"Carly, wait!" Nic barked out, dragging me with him as he followed after her.
She paused on the bottom step. "What? You and I both know I need to get out of here before my da comes looking for me."
"Let me help. I can keep you safe from him."
"I won't be safe until he's dead." Her reply was filled with a defeated certainty. "By now my brother is sure to have told him what I've done. There's no going back for me."
"Let me help you hide. I have resources available to me that you don't have access to."
"I wish I could say yes, Nic. I really do." With as tired as she sounded, I didn't have a hard time believing she wanted nothing more than to take the assistance Nic was offering. Watching her standing there, I wanted it for her too. "But we both know my da isn't the only man with a grudge who's going to be looking for me. And if you're the one hiding me, Bran is sure to find me."
"Can you blame him? You shot the man. Dammit, Carly, you could have killed him."
She'd shot someone? I'd never even handled a gun. What had I gotten myself involved in?
"If I'd wanted him dead, I wouldn't have shot him in the thigh."
"Bran told me your gun only went off because you were startled when your brother shot at you."
Brothers shooting at sisters? Seriously, how had I found myself in the middle of a daytime soap opera?
"I might have been surprised, but I'm damn good with a gun, and those skills were probably the only thing that kept your precious Bran alive. Feel free to tell him he owes my da for all those lessons at the range."
"What in the hell happened between you and Bran?"
That was an answer I'd love to have heard since I'd been pulled into this drama. Unfortunately, it looked like it wasn't one I was going to get anytime soon.
"None of your damn business." Those were her parting words because she took off at a sprint down the street.
Damn, the girl was fast. But Nic was just as quick, because I found myself lifted off my feet, carried into the house, and placed onto the couch in the living room, in what felt like the blink of an eye.
He sat down next to me, leaning over, his face close to mine. "We need to talk." I pushed against his chest, trying to get out from under him, my mind a jumbled mess after everything I'd just heard. What I'd just learned about him. My Nic was a mobster. It was almost impossible to believe. He was into bad stuff, illegal stuff. Things about which I had zero clue because he'd kept me in the dark.
"We'll talk," he promised, his hand sliding under my robe and up my inner thigh. "After."
"After?" I stuttered, my breath hitching when he sank two fingers inside me.
"After you come on my hand, in my mouth, and on my cock."
I pushed against his chest again, even as my legs widened slightly, giving him better access to my body. "I'm angry with you, Nic. And hurt. And a little scared."
He stilled over me, staring down at me with pain filled eyes. "I will never hurt you, mia dolce. Never."
It was a heartfelt vow, and I believed him. It might make me the most naïve person on the planet, but I knew deep in my bones that Nic didn't mean me any harm.
"I know," I whispered softly, one hand sliding up his chest to cup his cheek. "But I'm still unbelievably angry with you."
"Then take your anger out on my body, Gianna, and let me show you exactly how sorry I am."
"But-" I tried to protest. Despite everything, my body responded to his dark tone. A quick twist of his wrist had his fingers rubbing against my G-spot and any coherent thought fled my brain.
With expert strokes, he drove me higher and higher until I was fulfilling the first part of his promise, coming on his hand. Then he dropped to his knees, lifting my legs over his shoulders, and his mouth latched on to me. He ate at me like he was starving—licking and sucking while he held my hips down so I couldn't move. It wasn't until I'd come twice more that he lifted his head. I saw my wetness glistening on his beard before he wiped it against my belly, bared as the robe had parted wide down the middle. Then he unbuckled his belt, unzipped his pants, and pulled his cock out. It was hard and bobbed thickly against his stomach.
Without any preamble, he lifted my hips into the air, lining us up and driving inside of me. Sensitive from my orgasms, I felt every inch of him as he slid against my drenched heat. He was so big, my body had to stretch to take him all. Somehow, I was both uncomfortable and excited at the same time. Then he pulled out, only to thrust back in and my mind blanked as he pounded into me. Deep and hard. I'd thought he'd been rough with me the night before, but it was nothing compared to the way he was taking me now. Like he owned me, and my body loved it. I was caged between his muscular body and the couch, writhing in ecstasy, and even with what I knew about him, it felt like exactly where I belonged. When his mouth dropped down to mine, claiming it in a searing kiss, I was thrown over the edge once again, taking him with me.