Chapter 5

Jack

Enjoying the challenge in Hailey’s expression, I smiled widely.

“I know you were strong enough to leave your grandfather and start a new life.” I enjoyed the way her eyes widened at the implied compliment, which was sincere. I truly did admire her gumption. “I know you love to help people, you go out of your way to aid others, and you love good chocolate. Which I’m happy to provide, by the way.”

“The chocolate or the aid to others?” she asked sassily.

I chuckled. I did like her fire.

“Both.”

Her eyes widened. I’d surprised her.

“The DiNardo Family is happy to lend its financial support to all kinds of worthy causes,” I said, grinning down at her. “My mother runs a soup kitchen out of St. George’s.” Like most of the Familias, we were Catholic. Unlike some, we actually took many of those responsibilities seriously. My mother certainly did.

“My grandfather never…” She bit her lip, cutting herself off before she could finish the sentence. Suspicion hovered in her eyes, directed at me. I could tell she was wondering if I was telling the truth.

“I have no reason to lie.” She would be my wife either way.

Still suspicious, she didn’t respond, her gaze going to where Gio and her friend were dancing. Gio looked as if he was enjoying himself, but Hailey’s friend kept looking back at us.

“Who’s your friend?” None of the reports had indicated any close relationships, which hadn’t surprised me. While she had a group of friends from work, there hadn’t seemed to be any particular attachment. Was she worried about this friend because of the circumstances or because we had missed something?

“Leave her alone.” Hailey’s attention whipped back around to me, and a sour expression crossed her face as she realized how much she had revealed. She was smart enough to understand she’d just admitted a weakness but was too drunk to be able to hide her reactions. If she’d been sober, she likely would have tried to pretend her friend was nothing more than a co-worker.

This was exactly why I rarely indulged in more than a glass of whiskey now and then. I needed to be in total control of my faculties at all times.

“I don’t intend to do anything to her,” I said honestly.

My cousin, on the other hand… well, he was looking at the pretty blonde in a similar manner to how I was looking at Hailey. Perhaps with a bit more frustration since I would soon have the manacles of matrimony on Hailey, whereas he was struggling just to hold her friend’s attention. Prudently, I didn’t point out Gio’s interest.

“You should be more worried about yourself.”

“Why?” She tossed her head, and her eyes focused on me. “Are you going to hurt me?”

A wicked smile curved my lips as I stared down at her, my cock growing even harder with interest in response to her challenge. What an interesting prospect.

“Do you want me to?”

Hailey

A shudder went down my spine, right where Giacomo’s hands were pressed against my back, at his question.

No.

Of course not.

That would be madness.

Some small, wild, demented part of my body pulsed wetly with interest, defying my convictions, a tiny, remembered sting jabbing through my nipple where he’d harshly pinched it earlier. The memory of being helpless while he stood behind me, able to do whatever he wanted to me.

“No,” I said defiantly. I would not be ruled by the strange, savage impulses I didn’t understand, much less desired. It was mind over body, and I was determined my intellect and rational thinking would win out. I was prepared for him now. I knew what he could do to me, how he could make me feel, and I would be on guard.

He pressed his hand on my back, sliding it lower and holding me closer. The hard rod of his arousal dug into my stomach, and a flutter of fear ran through me. Earlier, he’d demonstrated how no one would help, but at least it had only been the chief watching.

Surely, he didn’t mean to expose me here in such a manner. We were in the middle of the dance floor of a crowded club, for crying out loud!

Yet if he did, I would be powerless to stop him and doubted anyone else would intervene. I already knew the bartender recognized him. If he took me now, in the middle of the filthy floor, would anyone even try to stop him? Or would they just continue carrying on as if nothing was happening?

I didn’t want to know the answer, knowing I wouldn’t like it.

Lowering his lips to my ear, he nuzzled along my hairline, his teeth gently nipping my lobe. The very closeness of his hard body against mine, the intimate way his breath warmed my neck, heightened my senses and stirred my reluctant arousal even higher.

“Then be a good girl for me, Hailey, and I won’t need to, will I?”

Be a good girl.

Submit. Marry him. Have his children. Pretend I didn’t know about the blood on his hands, the violence of his work, the danger to everyone and everything I held dear as long as I was part of the Familias. Pretend I was content to be dragged back into the life I’d been determined to leave behind… had left behind until now.

It took every ounce of willpower I had not to scream my refusal, not to shake my head, not to reject him and everything he stood for right then and there. I knew it would do me no good. I needed to bide my time until I could escape and leave this all far behind. Again.

I couldn’t make myself say the words, nodding my head meekly and dropping my gaze, so he couldn’t see into my eyes. It was a stance I remembered well, though I hated it. My grandfather had always bought my supposed quiet acquiescence, never suspecting a thing.

Giacomo, on the other hand, chuckled as though he knew what I was thinking, plotting. His grip on me tightened.

“Going to play it that way, are you?” he asked silkily. “Very well then, I’d like to see what a good girl you can be for me.”

Dread rose inside me as he dropped his arm, keeping one around my waist but no longer dancing with me, and led me toward the back of the club. What had I gotten myself into now?

Jack

This hadn’t been part of my plan for the evening, but I was curious to see how far Hailey was willing to go to convince me she was ready to meekly submit to my demands. I didn’t believe it for a second, of course. As I’d told her, I knew her far better than she realized. However, my cock was achingly hard, and I wanted to see just how far I could push her. She came, reluctantly but willingly, with several glances over her shoulder for her friend.

“Don’t worry about her,” I murmured into Hailey’s ear. “Gio will take care of her while you’re taking care of me.”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” she muttered, making me chuckle again.

Gio truly wouldn’t harm her friend. He knew I’d make him pay if he did. Besides, from the way he’d been looking at the blonde, he seemed to want to make a good impression.

The bartender nodded as I passed the bar into the hallway in the back, and I felt Hailey tense.

“You’re involved in this place, aren’t you?” Her tone was tinted with bitterness and self-recrimination, though she tried to hide it.

“Where do you think they get their liquor?” Amused, I led her to the manager’s office, knocking on the door before opening it. Mr. Bredt sat behind the desk, his head coming up and eyes widening when he saw me. He jumped to his feet.

“Mr. DiNardo, what can I do for you?”

“I need to borrow your office for ten minutes or so, if I may.”

“Of course, of course.” Grabbing up his papers, the manager practically sprinted from the office, giving us a jerky head nod before he disappeared, closing the door behind him.

Turning my attention back to my betrothed, I smiled down at her, enjoying the wariness in her expression before she dropped her gaze again. Now, now, I couldn’t have any of that. Cupping her chin, I tilted her head back, so she was forced to meet my eyes as my thumb swept over her plump lower lip.

“Are you going to be a good girl for me, Hailey?” My cock pulsed eagerly in anticipation.

“What do you want me to do?”

She seemed caught between bravado and meekness, not wanting to back down while pretending to be more docile than she actually was. Watching the conflict amused me.

“Let’s start with a kiss.”

I lowered my mouth to hers, still holding her chin, so she couldn’t pull away at the last moment, my arm going around her body to pull her flush against me. Desire heated my blood, a hot need sweeping through me as I claimed her mouth, thrusting my tongue between her lips to dance with hers.

She tentatively kissed me back, her body tense against mine before slowly relaxing. I moved my hand from her chin, curving it around the back of her neck, holding her in place and feeling her slow submission and her growing arousal as I deepened the kiss and my hold on her.

Hailey

Giacomo was not a gentle kisser, but he was thorough, and my body responded the same way it had to his touch earlier that day. Heat and need rushed through me, filling my senses and confusing my brain. I thought I was prepared for whatever assault he focused on me, but this sensual onslaught was both unexpected and effective.

Something in me responded to his show of dominance, the same as it had in the precinct. Intellectually, I might not want it, even rejected it, but my body gave in.

I’m just pretending to be a good girl until he lets down his guard.

The whispered explanation across my mind allowed me to relax even further. I didn’t mean any of this. It was a ruse to trick Giacomo into inattention. The more I cooperated and submitted, the more his guard would relax.

So, I gave myself over to the kiss. Returned it. Allowed myself to enjoy it. He was a very good kisser. This was nothing but a play on my part. That’s what I told myself.

I found myself running my hands up his chest, feeling the coiled, hard muscles underneath. My hips moved, pressing closer to him as the need between my thighs increased. I gasped for breath when his hand ran down over the curve of my bottom and gripped the soft flesh, sending sparks of sensations careening through me.

When he pulled his lips away from mine, I was dazed.

“On your knees, mio tesoro,” he ordered. I obeyed without thinking, only realizing with shock what I’d done when I found myself eye-to-eye with the bulge at the front of his pants. He reached down, undoing his belt, his button, his zipper. “You’re going to kiss Daddy’s cock now.”

My mind reeled for multiple reasons.

He wanted me to suck him. I had never done it, but I’d heard other women talking about it. A hot blush rose in my cheeks. I’d never been this close to a naked man’s appendage, and now I was going to put the first one I’d ever seen in my mouth. It was long and straight, thick, with veins running along its length. The bulbous mushroom head was a slightly darker color than the shaft, the slit glistening with a tiny drop of pearly liquid.

That little drop mesmerized me, and I found myself leaning forward, curiosity as much as my passion and my desire to lick him overcoming me. My tongue flicked out, swiping over the tip, and Giacomo moaned. I could not think of him as ‘Daddy,’ and I did not understand why he’d called himself that. My eyes darted up to see him looking down at me, an expression of avarice and desire on his handsome face. A strange feeling of power rose up inside of me at the knowledge of how much he wanted me.

I parted my lips slightly, giving his cock—the uncouth word was surprisingly apt—a kiss right on its tip.

Giacomo’s hands came down on my head, pushing me forward, and I went willingly, opening my mouth to take him deeper. His thick length slid over my tongue, my jaw aching as it was forced open to accommodate him. The slightly sweet, meaty taste was not unpleasant. When I sucked, he groaned, his hands tightening in my hair, and the feeling of power rushed through me again.

Wrapping my fingers around the base of his shaft, the way I’d heard the other women gossip about, I bobbed my head up and down, pulling back until only the head of his cock was in my mouth before sliding back down until my lips met my fingers. I could feel him pulsing hotly in my palm and against my tongue as his need grew, which stirred a similar need in me. I pressed my thighs together, feeling my own arousal making my body slick and hot for him.

I blamed the drinks I’d had. They were messing with my head, my body.

Don’t worry. It will help fool him.

Yes, surely it would. Would a woman who was going to run away be willingly on her knees, using her hand and mouth to pleasure him? This was a tactical measure, nothing more, even though it excited some part of me.

“I’m going to come.” He gritted out the words, his fingers gripping my hair harder, making me whimper. “You’re going to swallow, little one.”

The power I thought I had disappeared as he took control, his cock thrusting deep into my mouth, his grip on my hair forcing my head down his length over and over. Each stroke made me hotter, wetter, my nipples tightly budding and aching, the flesh between my legs throbbing and wishing for his touch again.

He groaned, and I felt the underside of his cock pulsing against my fingers and tongue far more strongly than before as gushes of hot liquid filled my mouth. I might have pulled away, but his grip was too strong.

You’re going to swallow, little one.

My throat worked. It was drink or drown as he spurted, so I drank, swallowing him all down as he demanded.