“Friends. Right.”

  His laughter spiked my irritation. I sat up and fought with the door until it opened and then climbed out of the car. I tried to slam the damn thing down, but the hinges wouldn’t allow it. Another burst of laughter came from the driver’s seat. I flipped him off and turned on my heel.

  “You don’t think I have friends?” He called after me questioningly.

  “Oh, I’m sure you have plenty of those. You’re a great guy, after all.” I tossed over my shoulder without slowing down.

  I power-walked up the pathway all the way to the front door. “So much for home-sweet-home,” I muttered to myself when I realized I didn’t have a key to get in.

  Judas caught up and slipped his arms around me from behind. Palms flattened against my midsection, entrapping me within his strong embrace.

  “It hasn’t been a full twenty-four hours, relax. I have your new keys and all the codes you’re going to need on my desk.”

  “I don’t—.”

  “Shut the fuck up, Rhiannon,” he commanded in a deceptively soft voice. He spun me around and forced me to walk backward until I was caged between him and the front door.

  I was wondering when this side of him would come out. “Ask me nicely and I’ll think about it,” I goaded, staring right into his beautiful eyes.

  “You always did respond best when I ordered you around. Is that the way you want it, principessa? Do I need to tell you when to open your fucking mouth? When to spread your legs for me? You don’t like nice and gentle, do you?” He raised one hand to my throat and teased me with the act of applying pressure. “If I start to squeeze, how wet will you get for me?”

  I swallowed, choosing not to respond. His other hand followed the curves of my waist down to my hip where deft fingers curled to pull me further into him.

  “You don’t have to provoke me into fucking you like a whore, principessa. I remember how you like it.”

  “You remember?” I laughed. “Judas, we were two lust-driven fucked up teens. Things are different now. I fuck better.”

  “I know.” He applied more pressure to my throat, forcing the back of my head to meet with the door.

  “We’re even more fucked up now. Imagine how incredible it’s going to feel when I’m so deep inside you that you can’t do anything but scream my name as I set a precedent no other man can match.”

  His face lowered, and soft lips smashed against mine. Momentarily ignoring the conflicting emotions warring inside my chest, I ran my hands up and over the smooth fabric of his suit-sleeves to wind around his neck. His tongue teased the seam of my lips. I breathed slowly and granted him access.

  He gripped my throat tighter, taking full control of the kiss. My entire body heated, and my heart pounded almost painfully as I nearly lost myself in him. Feeling his cock harden against my apex, I swallowed a moan and pulled back. It would be so easy to fall into old habits, allow him to do every sordid and degrading thing he wished, but I wasn’t ready to cross that line.

  His phone chose this moment to vibrate yet again. I laughed breathlessly and took hold of his tie, wrapping it once around my fist. “Can I tell you something, Judas?” I pulled him closer and began to trail kisses up the side of his face until I reached his ear. “Consider that kiss a precious gift because when I think of you fucking me, I go dry. Like sand.”

  Before he could respond I retraced my path of kisses with the tip of my tongue and released his tie. “You can open the door now,” I said sweetly, giving his chest a light pat.

  “That was cute.” He grinned and surprisingly did as I requested. “After you,” he said cordially, holding out his hand palm up to indicate I could go in first.

  I turned and stepped into the house cognizant he was right behind me. I stood there for a moment contemplating what to do next.

  Hearing the soft pitter-patter of paws, I found the source and smiled. Romeo and Juliet trotted into the atrium with their tiny nubs wiggling like worms. I noticed their collars were diamond encrusted with the first letter of their names.

  “Hi, puppers,” I crouched down and greeted them enthusiastically. They came right up to me, sniffing at the stranger now in their house. I was able to pet their sleek bodies for a few seconds before the man at my back decided he’d had enough.

  “Va via,” he commanded harshly.

  Both dogs immediately scampered backward before turning and disappearing down the dark hallway that led to the kitchen. I watched them go with a frown.

  “That didn’t sound nice, Judas.” I started to stand and suddenly found myself being pulled right back into a pair of steely arms.

  “What are you doing?”

  Cool breath fanned across my neck, bringing forth a fresh outbreak of goosebumps. “Lifting this tight little dress up, pulling your underwear to the side, and fucking you right here.”

  “What?” I questioned on a sharp inhale.

  He gathered the material of my dress on either side and hitched it up and over my hips, exposing my lace-clad ass.

  “Judas!”

  “Come to think of it, didn’t I tell you to shut the fuck up?” Without any further warning, he brought a palm down on my right cheek.

  I bit my lip to suppress a yelp. He imprisoned me with one arm across my chest and used the other to soothe the sting from my ass by massaging the flesh. After a few seconds, his hand slipped around and came to a stop just beneath my navel.

  “Do you want to take back your lie now, Rhiannon?”

  “Get the hell off of me,” I demanded through clenched teeth.

  “Still needlessly stubborn.” He tutted mockingly. His hand moved lower and vanished beneath the waistband of my lace boy shorts.

  His touch was foreign, yet enticingly familiar. He had my stomach doing acrobatics. My skin flushed with a mix of arousal and humiliation. He splayed his fingers and slid only the center three over my pussy.

  “Let go of me,” I demanded again, pushing against him to no avail.

  “You’re still talking? I have other uses for your mouth if you want to do something productive with it for once.”

  He didn’t have to touch anywhere else besides my lips. I was undeniably wet, and it had everything to do with him. That wasn’t enough confirmation, though.

  He pushed his middle finger inside me, slowly, coating it in my juices.

  “Okay,” I breathed through the urge to moan. “You proved your point.”

  “I’m not trying to prove anything. I just want to refresh your memory.” He thrust his finger into me a second and third time, adding another digit and using his thumb to stimulate my clit.

  “This pussy is mine.” He thrust harder, rotating his hand so that his fingers could curl upward and add pressure to the sensitive spot inside me. I couldn’t hold back a breathy moan this time and found myself using his solid chest for support.

  “Your perfect ass. Your lips.” He brought his mouth to the side of my neck and began to place feather-light kisses in the direction of my jaw. “Your pleasure, pain, and anger. Your love and hatred too. All of that is mine.”

  He nipped my flesh, causing me to whimper and slightly jerk in his arms.

  “You can play with me all you want, Amore Mio. I like to play too but know that I will always win and never test my patience.”

  Like I had done to him only moments ago, he licked me everywhere his lips had touched, and then his arm lowered. His hand disappeared from my underwear, leaving me wet and aching.

  Much gentler, he pulled the dress down and turned me around, making sure I could see his face. My shallow breathing hitched as he sucked the fingers covered in my juices into his mouth and licked them clean.

  “I was going to fuck you, but my dick isn’t feeling up to the task right now. Wait for me in bed and maybe I’ll make it up to you.”

  I backed away and glared at him with thinly veiled anger. I knew this was what I got for toying with him outside, but it still pissed me off.

  “Or you can just stay the hell away from me.”

  “Impossible, you’re going to be my wife.”

  I latched onto this topic to distract myself from the wetness between my thighs and the increasingly unbearable desire for him to throw me down and fuck me on the atrium floor.

  It was something we needed to hash out, anyways. I’d avoided it the entire car ride but when was better than the present? Tomorrow, a voice whispered inside my head.

  “We haven’t ever discussed that!”

  “Yes, we did. I told you before we left the house.”

  I began massaging my temples. “Why are you doing this to me again?”

  He regarded me with a subdued expression. “You’re all over the place, aren’t you?”

  “Because I think we need to talk about the drastic changes you’re making to my life without asking me what I want?”

  “Yes. Stop thinking so much and just let things happen. I know what’s best for you.”

  “No, you did not just go there. Since when has your deranged ass known what’s best for me?” I placed my hand against my chest and glared at him.

  “Well seeing as I’m older than you, then since you were nothing more than a sperm tadpole, probably.”

  I blinked at him not sure I’d heard that correctly. I waited for him to crack a smile or drop a punch line, but he didn’t. He’d actually said that and was being serious.

  “You’re unbelievable, Judas. You really are.”

  “I am pretty fucking amazing,” he replied with a smirk.

  I laughed despite myself.

  I seriously wondered what the inside of his head was like. I got Willy Wonka vibes, but for crime lords. He got a look in his eyes that told me whatever he was about to say next was serious.

  “I worked my ass off to get where I am and for all that I have. I never wanted anything handed to me just because of who my famiglia is. I’m still not where I want to be, but when I do reach the precipice, I’d like to do it with you happily by my side.”

  I wasn’t ready to have this kind of conversation with him. Right now, I could dwell in denial while I gradually came to terms with the inevitable.

  He was right.

  My emotions were all over the place. I had so many questions that needed answered and so much confusion about my life that if I pushed beyond what my mental capacity could handle, I’d crack right open.

  Someone would have to scoop me up off the marble floor. I still found myself asking the same question I had when he took me from my apartment.

  “Why?”

  “You know why,” he replied softly.

  I swallowed and forced my gaze away from him. I couldn’t argue—didn’t have the energy to. I’d just admitted more or less of the same to myself.

  “I just want to sleep.”

  “Do you want me to take you to bed?”

  The look on my face had him quickly amending his question. A wise decision on his end.

  “I meant, do you want me to walk you up and help you get settled in.”

  I hid my smile with a yawn. “I’m not a child, Judas. I think I can get myself safely under the covers.”

  “I know that smart ass. I like the idea of taking care of you. I’ll be doing it until the day we die so you should get used to it too.”

  He closed the small distance I’d created between us with a few short strides and placed a wanton kiss directly on my lips, allowing me to taste myself. “Goodnight, principessa.”

  I watched him retreat and pull out his phone without looking back. I almost wished I’d accepted his offer so that I wasn’t alone in this big house with my thoughts screaming at me.

  Almost.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  There was a memory from my childhood I occasionally thought back to. My padre asked me if I was in or out. There was no pressure to pick what he or my madre wished for me to choose.

  No guillotine of disappointment would come crashing down on my neck if I opted to go a complete white-collar route. I could have told them I wanted to spend my life working for NASA then change my mind and decide to be a professor. They both would’ve stood behind me without question.

  Doing anything other than this sounded incredibly fucking dull—as exciting as sorting through trash.

  It definitely would have resulted in a few calls to our lawyers. We had the elite of the elite on speed dial for the entire famiglia. Those bloodthirsty piranhas were always ready to strip a case down to its bones.

  If I had gone to work in a high-rise beneath someone else, beating the shit out of the boss would be expected. It would annoy the fuck out of them to handle, but they would make it go away, which is why we had them on retained salary.

  If I somehow got caught with a boat full of bricked-up cocaine or I didn’t do a good enough job making someone disappear, I had them to help clear such misunderstandings

  Fortunately, I was intelligent enough not to colossally fuck things up.

  I knew once I chose to embrace the dark side of the Barron legacy, that was it.

  My padre never asked me that one question again. He was both proud and relieved with the choice I had made even though it came with a lifetime commitment.

  With this line of work, there was no going back. You couldn’t up and decide you wanted to teach science after you’d killed off some of the PTA or student body.

  I took a crash course in murder, the politics of dirty money, and learned how to hold the most powerful hand you could with an equally as lethal backup in case things went awry. I put in the time and endured the grueling aspects that came with being a legends son while proving to everyone watching I would be forging my own path.

  I’d meant every word I said to Rhiannon.

  She was going to be my wife, the woman that would spark envy and jealousy among the dick hopping, gold-digging socialites.

  It wasn’t solely because she was stunning, unconventional, and unafraid to get her hands dirty—which were just a few of the reasons I coveted her.

  It was because she had me.

  Now that she was here, I didn’t want to let her out of my sight for a single second. I was reigning in the need to keep her beside me twenty-four-seven the best I could. She needed space. Eventually, I wouldn’t give a fuck. For now, I was trying to be understanding.

  It felt like my patience had been pushed to its limit, but I’d learned something from all of this, at least. Absence did indeed make the heart grow fonder.

  It also made you homicidal.

  Borderline psychotic with obsession.

  Sometimes it had your closest friends talking you down from stuffing the person you loved in the trunk of your car kicking and screaming against their will.

  No one ever mentioned that part of the fucking proverb.

  Since I was an asshole who promised to behave myself for a full twenty-four hours my dick was now solid as a rod of steel. I had to question my psychological state for being upset that washing my hands removed the scent of Rhiannon’s pussy from my fingers.

  Fucking Christ.

  She owned me and didn’t even know it.

  One day she would.

  Hopefully…

  Perhaps I could fuck that revelation into her. Regardless, until that miracle occurred, I had work to keep me somewhat preoccupied. She was never entirely off my mind especially now when I knew how unstable she felt, but I would keep my word to her if it killed me, as long as she would be taken care of and protected when I was gone.

  That unpleasant thought made me want to work harder. It was crucial to keep building an impenetrable empire for the dynasty we would create together.

  For me, for the life I envisioned in the future, it had to be her. There was only her to complete the fantasy. I didn’t want a trophy to sit on a shelf or a docile lamb that would be fodder for the wolves always circling in search of weakness. I wanted the woman that would skin the fucking wolf and then send its pelt to their friends and family as a gift.

  I’d gotten her.

  I thanked the devil every day for that. Now I needed to lead my queen to the pedestal I had waiting for her.

  There was a quick two-knuckled-knock and before I could look away from the monitor that had been distracting me for the last fifteen minutes, my office door swung open, and Gavin walked right in.

  I minimized the screen that had Rhiannon sleeping restlessly in our bed and pulled up the spreadsheet I was supposed to be checking for Cookie’s grocery order.

  “Is your name on the door?”

  “Huh? No, why?”

  “It’s just, you knocked and then walked in here like this was your office and not mine. I thought one of us might be really fucking confused.”

  “Courtesy knock,” he replied, dropping into one of the plush chairs in front of my desk.

  “What do you need?”

  “To catch up with my brother?” he retorted with raised brows as if I should have known that was his intention from the get-go.

  “You first. How was your quality time with Audrey?”

  “After following you to your parents, we went to the park.”

  I typed out a quick note for Cookie to grab some granola bars, the chocolate chip kind. Rhiannon liked those the best.

  “You went to the park? Adorable. My heart just swelled for you.”

  “Sarcasm doesn’t suit you, J. It never has.”

  “I’m a natural-born comedian.”

  “Naturally bad.” He laughed and settled back into his seat. He’d ditched the suit jacket and now like me, only wore the undershirt, sans tie.

  “You know I can’t be bad at anything. I’m an overachiever. Great at everything even the things I’m not.”

  “Been watching Squid Games, have we?”

  I ignored that. “So, you took a stroll and probably fed some squirrels. Did you go big and pull out all the stops by giving a few bucks to a beggar?”

  He laughed again, shaking his head. “I don’t need to impress Audrey by pulling out stops. She likes doing couple-shit like feeding birds, asshole. Maybe you should take Rhiannon one day.”

  “If my Rhiannon wants to feed birds, I’ll build her an entire fucking aviary and we can make a tradition out of it.”