her ride me until I saw damn stars. I wasn’t usually a huge fan of getting ridden, since I prefer to do the fucking. But, by God, when she forced me on my back and straddled me, I had no way of fighting against the most intense pleasure I had ever felt. From there, it only got better and better, until I was unable to fucking move, giving her all the damn power.
She fell down beside me, and we both lay there panting like we just ran a goddamn marathon. I didn’t think it was possible, but the sex we just had managed to outdo the fuckery we had last night. It was like this woman was possessed with the need to fuck and be fucked—which kind of made me think she was trying to get rid of something. Not that I was complaining, but it was obvious there was something heavy steering her lust and her need to lose herself.
I looked her way. “Could you do me a favor?”
She frowned. “You want a towel?”
“So, you’re not just a pretty face.” I winked at her, and she planted her fist against my arm before jumping off the bed. My eyes were glued to her naked ass as her hips swayed.
I placed my arm behind my head and stared at her, taking in her nakedness. This would probably sound like every damn cliché in the book, but I had never seen a woman as gorgeous as she was. Every sensual curve, every perfect inch of her body was nothing short of exquisite, especially paired with the confidence she was currently oozing while strolling naked up and down my bedroom.
She tossed a towel onto my stomach. “There you go, cowboy.”
“If I remember correctly, you’re the one who went all cowgirl, riding me like I was the last fucking stallion on earth.”
She scoffed before climbing over me onto the other side of the bed.
I did not think it was possible, but I swore to God my cock twitched when she maneuvered herself over me.
I wiped myself clean and threw the towel on the floor before turning onto my side to face her. “So, what’s up?”
She snorted. “Cheesy much?”
“No, I don’t mean what’s up, what’s up. I mean, what’s up, as in what’s going on?”
She turned her head and looked at me. “What do you mean?”
“See, I know women. And whenever a woman wants to fuck like we just did, there’s usually something fueling it.”
“So, you’re saying you’ve fucked like that before?”
I stiffened. “I’m not exactly sure what the right answer is to that.”
“Oh, my God!” She slapped my shoulder, and I laughed. “You are such an asshole.” But the way she said it with a playful smile on her face told me I was everything but an asshole to her.
We settled down again, and I watched as she nestled her head deeper into the pillow, her eyes closed.
“Are you going to tell me?”
She peeked at me with one eye. “Tell you what?”
“Tell me what fueled you. Did something happen?”
“There’s nothing to tell.” She closed her eye again as if it was her way of dismissing me.
“Princess—”
“I told you,” both her eyes opened, “don’t call me princess.”
I shifted, taking her completely by surprise when I pushed myself on top of her, settling myself between her legs. “I like calling you princess, so get used to it.”
“Did I mention you’re an asshole?”
“More than once.” I grinned. “Now, tell me.”
She leaned her head to the side, pretending to gaze out the bedroom window when she was actually avoiding making eye contact.
“It’s nothing.” Her answer was clipped, and I didn’t buy it for a second.
“Does this nothing have something to do with Enzio?” What could I say? I was a cop, which made me a prier.
“Maybe.” Another short answer that raised my suspicion.
“Karina.”
“Okay, fine.” She huffed. “After last night’s standoff with Enzio, Antonio wanted answers.”
I narrowed my eyes. “And you gave him these answers?”
“Yeah.” She looked past me up at the ceiling.
“And how did that go down?”
“Better than I expected, actually.”
I straightened my arms and pushed myself up, feeling confused as hell. “But that’s good, then, right?”
She placed her hands on her forehead, weaving her fingertips through her hair. “I guess.”
I cocked a brow. “But now your secret is out in the open, and you have no idea what to expect from Antonio.”
She sighed. “Yeah.”
“Tell me what you told Antonio.”
All of a sudden, I was overwhelmed with the need to know her secret. I’d already figured out her secret had something to do with Enzio and that he had somehow hurt her badly. But now I wanted to know how he hurt her, and how deep her scars went.
She covered her eyes with her palms. “Not tonight, please, Lorik. I already had to relive it when I told Antonio. For now, I just want to try to forget.”
There was desperation in her voice, and even though I was the world’s biggest prier, I decided to not push it. Something told me she had been pushed enough during the last few days.
“Okay,” I conceded—for now.
I put my elbows down above her shoulders and placed my hands on her head, wiping the hair out of her face. Our gazes met, and then it happened. A moment. One of those moments you read about in books or saw in a movie, a moment between lovers where something shifts. You didn’t know what it was, what was happening, all you knew was it was happening. She blinked, her thick, black eyelashes framing dark eyes that possessed the power to stun me into silence. I’d said it before, that she was beautiful, but right then her beauty surpassed every thought I ever had about how perfect she was. There were soft, faint, little freckles scattered over her nose and under her eyes, freckles I hadn’t noticed before. And there was a tiny beauty mark just above where the dimple appeared every time she smiled. What the fuck is happening to me? Since when did I notice stuff like freckles, beauty marks, and dimples? I only used to notice tits, ass, and shaven pussies, that was it. But now, this close, I saw so much more. I saw her—Karina. Even though she acted as tough as nails, her eyes gave it away. The sadness, the heartache, and the need to break free. Like a trapped bird, she longed for freedom, something she would never have as long as she was a Valenti.
Leaning down, I kissed her warm, heart-shaped lips gently, softly, as if they could break. Her eyes closed, but I kept mine open. I wanted to see her, watch her, make sure I didn’t miss a fucking thing. It was like time stopped and reality seized all around us. There was nothing but us and this moment. It was weird, insane, and incredibly disarming because I’d always been a free-spirited kind of guy, never allowing feelings and emotions to tie me down. But in that moment, I was feeling a whole lot of emotions I’d never felt before…and it scared the shit out of me.
Karina moved her hips beneath me, and an ache shot up my cock straight through my spine. I wanted her. I wanted her now, later, tomorrow, next week, next month…next year. I wanted her for as long as possible, for as long as my future would permit.
Oh, my God, I was turning into a pussy.
I jolted upright and pushed myself off the bed. The feelings crashing against my chest in waves of emotion weren’t exactly what I expected. Maybe it was because I’d never felt them before, and it took me by surprise. It was really fucking intense.
“What’s wrong?” Karina pushed herself up on her elbows. My gaze flitted down to her beautiful, perky tits, and I craved to taste more of her, to suck one of those hard nipples into my mouth. But it was more than that. My cock was rock hard, my body nothing but tight muscles and raw instinct. But there was also this gnawing feeling on the inside of my chest that was making me want to do so much more than just screw her. I want to make love to her, I want to give her the best of me—all of me.
I need a motherfucking drink.
With a few quick, long strides, I was out the door and rushing down the hall to the kitchen. Beer, bourbon, whiskey, I didn’t give a fuck what it was, I needed to consume something that would make the feelings eating at my chest go away.
“What just happened?”
I grabbed a beer and shut the fridge before turning to face her. She was still gloriously naked, leaning against the wall, looking as sexy and delicious as sin. My cock was my worst enemy at the moment.
“It’s nothing. I just…I need a beer.”
She sauntered closer to me, and once again my eyes found her naked body, my gaze traveling from her voluptuous tits to her bare pussy, and then back up again. Goddammit, why can’t I stop wanting her?
Karina stopped about two feet away, staring at me like she could see right through my soul. “Are you sure? Because it seemed like you were there one second, then gone the next. Like I lost you there.”
If you only knew…
I cleared my throat. “Nope. I’m still here.” I tried to play down my awkward behavior, and without my fucking consent, my gaze drifted down to her pussy again. My cock jolted. “See,” I pointed at my dick, “he’s here too.”
She laughed…she fucking laughed, and it was the best goddamn sound I had ever heard.
Her curls hung down her shoulders in wild disarray, and she swept them back, allowing them to fall around her face. If I could paint a motherfucking picture, I’d have painted that right there. Picasso could kiss my ass.
Without thinking straight, I slammed my beer down on the counter and grabbed her, pulling her hard against me. With one hand on her hip, I palmed her cheek with the other, staring down into her eyes. “What the fuck are you doing to me?”
She nestled her cheek deeper into my touch. “The same thing you’re doing to me,” she whispered, and the moment shot straight through my motherfucking chest right into my heart.
I searched her beautiful face, studied every feature, trying to figure out how this woman managed to change my life within the blink of an eye. “How is this even possible, Karina? We hardly know each other.”
She stepped back, and I mourned the loss of having her close. Her gaze searched the area around us like she was expecting to find the answer in my goddamn kitchen.
“I don’t know, Lorik.” She shrugged. “Maybe it’s the thrill of it, because we know it’s against the rules. Like they say, nothing is as sweet as the forbidden fruit.”
“That’s not it.” I shook my head and stepped toward her. “I know all about forbidden fruit, Karina, and let me tell you this…there’s no goddamn fruit that tastes as sweet as you.”
“Lorik…” she started, but I pressed my lips against hers, drowning out her words. It was all I wanted to do whenever I was around her—kiss her, touch her, fuck her…make love to her. I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to make her mine. Like a goddamn animal, I wanted to claim and mark her, to keep bastards like Enzio from touching or taking what was mine.
As she leaned her body into mine, I felt her desperation to deepen our kiss, to take whatever was happening between us further.
I wrapped my arms around her waist and placed my hands on her ass, lifting her up and placing her on the kitchen counter. She opened her legs and allowed me in while our lips remained plastered together. Sure, I had one raging hard-on whose sole purpose was to penetrate this woman, to make her scream. But it was so much more than that. Yes, I wanted her body in every way possible, but somewhere between when I first saw her in the interrogation room and now, I no longer wanted only her body. I wanted her mind, her soul…her fucking heartbeat. But was that even possible? Everything about us together was wrong. We were from two completely different places in the world, two different elements, like fire and ice, which was probably why it felt so damn good whenever we were together.
“Lorik?”
I dipped my tongue into the hollow of her neck. “Hmm?”
“I really, really want to do this again.” Her nails dug into my shoulders, and she glided her fingers across my skin, sending shivers down my spine. “But you think a girl can get a break for a few minutes?”
I smiled triumphantly. Yes, triumphantly. Hearing she needed a break did wonders for my male ego.
“Gee, I don’t know,” I teased before sucking a nipple into my mouth then letting it go. “I have this real pressing,” I thrust hard between her legs, “need to be inside you…again.”
She clawed her nails down my back, and I knew she was seconds away from giving in to the temptation.
I straightened and met her gaze. “Take as much time as you need, princess. Just know I plan on being inside you at least one more time before you leave this apartment tonight.”
She tilted her head, dark curls falling over her naked shoulder. “Who says I’m leaving?” She winked and slipped off the counter, sliding her body down against my cock.
I groaned. “Fuck, you’re killing me, you know that?”
“Yet I’m the one needing a break?” She chuckled and walked down the hall. All I could do was keep my eyes glued to her naked ass, her hips swaying seductively.
“Minx,” I called after her.
She glanced over her shoulder. “That makes you one lucky son of a bitch, then, Detective.”
I tipped my beer in her direction. “Oh, I fucking know it.” I took a large gulp while watching her until she disappeared around the corner.
“Fuck me,” I muttered and rubbed the back of my neck. It was too damn insane, what was happening between us. It was more intense than I ever could have anticipated.
I grabbed a second beer from the fridge and made my way to the bedroom, deciding she’d had a long enough break. My cock was aching and swearing at me.
When I rounded the corner and stepped into the bedroom, I froze. My spine turned to ice, and my gut dropped to the ground, my hard-on a thing of the past.
“Karina—”
When she turned to face me, and I saw the hurt covering her beautiful face, it felt like my heart was no longer in my chest but lodged in my throat.
“What is this?” She pointed at the cabinet in front of her.
I glanced at the open cabinet, its contents mocking me. “I don’t—”
“I was looking for a goddamn shirt, and imagine my surprise when I find a cabinet filled with pictures of every member of my family…and me.” Her words were coated with distaste and pain.
I stepped forward, determined to explain. “I’m a detective, Karina—”
“A detective whose only goal is to ruin my family.”
“No…yes…I don’t know.” Goddammit.
“Which is it, Lorik?” she snapped. “Yes or no?”
“I don’t fucking know.”
“See, I knew you were investigating my family. But I never knew your obsession ran this deep.” She pointed toward the cabinet. “You took pictures of us—of me. You spied on us. Good God, Lorik, this cabinet is like a fucking shrine of everything Valenti.”
“Stop it, Karina, please. It’s different now.”
“Why? Because you fucked me? Because you fucked the infamous crime boss’s daughter?” She pushed her curls out of her face.
“No. That’s not it. Goddammit, Karina. Surely you know the kind of business your father runs. Tell me you’re not that naïve.”
She stepped back and bit her bottom lip. “No, I’m not naïve when it comes to my family, Lorik. Apparently, I’m only naïve when it comes to men.” She stormed past me, and I tried to reach for her, but she stepped out of my reach.
“Karina, please.”
“Fuck you, Lorik.” She grabbed her clothes off the floor and started to get dressed.
“Don’t go. Let’s talk about this,” I pleaded, desperate to get her to stay. Why?
“There’s nothing to talk about.” She pulled her dark curls out from under her shirt. “Like you said, you’re a detective, and I’m what you keep calling a mafia princess.” Her eyes widened, like she just had one motherfucker of a revelation. “That’s it, isn’t it?”
“What?”
“That’s why you seduced me. You’re using me to get to my dad, my brothers.”
I quickly moved around the bed toward her. “No, that is—”
“Stay the fuck away from me.” She held up her hands, and my chest felt like it had been cracked wide open. I hated that she didn’t want me near her.
“Karina, I’m not using you.”
“Like hell, you’re not. My God, it’s always about my family and my surname, never about me.” She let out a nervous laugh, then looked up at the ceiling before her saddened gaze settled on me. In that moment, seeing the unshed tears gleaming in her eyes, I wanted to wrap my arms around her and do everything in my power to convince her this thing between us was so much more.
But then she said the words that ripped my goddamn soul out.
“First it was Enzio…and now you.”
Hearing her compare me to that bastard hit me square in the fucking chest, mainly because she had every right to think that. She had every reason to doubt my intentions. For the last few years, my sole mission on the police force was to take down the Valentis because I was so damn sure they were behind all the crime in this city. But during the last forty-eight hours, everything had changed—the conversation with Anderson, the altercation with the Mancusos, Enzio’s threat…her. So much had happened, and now I wasn’t so sure everything was as black and white as I had always suspected.
“Karina.” I moved toward her, determined to make her understand. “I totally get why you might think that, but it can’t be farther from the truth. My intention was never to use you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “So, your bullshit excuse about a supposedly stolen credit card wasn’t a way for you to use me to get information on my dad?”
“It was different then.”
She snorted. “You say that like it’s a long time ago. It was two days ago. The only difference is I hadn’t opened my legs for you yet.”
“Don’t.” I grabbed her elbow and pulled her hard against me. “Don’t you fucking dare make what happened between us sound so goddamn cheap.”
“I don’t have to,” she said softly, then pointed toward the cabinet. “That already does.”
She jerked her arms free from my hold and took a few steps back while a tear finally slipped down her cheek.
I was frozen on the goddamn spot. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t stop her. She had every right to be angry, so I let her go. All I could do was stand there and watch as she left, while it felt like my heart had been cut open.
What a giant clusterfuck. But, honestly, what did I expect? This thing between Karina and me wasn’t meant to happen in the first place, so why did I feel so shitty knowing I’d hurt her?
I glanced up at the open cabinet and stared at the pinned picture of every member of the Valenti family, including her. The picture of her father was right at the top, her mother, Antonio, and Dante below him. Then there were a ton of pictures of her, pictures I had no right taking. Pictures I took while I had her followed. Such an invasion of privacy, but as a detective, I didn’t give a fuck or care. But now, as a man, I did give a fuck, I did care.
About her.