Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

MINA

I sat down on the bench beside Reuben and looked back at the house.

The light was on in the kitchen. Terry moved back and forth every couple of minutes. The night was still, except for the distant hum of traffic, the rustling of birds and sounds of crickets somewhere in the bushes.

"Why aren't you angrier that I lied to you?" I kept my voice low, not wanting to disturb the quiet.

"Because I understand why you did it," he replied after a few moments of pause. "Self-preservation is one of our strongest instincts. The ability to trust is difficult. It often leads to disappointment."

He turned to me. "You trusted Kurt? Before all of this happened. When he was training you to defend yourself."

"I suppose I did," I said reluctantly.

I placed my hands in my lap and leaned back against the trunk of the tree behind us.

"My father trusted him to teach me. Kurt gave me the creeps, but I never had much reason to question my father's decision. Back then, I was still under the misguided belief that parents do what's best for their children. I trusted my father to do that."

"Two people you trusted, betrayed you," Reuben said. "It would be an inconceivable stretch for you to trust me after we'd just found you. Why would you? After everything you went through, why would you trust someone like me? No one who endured that, would be immediately forthcoming. I wouldn't have. That's why I'm not angry. However…"

Of course there would be a caveat.

"If I lie to you again, you'll be furious," I guessed.

"Precisely," he agreed. "I don't expect to know all of your secrets, but never look straight at me and lie, and I'll extend the same courtesy to you."

"I won't," I promised. "I'm not keeping anything else from you, that I can think of. Except…"

In the light coming from the kitchen, I saw his eyebrow arch.

"I've always had a thing for you," I confessed. "You were imposing and so many people were intimidated by you, but I felt drawn to you. I figured a man like you wouldn't be interested in a girl like me. Partly because of the part I played as sweet innocent little Mina, and partly because of what I really was behind that mask. I don't think ‘assassin' is in one of the top ten most trusted professions."

"Neither is mob boss," he pointed out. "Although, it should be. Both of us are loyal, driven and ruthless. I consider those to be positive attributes."

He draped an arm over my shoulders and rubbed the pad of his thumb across the side of my upper arm.

"We're more alike than you might think. Including the attraction between us. I was waiting until you were old enough, but with the expectation you'd reject me. Which does come back to the sweet fa?ade. You played that role to perfection. If I knew exactly who you were, I would have made a move sooner. Before Kurt got to you. It's his fault I missed out on all those years with you."

"He has a lot to answer for." So fucking much. "For the record, I never would have rejected you." I leaned against him, enjoying his warmth and masculine scent. "Things could have been very different."

"They could have," he agreed. "You might have been the key to keeping the twins in line."

I snorted softly. "I don't think I have that kind of influence over them. That might have gone the other way though. They could have led me astray." If anyone would try, it'd be them.

"Not if they wanted their heads attached to their bodies," he growled. "I think their survival instincts are too strong to cross that line."

"If not, you could have taken out a hit on them," I said. "Which I wouldn't have taken, because they're basically family to me too."

"Don't tell them that, it'll go to their heads," he said dryly. "Although, I'm not sure they can get egos bigger than the ones they already have. But let's not talk about them."

He turned his face and brushed his lips over mine. The kiss was tentative at first, the memory of those photos weighing heavily between us.

I'd freaked out when I saw them, but, like everything else, I was determined to put them behind me. If I held back too much, more than I wanted to, then he won.

Fuck that.

I deepened the kiss, tasting his lips and the inside of his mouth with my tongue.

He turned me to him and placed his other hand on my hip.

"Mina…" He said against my mouth.

"Reuben." I pulled back and whispered, "I want to…taste you."

I moved my hand down to the front of his suit trousers. His cock was already hard, straining against the fabric.

"I don't want you doing anything you're not ready for," he said. He seemed like he was about to pull away from me, for my own sake.

"I'm ready for this." I slipped away from him and knelt down on the cool grass in front of the bench.

Hands trembling slightly, I undid the front of his pants and pulled the sides apart. Only his black silk boxers were between his cock and the tips of my fingers.

I touched him carefully, stroking my fingers up and down his erection before I was brave enough to pull down his boxers, letting it spring free.

I ran the tips of my fingers around his head, brushing my thumb over the bead of pre-cum that glistened on his tip.

He quivered under my touch. "Fuck, Mina," he whispered. His expression was strained with the effort to keep from pumping himself into my hand. He wanted this to happen on my terms. There was time later for him to be dominant. Right now, I was the one in charge.

This was the first time in my life I had my face, voluntarily, this close to a man's cock. There was no persuasion, no force. If I stepped away right now, he'd be frustrated, but wouldn't press.

I swallowed and tentatively touched his head with the tip of my tongue.

His skin was warm and smooth, salty and inviting. I ran my tongue all the way around his tip, marvelling at the way he felt in my mouth. He must be going wild, but he let me take my time and explore every centimetre of him before I took more of him between my lips.

He groaned softly and placed his hand on the back of my head, his fingers stroking and tangling in my hair.

Again, there was no force. He held me in place, but I could have knocked his hand away if I needed to. Instead, he encouraged me to take him in deeper, to close my lips around him and gently suck.

"Your mouth…" he said breathlessly. He kept still while I moved, bobbing my head back and forth, sucking and sliding.

I reached up with my hand to lightly cup his balls. Those too were hot, the thin skin over throbbing flesh and blood.

Throbbing because I did that to him. Me. He was hard as steel because I aroused him. Because I was touching him and making him feel this way.

I looked up at him and sucked harder and faster, then softer and slower. Every drop of control was in my hands. And in my mouth. I knew I had him right on the edge and that was where I kept him for as long as I could. I held him there, deciding when he'd come. If he'd come.

The expression of rapture on his face was all because of me. The control he gave me made me feel powerful. As powerful as I did when I took a life.

I couldn't decide which of those turned me on more.

I decided I'd teased him enough. I sucked him harder and faster, while firmly massaging his balls.

"Mina…" His breath was ragged. His lips moved, but the words wouldn't form.

I kept my eyes locked on his and went on sucking, silently communicating an answer to his unspoken question. Whatever he could give me, I'd take it. All of it.

I was Mina fucking DiMarco and I wasn't going to be anyone's victim anymore.

Kurt could fuck himself, he wasn't going to stop me from being fucked. Or from being loved.

Reuben's grip on my hand tightened as he came. He let out a low cry.

His cum exploded into my mouth, hot and salty. It slid across my tongue, tingling my tastebuds.

I managed to swallow down his release before he sagged, puffing lightly.

"You're incredible," he said once he caught his breath and slid his cock out from between my lips. "I imagined what it would be like to fuck your mouth, but that was so much more." He took my hand and pulled me up beside him, before fixing his boxers and pants back into place.

"It was more than I expected too," I admitted. "Reading about it in romance books is one thing, but I liked it more than I thought I would."

"I have another confession." He pulled me onto his lap. "I've never let go like that with anyone. Never let them take the lead. I'm usually the one who's in control."

I gave him a bland, but teasing look. "I'm shocked," I said, deadpan. "Reuben Brantley, in control?"

He surprised me by chuckling in response. The sound wasn't as carefree and uninhibited as Gianni, but it was just as pleasant. That was another win for me. Making a man who rarely laughed, chuckle.

"I know, it's a difficult concept to grasp," he said, equally deadpan. "I'm usually so passive and in the background."

"No one could ever describe you like that," I said. "You only have to walk into a room to command the attention of everyone in it. Even the twins."

"That might be overstating it slightly," he said. "Those two like to pretend they can ignore me."

"Pretend being the key word here," I said. "They can no more ignore you than I can."

I leaned over and kissed his mouth. My clit throbbed with the knowledge he'd taste himself on my lips.

I'd actually sucked him off. He'd come in my mouth. This was something I could do because I wanted to and he wanted me to do it. Not because anyone was holding me down or telling me lies. Filling my mind with heartbreak.

"I want to do that again," I said.

"Kiss?" he asked, one eyebrow slightly raised.

I poked him in the chest with my fingernail. "You know what I mean."

He leaned in and rested his forehead against mine. "You want to suck my cock again. Consider it all yours. If you want to put your beautiful mouth around my cock, you can. Any time, anywhere."

"Anywhere?" I echoed.

"Anywhere," he agreed. "I will never not want to fuck your mouth. In the meantime…"

He kissed my mouth. Lightly, gently with more intimacy than we'd ever kissed before. If I ever doubted his feelings for me, I didn't now.

I hoped I conveyed the same to him. I'd been in love with him for as long as I could remember. We'd missed so much time, but we could make up for it.

Someday, it might feel like those five years never happened.

I caught a hint of movement near the back door, leading into the house.

How long had Damon stood there, watching us? I sensed he was there for a while as I sucked Reuben off.

I got a vibe from him. If he could have taken either of our places, he would have.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one with secrets.