Chapter Nine

Diego

"Isaid sit on my face, bella," I growl, dragging Athena's gorgeous ass across the bed toward me. "Get up here before I spank you."

"I swear to God, if you spank me…"

I smack her ass, making her yelp. The startled sound quickly bleeds to a moan.

"Don't tempt the devil, Athena. I've been aching to get my hands on this luscious ass since you tried to hit me."

"You deserved it."

I smile despite myself. She never gives an inch. If I push, she pulls. If I say up, she says down. She fucks with me as if it's a biological imperative, refusing to submit until I earn it. And fuck, how I love earning it.

I've kept her naked and on my cock all day. We've fucked in every room of my apartment, and I still want more. My twenty-four hours ends soon, but she hasn't made a move to leave yet. We haven't discussed what comes next, either.

Sooner or later, I'm going to have to tell her what her choices are. But not yet. Not until the clock runs out, and I have no choice. I need every moment I can get until then. To convince her that this is where she wants to be. That I'm what she wants. I have to convince her, or her world isn't the only one that ends when the clock runs out.

Mine does, too.

I'm not giving her up, even if she hates me when I lay out her options. I want the choice to be hers, and she deserves to know why it has to be this way, but her life at the FBI was over the minute she agreed to give herself to me. There is no other way for this end. But that's a discussion for later.

I lift her over me, placing her legs on either side of my head. She hovers over me, trying to balance on her knees.

"Sit on my face," I order, not fucking around with her anymore. I need another taste of what I own.

"Diego!" she cries.

"Now, Athena." I yank her down, not being gentle about it. She topples onto me, landing on my chest with her ass right in my face. Fucking perfect.

"Get your mouth on my cock, goddess."

I spread her cheeks and dive in, not giving her time to think about it. If I do, she'll get all shy and shit. Fuck that noise. Every inch of her body is a goddamn treasure. And every priceless piece belongs to me. I'll do what I want to do with it.

She shouts my name, innocent pleasure ringing in the air around us.

I flick my tongue against her back entrance, toying with her as her pussy grows wetter, dripping all over my face and chest. Christ, she loves it. My innocent little virgin grinds against my tongue, sobbing my name.

"Get your mouth around my fucking cock, Athena," I growl, smacking her right cheek.

She jolts forward, wrapping her hand around my shaft and her lips around the swollen head. I snarl a curse when she immediately takes me as deep as she can, her throat closing around the head of my cock.

Jesus Christ. She's going to be the death of me. What she lacks in experience, she makes up for in enthusiasm. She'll never admit it, but I think she loves choking on my cock. Every time it's been down her throat in the last twenty-four hours, she's been in heaven.

Shit, that makes two of us. I knew a mouth that smart would feel fucking perfect wrapped around me.

I drag her closer to my mouth, pressing my thumb to her ass while I run my tongue around her clit. We're in a race to see who can get there first, and I don't intend to lose. She comes first, always.

But goddamn, she makes it hard when she sucks me so fucking good.

My thumb slips into her ass, earning a choked cry of ecstasy from her. She redoubles her efforts, bobbing on my cock like she can't stop herself. One small hand glides up my shaft, jerking off what won't fit into her mouth. The other runs over my balls, driving me crazy eight different ways.

I wrap my lips around her clit, sucking it into my mouth. I suck, flicking my tongue against the hard little bud at the same time. My thumb moves in and out of her little asshole. Two fingers plunge into her tight fuckhole, bombarding her with pleasure from every direction.

She chokes on my cock, sobbing as she splinters apart and squirts all over me. I snarl in triumph and flip her onto her back. Before she can even miss me, I'm on top of her, shoving her legs apart.

"You squirted all over me, bella," I growl against her ear, my hand in her hair to pull her head back. I thrust deep, groaning as her cunt pulses and flutters around my cock.

"Diego. Diego. Diego," she chants.

I fuck her like a madman, pounding into her again and again and again. My balls smack against her ass with every thrust, filling the room with the sounds of sex—her cries, the smack as our bodies come together, the wet suck of her cunt around my cock.

I'm rough with her, pushing her past her breaking point as I spank and fuck and bite…and all she can do is beg for more. Every little cry from her lips drives me higher. I fuck her harder, deeper. Until the bed rattles beneath us and my lungs burn. Until she's spent and drooping beneath me, completely wrecked.

"One more," I demand, greedy for it, never satisfied. Fuck, with her, there is no such thing as too much. I can't fuck her hard enough or deep enough or fast enough, or often enough. I'm no longer sure if I'm trying to fuck my way into her soul, or if I'm trying to permanently imprint her on mine. All I know is that I'm running out of time.

I need her to fall. If she doesn't, there will be no saving me. I'll have damned myself and earned every moment of my torment.

"Diego," she whimpers, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. "Please."

"One more, bella." I press my lips to hers in a reassuring kiss. "You can take it. You were forged for war." Hell, I think she was born to bring me to my knees, as if God knew he needed a goddess to capture and contain my ass. His plan worked. I'm on my knees, tamed only for her.

I slip my hand between our bodies, seeking her clit.

She gasps, arching upward.

I lift her, anchoring us chest to chest as I move inside her. Our eyes lock. Neither of us speaks. There's nothing left to say. She knows she has me. Christ, she has to know. I spilled my truth over her, and she didn't flinch.

Her body quickens, the orgasm creeping up on her. It washes over her in stages. Her eyes flutter, her mouth falling open. Her body goes rigid, and then her cunt locks down around my cock. A decadent groan rolls from her lips, pouring over me.

The sight of her, the sound of, fuck, the feel of her, sends me over the edge with her. I bury my face in her throat, groaning her name as I spill into her, draining every drop I have into her. And praying to God my seed takes, tying her to me in ways that can't be undone.

She falls against my chest, completely spent.

"Diego," she sighs.

Within moments, her breath evens out into the deep, even cadence of sleep.

Mine doesn't. For a long time, I lie awake, just holding her. Praying to God that I've done enough to tie her to me.

There is no other choice.

I'm still awake when my phone buzzes close to midnight.

I reluctantly grab it off the bedside table to see a message from Rafe.

Valentino: My place. Now.

Fuck.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Rafe growls forty-five minutes later, spinning to glare at me as soon as I step through the front door.

"Busy."

His brows pull together in a severe line. "With her?"

I slide into my seat at the table, buying myself a moment before I have to answer that. He isn't going to like anything I have to say; I already know that much.

"What's the issue?" I ask instead of telling him anything I should be telling him.

"You," he growls, pinning me with a hard stare.

"What the fuck did I do?" I glance around the table, but Coda, Domani, and Mattia studiously avoid my gaze. Luca's scowling at me exactly like Rafe. And Gabriel isn't here.

"You talked."

"How the fuck do you figure?"

"Marcello," Luca states.

Cazzo. Of course, Athena went to him for confirmation on who killed Genovese's men. And of course he fucking ran to Rafe. He has every bit as much reason to want the whole thing kept quiet as we do. His sister is married to a Valentino now.

"I see you aren't denying it," Rafe says, shaking his head in irritation. "What the fuck are you doing, Diego? Are we really going to do this all over again?"

"Jesus Christ. It's not even like that. You think I'd put Amalia at risk for the hell of it?" I narrow my eyes at him. "I had to tell her to gain her trust."

"How much did you tell her?" Mattia asks. "I think that's the important question here."

"More than any of you would prefer, but nothing that implicates anyone in this room in any sort of crime," I admit, unwilling to lie about it. If I want their trust, I have to earn it. Lying won't get me there.

"Mafankulo," Rafe mutters up at the ceiling.

"It's a moot point, Rafe."

He tips his head down, spearing me with another dark look. "Oh? Please explain how talking to the FBI is a moot point, Butera."

"She won't be FBI much longer."

"You seduced her?"

I grit my teeth at the way he says it, as if what we've shared was simply a task on a list. Christ, to him, I guess that is what it is. He doesn't know that I…what, exactly? That I can't get her out of my head? That I'm obsessed with everything she does? That I'm so fucking far in love with her I can't see straight?

All three are true, but none seem quite strong enough for the way I feel about her.

I started falling the minute she tried to hit me in the garage. I don't know when I landed. In my kitchen last night? In the interview room earlier yesterday morning? In my office the day after we met? I don't know. I can't point to a single moment and say that right there is when I landed because, in some way, every single one of those moments is when I landed.

I just didn't know what the fuck to call it until she was asleep in my arms tonight.

I'm in love with her. That's why I've pushed and pulled and dragged until I got her right where I wanted her. Because not getting her there wasn't an option. I'm willing to fight as dirty as I have to fight to claim what belongs to me. And Athena belongs to me. Body and soul, she's mine.

What's the word for that? If there is one, I've never heard it.

"Yes," I growl to Rafe.

"You have proof for her bosses if they need it?" Luca demands.

"I put in an appearance at her office yesterday to lay the groundwork."

"Good," Rafe grunts. "What's your next move?"

To marry her.

"That's what we need to tal–"

"What the fuck?" someone says outside the door. "Who the fuck are you?"

Everyone in the dining room turns toward the door at the same time.

"Let me go!" Athena cries.

My heart leaps into my throat as soon as I hear her voice. I jump to my feet, crossing the room in three steps to yank the door open. Luca's man, Alessio's holding her as she tries to break free of him.

I take one look at him with his hands on her and launch myself at him, grabbing him by the throat. We crash into the wall across from the dining room, knocking a painting off the wall. Glass shatters at our feet.

"Don't fucking touch her," I snarl.

Alessio's face turns red as he nods, holding his hands up.

"Diego, goddammit. Let him go," Rafe growls behind me.

"Touch her again, and it'll be the last thing you do."

"Diego, goddammit." Luca grabs my hand, trying to pry it off Alessio's throat.

Athena makes a sound behind me—a choked sob. As soon as I hear it, I drop Alessio, spinning to face her. She's pressed up against the opposite wall, eyes wide and face pale. She's in my shirt, the ends tied up to make it fit her. Her hair is loose and natural around her face. She didn't take the time to put it up like usual before she followed me here.

Jesus. She followed me here.

"Bella," I whisper, moving toward her.

"Don't touch me."

"It's okay, bella. It's me." I reach for her, trying to calm her down.

"I said don't touch me," she cries, stumbling out of my reach. "Don't ever touch me again."

Everyone is crowded around, watching in complete silence. I don't think anyone knows what the fuck is going on, who she is, or where she came from. I suddenly understand all too well, however.

"You heard."

"I heard everything," she spits, tears spilling down her cheeks.

No, she didn't hear everything. She only heard enough to kill whatever was blooming in her heart for me. It's written all over her face. Betrayal. Anger. Disappointment. Regret.

"I was so stupid. So freaking stupid."

"Bella."

"Don't call me that!" she yells. "You don't get to call me that anymore."

"That's my cue to get the fuck out of here," Coda mutters, ducking back into the dining room.

"Same," Domani says, following behind him.

Alessio retreats, too, but no one else moves to follow.

They simply stand in silent witness to my worst nightmare. And yet again, it's one of my own making.

"What do you think you heard, be…Athena?" I ask softly.

"I don't think I heard anything. I know what I heard." She swipes at her eyes. "Was any of it real to you, or was I just a means to an end?"

"Jesus Christ," Rafe mutters. "You two need to resolve this on your own. We'll be in my office."

I jerk my chin in a nod, not taking my eyes off Athena. We stand silently while Rafe, Luca, and Mattia file down the hall past us, not speaking. Only when they're gone do I speak again.

"You think it was a game?"

"Wasn't it?" She glares at me. "Seduce and ruin the rookie FBI agent, so anything she has to say is no longer credible." A hysterical laugh chokes her. "God, I was so stupid. Of course, that was your plan. Why didn't I see it?"

"That's not–"

"Don't." She gives her head an angry shake. "Don't stand here and lie now, Diego. I heard everything."

Fuck. This isn't how this was supposed to go. We were supposed to talk. I was going to lay out the reality of her situation and ask her to choose me. But anything I say now will fall on deaf ears. Any trust she had for me was shattered the minute she overheard that fucking conversation.

"You don't understand, bella. If we go down, this entire goddamn city will turn into a warzone. We're trying to prevent that." I scrub a hand through my hair. "We've been trying to prevent it for a fucking year."

"So you had to sleep with me?" she demands. "God, you're such a liar, Diego. You didn't seduce me to stop a war. You did it because I was something you couldn't have, and you couldn't stand it."

She's not entirely wrong. Maybe I could have found a different way, but I didn't want to find one. I wanted her. Enough to destroy her entire world to take her. Right or wrong, I still want her. I'm so fucking in love with her I can't see straight. How the fuck do I apologize for that?

"Maybe there was another way," I acknowledge. "But you still don't understand what's at stake, bella."

"Then explain it to me!"

"If the Valentino empire falls, the other families will go to war to claim the throne. This city hasn't seen a mafia war in decades. It won't survive one of this caliber. No other agent assigned to look into this has looked too deeply. They've kicked a few rocks and then gone on. You weren't going to do that. You were determined to get the truth."

"I didn't have a choice."

"What did you think would happen once you had it?" I ask, the same question I asked her last night. I should have told her then what was at stake and what was happening. Before I ever took her to my bed, I should have spelled it out in black and white. I'm an asshole for not doing it. But I was trying to keep this very thing from happening. "They would have killed you, Athena."

She flinches.

"They wouldn't have had a choice because we can't let Rafe fall. You think the FBI is the glue holding this city together?" I snort. "You couldn't stop Tommaso last year. You think you'd fare any better if all-out war broke out?" We both know the answer to that. The FBI isn't equipped to handle that kind of situation.

Rafe is the only thing these motherfuckers fear. So long as he's on the throne, they'll toe the line because they don't want to end up like Tommaso, shot in the head and made an example.

"You don't have to like my choice," I say. "You don't even have to understand it, bella. But I didn't make it for the hell of it. I made it to keep you safe. Because at the end of the day, that's what mattered to me. Ensuring you survived. Hell will freeze over before I let you die."

"Maybe that's what you tell yourself, Diego, but it's a lie." She dabs at her eyes again. "Because you had another choice. You could have chosen to trust me, but that thought never entered your mind, did it? You were so sure I'd have chosen my job over you that you decided not to even give me a chance. You're so used to watching your back that you were looking for a knife from me the whole time." She smiles sadly. "I trusted you. But I never stood a chance of earning your trust because you aren't capable of giving it."

"I trust you, Athena."

"No, you don't. If you did, you would have told me the truth and let me make the choice myself. Instead, you made it for me."

"Then make your choice, Athena. Right here and now."

"What's the point? You already made it for me. You planned it from the very beginning."

"Tell me, bella. What would you have chosen if you had the choice?"

"You, you idiot. I would have chosen you." More tears spill down her cheeks. "Despite everything, I still choose you."

I take a step toward her, my heart in my throat.

"But this is over, Diego." Her voice cracks as she stumbles backward, inching toward the end of the hallway. "I'll keep your secrets. No one will ever know what happened last year, at least not from me. But whatever was between us is over."

"Athena, bella." My stomach twists into knots. My heart threatens to shatter. She means it. Christ. She's walking away. Not because of her job but because of me. Because I fucked up. And this time, I don't think I can fix it. I lost her before I ever had her, and nothing I say now will convince her that I trust her. The proof she needed is too little, too late.

"If you come near me again, I swear to God, I'll shoot you and claim it was self-defense," she vows, her watery eyes full of righteous fury.

I bow my head, truly ashamed of what I've become for the first time in my life.