Chapter Eight

Athena

The heat banked in his obsidian eyes scorches me everywhere it touches as he carries me through the apartment. It passes in blurs, not even the view outside the windows enough to draw me from the one in front of me.

God, he's beautiful. In a thousand ways I didn't expect. He's beautiful when he's angry. He's beautiful when he's bossy. He's beautiful when he's commanding my body. The way he loves his sister is beautiful. There isn't a single thing about him that doesn't captivate me. God made the most dangerous animals some of the most beautiful. He's one of them.

"Fuck, I need to kiss you again." He presses me against the wall in the hallway, pinning my body between him and it. I gasp as the chill penetrates my clothes, only to be swept away again in a split second.

He plants a hand on the wall above my head, shifting my weight to hold me up with his knee between my thighs. His other rakes down my side, setting me on fire all over again.

I offer my mouth up to him without reservation. He nips my bottom lip before thrusting his tongue between my lips to kiss away my soul. I moan when he rocks me against his knee, sending shards of pleasure through me.

He doesn't wait until we're in his room to start undressing me. He starts now, slipping buttons through their loops to drag my shirt from my body. His mouth never leaves mine as he sets to work on my bra, trying to strip it from me too.

We kiss until neither of us can breathe and then part on a hungry gasp. I'm shaking with need. So is he. He grips my hips, panting as he stares at me, pure starvation painted across every line of his face.

"If this wasn't your first time, I'd be fucking you against the wall right now, bella."

"How do you-?"

"I can taste it on you. No one has ever touched what belongs to me, have they?"

"No," I whisper.

He growls, his hands digging into my hips. Another shard of pleasure stabs into me at his possessive grip. At the way he looks at me as if I do belong to him. But he isn't satisfied with his hands on my hips, not for long. He shoves them down my pants, gripping my cheeks in his palms.

"One day soon, I'm going to take this too," he says, eyes glittering with desire. "Every fucking hole on your body will belong to me."

I press my face to his throat, trying to hide how much I like the idea. It seems so intimate, so raw. I want him to have that part of me, more than I should, perhaps.

"You'll love it," he whispers, his mouth at my ear as he kneads my cheeks. "Especially when I'm fucking your perfect cunt with a vibrator while I'm taking this sweet ass."

I drag my lips along his throat, moaning quietly. The more he talks, the more I want it.

His scruff scratches my skin, but I love the way it feels. I love the way he growls my name even more.

He peels me away from the wall, carrying me down the hall again.

I bite him, just to see how it feels. Just to see what he does. Just because I can. I'm not sure which is most true.

The next thing I know, I'm sailing through the air. I land on my back on his bed, sinking into a cloud of blankets. He's on top of me in seconds, shoving his way between my legs.

"You want to play dirty? Is that it, bella?" He pins my arms above my head, holding me down. "You want me to punish you?"

"Yes. No." I sob, frustrated because I don't know what I want. I just want him. "Please, Diego."

"Bite me again, and I'll have you tied to the bed, pleading for mercy, bella."

I arch toward him, whimpering.

"Look at you," he breathes. "You want me to tie you up."

"Yes." I'm not sure what that says about me, and I don't care. But I don't want to be in control here. I don't want to have a say. I want him to do exactly what he promised and take what he wants. If that's wrong, then fine. I'll own it. But he's been threatening to take it for days, leaving me to imagine what it's like to be completely at his mercy. I want it. More than I should admit.

He peels himself off me, rising to his feet.

I press my legs together, trying to ease the ache between them.

"You have no idea the things I want to do to you, goddess," he says, yanking his shirt open. Buttons pop, flying across the room. He ignores them, stripping it off and casting it to the floor.

I stare at his body, completely shameless. God, he really is as beautiful as he is dangerous. Smooth olive skin gleams over bulky muscle, the ridges of his abdomen obvious. Bold lines of ink swirl up the right side of his rib cage and across his chest, completely hidden when he's dressed. He's thick everywhere, like a deadly, fierce warrior. He's a freaking masterpiece.

I watch with bated breath as he kicks his shoes off and then undoes his pants. My heart stops when they hit the floor. I've seen his erection before. But not like this. Not with him completely naked, standing in front of me with it pointing right at me. It juts proudly from his body, long and thick. The broad head is engorged and wet. It curves slightly toward his body, the veins along the underside thick and prominent.

He catches me staring and wraps a fist around himself, squeezing. "You like watching, bella?"

I jerk my chin in a nod, unable to deny it.

A lazy smile dances at his lips. He spits in his hand and then wraps it around his dick again. He's rough with himself, squeezing hard as he works his fist up and down his shaft.

I press my thighs together, aching everywhere. I want to know what he feels like on top of me, with nothing between us. I need to know what he feels like inside me. If all I get with him is twenty-four hours, I want everything.

He lets me watch for a long moment before he steps closer to the bed. "You're still wearing too many clothes, Athena."

I exhale a shaky breath, so turned on I can't think straight.

He places a hand on my belly, and my hips jolt off the bed. Another smirk plays at his lips as he undoes my pants, tugging them down. I lift my bottom, allowing him to drag them off me.

"Goddamn," he groans, eyes transfixed on my panties. "Look at the mess you made."

"It's your fault," I whisper. "Every time you touch me, this is what happens."

He growls, hooking his fingers into the waistband to pull them down. The modest part of me wants to cover myself, but the look on his face stills my hand. He's a starving animal, his face stamped with stark need.

"Spread your legs, Athena. I want to see what's mine."

I part them slowly, my eyes locked on his face to give me courage.

"Good girl. Now spread your lips."

"Diego."

"Do it, bella."

I jump to obey the command in his voice. My entire body shakes as my hand slides down my abdomen. I take a deep breath and squeeze my eyes closed, slipping my hand onto my sex. I part my slit slowly, so wet my juices coat my fingers.

"Good girl," he croons. "Now touch yourself, Athena. Rub that hard little clit for me."

I don't tell him no. I've already gone this far, let him see this much. My fingers slide through my wetness before I swirl them over my clit.

I arch upward, moaning his name.

"That's right, goddess. You moan my name. It's the only one you know now."

The possession in his voice makes me bolder, braver. I keep going, touching myself for him. Imagining that it's his fingers inside me, his thumb against my clit. I arch and moan, rocking against my hand.

I hear him moving around, but I don't know where he is. I don't know what he's doing. Not until I feel something cinch around my left wrist. My eyes spring open to see him holding a necktie.

"Arms over your head, bella."

"I…"

"I won't hurt you."

I lick my lips, nod. I trust him.

"Then put your arms up, wrap your hands around the headboard."

My heart threatens to beat its way out of my chest as I obey his quiet command. He moves quickly, looping the tie through the slats of the headboard and then around my right wrist. He ties me tightly enough to ensure I can't go anywhere, but not tightly enough to hurt me.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yes."

"Good." He smirks, a wicked, deadly smirk that leaves my soul quaking.

"Diego!" I cry, startled and turned on as he smacks my right breast just hard enough to sting. He pinches my left nipple at the same time, sending a flurry of chaotic sensations barreling through me. They play against one another, causing my clit to throb like never before.

"Damn, that sounded good." He does it again, with the same result. My clit pulses and throbs, my belly quivering.

I thrash against the ties, sobbing his name. He doesn't take pity on me. I'm not sure this man knows the word. He moves from breast to breast, teasing me into a frenzy. He knows exactly how to touch me, and he's merciless, driving me higher and higher without giving me an ounce of relief.

"Please, please," I plead. "Oh, God. Please."

"Look at me."

I peel my eyes open. Force myself to focus on him. I see the obsession glittering in his eyes, feel it scorching me everywhere his eyes touch.

"Don't forget to breathe," he says. It's the only warning I get before he's on top of me, moving down my body like a storm raging. He touches me everywhere. Kisses me everywhere. He bites and licks, working me into a frenzy before he ever shoulders his way between my thighs.

"Please," I beg, beyond shame. Beyond anything but him and need.

He falls on me in wild abandon, taking me with his mouth, claiming me. God, the things he does with that mouth. His tongue strikes against my clit as he thrusts two fingers inside me, stretching me. He's greedy, leaving no part of me untouched. His sounds leave no question as to whether he's enjoying this. He is. Every freaking second.

I scream his name when he presses his thumb against my back entrance.

"Don't fight me, bella." He lifts his head, spearing me with a dark look. "Relax and let me in."

I should tell him no…but I don't. I can't. I'm helpless to do anything but take what he gives me, every second of it. He's a starving animal, ferocious in his need. He takes, and takes, and takes a little more.

His thumb slips into my back entrance as his tongue swirls around my clit.

My orgasm hits so quickly it knocks me breathless. It demolished everything in its path, leaving me a mess of broken, blissed-out pieces.

"Again," he demands, savage sounds ripping from deep within his chest.

I fight like hell, trying to deny him. He restrains me as if it's nothing, keeping me captive as easily as the ties at my wrists do. When he thrusts his tongue inside my hole, I feel every snarl and growl.

The orgasm builds just as quickly this time. I know it's going to shatter me into pieces too fine to put back together. I'm not sure I want to be put back together after this. I hold my breath, waiting for the inevitable detonation.

Diego's tongue slides lower, replacing his thumb.

I sob. In shock. In bliss.

The world fades to black when I explode this time. Blood rushes in my ears in a torrent of sound. My heart races faster and then faster still. When it skips a beat entirely, I know I'm lost. Ruined. Annihilated. Completely at his mercy.

I give myself up to it, give myself over to him. Wherever this leads, wherever he takes me, I'll go.

The world returns in flickers as Diego crawls up my body, crooning praises.

"Good girl, bella," he breathes, raining kisses across my face. "Such a fucking good girl."

"Diego," I whimper as he slips my leg up over his hip. His erection nudges my clit, causing me to jolt. My entire body is sensitive, humming with aftershocks.

He notches himself at my entrance, running his lips all over my face. "This may hurt at first, Athena. Breathe through it."

"Do it," I demand, commanding him now.

He surges forward, growling my name. Little by little, he slips inside me. It stretches and burns, but it doesn't hurt. I feel full.

We both know the moment my hymen tears. We both feel it.

He's as gentle as possible, but it stings for a moment anyway.

"Perdonami, bella."

"I'm okay," I promise, his mournful tone breaking my heart. Already, the sting is gone. I relax beneath him, retracting my nails from my palms. "I'm okay."

He begins to move carefully, rocking his hips into me in tiny pulses.

I gasp in stunned delight. It feels incredible.

"Are you okay, bella?"

"Yes. Perfect." I bring my other leg up to hook it over his hip.

He smiles, thrusting harder. Deeper. I pull against my restraints, desperate to get my hands on him as his run all over me. But he doesn't untie me. He just keeps going. Harder. And then deeper.

"Goddamn, bella." He leans back on his heels, wrapping his hand around my throat. "You're heaven around my cock. I could fuck you like this all day."

"Do it," I plead, losing myself in him and the pleasure growing in his eyes, turning them darker and then darker still. We're heat and steam, fire and flame, working together. Nothing outside of this bed and this moment exists or intrudes. I'm not an FBI agent. He's not mafia. We're just Diego and Athena, and that's enough.

"I'm going to remember this day for the rest of my life, bella," he murmurs. "I finally stepped out of hell today."

"Diego." Tears well in my eyes. That might be the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.

He leans down to kiss me. I writhe with him, moaning louder and then louder again. I don't ever want it to end. And yet, my body refuses to cooperate. Diego refuses to allow me to hold it off.

As soon as the orgasm sparks in my belly, he knows.

"Come on my cock, bella," he orders. "I want to feel it."

I want to tell him no. I want to fight him and defy him and remind him that he's not in control of me. But I don't. Yet I can't. Because he is. My body is under his command now.

"Give it to me," he says. "You can take it."

I'm not so sure I can take it, but I give it to him anyway, helpless to do anything but submit. Waves break over me, dragging me under. Spots swim in my field of vision, blotting out everything. I'm just pain and pleasure and us, so lost to him, I know I'll never be free again.

My name leaves his lips in a powerful cry, his body locking up. I hear the reverence in his voice, the emotion. He lets me know with a single sound that he's never going to be free again, either.

He fills me in a warm rush, giving me everything he has and everything he is. And as he does, he slips into place in my heart as if he was always meant to be there.

"Tell me something."

"More questions, bella?" Diego's brow lifts, an amused smile playing at his lips. "Perhaps I didn't do a good enough job wearing you out."

I roll my eyes, ignoring his teasing. He did a more-than-good-enough job wearing me out. But my mind isn't as easily exhausted as my body. It's still racing, trying to fit pieces into place and form a complete picture. Now that I have the information, what am I supposed to do with it?

He said everything changed for me as soon as he told me. I think he might be right. Not for any of the reasons he gave me, but simply because the villain is already gone here. Everything that happened last year can be laid squarely at the feet of a man who died for his crimes.

Even if he were to tell me who pulled the trigger, I'm not sure it would change my opinion any. We're supposed to uphold the law. But the law wasn't designed for men like these and situations like this. I'm not na?ve enough to believe justice in the eyes of the law and true justice are the same thing. I know better.

Justice is a pay-to-play game, and men like Genovese can afford to pay to play. Even had we known what he planned, we couldn't have stopped it. Our hands would have been tied until there were bodies on the ground. He would have swatted away anything less than a murder charge as if it didn't even exist. The outcome would have been exactly the same.

I don't know if Diego pulled the trigger or if someone else did, but whoever did it stopped a war. The law says that's wrong. How can it be when it saved lives while the law would have let them die before doing anything remotely helpful?

I wanted answers, and I have them now. But I don't know what I'm supposed to do with them when all they do is complicate everything and change nothing. I know what I'm supposed to do. I know what my job requires me to do. But my life stopped being black and white the minute I stepped into that parking garage a week ago.

"Ask your question, Athena," Diego says, running his hand down my side.

"Do you regret it?"

"Regret what?"

"You were out," I say carefully. "You went to law school. You could have walked away for good. Do you regret that you didn't?"

"There's no room for regret in this life. I've got a couple of them, but not that one."

"Oh. Why not?"

"I was never out, bella. This isn't a job you can walk away from. Once I was in, there was no way out, because so long as there was even a remote chance of them tracking Amalia down, I had to be here to ensure we saw them coming. I made a promise to Alvise to protect her. I couldn't break it."

"You really care about her," I observe.

"She and Alvise were my only family for a long time. When he died, it was just the two of us. I raised her." His hand drifts down my side again. "I taught her how to survive this world."

"And she taught you not to lose yourself to it."

"You have an older brother who helped raise you, right? Ceres?"

I blink at him, shocked.

Amusement glints in his eyes. "You aren't the only one who's been doing research, bella."

"That's…that's…I don't know what that is," I mumble, though I'm not entirely sure why I'm surprised. I'm also not entirely sure I want to know what else he's found out about me. "Yes, Ceres is older than I am."

"You're close?"

"Yeah, we are."

"Then you should know how far he'd go to protect you. It's the same for me and Amalia. She kept me human in a way nothing else could have. If I still have a heart, it's her doing."

"I think maybe it's the same for Ceres, sometimes," I admit. "He's in the military. Special Forces. He doesn't talk about the things he's seen and done, but I know they weigh on him. Things were really dark for a while there. I do what I can to keep him from falling back into that place."

I guess a life at war has a way of changing everyone. A life in the military and a life in the mafia don't compare, not at all. And yet, there are distinct parallels. A life in either is a life of turmoil and danger. They're just at opposite ends of the spectrum. Our armed forces are the good guys, the ones who do it to protect us all. And guys like Diego? Well, if he has a halo, it's shaped a lot like horns.

I still don't think he's evil, though. Perhaps I think it even less now that I understand his story. Everything he's done, he's done out of love. It's hardened him, turned him into the ruthless, dangerous man he is today. But he still loves. Even now, he watches over his sister, keeping the promise he made to their adopted father.

"You said you have a couple of regrets," I say after a moment. "What are they?"

"I can only tell you one now."

"Fine. What is it?"

"That I'm not inside you right now."

I roll my eyes. "I'm serious, Diego. I want to know."

"I am being serious." He grabs my hand, dragging it down his body to his cock, which is just as hard as it was when he was inside me an hour ago. "I deeply regret that I'm not in you right now, bella."

I groan, wrapping my hand around his length, unable to help myself. I think I may be addicted to him. Actually, that's not true. I know I'm addicted to him. And God help us both, I'm also pretty sure I'm falling in love with him.