Chapter Thirty Three
Vince
A strong hand lands on my shoulder, squeezing to get my attention. I turn back and see Adrian, a man I once considered a friend. Now, I shrug off his hand and turn, already guarded.
“What do you want?” I demand.
Adrian’s eyebrows rise. “It’s what you want. You requested an audience with Mateo.”
I can’t help scoffing. “An audience? He’s not a fucking king.”
Adrian shakes his head at me. “Don’t be bitter just because he stole your princess, Vince.”
Carly wraps a protective arm around my side. “He found a new one; he’s just fine.” She springs naturally to my defense, but I can see mild confusion in her eyes when she looks at me. I never got around to telling her about the plan I hatched last night when I told Mateo I needed to talk to him, so she didn’t know I asked to speak to him. Mia circumvented the plan when she hauled me in the bathroom and told me not to take the bait, so I didn’t need to tell Carly.
I do still need to tell him about Meg, though, so I pull Carly’s arm from around my waist, giving her hand a squeeze. “I have to go talk to him real quick. I’ll be right back.”
“Be... calm,” she says, for lack of better advice.
I leave Carly and walk with Adrian down the haunted halls I grew up in, toward the man I’ve come to hate more than any other man alive. Tension tightens my muscles, the blood in my anger heating. Carly just told me to stay calm, but it’s impossible to be calm around him. Mia’s words to me last night spring to mind, reminding me this is his last chance to goad me into fucking up. He’s probably going to hit me with all he’s got since there are no witnesses. What can he do to me that he hasn’t already, though? What can he say to me that hasn’t echoed off the walls of my brain for years?
I look over at Adrian, like I’ll get some indication of what waits for me inside, but Adrian is expressionless. A good fucking soldier, like all the rest.
Adrian turns the knob and pushes open the door to Mateo’s study.
I step inside, my eyes drawn to the imposing figure Mateo cuts, standing by his beverage cart, pouring himself a drink. He hears me come in, so he pours me one, too.
With his back still to me, Mateo tells Adrian, “You can go.”
Adrian is understandably reluctant to leave. “You want me to go?”
Mateo turns back with both glasses. “Yes. I can handle Vince on my own.”
“All right.” Adrian still sounds mildly surprised, but he nods and backs out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Mateo waves me over, indicating the chair in front of his desk. He sets my glass down there and walks around to the other side, dropping into his chair and leaning forward, holding his arms on top of the desk.
“Now, tell me what it is we need to talk about.”
Seeing him here like this, imposing, composed, unbothered by me, makes me feel like a kid again. An angry, lonely, sad fucking kid. It makes me think of the day I sat in this desk and he told me about the job I would do, my first hit. That wasn’t my job. I was only 18. I didn’t want to, but he wanted me to dip my toes into all aspects of the business. He wanted me to break in and steal something first, then he wanted me to clean up the mess afterward. My first job solo, but with Adrian for training wheels.
The house next door to Mia’s.
Of all the ways I thought that job might ruin me, I never anticipated it would end this way.
Since I haven’t spoken, Mateo lifts a dark eyebrow. “What’s on your mind, Vince?”
“I was just thinking about when I was younger. How many times I wished I had a way out of this family.”
Mateo offers a faint nod. “You found one.”
“The price was too high,” I murmur, my gaze dropping to his desk.
“The price is always high,” he states, without sympathy. “It has to be.”
I can’t look at him. I don’t mean to ask, but the words creep out of my heart and fall out of my mouth without my permission. “Do you love her?”
He doesn’t answer right away. It’s almost certain he won’t answer at all. After a few beats of heavy silence, though, he surprises me by saying, “More than anything.”
My head bobs, but without any instruction from my mind. In a way, that makes me feel better. I know I’m responsible for bringing her into his crosshairs to begin with and it would be unbearable to think he captured her, possesses her love, and only views her as some kind of trophy. I felt like she was just his trophy. It makes it slightly easier if she’s not.
“So do I.” Those words slip out too, but I think they hurt me more than they could ever hurt him. I don’t want to love Mia. I don’t want her to own even a small corner of my heart, but she still does.
It makes me feel immeasurable guilt. I want to be able to give Carly my whole heart, every single inch of it, but Mia hasn’t given it all back. Now Dom owns a piece of real estate there. My heart was tattered when I gave it to Carly, and though it’s in better shape now, a tattered heart can never be stitched back together quite the way it was at the start.
“You love the idea of Mia,” Mateo tells me. “I love the reality of her.”
“I don’t want you raising my son.”
“It doesn’t matter what you want,” he says, simply.
His prior statement should predict the useless of my next one, but emotions are overriding my ability to think clearly. “I want to be in his life. Even if I can’t raise him, I want to be in his life. He doesn’t even have to know who I am. I’ll cooperate, he can just think I’m… But let me be in his life. I’m not asking to be close to Mia. I have Carly. I’m happy with Carly. You know I’m not a threat to Mia’s affection—she’s chosen you, she’s always going to choose you. Just let me see Dom grow up.”
A flicker of impatience crosses his harsh features. “No.”
“Please. I just want to know him. How would you feel in my position?”
“I would never be in your position,” he informs me. “I’m not a fucking hot-headed idiot. I plan first, then I act. I wouldn’t have half-assed things the way you have. I wouldn’t have executed my plan until it made sense. Your plan hinged on a fucking fantasy. It was never going to work. Only plans based in reality work upon execution. Otherwise, it’s not a plan, it’s a daydream.”
“Yeah, okay, my plan was shit. You’re better at everything—is that what you want to hear? I don’t care. That’s over now. I just want to be in Dom’s life. I don’t want to move back, just… maybe we could come for holidays, like we did this week. Maybe I could send him presents for his birthday and Christmas, Mia could send me pictures and let me—”
“No,” he snaps. “You can keep asking all you want, but the answer won’t change.”
“You have kids—how can you be this heartless?”
“Vince, let me explain something to you.” Mateo sits forward and steeples his hands on the desk, a look of contemplation passing across his features. Finally, he lifts his head and meets my gaze. “In my perfect world, you’re dead. Not as good as dead. Not merely out of my way, living your life where I never have to see you again. Dead. Your lungs are empty of breath, your heart no longer beats; you are decomposing six feet belowground and a dog is shitting on your unmarked grave.”
I sit back in the chair, a little stunned by his honesty. “Wow. Don’t hold back now.”
His lips tilt up ever so slightly. “This is the last time we’ll ever see each other, so why should I? The game is over. Our cards are face-up on the table. Understand that regardless of what Mia may want in her weaker moments, Hell would freeze over before I would ever let you be a part of Dominic’s life. The only reason you’re alive is because it’s what Mia wants, but that’s as far as I’m willing to bend. Every single day that you wake up is a present from Mia to you. Enjoy it. Make better choices, lead a good life—or fall off the fucking earth. I couldn’t care less. Just do it far away from me.”
I can’t hold back a bitter smile as I shake my head. “I’m the one person you’ll hold a grudge against, huh? Doesn’t matter that you won. Doesn’t matter that you got her, that you get to raise my son as yours. You want to keep hating me.”
“I’m not holding a grudge; I just don’t fucking like you. You’ve managed to cross me in ways no man should ever survive, and here you sit, breathing.” He indicates me across the desk, shaking his head like life’s just one big disappointment. “Fucking ridiculous.”
Recklessness takes the wheel and I smirk at this heartless fucking bastard. “So kill me, then.”
“I will, if I ever see you again. If you ever surface in my city, if I hear so much as a whisper that you’re asking about Mia or my son, I will end you. Mia is sufficiently convinced you’re moving on with your life; her conscience is clear now, like it should’ve been all along. If you ever show up on my radar again, Mia will never have to know I killed you. All will be right in my world.” He clasps his hand together, meeting my gaze. “Please, please give me a reason.”
I have to raise a fucking eyebrow at that. Mia and I may have made our peace this week, but to say she should have had a clear conscience all along? She still cheated on me and broke my fucking heart once upon a time. I didn’t just morph into an asshole for no fucking reason. “Mia’s conscience should’ve been clear all along, huh? So, Beth betraying you was a killing offense, but Mia betraying me was all right because it was with you?”
His mouth curls up in utter disgust. His opinion doesn’t mean anything to me, but damn if it doesn’t make my stomach sink the slightest bit when he says, “Mia never betrayed you, Vince. You betrayed her.”
I frown. “Last year, maybe. I was talking about long before that. I am sorry for hurting her, but she hurt me first.”
Mateo sighs, massaging his temples like I’m giving him a headache. “Yes, Vince, so was I. You betrayed Mia long before she ever did anything even you could see as a betrayal.”
Now he’s starting to piss me off. Shifting in my seat, my eyes narrow in his direction. “How do you fucking figure?”
Mateo rolls his eyes. “This is exactly why I don’t like you. You can’t take responsibility for any of the shit you do. You always have to blame someone else. Someone always has to make you do something. God forbid you ever just admit you do shit because you feel like it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Mia didn’t betray you, Vince. She was raped and you punished her for it. Who the fuck does that? She didn’t do anything to you. She was the one who got hurt, but your fragile fucking ego couldn’t handle it. You couldn’t handle knowing I had her—didn’t matter that she didn’t even want me at the time. Should’ve mattered, would’ve mattered if you actually loved her, but you didn’t. You were a young, angry, inexperienced asshole, and that would’ve been okay, because you lucked into Mia, and she would’ve forgiven you. But you could not let it go. You pushed her away. You drove her to me. All I had to do was not penalize her for shit that wasn’t her fault and I was already the better fucking option. You punished that girl for months before she ever actually started to stray—any reasonable person would have abandoned you long before that. You paint her as this faithless bitch who broke your heart because you’re a fucking coward with pride issues. You broke her heart and had the fucking audacity to make her feel guilty for it.”
Heat moves beneath my skin. I want to launch myself across the desk and punch him in the fucking face. “Are you fucking kidding me right now? You fucked her in my bed before any of that shit even happened!”
He blinks like I’m so fucking obtuse he can’t even process it. “Without her knowledge.”
“Bullshit.”
Mateo rolls his eyes. “All right. I don’t care what you believe, Vince. You’re an asshole, I dislike you, and you’ll never be a part of Dom’s life. You don’t get rights to a rape baby.”
“I’m sure the same rules would’ve applied for you, huh? You sit there on your fucking throne like you’re so much better than me. You hurt her long before I ever did—more than I ever did. You’ve bent her fucking mind to make her fit you better.”
“Mia’s happy,” he states. “I never denied I hurt her, I’m merely pointing out the difference. Yes, I’ve hurt her. I’ve been a bastard. But I don’t blame her for it. We both know she didn’t deserve it. I’ve never tried to make Mia feel responsible for anything I’ve done to her. Only cowards need someone to blame for their own predilections.”
“I don’t have your fucking predilections,” I practically snarl. “I’ve made mistakes. You do things intentionally. You’re a cold, calculating bastard.”
“And you’re a hot-headed, cowardly asshole,” he shoot back, almost smiling.
“I’m not a fucking coward.”
Mateo rolls his eyes, leaning back in his chair. He laces his hands together across his torso and watches me, but leisurely, like he’s sitting on a fucking beach. “Trying to have me killed doesn’t make you brave, Vince. You weren’t valiantly trying to avenge Mia; you were just trying to appease your own ego.”
I lean back, a little thrown. “She told you?”
He merely smiles.
Now I feel like a fucking idiot. I can’t believe I ever thought there was a chance she wouldn’t. I thought maybe her own sense of self-preservation might’ve stopped her, but no. This asshole has completely brainwashed her. She may be his wife now, but Mia will always be Mateo’s loyal little soldier. Of course she’d never keep a secret from him.
I want to lash out at him. I want to wipe the smug smirk off his stupid fucking face. I only have one bullet left in the chamber, one thing he doesn’t know. This wasn’t how I wanted to deliver this information. I wanted to be cool-headed, I wanted to share information to keep Mia safe—but now I just want to see the smirk fall off this cocky asshole’s face.
“Meg told me when Mia would be at the bakery last year. I showed up the week of Mia’s birthday and Meg saw me. She told me you never fixed the blind spot, so I should park there and wait for her. Meg knew I wanted to take Mia away from you; she sold you out.”
His expression doesn’t change. That’s disappointing, but he’s always had a strong poker face, so I probably should’ve expected that.
“That’s it?” he asks.
“What?”
“That’s all you’ve got? I already knew that,” he says, simply.
That drags a frown out of me. “Bullshit. You know she sold Mia out and she’s alive and living under your fucking roof? Bullshit.”
He shrugs, unconcerned with whether or not I believe him. “I don’t know why I thought you might surprise me. You never do.”
This pisses me off more than I expect it to and I want to hit back. “Wow. You just let people walk all over you now, huh? Betrayal is just casually accepted now, huh? So much for the great, ruthless Mateo Morelli.”
His eyes dance with real amusement. “Which is it, Vince? Am I an evil, manipulative bastard, or a big, soft teddy bear? You can’t have it both ways.”
It pisses me off that I’m not fazing him. “You’re fucking empty, is what you are. You don’t deserve her. You never have,” I fling at him.
“Your temper will always be your greatest weakness,” he tells me. “You’re too impulsive. Too explosive. You don’t think before you act. I hope Dominic doesn’t get that from you.”
“Better than not acting at all, which seems to be what you favor these days.” I just want to get in one good hit. I want to reach past his armor and deliver one swing that connects. “Does Mia know? She still looks at you like you’re God; does she know you won’t even protect her from your ex?”
He smiles. “Meg is no threat. If she ever tries to be again, she’s dead. Mia knows she’ll always be safe with me.”
“Oh, yeah. You’ve kept her real safe.” His eyes narrow ever so slightly. He catches himself after only a split second, but I get the impression this is probably a weak spot. “How safe did you keep Mia when I drugged her and hauled her ass halfway across the country? When I put her in my bed and pumped her full of my cum? But hey, I took your advice. Kissed her neck. Pulled her hair. Made her come for me.” His expression doesn’t change, but there’s fucking fire in his eyes now, so I throw some more gas on the flames. “Do you know how easy it was to make her doubt you, Mateo? One more week was all I needed. One more week and you’d have never fucking seen her again.”
“Get the fuck out.” His voice is level, but with an unmistakable undertone of menace. I can see the anger flickering in his brown eyes—not just anger, barely reined in loathing.
My hit landed, so I push up out of my seat. I probably should get my ass out of here before he really does kill me. Mia obviously doesn’t want him to, but all he has to do is lie to her—say I threatened her, threatened him.
“Enjoy having a wife you’ll always have to look after,” I toss out, as I back away. Mostly I just don’t want to turn my back on him, because I know how much I have to be pissing him off.
I slip out the door and down the hall, heading for Carly. It’s time to get the hell out of here.
Chapter Thirty Four
Mateo
Rage moves through me, tempting me to lose any fucking semblance of my carefully held control. I want to walk out there, put my gun in Vince’s mouth, and blow a new hole in the back of the little bastard’s head.
I can’t do that, though.
There’d be no hiding that from Mia. I haven’t done all this work just to blow it in a fit of rage.
No. I need to calm my ass down.
Leaning back in my chair, I take a deep breath and drain my glass. Vince didn’t touch his, so I lean forward to grab his glass and down that, too. I’m feeling better, but still I rise and head for the alcohol cart. I grab my favorite decanter, pour a little liquid into the glass, and slam it back.
That should do it.
I swallow, placing the glass down with a dull thud, and turn to leave my study.
I know exactly what I’ll do. I have to find Adrian.
It’s not a short walk back to the drawing room where everyone is assembled. There’s an adequate chunk of time to talk myself out of any drastic action, but I’m tired of restraint. I’m tired of compromising. Yes, I want to make Mia happy, I want her to have peace, I want her guilt-free, but this particular loose end has needed to be snipped off for years.
What Mia doesn’t know won’t hurt her.
I find Adrian, predictably, nestled in a corner with Elise. She’s smiling up at him, straightening his tie. Her gaze lands on me and she senses my anger. She slowly loses her smile, lowering her hands and takes a step back.
Adrian is already facing me when I approach. “How’d that go?”
I flick a glance at Elise. Normally I wouldn’t issue an order like this in front of her, but I’m not feeling especially reticent this evening and it’s not like Elise is going to say anything. Fuck it.
“I want him to make his flight. I want him to land in Vegas. And then I want him dead.”
Elise’s eyes widen and she pushes her chair in, turning and abandoning this corner without further delay. Adrian watches her for a moment, his features strained, then he meets my gaze. “I thought Madison was working out. What did he say to you?”
“Doesn’t matter. I changed my mind,” I say, simply.
“He seem unstable?”
“He is unstable.”
Adrian knows me too well though, knows I’m angry. If Vince would’ve given me an adequate excuse, if he would’ve made a threat or made me think he might come back, I wouldn’t be angry. I would be composed. Happy, actually, because I would finally be justified in taking the action Mia doesn’t want me to take.
My anger is betraying the truth. I’m not worried he’ll come back. I just want him to die. I don’t need a fucking justification—it’s what I want, dammit, and I’m tired of compromising for her.
“Are you sure about this?” Adrian questions. “What if Mia finds out?”
“I can handle Mia.”
“Like you handled her last time?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “This is different.”
With a knowing nod, Adrian says, “Of course it is. This time, you want revenge.”
“Is that so unreasonable?” I ask, eyes narrowing. Just thinking about Mia at Vince’s mercy in Vegas makes me want to flay the little asshole and make a bonfire out of his bones, right here in front of all these people.
Glancing beyond me down the hall, Adrian says, “Whatever he said to you, just let it go. He doesn’t matter anymore. I understand it pissing you off that he fucked Mia, but he’s fucked her before. Just let it go.”
“He didn’t fuck her,” I state, carefully. “He raped her.”
Adrian loses patience with me. “You know what, Mateo? We’ve all been where you are right now. Pissed off at the egregious wrong done to her, capable of stopping it, but our hands fucking tied.” Pointing his finger in my face, he states, “You made me stand watch outside that girl’s door for four fucking days to keep her from leaving so you could do that same damn thing to her. How do you think I felt? Just like this. I wanted to rip your fucking throat out, but I couldn’t. Now it’s your turn.”
“That’s different.”
“Why? Because it’s you?”
I don’t even blink. “Yes.”
Adrian shakes his head, looking more unimpressed with me than he has in a while. “You know I’ve agreed with you about eliminating Vince before, but it’s not the right move this time. The girl is holding his attention. Keep your hands clean. Rafe can take it from here.”
“I don’t want clean hands.”
“She’ll find out. Cherie’s already talking about moving to Connecticut to be closer to Vince—do you really think she won’t scream bloody murder to Mia if Vince turns up dead?”
“Then kill her, too.”
“No.”
He already knows I don’t do “no” but the chill in my narrowed gaze reminds him and he tries again.
“Just let the little bastard leave today and you’ll never see him again.”
“He’s going to leave. And then when he gets to Vegas, there’s going to be a tragedy. Maybe someone in Vegas doesn’t believe he’ll walk away without a fight. Maybe there’s a break-in. A robbery. A homicidal clown. I don’t give a fuck how, just make it happen.”
Adrian clearly doesn’t approve. He sighs, running a hand through his hair, but he nods anyway. “Fine. Freelance is probably best. Ryder’s still around; I’ll see if he wants it.”
I nod, but before I can step away to go find Mia, she finds me. Approaching me from behind, she wraps her arms around my waist and hugs my back. Half the tension automatically leaves my body. I glance back at her over my shoulder and she smiles up at me, her trusting blue eyes sparkling with love.
“There’s my sexy husband. How’d it go?” she asks, clearly expecting good news. She moves in front of me, leaning against my chest and draping her arms over my shoulders. She’s so goddamn affectionate. I can’t help letting my hands fall to her hips, tugging her even closer. She smiles in response, pushing up on her toes to give me a kiss.
God, I love her.
Instead of answering, I note the lack of tiny Morelli in her arms. “Where’s Dominic?”
“With Francesca. He’s being a little charmer. He’s making her want a baby. Tell Sal I said, ‘you’re welcome,’” she adds, eyes twinkling with mischief. Now she pokes me lightly in the chest. “You didn’t answer me. How’d your talk with Vince go?”
“Fine.”
She brightens, and some of the weight comes back to rest on my shoulders. “Good. I knew it would. His new girlfriend seems awesome. I didn’t expect her to like me, but I’m glad she does.”
Smiling faintly, I point out, “You wouldn’t like her if she didn’t. You never like people who don’t like you.”
“That’s not true,” she objects. Turning back just a little, but not leaving my embrace, she says, “Adrian didn’t like me for a while, and I always liked him.”
“Yes, I remember,” I murmur, wryly.
Mia flushes a little, playfully narrowing her eyes at me. I wink and give her a little squeeze, dipping my head to give her another kiss.
Adrian interrupts. “Can I get out? You guys have me blocked in over here, and I’m clearly not a part of this.”
“I mean, you could be, but Elise would never allow it,” Mia jokes.
“Stop that,” he mutters.
Mia leans into me, pushing me back a little so there’s space for Adrian to get out. She turns her undivided attention back to me, still with her arms around my neck, gazing up at me like I’m the single greatest person on the planet. It’s ridiculous and adorable when she looks at me like that, but it happens a lot. I have no complaints.
“Thank you for doing this for me,” she says, softly. “I know you wanted to resolve the issue more… permanently, but I very much appreciate your restraint.” She leans in, dropping a few kisses along my neck and assures me, “And I will appreciate it even more tonight.”
My eyes drift closed as she lightly bites my neck, then brushes her soft lips across the spot to make up for the roughness—like there’s anything to make up for. She just likes to make amends. It works out, since I certainly like when she does, too.
When my eyes open again, I see Adrian standing there, giving me a look of unsubtle judgment. I sigh, meeting his gaze. Mia’s still kissing my neck. She doesn’t even know what she’s doing, and she’s wrecking my plans.
“Still want me to talk to Ryder?” Adrian asks, now that Mia’s piling on evidence of all I have to lose if she finds out.
As if she knows the stakes, Mia pushes up on her toes, getting close to my ear so she can whisper, “I want your cock.”
Jesus Christ.
I sigh, completely fucking defeated by Mia, raining her love and affection down on the fire I was just about to start. I shake my head at Adrian. “Never mind.”
Now Adrian’s amused, but he merely nods and scoots past to give us a little privacy.
We need a hell of a lot more privacy than this, though.
Reaching down to grab her hand, I haul her back out of the drawing room and back toward my study. She flashes me a grin, speeding up to keep stride with me. I don’t know how I can still crave her with such intensity after five years together, but I do. She’s like the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle, each tab plugging perfectly into me, each blank carved out to perfectly interlock with my most jagged pieces. Bringing her to me may be the only good thing Vince ever did in his life, but it sure was a hell of a gain.
I guess maybe I can let him live. It’ll make Mia unhappy if she ever finds out I didn’t, and he may think he got the last word in, but I have Mia’s love, so I’m the clear winner. No point risking it for vengeance. That’s not my style. Cooler heads prevail—I know this.
Pulling open my study door, I slip inside with Mia. My hands move automatically to her hips, guiding her back against the wall. My gaze rakes over her body, taking in the way her snug black dress hugs her perfect curves. One hand skates up her abdomen, coming to rest on her stomach. It’s still too soon for her to show with this pregnancy, but I very much like knowing my baby is growing inside her. That’s the way it should’ve been from the beginning. Mine. Every part of her is mine.
I drop my hand from her stomach, reaching for the hem of her dress and hiking it up. Hooking my fingers in the black lacy fabric underneath, I yank her panties down, dropping to my knees as I do.
She sighs in anticipation, pushing her head back against the wall as I spread her legs. I kiss my way up the inside of her left thigh. My tongue flicks out and I trail just the tip along her skin as I make my way closer to her pussy. I don’t put my mouth on her once I get there, though—I hover, letting her feel my breath, giving her a moment to anticipate. She’s already emitting helpless little hitched moans, her whole body tensing as she waits for me.
So I make her wait a little longer. I smirk against her thigh as she grumbles in disapproval, then I bare my teeth and give her a little nip. Her hand moves through my hair tenderly, even that casual movement heavy with love. She has so much of it inside her, nearly all of it mine; she can’t help exuding it every time we come together, even if it doesn’t seem like there’s any love in the motions. There always is. Right now it’s not hidden. Right now I just want to make her come on my face.
I run my mouth over her, gently nibbling. Her hand in my hair tugs and she cries out, banging her head against the wall. She laughs a little, then my tongue moves inside her and that laughter dies, replaced by a series of moans and gasps as I lick along her clit, tasting her, nibbling. Her hips roll forward and I plant my hands on her ass to hold her still while I feast on her perfect pussy.
Mia writhes, helplessly grasping for purchase along the flat wall, finding nothing to hold onto. “Mateo,” she manages, between moans. “Oh, God.”
She’s already close, so I focus in on her clit, working her with a few practiced motions until she’s crying out, bucking desperately against my face, exactly like I wanted.
I listen for the noisy, shuddering, gasping noise she makes when she can’t take anymore, and only then do I withdraw my tongue.
Mia sighs dreamily, leaning weakly against the wall. I rise up, pressing my body against hers, and move in for a kiss.
“You’re so good at that,” she tells me.
I chuckle tenderly, keeping her close. Then I close the distance, claiming her soft lips again, my hand drifting down to the small of her back as she arches against me, sated but still wanting me. The way her body moves against mine, the way she tastes when I kiss her—I can’t get enough of this woman.
I guide her back against the wing chair. “I seem to remember something about you wanting my cock.”
“Oh, yes. I always want your cock,” she tosses back, her voice light with amusement.
That’s true. It’s one of my favorite things about her, though there’s plenty to choose from.
“Then beg for it.”
Her amusement fades and I can see the desire in her eyes. There’s nothing Mia enjoys more than begging for my cock. I think she’d forego her own orgasms entirely if that was the only way I’d ever let her taste me again.
Her hand wanders down between our bodies, gripping my cock in her hand. “Please, Mateo. I need your cock.”
I brace my hands on the balls of her shoulder, running them down her arms. My grip tightens and I yank her forward against my body, leaning in to kiss her. She meets me halfway, wrapping her arm desperately around my shoulder and pulling herself closer to me. Her mouth opens for my tongue to sweep in, dominating hers. A moan slips out of her and she clutches me tighter, tilting her hips to rub her pussy against me.
“Please,” she whispers breathlessly against my mouth, grinding against me even harder. “Please, Mateo.”
“Get on your knees.”
She drops, her hands hungrily moving to the button of my pants. She looks up at me, her big blue eyes pleading. The desire in her eyes tells me how much she wants me, but she sits there like a good girl and awaits my instructions.
“Take it out.”
Ever obedient, she unbuttons my pants and unzips them, dragging them down so she can get to my cock.
One more week.
Vince’s words swing back around and sock me in the gut, but I will them away. They make me angry so I reach down and grab a fistful of Mia’s hair. She’s used to my roughness, so it doesn’t bother her when I guide her face to my crotch and push my cock down her throat without warning. She moans, anchoring her hand on my hip, and proceeds to give me the kind of enthusiastic head most men only dream of. I get it all the time. It serves to suck the sting right out of Vince’s words—to obliterate his words altogether.
It’s the fear, that’s the worst thing. The fear that I have bent her too much, that someone could steal her from me, and it would be my own fault.
Mia moans as she takes me deep, looking up at me. Her adoration is a drug in and of itself, independent of what an excellent fuck she is.
“Off,” I tell her.
She pops off, licking her swollen lips and looking up at me. Although she obeys, she still craves me, and to beg for a little more, she grasps my cock and runs her tongue down my length. “More, please.”
A little smirk tugs at my mouth. My cock throbs, wanting her independently.
This woman owns me, and she doesn’t even know it.
Right now I drop to the floor, and push my cock inside her. Her arms move around me and she holds me tight, like she’ll die if I stop. Like her next breath depends upon how hard I fuck her.
Being the dutiful husband I am, I make sure to fuck my lovely wife good and hard so she can breathe again.
Once we’re both sated, still tangled together on the floor of my study, all feels right in my world again. There’s no anger left. Replaying Vince’s words brings me no discomfort. Now that Mia has centered me, reason is restored. Vince couldn’t have taken Mia from me in one more week. He couldn’t take Mia from me in one more lifetime.
Mia was made for me, not him.
There’s not a single thing I would change about her, even when she’s being a colossal pain in my ass.
Well, maybe one thing. I do wish she’d been the one to tell me that Vince plotted to have me killed all those years ago. It’s a little thing, it holds no weight now, but I still wish she had. I don’t entirely know her reasons for keeping that truth from me, even now. I never asked because it doesn’t matter. As suspicious as I am of most people, I trust Mia entirely. Her heart is pure and it belongs to me. I can’t foresee a scenario in which she would ever willfully betray me, and if I’m wrong, I never want to see it coming.
The truth is, if Mia ever hated me enough to turn on me the way Beth did, I’d offer up my own wrists and let them cuff me. I would let them lock me up and throw away the key. I’d have to. It’s the only way she’d stand even half a chance of getting away from me.
Even that probably wouldn’t suffice. I’ve torn apart the world to make her mine; I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again to get her back. I could never let Mia go, not even if she begged me. Not even if she hated me.
As if to reaffirm just how absurd a thought it is that she ever could, my sweet wife runs her hand across my chest tenderly, leaning in to kiss me like I’m the only man who has ever existed in her world. I’ve never been loved the way she loves me, and I know I never would again. Mia’s love is the last thing I ever expected to be mine, and it has become the one thing I have no interest in ever living without.