Between working my ass off at the boxing gym every day, whittling down our new recruits, and Luca having me keep watch over Marco Falcone’s youngest daughter most nights, I am fucked. At the same time, I’m relieved to keep my brain busy on something other than Maddie. After spending the night with her slender and perfect naked body cuddled up to me, I fear I will never recover.
It confirms that I can never fuck her. If I do that, I am fucked.
That’s why I have the no-kissing rule. Simply to avoid any intimacy. Since my bitch of an ex-wife screwed me over, I vowed to never let another woman into my heart. Yet every time I am in Maddie’s presence, she seems to unknowingly chip away at that oath. Every damn time she licks those lips, I want them. I’ve had a taste, and it was fucking delicious.
The more I push her away, the more I rile her up. I can keep her at arm’s length. Enough to sate my need for her without touching her. She’s a temptress, and I don’t know how much longer I can resist her.
I throw on a pair of denim jeans and a white shirt. I even style my hair and perfect the edges of my stubble. I always pride myself in cleaning up well. Knowing I will be in Maddie’s presence tonight, I have to step it up a notch. I just can’t help myself when it comes to her.
After parking my Audi in Keller’s compound, I walk over to the door and knock. I wonder if she’s already here. I have no clue how to act around her after last weekend. Hell, I can never predict how she will be around me. But today, I’m actually dreading it. Especially now that I know how her body fits against mine, how much I fucking love spooning her to sleep.
The door flies open, revealing a glowing Sienna, in a flowy navy dress and gray cardigan. Little Darcy, cuddled up into her side, watches me.
“Grayson, you made it! Come in.”
“Sienna. Little Darcy.” I walk through the threshold and stroke the baby’s mop of black hair, and she giggles. “Aren’t you the cutest little thing in the world. I missed you,” I coo.
“You look beautiful, Sienna.”
“Thank you, Grayson.” She smiles. Over the last year, she’s become part of my family. I will always be grateful to her for saving my best friend, even if it was from himself.
“Where’s the big man?”
“In the kitchen. I got bored of him telling me how to do it, so I left him in there to fend for himself. Although, you should all be grateful; his food will be far better.” Her face lights up as she talks about him.
I shut the door and walk through the living room, spotting Keller towering over the stove, wooden spoon in hand. Luca and Mrs. Russo are busy chatting in Italian across the dining table.
“Luca.”
“Welcome to the chaos,” he replies.
“Uncle Grayson!” Max shouts, jumping off of his chair and hurtling toward me, grabbing my legs.
“My favorite little boxing star!” I ruffle his hair.
“I’ve been practicing my upper cuts with Keller like you told me!”
“Good job. You can show me them on Thursday.” I grin.
Keller spins around, his black shirt splattered with white sauce. “Grayson, grab me a beer please, I’m dying of thirst here,” he says. I shake my head and chuckle, making my way over to the fridge and grabbing three bottles out.
“Keller, go sit, I’ve got this. Just take Darcy, please.” A stressed Sienna bundles Darcy into Keller’s arms and grabs the spoon out of his hand. As she goes to walk past him, Keller grabs her wrist and pulls her under his arm, kissing the top of her head. When he whispers in her ear, I purposely zone it out. The blush that spreads up her chest is enough to tell me what he’s saying. I pop open the lids and walk to the dining table, taking the spare seat between Keller and Luca. I have Mrs. Russo at the head of the table to my left.
Tipping my head back, I take a long sip of beer. The front door crashes open and Maddie barrels in.
“Oh my god, sorry I’m late, my client didn’t like the shade of gold I used.” She huffs, eyes rolling dramatically. Rushing over to the kitchen, she wraps Sienna in a hug. “It smells delicious,” she mumbles before her eyes snap up to the rest of the table.
She’s a hot mess.
A fucking gorgeous one.
I shift uncomfortably in my seat, my cock twinging against my zipper. Like every damn time it does when she’s near me. There’s just something about this woman that gets to me.
Her gaze flickers in my direction, but she soon diverts it to Luca, and finally settling on Mrs. Russo at the head of the table. Her stilettos click along the marble floor as she does that strange penguin run that women do in heels toward Mrs. Russo.
“So lovely to see you again, Mrs. Russo.” Her smile is so bright and genuine.
“Aaaah, Maddie. You look stunning. Have you been snapped up yet?” Mrs. Russo grabs Maddie’s left hand, looking for a ring. The collar of my shirt suddenly becomes too tight as the green monster rears its ugly head.
“Not quite.” Maddie nervously laughs. We all know it gets to her. I clear my throat, and her attention snaps to me. Time to play, Sunshine.
Scooting my chair back, I tap my lap. “Want to take a seat? Come, tell me all about it?” I ask, doing my best to hold back the laughter.
One thing I’ll never get sick of is winding her up. The way her cheeks heat, and she gets that perfect ‘fuck me’ purse to her lips every damn time thrills me in all the right ways. I tell myself I’m doing it to keep her mad, but in reality, she’s fucking hot.
There it is… my favorite red color that flushes her cheeks.
She scowls at me. “I’d rather sit on the floor, thanks.”
“Hey, I thought we were friends now?” I shrug, giving her puppy dog eyes.
Her head snaps to Sienna’s in horror.
“Wait! Have you two finally fucked?” Luca chimes in. “Keller, you owe me ten grand.”
“Enough of that, young man,” Mrs. Russo snaps back, her thick Italian accent enough to calm us all.
Resting my elbow on the table, I lean forward, cocking my brow at my best friends.
“Tell me more about this bet.”
Before they can respond, Maddie interrupts, “No, we haven’t, so, Keller, you can keep your money. Luca won’t ever be getting that.” She stomps over to the chair opposite me and yanks it out, plonking down. Her arms cross, and she’s looking at me like she wants to kill me.
Perfect. Just how I like her.
I scoot my chair back in, and my foot grazes past her calf. Before I know it, pain radiates through my shin as she slams her stiletto into it.
“Fucking hell, Maddie,” I hiss, and now, it’s my turn to glare at her. A mischievous smirk dances across her lips. I reach and grab the bottle of champagne in front of us and pour her a glass.
Her dainty hand shoots forward, the array of sparkly rings that decorate most of her fingers shimmering. Fuck, if she punched me, it probably would hurt. As her fingers wrap around the glass, my hand covers hers to stop her picking it up. As soon as our hands connect, blood rushes to my cock.
“I think there is a thank you, Grayson coming,” I tease. She tries to free her hand, but I tighten my grip.
“Thanks,” she says, giving me one of her fake smiles. The waft of garlic chicken makes my stomach rumble as Keller not so elegantly drops the plate of food down on the navy mat in front of me.
“Thanks, man.” I nod.
I reluctantly let go of Maddie’s hand. Huffing, she brings the glass up to her glossy, plump lips and tips her head back to take a sip.
Fuck, what I would give to taste those lips again.
A drop of champagne spills from the corner of her lips. She wipes it away with her middle finger. I can’t help but bite down on the inside of my mouth to hold back the groan. Her eyes never leave mine the entire time.
What? she mouths with a smirk. Oh, she’s playing a dangerous game.
I shake my head, pretending to be unaffected by her. Thankfully, she can’t see my erect cock straining against my jeans. If she was any other woman on this planet, I would have fucked her by now. But I can’t do that to her. She isn’t a one and done. I would keep coming back for more until I broke her. I’d lose my family. Everyone at this table right now would hate me. So, if it means having an aggressive jerk-off in a freezing shower every time I see her, then so be it.
“You all right, buddy? You look flustered,” Luca asks. Without even looking at him, I know he’s grinning from ear to ear, reveling in my agony. The man is clever, too clever. There’s nothing he doesn’t notice.
“Perfectly fine here,” I reply, not taking my eyes off Maddie. Picking up my knife and fork, I dig in. I bite into the chicken and it melts in my mouth. “Damn, Sienna, this is amazing,” I mumble through mouthfuls.
“Mrs. Russo has been teaching me a thing or two.” Sienna gives me a proud smile.
Keller runs his tattooed hand through his wife’s long dark hair; adoration evident on his face.
“Damn, I need to find me a woman that can cook like this.” The words slip out of my mouth, so much so I nearly choke. I can’t bring myself to look in Maddie’s direction.
“Wouldn’t that mean actually dating?” Keller says, flicking up an eyebrow in amusement. That fucker.
“I’m good then,” I shrug, continuing with my food despite rapidly losing my appetite.
Maddie glances every now and then in my direction. Once we are all finished, she gets up from the table and starts collecting our plates. She goes around to everyone else first, then stops next to me.
Close enough for me to take in a breath of my new favorite scent.
Her.
Picking up my plate, I rest it on top of the others, purposely brushing her hand on the way down. A decision I regret as soon as our skin makes contact. Electricity shoots through my hand. The way her eyebrows flick up shows me she feels this too.
Luca shuffles in his seat next to me, rummaging through his pockets, and pulling out a little white packet of cigarettes. He offers one to me.
“Thanks,” I say, picking out one of the brown tips and tucking it behind my ear. Maddie turns her back and struts off into the kitchen. Luca stands, tapping me on the shoulder. I rip my gaze away from her reluctantly and follow him out into the garden.
He has that similar look in his eyes as the afternoon I first met him. Sitting in an Irish bar in Times Square, moping into a glass of scotch on his own. He’d looked how I felt, so I’d ordered two of their finest scotch.
“You look how I feel. Here,” I say, placing the tumbler down next to his almost empty one. He looks up at me through bloodshot eyes and nods to the seat opposite him. “Well, take a seat. We can be miserable in silence together.”
I chuckle and pull out the deep green chair, then toss my sports bag; the one that holds the only contents of my entire life.
Luca spots the bag, eying me suspiciously.
“You aren’t here to kill me, are you?”
What the fuck.
“Nah, if I was, you’d be dead by now.”
He shrugs, tossing back the remains of his drink.
“Wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.”
“Oh, come on, it can’t be that bad.”
His eyes scan the room before he leans forward on the table.
“I’ve just lost everything.”
“Trust me, I know how that feels. I’ve moved here today, only after finding out my wife had been fucking my now dead best friend.”
He chokes on his drink. “I hope you are the one who killed him.”
“Gunshot in Afghanistan. Told me on his deathbed.”
“Absolute fuckers. Hey, well, if you want your wife killed, just give me a shout. You’re speaking to the new Mafia leader. I guess that’s what I do now.”
The conflict is clear in his eyes. He isn’t a murderer by choice. Not like me. He doesn’t relish taking someone’s life with his bare hands.
“Why don’t you look happy about it? I thought being the top dog is what everyone wants in that line of business.”
He scoffs. “I didn’t have a fucking choice. I was never in this world. I was on the street, fighting with my brother, trying to turn pro. Until my father’s minions, the same father who abandoned me at birth, turned up and dragged me off the streets. Turns out, my piece of shit father wished to fuck up not only my childhood, but he’d signed me up for a life of hell as an adult too.”
“Street fighter, you say? I was a boxer, used to train up the guys in my corp.”
He appears to be in a deep thought.
“Do you want a job?”
For the mafia? Do I? I want to rebuild my life. I want to start again, try and curb this urge for blood. Calm this anger.
“Doing?”
“Training my brother. He’s good, he’s just turned pro. Heavy-weight. He won’t fucking listen to you, I will warn you of that. But he can make it, I just know it. He just needs a decent trainer. He needs investment in his boxing gym, a co-owner. I’ll put you up in one of my apartments.”
I rub my palm along my stubble. I don’t have other options. I’ve got the money to invest.
Fuck it.
He pulls out his phone, sliding it over to me. A guy, about the same build and size as me, fills the screen, walking out into a tattered boxing ring. Tattooed from neck to foot, a murderous look in his eye.
“I’ll do it.” I extend my hand out to him. “I’m Grayson by the way. Grayson Ward.”
He clasps my hand and gives me a firm handshake.
“Luca Russo. And that, on the screen, is Keller Russo.”
Thirty minutes in New York and I’m tied to the mafia already.
Fuck yeah!
Luca flicks open his Zippo and lights his cigarette, then passes it to me. I light my own up and inhale, the toxic chemicals burning into my lungs.
“You really haven’t fucked her yet?” Luca asks, puffing away.
“No.”
“I don’t get it. Why don’t you just fuck, get it over with, so you don’t have to keep pining over her. You’ll be doing yourself a favor. It’s obvious.” He shrugs. I can’t ever talk about this too much with Keller. I can’t risk Sienna knowing. And she can’t keep a secret to save her life. So, Luca is really the only one who understands. For the past seven years, he’s put his trust in me, whether it’s training Keller or becoming his right-hand man. I trust the fucker with my life.
“We can’t fuck. I don’t want to hurt her.”
“Yes, we know, Grayson, you have a big dick. I don’t think she’d mind being a bit sore.” He winks.
“Fucking hell, Luca. Not like that. We all know she’s after anyone who’s not me. I can’t just fuck her once and leave her. I don’t think I could do it.”
“You don’t seem to have a problem fucking and leaving other women.”
“They aren’t her, Luca.”
“You let her kiss you,” he says, stubbing his cigarette out.
“I’d murdered christ knows how many men. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“So it wasn’t the best kiss of your life?”
“I just can’t. Leave it at that.”
“Your loss. Someone will snag her up and you’ll regret it. I promise you.”
“Hmm, maybe.” The thought of someone else touching her, getting to have her in all the ways I never could, makes my chest constrict.
A ring breaks our conversation, and he says, “It’s Nico. He’s dealing with the Falcones. I’ll be in in a second. Be ready to leave.” Putting the phone to his ear, he walks off onto the grass, and I stub out my cigarette and head back in.
Maddie is busy humming away to herself doing the dishes. Without thinking, I head straight toward her.
“Need a hand?” I ask, sliding up next to her.
“No, thanks,” she mutters, concentrating on the bowl in her hand. She bites her bottom lip, side-eyeing me.
She grabs the black cloth next to her and starts drying the bowl, then going up on tiptoes to reach for the cupboard door above her head. I cage her in, and her ass rubs against my dick. Oh fuck.
“Let me,” I rasp, reaching up and opening the cupboard door. Her ass wiggles against my cock.
“Stop it,” I warn.
She turns around in my arms, her back now resting against the marble countertop. I take the bowl out of her fingers and shove it in the cupboard above us.
“Make me.” She tips her chin up, her arms crossed, making her tits rise out of her top.
Desire flashes in her eyes. I tip my head to the side, eating her up with my gaze. She doesn’t move an inch; she stands her ground.
Her peachy scent consumes me as I suck in a breath. God, she’s fucking delicious.
My nose brushes against her jaw until I reach her ear.
“You don’t want me to make you. Trust me, Sunshine,” I whisper.
I frown as a devilish smile dances across her lips. She arches her back, my eyes glued to her tits. So much so that I don’t notice her left hand snake behind her into the sink full of bubbled liquid.
Her hand smashes into my face, and she drags it down my face. The bubbles sting my eyes. I squeeze them shut and let out a hiss.
Maddie’s hysterical laughter rings through my ears. She’s doubled over, holding her stomach, struggling to breathe. I can feel all the eyes in the room on us.
I lean over her bent over body, but she’s too busy laughing to take notice of me. Picking up the soaking sponge, I step back, lifting my hand, water dripping through fingers. I hover it over her head.
“Something funny, Sunshine?” I tease.
“I can’t…” she wheezes, holding her chest. My chest vibrates as I squeeze the sponge above her head. She gasps, as water drips down her forehead.
Her palm connects with my chest when she pushes against me. I don’t move. Her white shirt is now see-through. Her lacy white bra doesn’t cover those erect rosy buds now staring at me. Tempting me.
She isn’t pissed. The blush spreading across her cheeks isn’t in anger. She’s turned on. I follow her gaze as it roams over my body, settling on my throbbing cock. I know these jeans aren’t going to hide the hard-on I have for her.
“Grayson, we gotta go!” Luca erratically shouts from behind me. Maddie’s body sags against the counter. Fuck, I don’t know what to do. So I do what I do best—avoid everything.
“I’ll see you around, Sunshine.”
“Now!” Luca shouts, kicking my ass into gear.
Maddie nods, biting that goddamn bottom lip and turning her back. I grab my jacket from the back of my chair, giving Sienna and Darcy a quick peck on their heads.
“See you Monday?” I nod to Keller. His jaw ticks as Luca rushes out of the house. I know he’s worried about his brother. Keller was always the one to protect him. And now, I think he’s struggling with not being there for him as much.
“I’ll look out for him, Keller. You know that.” He gives me a tight smile, and Sienna encases his tattooed hand in hers.
“Thank you, I’ll see you Monday.” He turns his attention straight back to his wife. His reminder of why he can’t be out protecting his brother anymore. I take one last glance at Maddie. She mouths, be safe, and fuck me, I don’t know what to do with that. I quickly wave to Mrs. Russo and sprint out.
Getting myself the fuck out of here.
