Alexis
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Lorenzo asked as he guided the sleek car through the night. “You look a little dizzy.”
“I am!” I laughed. It was a good thing I had learned a long time ago how to hold my liquor, or I would have been throwing up all over his black, leather interior. He wouldn’t have been pleased about that. “What’s the secret to that White Russian, anyway?”
He kept his eyes on the road, but I could tell by the way he held his body he was far more relaxed than he had been on the way to the restaurant. “I don’t know. The bartender has never said, and I don’t dare insult him by asking.”
“Well, it was damn good. You can take me back there anytime you want.” I ran my hand through my hair and looked out the window, wondering if anyone else on the street was feeling as happy and relaxed as I was.
“Even if it means lying to a mafia boss about who you are and what you’re doing with me?” Lorenzo challenged.
I pursed my lips, suddenly sobered by the reality of what we had just done. This was not some simple deceit to trick my ‘boyfriend’s’ parents into liking me. This was a life-or-death situation, and we had been fortunate to come out of it with our skin intact. “It’s easier not to think about it like that. And, honestly, most of them seemed like very nice people.” I remembered the big, warm hug Jianna had given me as we got ready to leave. Matteo had not seemed displeased with me, either. No matter who they were or how deceitful I had been, it was nice to feel accepted.
“It’s not what you would expect, I know,” Lorenzo acknowledged. He pulled into the parking garage and slipped the black car into its slot in the darkest corner. Getting out, he was around the car and had my door open for me in an instant. “You imagined them to be darker, colder, and more intimidating.”
My feet wobbled slightly in my heels, but it only took a moment to recover my balance. I was used to much less sensible shoes than this. “Yes, if I’m honest.” I kept my eyes down, ashamed of how much I had judged these people before I’d even had the chance to meet them. “I only knew what I had seen in movies.”
Lorenzo pulled my arm through the crook of his elbow and guided me to the elevator. I didn’t really need his help at this point. I’d been drinking, but I was no more than a bit buzzed. Still, I liked the warmth of his skin, the quality fabric of his suit jacket, and the enticing scent of his cologne.
“It makes sense,” he admitted. “Before I met Matteo, when I was just a little kid, I imagined tommy guns in violin cases and men in pinstripe suits. You have to admit that most of them are pretty snappy dressers, but if you forget for a moment what they do, you see that most of them are decent people.”
“Most of them?” I asked, remembering the way Piero had looked at me. “What about the others?”
The elevator came to a stop and Lorenzo sighed as we stepped out into the hallway and turned toward the door of his apartment. I wasn’t going to push him to talk to me about such things when there was a chance we could be overheard. If his cover was blown, then so was mine.
“There are some,” he finally continued when we were safely in his apartment. “Who are nothing more than murderers. They exist solely to manipulate people and to watch the blood run as they collect their money. They want to turn others into the same monsters they’ve become.”
“Like Piero?” His gaze had told me how uncomfortable he was around me even before he had opened his mouth. “I’m not sure he bought our story. He didn’t seem satisfied, no matter what answers I gave him.”
Lorenzo ran his hand across his chin, scratching through his whiskers. “Piero is one of them. He just isn’t very good at it, and his father knows. Piero is constantly scrambling to earn his father’s approval so he can take over the business, but he constantly finds ways to mess up. Eventually, he’ll be exposed for the fraud he really is.”
“Who else?” I pressed. Now that I had met so many members of the Moretti family, I wanted to know everything about all of them. It was dangerous, but it also seemed wise to be prepared. “Matteo seems quite personable.”
Lorenzo went into the living room, and I followed. He poured us each a shot of whiskey, but he set his on the coffee table without drinking any of it. “There are some men who you have to watch, no matter how great they are. Matteo is definitely one of them. If he finds out who you are, then he’ll kill you himself just to keep you away from me.”
I shook my head. “I don’t understand. Why are you so important to him if you aren’t even related by blood? Don’t get me wrong—I’m sure you have your worth. But even if he knew what I did for a living, what would he care? You aren’t their son.” It seemed logical enough to me, but I didn’t like the way the lines in Lorenzo’s face set in like hard concrete.
“I might as well be. Matteo took me under his wing when I was only fourteen. He taught me everything I know, and as a result, he thinks of me as his killing machine. Yes, I’m good at what I do, but so is everyone that works for him. But he has seen me as his protégé for a long time, and it is because of him that I am who I am.” His eyes were dark and distant, focusing on the amber liquid in the glass.
“Is that good or is that bad?” I asked, biting my lip. Lorenzo had been kind to me in his own way. He had kept me alive, which had been a good start, but he had gone to a lot of trouble to make sure I stayed that way.
He ran a hand through his dark hair. “If I have to pick one, I’m going to say bad. I kill people, sometimes numerous people in the space of a week. I make a lot of money at it, but I still see the faces of everyone who’s met the wrong end of my gun.”
I should have felt scared of him then. I had seen what he was capable of when he pulled me out of the Calzoni mansion, but hearing him say it made the situation seem entirely different. More real. “Is it the kind of thing you can quit?” I knew the answer before I even finished the question. It was probably not different than the kind of living I had been making. It seemed temporary, but it was the kind of thing that I couldn’t just stop. I needed something drastic to happen first. Maybe this would be it, if I was lucky.
Lorenzo laughed quietly. “Quit? Sure, I can quit, as soon as I’m ready to die. I know everything about Matteo and his family. I know where he lives, how he operates, and even how he thinks. I know that he’s getting crazy in his old age and that he’s starting to believe that even his closest associates are going to betray him.” He was on his feet again, pacing as he ran down the list. “I’ve seen it all and done it all. No, Alexis. I can only give it up if I give up life itself.” He finally looked at me, his grief burning in his eyes.
With a wave of realization that could have knocked me over, I understood how much Lorenzo had done for me. He hadn’t just chosen not to pull the trigger. He had risked his life and lied to a very dangerous and powerful man. “I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done.” I stood and stepped closer to him, spreading my hands out over the wide span of his chest and feeling the heat of his skin through the fabric. “I want you—I need you—to understand that I know just how big of a deal this is.” I pressed my body into his, feeling a small, secret thrill inside me.
His big hands came around my waist and pushed me away slightly. “Don’t think that you owe me anything, especially not when you’ve been drinking.”
“Fine.” I gently pushed his hands away so that I could be close to him once again. “Then you can pretend that it’s something you owe me. It’s because of you that I’m alive, and now it’s time for me to really live.” I pressed a kiss to his jawline. “And I feel good, but I haven’t had that much to drink. I can see how sexy you are no matter how sober I am.”
Lorenzo’s chin tipped down, his lips covering mine roughly. When his hands came back around me, he didn’t try to push me away. Instead, he grabbed me underneath my buttocks and pulled me up so that my legs were around his hips. Without breaking our lip lock, he carried me across the living room and down the hall, bursting into his bedroom door.
I bounced as he threw me down onto the bed and climbed on top of me, his hands clawing at the beautiful clothes he had bought me. I kicked off my shoes and wiggled out of the short blazer, eager to help so that I could do the same to him. We were getting closer and closer as the layers of clothing came off, my shirt and pants falling to the floor. His suit soon lay on top of them.
I had no time to sit back and admire his body, but my hands did the job for me as they roved over the bulky muscles of his arms, the smooth lines of his back, and his rippling stomach. He kept his weight off me as he spread my legs and traced kisses across my collar bone.
“Are you sure?” he whispered.
I couldn’t believe it. Any other man who had me naked in bed wouldn’t have seen any reason to question it. Lorenzo, a man who murdered for a living, wouldn’t do anything I didn’t want. “Yes, God, yes,” I whispered back.
Pausing only long enough to pull a condom out of the drawer in the nightstand, Lorenzo was inside me. I gasped as he pulsed and thrusted, a rush of excitement flooding my veins as I bucked my hips in perfect timing with his. It was the culmination of spending a week so close together, with only a wall between us. I had wondered if he thought about me the same way I’d thought about him, but now I knew. He had envisioned the two of us, naked and entwined, just as much as I had.
Beads of sweat had broken out on his forehead, and I spread my hips wider to let him all the way in. He was so big, and I wanted every inch. But he pushed himself up on his arms and looked down at me. “This isn’t going to do.”
“No?” I didn’t understand.
“Come here.” He was out of me in an instant and off the bed, my body cold from no longer having his warmth. Without waiting for me to move, he grabbed me by the hips and dragged me to the edge of the bed until my legs were dangling off the mattress. Lorenzo put my feet on his shoulders and entered me once again, but this time his thumb went to work on my core. “I need you to get yours, too.”
Looking up at his magnificent body and the intensity in his eyes, I had no choice but to do what he said. He pounded into me as he stroked, sending shivers of uncontrollable pleasure through my body. My breasts jiggled every time he plunged into me, and I put one hand on each one to stop them.
“No, I want to see.”
It only took the slightest touch of his finger to get me to let go once again, surrendering to anything he asked. Lorenzo had saved my life, and for that moment he was absolutely in charge of it. I convulsed around him, drawing his cock further inside me. “Yes. Yes. Please don’t stop.”
Lorenzo pounded so hard against me that my ass cheeks clapped against his thighs. The mattress shifted underneath me, but it could have come right off the bed and neither one of us would have cared. Waves of pleasure had taken over me, and they were working him up. His cock grew even bigger inside me, and he came with a grunt that wrinkled his face. He collapsed on top of me, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. We held each other tightly as we fought to catch our breath.