27. Valentino

27

VALENTINO

I loved the way Liam’s eyes widened as I drove up into him. I couldn’t really get much deeper, but it certainly gave him the sensation that I was.

I’d known there was no way in hell I could stay away from him for one more day. I needed him constantly. I shouldn’t be taking this risk, but I felt like I was going to die without him. I couldn’t work. I couldn’t think. I needed his skin under my hands. I needed to be inside him, to feel the way he clamped so tightly around me it almost hurt.

“Ride me,” I ordered.

He smiled as he rose off me slowly. It was all I could do not to grab hold of him and force him back down as I drove up into him. I wanted to break him completely, but I also wanted to see how he handled things when he was in control.

I grabbed the handhold on the door and rested my other hand on the console. “I want you to get us off. Show me how well you understand what I need.”

He gasped as he lowered himself back down. When he circled his hips, the tug against my cock was incredible.

“That’s right. All those men who wanted lap dances, this is what they really wanted. But you’re only ever going to give this to me.”

“Yes. I only want this with you.”

“Show me what a good boy you are.”

He worked my cock with the tight muscles of his ass as he rode me and moved his hips like he did when he danced. As we both grew more and more desperate, he gave up on rhythm and rode me hard and fast until we were both fighting for air.

He whimpered. “Feels so good. Need to come. I want you to fill my ass. I want to feel your cum dripping out of me.”

“Fuck yes, you do.” I took hold of his cock, jerking him with hard, fast strokes. “Cover me in your cum,” I demanded.

“Yes. God, yes.”

Seconds later, he came. I loved the way it splashed against my chest. I slid my hands up his back and yanked him against me, wanting to feel it slick between us.

I lifted him up and down, raising my hips and slamming into his ass. I couldn’t hold back anymore.

He held on with his head buried against my shoulder.

“Take it. Take every fucking drop.” I shouted as I came inside him.

I kept going until I was utterly drained. Then I let myself collapse back against the seat with my arms around him. I lay there, feeling the way Liam’s body expanded and contracted with his ragged breaths.

“Did I do good?” he asked moments later.

“Of course you did, baby.” I kissed the top of his head and cuddled him against me. “You did better than good. You’re incredible. So fucking talented. This is…Fuck it’s never been like this before. I’m obsessed with you. I need you every second of the day.”

“I can’t stop thinking about you either.”

“Oh baby. I’ve got to figure out how to keep you.”

“You don’t need to take risks for me.”

“Yes, I do, but I also need to take them for myself.”

We stayed there far longer than we should have, especially since I never shouldn’t have been there at all, certainly not with a naked young man in my car, one who was indebted to me. My father rarely came to Pound, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have people watching me.

Liam was almost asleep when I roused him and told him it was time to get dressed. I lifted him off me, and he gasped as my cock slid from his body. We were a sticky mess, but I had a towel in the back of my vehicle.

After helping Liam back into the passenger seat, I managed to get us cleaned up well enough.

When Liam was dressed again, he reached for the door handle, but I grabbed his arm.

“I don’t want to leave my car here,” he said. “I appreciate you being willing to take me home but?—”

“I’m taking you to get something to eat. I’ll bring you back to your car after that, or better yet, I’ll have Vito pick you up in the morning.”

“I don’t think?—”

“Liam, don’t make me ask you how much you’ve had to eat today. I’m sure you’re hungry after your shift and what we just did. I’m going to take you to my favorite diner.”

He looked like he wanted to protest more, but he sank back into the seat and put his seatbelt on.

“Good boy.”

He scowled at me, and I chuckled as I put the car in gear.

I drove to the diner and pulled around back into an employees-only lot.

“So you just park wherever you feel like?” Liam rolled his eyes. “Or does your family own this place?”

“I do what I want, but this place is owned by a guy I knew in high school. I don’t want to go anywhere that my family owns right now.”

He frowned. “How much trouble are you in for what you did to save me?”

“I’m sure my father wants me sweating it, but it’ll all blow over. We’re here because I don’t want anyone else in the family watching me. If they see me with you, they’re going to know how I feel.”

Liam eyes widened. “What does that mean?”

“If you think hard enough, you’ll figure it out.” I opened my door and stood. I wasn’t ready to say any more. I was hardly ready to admit to myself that I was falling for him, that he really was mine and I wasn’t letting him go no matter the consequences.

Like I’d told him, I’d figure something out, but right now I would make sure he was at least fed and safe. What I really wanted to do was take him home, but I needed to think more carefully before I did that.

I watched him as he read over the menu, trying to decide what he wanted.

“I haven’t had this many choices in a long time.”

I was going to make sure he always had choices in the future. “Just order everything that sounds good.”

His grin made my heart flutter like a lovesick kid. “I don’t think that much food would fit on the table.”

“Then we’ll pull up another table.”

“That’s ridiculous. I can’t eat that much.”

I laid my hand over his. “Get whatever you want. I want to make you happy.”

“I guess I’ll get pancakes.”

That was nowhere near enough. “You need some protein to go with that. Get some bacon.”

“Okay.”

“And eggs. Do you like eggs?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yes. I pretty much like all breakfast food.”

“Then get the Jumbo Breakfast it has pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash browns.”

He frowned. “That’s way more food than I can eat.”

“If you don’t finish it, you can take the rest of it home and have it tomorrow.”

“I can’t keep it at the storage unit.”

Dammit. He shouldn’t be living like that. “I’ll get you a cooler.”

Liam sighed. “All right. What are you getting?”

I wasn’t particularly hungry, and I really only wanted a coffee. I had too much on my mind to think about eating, but I knew I needed to get something or he would feel too bad about ordering so much food. “I’ll have a western omelet.”

He smiled. “Good choice.”

“I always make good choices.”

“I bet that’s not what your father would say.” For a moment Liam looked horrified, like he shouldn’t have said that, but as soon as I laughed, he laughed too. We were both trying to recover when a waitress approached our table.

“How can I help you gentlemen?”

I gestured for Liam to go first. He ordered his Jumbo Breakfast and a large orange juice. Once I’d asked for the omelet and coffee, our waitress hurried off to put in our order.

“You aren’t bothered by drinking coffee in the middle of the night?” Liam asked.

“If a guy like me can’t basically live on coffee and alcohol, he probably doesn’t belong in this job.”

He sniffed. “Isn’t everyone in your job a family member? Aren’t you born to it?”

“Not all of us,” I said thinking of the guy I had on duty watching Liam’s storage unit. “And for all we know, Vito and I aren’t really family.”

“Is that hard for you? I mean, of course it is, but have you had trouble getting other members of the family accept you?”

“At first, it wasn’t easy with those in high positions. Anyone less powerful was too scared of my father to say anything about his decisions, but Vito and I had to earn the respect of Lucien, the head of the family, and his brother and cousins. Once we did, we had no more trouble. Well, I didn’t. Vito, he’s another story.”

Liam smiled. “I like him.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You better not like him too much.”

He waved his hand at me. “Not like that. He’s funny and I feel comfortable around him.”

“You do know we’re supposed to be threatening.”

He nodded. “I’ve seen him threaten plenty of people.”

“People who tried to touch you?”

“It only took a day or so of him standing by the side of the stage the whole time I danced to give people the message that touching me is not allowed.”

I smiled, wishing I could sneak in anonymously and see my brother standing there defending my man when I wasn’t able to. I was so lucky to have him.

“When will you be back at the club?” Liam asked.

“I’m not sure, probably sometime next week.”

“Will I see you again before then?”

I grinned. “You really miss me that much?”

He hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “I’ve missed you a lot.”

“I’m not sure when I can return, but if it was up to me, I’d be there to see you every night, every day, every minute.”

His laugh made my pulse speed up. Damn, I was so far gone for him. “You really are obsessed, aren’t you?”

“Is it obsession if the object of my obsession belongs to me?”

“Yes, if you can’t stop thinking about him. About me.”

“I can’t.”

“What are we going to do Val? This…”—he waved his hand back-and-forth between us—“whatever it is can’t work. And I don’t even understand why you’re interested in?—”

I laid a finger over his lips. “Don’t you dare put yourself down. You’re beautiful, you’re caring, and you stand up for yourself even when the odds are against you. Who wouldn’t want you?”

“That’s…I don’t know what to say, but this isn’t realistic. What about your family? You said?—”

“Don’t think about what I said. Don’t think about any of it. Just give me a chance to figure this out.”

“Once I’ve paid your family back, I should just leave Boston. Leave all the memories behind. Once Ava finishes school maybe she could join me wherever I ended up.”

I took hold of his shoulders and turned him to face me. “You’re not going anywhere.” His breath caught, but I saw desire in his eyes rather than fear. “I will fight for you even if you’re the one I’m fighting.”

“Why? And why did you stay away for so long?”

“Baby, did you think I didn’t want you?” I rubbed my thumb back and forth over the inside of his wrist, feeling the fluttering pulse there.

“No. Yes. I don’t know. I knew you wouldn’t have Vito watching me so closely if you’d just forgotten about me, but why would I think you would want only me?”

“Because I’m captivated by you, and because…” I still wasn’t ready to say more. I had assumed I would spend my life alone. I had my brother to think of and the family. If I did end up with anyone, I’d thought it would be someone the family ordered me to marry. I doubted they’d shy away from using me to gain an alliance, so I tried to distance myself from anyone I hooked up with. But with Liam, I couldn’t do that.

“Because why?” he asked.

“Because you’re special.”

“I…” I narrowed my eyes, warning him not to contradict me. “I wish you could come back to Pound and be there every night.”

I wanted to tell him I’d be there tomorrow, no matter what my father said. But that wasn’t really what I wanted. I wanted to take him home, to cancel his debt so he never had to dance at the club again. He was an amazing dancer, but I wanted him to do it just for me.

I couldn’t just indulge myself and damn the consequences though. Something wasn’t right. The persistence of Liam’s stalker and the odd details of his parents’ accident had my instincts screaming. The were telling me there was trouble, big trouble. So far, I hadn’t figured out what was going on, but I had to follow my gut and find out what was happening. I considered talking to my father, but that was the last thing I wanted to do, because I was going to have to admit why I was interested in Liam, and I was going to tangle the family up in it.

Dom would hate that.

I needed a little bit more time. I didn’t want to let Liam return to the storage unit, but I knew he was well guarded there. I could send him to a safe house. It would take a little while for my father to notice if the assignment didn’t directly affect his business, but I didn’t want Liam that far away from me. I wanted him where I could get to him anytime.

“What’s wrong?” Liam asked.

“You won’t take my offer of an apartment.” That had bothered me, so it was close enough to the truth.

“Are you going to try to make me again?”

I gave him a slow once over and smiled. “Do you think I couldn’t?”

He shook his head. “I’m very certain you could, but I need some freedom.”

He deserved that. He’d essentially been his own prisoner since his parents died. He hadn’t done anything for himself. I wanted to give him the world, but I also knew that if I pushed too hard, I could fuck this whole thing up.

It was fucked up enough already.

Our food came, and I encouraged Liam to focus on eating. I must’ve been hungrier than I realized, because I polished off my omelet quickly. I was sipping my third—fourth?—cup of coffee when something out the window caught my eye.

In the parking lot, there was a man sitting in a truck looking in, focused right on Liam. At first, I nearly jumped out of my seat, because I thought it was the man I’d killed in the parking lot. Then I realized he only looked a lot like him.

The fool had the interior light on in his truck. He was being obvious as fuck. Was that on purpose?

Suddenly, the light went out. Had he noticed me watching him?

“What are you looking at?” Liam asked.

I shrugged, playing it off. “I thought I saw someone I knew.”

Liam didn’t look like he believed me, but he didn’t push harder. If I said more, I might scare him. I was going to have to strengthen his protection detail. I was also going to watch Parking Lot Man very carefully.

If he followed us, I’d know for certain something suspicious was going on in Liam’s life. My instincts were rarely wrong. I just hoped I wasn’t going to get disappointed when I found out what was up. I needed Liam to be exactly who I thought he was, a hurting young man who needed money and help, the man I’d claimed as mine.

What if he was involved in something that would make that impossible? It had been clear how scared and surprised he was when he was approached in the parking lot, and it was obvious he wasn’t upset when I forced him to stop the man’s lap dance. The thought of that bastard touching him made me clench my fists. Someone wanted to hurt Liam, and I was going to tear their head off.