I smile as I look at the faces gathered around the dining table. Kristin and her father are still here, and Vito’s almost fully recovered now. Anya sits close to Lorenzo, and he has a protective arm draped around the back of her chair but not on her shoulder. I think she might buckle under the weight of it now. Dante and Kat sit close, constantly touching each other. They’re so sweet together. And then there’s my Max. He sits beside me with his hand resting possessively on my thigh.
While everyone is discussing plans for Gabriella’s christening in a few days, Max leans close to me, his lips pressed at my ear and his warm breath sending goosebumps prickling along my forearms. “I forgot to tell you how fucking beautiful you look tonight, baby girl.”
My cheeks flush pink at his praise. I didn’t realize we were having company tonight, so I’m dressed in a pair of ripped jeans and a tank top. My hair is piled on top of my head in a messy bun and I don’t have a scrap of make up on, but Max makes me feel beautiful no matter what. “Thank you,” I whisper.
His hand slides down my thigh until it settles on my knee, which is a much safer place for it to be when we’re in this room, but I pout anyway, which makes him laugh softly. “My hands will be exactly where you want them later, baby. Promise,” he whispers.
“I’m gonna hold you to that, DiMarco.”
He gives me a soft kiss on the cheek and rejoins the conversation without missing a beat.
Dmitri and Kyzen are here tonight too, and while they’re not blood, they’ve been here so often the past few weeks, they’ve practically become part of the furniture. Our two families have formed a solid alliance that my brothers seem confident will be good for us all.
Once dinner is over, Dante abruptly returns the conversation to business. “Pushkin is dealt with?” he asks Dmitri.
Dmitri gives a solemn nod. “I know you wanted to deal with him yourself, but he was expecting us. He would have killed Kyzen, and I had to take the shot.”
Dante nods his understanding. He would have done the same if it had been Lorenzo.
“But we have made it clear that he was killed in revenge for the murder of your father and that we took him out as a sign of respect for you.”
“It’s not ideal. I would have preferred to deal with him myself, but we can work with it,” Lorenzo replies.
Kyzen leans forward. “Also, Ivan was killed in Russia last night. My cousin put a bullet in his head. I’ve seen the pictures. He is dead.”
“Then there’s no further challenge to your leadership?” Max asks.
Dmitri and Kyzen nod.
“Good. No more Pushkins.” Dante smiles and raises his glass of whiskey in a toast that we all join.
Shifting the conversation, Lorenzo turns to face Max’s uncle. “What’s the plan for you and Kristin now?”
“We thought we might head back to Jersey. Now that there’s no longer a threat from the Pushkins, I don’t see why we can’t go back to our old lives.” He looks over at his daughter who nods excitedly. I figure she’s more than keen to get back to her old life and try to find her baby daddy while she’s at it. “We’ll be leaving the day after tomorrow if you don’t mind putting us up until then?”
“Of course. Any family of Max’s is welcome here,” Lorenzo says.
“Thank you for everything you’ve all done for us.” Kristin’s eyes shine with unshed tears. “It means so much. And I know it was awful the way we met, but I’m still glad that we did.”
“Me too,” I agree, and she smiles at me.
“Especially you, Max. I had no idea I needed a big brother until I found you.”
Max laughs. “Well, you’re not all bad, sis.”
Vito looks down at the table and Kristin puts an arm around him. “It’s okay, Dad. I understand why you did what you did.”
“It’s water under the bridge now, right?” Max adds.
Vito looks up at his nephew. “You are a more gracious man than I, Maximo,” he says as a tear rolls down his cheek. “Your parents would have been very proud of the man you’ve become.”
Max’s grip on my thigh tightens, but he keeps a faint smile on his face. Before the awkwardness becomes unbearable, Dante suggests drinks in his study. I go to stand but Max takes my hand and pulls me back down, indicating I should stay in my seat, so I remain at the table and watch everyone else file out of the room. Dante turns and looks at Max and me before he leaves. The look he shares with Max must appease him because he walks out of the room, closing the door behind him.
“Come here, baby girl,” Max says as soon as we’re alone, lifting me onto his lap until I’m straddling him.
“Someone could come back in here.”
“They won’t,” he assures me. “Besides we’re not doing anything wrong.”
I bite my lip but wrap my arms around his neck. His cock is already getting harder. “Hmm. Not yet.”
His eyes narrow as he stares into mine. “Not now, Joey.”
I swallow the hurt that unexpectedly bubbles up at his rejection, but he brushes his fingertips over my cheek before I can voice my annoyance. “I just wanted to check in with you,” he says softly.
I frown at him. “Check in with me? Why?”
“Because we killed a man today.”
I roll my eyes. More sexist bullshit! I’m about to shuffle off his lap, but he tightens his arms around my waist, holding me in place. “Just because I’m a g—”
“No,” he says with an exasperated sigh. “Because I fucking love you, Joey. You don’t think I checked in with your brothers the first time they took a life?”
“You did?”
“Of course I fucking did. Dante threw up all over my shoes the first time he killed someone.”
I blink at him. “He did?”
“Yeah. Had to throw them away and the fucker still hasn’t replaced them sixteen years later.”
I do that math in my head. Dante was only fifteen when he first killed a man? Sadly, that doesn’t surprise me. The fact that he threw up after certainly does though. He’s like ice when it comes to business, but I guess he wasn’t always that way.
“I’m sorry, Max. I guess the defensive thing is kind of my default response.”
“Hmm,” he murmurs as he presses his forehead against mine. “For the sake of your beautiful ass, I suggest you find another one soon, baby girl, or you’ll be spending a whole lot of your time wincing when you sit down.”
I cannot stop the soft moan that escapes my lips at the mere thought of constant spankings from Max, and it makes him laugh. “But you like the sound of that, don’t you?” His deep, velvety tone melts my insides.
“Yes,” I admit, rocking my hips against him and delighting in the delicious friction caused by the seam of my jeans and his hard cock.
He runs his nose over my jawline and an animalistic groan rumbles through his chest. “What the fuck am I going to do with you, Joey?”
I run my fingers though his hair, tugging his head back so I can stare into his dark eyes. “Spank me? Fuck me? Spread me out on this dining table and eat my pussy until I scream? I mean the possibilities are endless.”
Those dark eyes blaze with fire now and I can tell he’s considering all those options right now. But the man has way too much self-control for my liking. “Tell me how you’re doing, baby girl?”
“I’m okay, Max. I promise,” I assure him. I may not have killed a man before, and technically I didn’t today—although that doesn’t make me any less responsible for his death—but I was born and raised a Moretti and this life is in my blood as much as it’s in my brothers’. As much as it’s in Max’s.
He brushes my hair back from my face. “You sure? Because it’s okay not to be. I’m right here for whatever you need.”
“I know that, but I’m okay. Are you?”
He frowns at me.
I arch an eyebrow at him. “I’m allowed to be concerned about you too, aren’t I?”
“Of course you are.” A smile tugs at the corners of his lips.
“So, are you okay? You need me to do anything to make you feel better?” I whisper.
“Oh, there are many things, baby,” he says with a groan. Standing, he sets me on my feet. “But not right now.” Then he gives me a soft kiss on my forehead. “We should join the others before your brothers come in here to check on us.”
“You’re such a tease.” I giggle as we walk out of the room, earning myself a hard smack on my ass. God, I am the happiest girl in the freaking world right now.
