DeLuca (Mafia Romance)

Mia

I was floating in that post-orgasmic place between sleep and consciousness, my limbs tingly and sort of numb and my head fuzzy. As I came back down I replayed the last hour in my head. He had been all around me, completely consuming me. I couldn’t move an inch without feeling him somewhere. Sex had never been like that before, not with anybody and especially not with Carlo. We were always hot and heavy, in a frantic race for the finish line, constantly fighting for the upper hand.

This time had been completely different. We wanted each other just as desperately as every time we came together, but this time I hadn’t fought him. He’d needed the reassurance of control after our conversation. I gave it to him willingly, my way of telling him that I was his and I wasn’t going anywhere. I had absolutely no intention of letting him keep it but I’d let him borrow it for a while.

I felt a calmness blanket me as I snuggled closer to him, my head resting on his chest with an arm thrown over his stomach. His heart beat steadily under my cheek as I inhaled his scent, a mixture of expensive cologne and sex with a hint of sweat.

God, I love the way he smells.

“Are you sniffing me?” he asked and chuckled when I stilled at his question, his laughter causing my head to bounce on his hard chest.

“No,” I replied immediately.

“Do I smell good?”

“Yes,” I said, my voice muffled against his side as I hid my face in embarrassment over being caught.

“And what do I smell like?” he asked, his words laced with a teasing tone that I didn’t entirely appreciate.

“Like shit, you should take a shower.”

Carlo’s loud laugh echoed throughout the room, “I call bullshit, if I smelled like shit you wouldn’t have had that dopey look on your face while you were sniffing me.”© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“Shut up.”

“I’m just teasing you and you know it,” he said, brushing the hair off of my face and tracing his fingertips over my shoulder and down my side causing me to shiver.

“Doesn’t make me want to kick your ass any less for laughing at me.” I said pulling away from him.

Before I could get away he looped an arm around my middle and rolled us so I was pinned beneath him. I squirmed, trying to get away but he grabbed my arms and pinned them to the bed by my head. His strong thighs straddled my legs, rendering me immobile. I grunted and glared at him.

“Baby, stop trying to pick a fight with me, it’s not going to work.”

“Who said I was trying to pick a fight?”

Carlo just cocked an eyebrow at me without saying a word.

“Fine, I’m sorry.”

“Not yet, but you will be.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“It means I’m still pissed about that vigilante shit.”

“What do you plan to do about it?” My heart raced at the possibilities flitting through my mind. I hadn’t seen this side of Carlo in bed before tonight, but I had a feeling I could get addicted to it.

“I’m going to spank that perfect ass, and you’re going to get a few more for trying to pick a fight with me right after sex.”

“What the fuck?” I did not want that to sound as hot as it did, but I couldn’t help the slickness between my legs at his words.

“You put yourself in danger and you scared the shit out of me. I’m going to spank your ass, then I’m going to fuck you so hard you’ll still be feeling me tomorrow.”

Goosebumps erupted across my skin, “Why?” I asked, my voice breathy. I was already panting and squeezing my thighs together.

“Because you’re mine.”

Carlo

“I want Mouse here,” she said.

“We’ll fly him in tomorrow,” I nodded, understanding where she was coming from. She needed someone she trusted, one of her people here. If she was going to stay behind she wanted to feel like she had some semblance of control over the situation. “I’m going to bring in Frankie as well. She knows our set up and she can help bring Mouse up to speed.”

“Who?”

“My tech person, Francesca Delrossi. She’s been working for me for about five years. You’ve met her, she works out of the main office in the city.”

“Francesca? The dragon lady Francesca?”

I chuckled, “Yes, she’s a fucking genius. Plucked her up while she was still in college and she’s been working for me ever since.”

“I’ve never actually met her. I heard about an intern that went down there once to get help with a tablet that kept freezing up and he came back nearly in tears, a grown man. You know they call her office the dungeon, right?”

“She can be a little… hostile when she isn’t fully caffeinated.” I said, choosing my words carefully. “She doesn’t have much of a bedside manner.”

“So what makes you think she’ll be able to work with Mouse?”

“Frankie might not have much in the way of people skills but she is the best hacker on the west coast. I’m sure she’ll be much more cooperative when she has someone around that speaks her language.” At least I hoped she would be. Frankie had always been a bit of a handful, but she was the best and sometimes you have to deal with a little crazy if you want the genius that goes along with it.

Mia rolled her eyes, “Anyways,” she said, switching directions. “The meet with Eddie’s gang and Kashnikov’s crew is two days away and Ivan still hasn’t made any changes to the plan?”

“No, according to Eddie everything is a go exactly how it was planned.”

“Don’t you find that odd? After Boris, wouldn’t he want to postpone the meet?”

“Not really, if this deal goes through for them it will put their family in an even better position than they were three years ago when I ran them out of town. Probably doesn’t want to run the risk of spooking them.” I shrugged. “This is their foot in the door for the gun trade, not the small time stuff they’ve been dabbling in. This is the big time. We’re talking millions. Once word gets out that the Kashnikov’s are big enough players to support that kind of demand and offering it at a discounted price, we’re talking hundreds of millions. Ivan is smart enough not to take the chance of fucking this up over a potential threat. He still hasn’t given them the meeting place. He’ll call it in about an hour before the meet takes place. That’s about as much security as you can get in this business. It’s the move I’d make.””I wish you’d let me go with you.”

I sighed, “We’ve been over this Mia, and I’m not willing to risk putting you in that kind of situation. It’s too dangerous.”

“What about you? I’m not willing to put you in danger. Why can’t you just send in a team to handle it and stay here with me?”

“This is what I do. I’m not going to hide out while I send my men off to handle my business. Besides, it would just create a bigger target for others to try to do what the Kashnikov’s have done. I have to send a message. I have to show the world, our world, that I am not a man to be challenged.”

“I hate this,” she said solemnly.

“I know, baby, I hate it too. I’m sorry I ever put you in this kind of situation,” I groaned and scrubbed my hands over my face. “I should have just set you up in an apartment in the city until you went off to college. I never should have brought you into my world.”

“What?” she gasped. When I looked up from my hands and saw the heartbroken look on her face, a feeling of dread washed over me.

“Baby, no. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Then how did you mean it, Carlo? Because it sounded like you were saying you regret our life together, it sounded like you were saying you wish you never knew me.”

“No, no, no,” I rushed to say, “It’s not like that. I meant that I wish things were different, that you’re involvement with me didn’t put you in a position of constant potential danger. I know this isn’t the life you imagined for yourself. You deserve a life where you don’t have to look over your shoulder at every turn.”

Her face softened, “I’d rather have to look over my shoulder with you by my side than not at all.”

“Yeah, baby, me too. Which is why even though I know you deserve better I won’t let you leave me.”

“I don’t ever want to leave you, Carlo. Even though you piss me off any chance you get, you’re everything to me. All I want is to be by your side. Wherever that takes us it will be worth it if we’re together.”

Taking her face in my hands I kissed her softly and pulled back to look into her eyes, “I love you, Mia.” My voice rough with emotion as I spoke over the lump in my throat.

Tears formed in her eyes and she smiled, “I love you too, Carlo.”

I felt my world turn upside down with those three little whispered words. My life would never be the same. Instead of running away from the slightly panicked feeling in my chest, I embraced it, just as I embraced Mia.