Abruptly, he turned me around, and I looked up at him. “Then I will continue to remind you why you love me by giving you my giant-sized cock every goddamn day.”
“And I’ll make sure you never forget to remind me.”
I lifted myself on my toes, my taste buds tingling with the need to taste his mouth. My body was already primed to take him, to let himremindme. With his arms around me, he pulled me against his chest, causing me to clench my thighs for some relief from the ache he so expertly ignited. God, this man knew how to test the limits of my self-control. He knew it was probably the most difficult thing for me to do, to not always act on my desire and need for him. To start humping each other in the store or on your way to see a damn movie could get you arrested. But right here, right now, I was willing to risk it since my body was screaming at me to give it the release and the ecstasy only Lorik could provide.
“Ahem.”
I froze and glanced over Lorik’s shoulder. “Antonio.”
Lorik dropped his hold around my waist, and I took a step back.
“Did I interrupt anything?”
“No—”
“Yes,” Lorik sneered. “Antonio, how many times do I have to tell you, you have to work on your timing, bro?”
I cringed when I heard Lorik call Antonio “bro.” Antonio wasn’t as laidback as Dante, and he still needed to wrap his head around everything that had happened, and that Lorik was now a permanent part of my life. My entire family had made a sacrifice by bending one of their own rules, rules that had been passed down from generation to generation. They were willing to accept him as the man I chose to spend the rest of my life with, but they had their own terms and conditions Lorik had to accept if he wanted to be a part of my life.
I tried to convince him that no matter what my family said, if they didn’t accept him, I was willing to give them up for him. My love and my need for him were too strong for me to even attempt to live without it. But he kept saying there was no sacrifice too big for him to have me, to be able to lay claim on me. He didn’t want me to choose between him and my family. He wanted to give me everything he had in his power to give me.
And that was what my family did. They gave him the power to give me the best of both worlds—my family…and him.
Which was why we were here today, to solidify Lorik’s place in our family. His choice had been made, and his choice was me. He had even given up his old life, decided to adapt and embrace everything a life with a mafia princess entailed, and I didn’t think I would ever be able to repay him. The only way I would ever come even remotely close to thanking him was by loving him as intensely as I did now, for as long as we both shall live.
Antonio glanced in my direction. “You’re up.”
I looked at Lorik, nerves replacing the ache I had for him only a few seconds ago.
He noticed. He always noticed. It was like the man had a direct line to every emotion I ever felt.
“Don’t worry, princess. It will be over before you know it.”
There was a time in my life I was certain I’d never do this. To me, doing this meant my freedom, and I wasn’t willing to give up the little freedom I did have. But now, with Lorik by my side, I knew I had all the freedom I needed just by being able to love him and to be loved by him. Nothing in this world would ever make me hesitate when it came to proving my love for him, to make sure nothing ever tore us apart. But I had to admit, thinking about what was about to happen had my insides balled into tight little bundles of nerves. I never did well with needles.
Lorik lifted his arm, and I stared at the plastic wrapping around his hand. The freshly tattooed wolf symbol on his upper hand was only partly visible under the protective wrapping. But it was there, and it was not only the symbol of our family, it now became the symbol of the commitment Lorik and I shared.
He lifted his finger and showed me where it had been pricked. “This hurt more than the tattoo, believe me.”
I shuddered, thinking about the pain, and secretly thanked God I didn’t have to go through the entire initiation process. From what I heard, it was quite intense…and painful.
“I still can’t believe you did this for me,” I whispered, feeling a lump form in the back of my throat.
“It wasn’t that bad. I expected worse from the initiation, actually. The horror stories one hears about mafia initiation ceremonies gave me the cold fucking sweats.” He smiled down at me. “But your dad was gentle.”
I let out a laugh thinking about Lorenzo Valenti being gentle. He wasn’t the gentle type, but somehow, I suspected he was only gentle because of me, because he knew I would have brought down the wrath of hell on all of them like only an Italian woman could if they hurt my man.
My man. It all felt so surreal, us being able to be together.
Lorik quit the force to be with me. Gave up everything he believed in to join my family. It was something I would never be able to fully repay. And my father and brothers being willing to bend the rules they upheld with an iron fist to accept an ex-cop into their circle was the best gift they could ever have given me. Like I said—surreal.
“Karina, are you ready?” Antonio asked, shifting impatiently from one foot to the other. Okay, it was still going to take Antonio a while to get used to all the changes, but I was patient, and luckily, Lorik was too stubborn for it to bother him.
I rubbed my wrist. “Yeah, I’m ready.”
Lorik grabbed me around the waist and lifted me, planting a hard, desperate, passionate kiss against my lips. I melted into him, my heart no longer beating, but racing like crazy. I prayed the fire burning between us never faded, never died. But judging by the way it kept strengthening every time we were together, I doubted it ever would.
He peeled his lips from mine, cupping my cheek and rubbing his thumb softly over my bottom lip.