He can do what he wants with me because I don’t give a damn anymore.
“I can and I will,” he says, growling and purring like a feral beast. His fingers tease me and slide inside as he forces my legs as wide as they’ll go with my pants and my panties down at my ankles.
I dig my fingers into his scalp and he grunts like he loves the pain.
“Don’t you get it, Karah? Making you come is my favorite thing in the world right now. You’re my toy, my plaything. I want to break you down, get you off, and make you mine. I want you down on all fours, dripping, begging, destroyed with need.”
“I’m almost there,” I gasp, panting hard. “Also, fuck you.”
“Fuck you too, princess.”
He licks me again, faster this time. He sucks me and does this incredible thing to my clit with his tongue that makes me release a deep and frankly humiliating moan.
I don’t care. I pull his hair and he does it again, and again, and I’m trembling, my legs shaking, my arms numb, little black spots at the edge of my vision, and he sucks my pussy, that bastard, Nico, that bastard, down on his knees in the middle of the break room, and I come on his mouth, I come so hard I have to bite my own fucking tongue to keep from screaming.
He holds me up and keeps going, sucking and licking until I’m squirming and gasping for air, and only then does he stand and kiss me.
I taste my pussy on his tongue and it’s like ice on a burn.
Delicious and painful. He’s a hulking, burning, gorgeous monstrosity and I don’t know how I ended up here, but I don’t want to leave.
He dresses me. We don’t say anything for a minute as I gather myself. I’m flushed and sweating and breathing hard, and he tenderly pulls my panties back up—big help there—and gets my slacks settled and buttoned.
I look almost respectable when he touches my cheek and kisses me again.
“Better get back to work, shoe girl,” he says quietly before biting my lower lip hard.
My fingers fly to the spot where his teeth puckered my mouth.
He turns and walks away, leaving me to stare death at his back.
I hate him.
I hate that big, stupid bastard.
I know what he’s doing—using sex to drive me insane.
I know his game and I hate myself even more because I want to play it.
That’s the real problem. It’s not Elise or my family or whatever.
It’s that I want Nico, really want him, despite how much of a rotten asshole he can be.
He gave me a glimpse of himself and I’m desperate to find out more.
I hate that most of all.
And I’m so afraid of it. I close my eyes and remember what I said when we first discussed getting married—
There are other options. Other guys in the Famiglia I can turn to.
Maybe that’s the only way out of his hell.
Because if I keep going, I’m going to end up owned by Nico and I can’t imagine anything more terrifying.
Chapter 18
Nico
I get a call around nine the night after I made Karah come on my tongue in the break room of the bowling alley. I’m in my Rover finishing up my rounds and take it through the car speakers.
“This is Nico.”
“Nico, uh, hey, uh, it’s Tony.”
The kid’s face flashes into my mind. I see the blood on the mattress and his total agony. “You’re alive.”
“Yeah, uh, I’m alive.”
“To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Look, so I’m getting out of the hospital tomorrow, but—”
“You’re still in the hospital?”
“Well, the doctors said a surgery might help me walk normal one day, so we did that and I guess it went well.”
“Good to hear. Did Don Bruno offer to pay for everything?”
“Yes, sir, the Don’s been really good to me.”
“That’s good. Now, why are you calling me?”
“I think I know where Rinaldo is.”
I nearly slam into the truck in front of me. “What was that?”
“Rinaldo. He called me like two minutes ago. I called you as soon as I got off the phone with him.”
“Where is he?”
“He didn’t say exactly—”
“Then why the fuck are you bothering me?”
“But he did say he’s staying in a motel. How many motels are in Phoenix? I figure that might narrow it down for you, right?”
I let out a frustrated grunt. Tony didn’t know it, but there were at least a dozen motels and hotels all over the area.
But this helps. With enough manpower, we could check them all and eventually smoke him out. I worried Rinaldo was holed up in a safe house we didn’t know about, so this does narrow the search for me.
“You did the right thing calling me.”
“You’re not going to shoot me again, right?”
“Not this time.” I hang up the phone, make a sharp left, and drive fast through the city. My head’s racing, going through logistics, making plans. I send Casso a quick text and head toward the new restaurant, figuring I’ll find at least a few guys I can grab to go on a hunt with me for the next few hours. There are a few spots I want to check out nearby.