Shit, he noticed. My face heated as I nodded and barreled out of the room. I couldn't even look him in the eyes now that he’d caught me eye fucking his toes. "Get it together, Eden," I reprimanded myself, not paying the least bit of attention to my surroundings while I headed upstairs in search of someone that could tell me where I'd be staying and where my shit was, not that I would be complaining if I needed to bunk with Santos. I got the gist that he didn't want me around, not while he was indisposed anyway, so I was on my own to figure shit out. Nothing new there, but it would have been much easier if I could just text or call one of the others. There was no way I was going back for my purse right now. I'd just have to roam the halls until a Carlotti popped up; they were bound to be around here somewhere. Before I left, I could barely take a step without tripping over one of them.
As if I'd summoned him, Tony appeared around the corner, presumably coming from his office. He froze in his tracks when his eyes met mine, then had much the same reaction as Santos.
"Vanni or my father?" he asked, recovering quite a bit faster than his enforcer had. But that was Tony, cold and calculated while his counterpart ran hot and headstrong. Had I not known they definitely didn't swing that way, I'd have thought they were more than best friends—that old ‘opposites attract’ theory.
But all that control meant that I couldn't help but fuck with the eldest Carlotti heir. Ruffling his feathers was fun when I knew he wasn't going to off my ass for looking at him sideways. Hmm...might be that they are more alike than I thought. "Maybe I missed your grouchy ass? Ever think of that?"
Completely ignoring me, he went on with his stick up the ass routine. One of these days I was gonna yank it out and beat him with it. Then give Santos a few whacks for good measure too. "Eden, I'm serious. It's not safe for you here right now. You weren't supposed to come back until the situation was handled." He already had his phone out, thumbs flying across the keyboard before he’d even finished speaking. I started to give him the same reasoning I'd given Santos, but then confusion set in.
"Wait, if you didn't know I was coming, then where the fuck are my bags? The attorneys said someone was picking up the car and bringing it back here. I'm not wearing Marco's fucking clothes again."
I didn't get an answer from Tony though, if he was even going to deign to give me one. "Aww, I knew I heard my Lady Garden." Marco's voice came from behind me right as his arms snaked around me, causing me to jump in reaction. The fucker was silent on his big ass feet, and I had to battle with the heart attack he'd tried to give me before I could relax into his hold. But the tingles he elicited as his warm breath hit my ear quickly directed my focus a bit farther south of my chest, doing nothing to calm my racing pulse. "I'm hurt, though. I thought you liked getting in my pants."
"I knew one of you had to miss me too," I managed, not at all sounding like I'd be happy for him to drag me off and deal with the rest later. I really had missed them, and now three of the four were accounted for. My desire to find Vanni battled with my need to stay right where I was...in Marco's arms.
He seemed to have at least half of the same thoughts as he didn't waste any time, spinning me and gripping the backs of my thighs in his big hands before picking me up and pinning me to the wall with his hips. Tony's "Marco, not now!" was drowned out as Marco's face filled my vision. His scent enveloped me, urging me to taste the man that drove me crazy in all the best ways.
"Of course I missed you," he breathed against my lips before darting his tongue out to lick them like he couldn't help but need to taste me. "I missed you before you left, and every day since then. We all did. Don't let those fuckers try to tell you differently."
Hazel orbs fixed on me in a determined stare, Marco continued to ignore Tony while we existed in our own little bubble. I desperately wanted him to kiss me. I could close the miniscule space between us and do it myself, but I felt the need to be chased and caught instead of feeling like a case of convenience. I needed him to prove his words with actions to back it up. I just needed.
Hands leaving where they'd been resting on my hips, one smacked the wall next to my head while the other curled into a loose fist to trail the backs of his knuckles across my cheek. The soft and tentative caress matched the suddenly vulnerable look he now wore. "You're never leaving us again, Edie, promise. I don't care who says what. You fight to stay, and I'll fight to keep you. Deal?"
There's only one answer I can give him. My "Deal" barely leaves my lips before his are on mine, insistent and possessive as fuck, demanding and begging all at once. The carnal kiss held the answers I sought—when I got him alone, he was going to give me more than the fucking tip this time. I'd have told him so, but the moment only became more heated, and the appendage in question hardened against me. Then something I hadn't yet had the fortune of experiencing happened. His dick was pressed right up against my now healed piercings, hitting them just right through the thin layers of leggings and panties. The pressure made my pussy clench hard on absolutely nothing, just as hard as my hands gripped his shoulders. It had taken a bit to get used to my pants rubbing on them, and I got turned on a lot, but this was in another league altogether. If he kept it up, I'd come without him doing a damned thing else.
A moan ripped from my throat despite my intent to keep quiet, and I wrapped my legs tightly around his waist, arching against him in response. I broke the kiss as my head tipped back, banging against the wall, my eyes barely slitted enough to see the mix of heated bewilderment on Marco's face as he quirked a brow and took in my extremely aroused state. His attention traveled from my now messy ponytail to settle on my hardened nipples showing plainly through my bra and shirt.
Experimentally, he flexed his hips, hoisting me further up so I settled better atop him before rotating to rub his erection hard against my center. A few more concentrated grinding motions, and I panted through my orgasm, completely blindsided by the intensity that little bit of hardware had delivered. "Oh, fuck, Marco, you have to stop. I can't take any more," I finally pleaded as the devilish man rocked against me, a smug ass smirk pulling up one side of his plush lips that still bore a slight swollen redness from our encounter. I was sure it matched my own, but all I really cared about at the moment was the fact that he stopped. Not to mention I wasn't sure I could actually feel my legs.
"I think Edie has some explaining to do," he stated. His eyes were no longer quite so smug, holding a definite hint of flinty steel. "Who were you pre-gaming with? And fair warning, if it wasn't Santos, I'll be breaking the terms of my house arrest."
My eyes cut to the side, seeking anything to avoid explaining my new accessories. I wasn’t hiding them, but it didn’t seem like the thing one should just blurt out when one wasn't quite sure how to explain that they’d missed all of them and had gotten piercings to match their ex when said ex didn't know about it yet. It really was a whole damned thing I'd built up in my head. Plus, I sorta liked the whole jealous-possessive thing Marco had going on at the moment. Until my gaze landed on a narrow-eyed Tony, who I couldn’t help but notice had a definite tent in his pants even though it looked like he’d tried to tuck it up to make it less noticeable, not that he'd managed it. At all. Then my lack of inhibition had me all sorts of embarrassed; I’d just dry humped Marco until I got off. In the middle of the hallway...while Tony watched.
“Antonio.” I greeted him as if we hadn’t been in the middle of a conversation before Marco interrupted; my smooth self even gave him a little nod like I wasn’t still wrapped around his cousin and pinned against his wall.
With a smirk I thought he tried to hide, Tony tipped his head at me in return. “Eden.” Is Antonio Carlotti actually playing along? I was pleasantly surprised by the turn of events, not that I got to revel in it for more than a second or two. Marco had decided to be persistent in his pursuit of answers. Namely, if I’d been screwing around with anyone.
“Edie, if anyone else has been touching what’s mine—”
“Ours,” Tony interjected, resulting in my attention snapping directly back to him. I stared, wide-eyed, not daring to hope he meant it while simultaneously wanting to demand he say it again.
“Yes, ours, we get it, Tony. What I don’t get is how I’m standing here with a wet patch on my jeans, still hard as fuck, while Edie here is already done and also in need of a change of clothes.” Right about then, Marco wedged fingers between us to prove his point and found my surprise. I wasn’t the only one wide-eyed thanks to new developments, and Marco’s crooked smile soon bloomed with a renewed heat between my legs as he manipulated the rings with his fingertips.
My sharp intake of air was drowned out by a crash from downstairs and Santos’ raised voice. We all froze for an instant before Tony dashed past us. Marco let my legs down, barely checking that I was steady before he took off to investigate the commotion. The whiplash of one event crashing into the next was beginning to wear on me, but really, it was par for the course in my life. My all-too-short reprieve from it had been nice, but I supposed it was time to get back to the real world.