Gauge, p.16
Gauge, page 16
“I never knew how much I missed you until I saw you at the baby shower.”
He sucked in a breath, his heart racing. He opened his mouth to tell her he’d missed her, too, but she had other plans.
Her lips brushed across his in a tentative kiss, but his body flared to life with her confession. Gauge slammed his mouth down on hers, taking control of the kiss with a brute force he’d never shown any woman before. His hand dove into her hair, angling her how he wanted. She was powerless to stop him, and by the way she was desperately clutching him, she didn’t want to. Thank God they were already in his bedroom because he wouldn’t be able to stop long enough to drag her anywhere else. He whirled and backed her into the bed. When she toppled over, he stayed right with her, catching their fall, with one hand protectively guiding her and the other landing on the bed beside her head.
She breathed his name when he trailed kisses down her neck, the sound of her needy voice both a reminder of what he’d once had and a promise of what was to come.
He peeled her shirt off and got rid of her bra, so he could feast on her unencumbered. Her illuminated skin beckoned him like never before.
Or maybe he never could resist her pull no matter how hard he tried.
As he sucked on one pale pick nipple, he gently caressed the other, trying to ease the force of his need from when he’d taken over her initiating kiss. He wanted to take his time with her, worship every dip and hollow of her beautiful body. The need to caress every inch of her was heady.
He tugged off her pants and panties, kissing down her legs as he went. He wasn’t ready to leave her breasts, but he needed her naked. He’d take off his jeans and join her, flesh against flesh, but if he did that right now, he’d be way too tempted to rush. He wanted to savor her. No, it wasn’t a want. It was a need.
His trek up her body was slow and sensual, pausing every few inches to give her special attention wherever he landed. He massaged her calves, laved her knees, and nibbled her thighs. By the time he reached her right hip, she was writhing below him.
He grazed his nose along the top of her leg. Her pussy glistened with her arousal, drawing him closer. With the tip of his tongue, he gave the edge of her bare lip a feather-light stroke. She gasped, thrusting her hips, chasing his tongue, even if he wanted to, he couldn’t deny what she wanted. What he craved. He was too consumed with tasting her to resist what they both needed.
Gone was the urge to take her slow and gentle. Gauge braced an arm across her belly, locking her in place as he feasted on her.
“Oh, God.” Her hands fisted in his hair. Since he had her pinned down, she tried to tug him where she wanted him to focus.
No way was he giving in that easily.
He lapped at her slit, driving her wild.
“Please,” she begged so prettily, the lone word seeping into his soul. He released the thigh he was holding open and pushed a finger into her. He slowly fucked her with it, knowing she wanted more, and it would only taunt her in a delicious way.
But she wasn’t the only one he was teasing. The restraint he showed right now was holding on by the thinnest of threads.
“Please, please, please,” she chanted, and it eviscerated the rest of his resolve.
He pushed another finger into her, thrusting with a force that make his cock jealous, and batted his tongue against her clit with just enough force to make her chase her release. Her pussy clamped down on his fingers right before she screamed. He kept up his relentless pace, drawing out her pleasure, but fastened his lips around her bundle of nerves and sucked. Her hips either broke through the ironclad hold he had on her or his own body weakened with his need. Probably both.
When she slowly came back down from her high, he rose and stripped out of his jeans in record timing. Kissing his way up to her breasts, he knew he’d never be able to taste her enough. He wanted to devour all of her. She clung to him as he tugged her nipple with one hand and cupped the other while he sucked. His aching cock nestled between her thighs, and he instinctively thrust. The moment he breached her, the sweetest wet heat had him groaning against her nipple. He’d never felt anything more perfect. He sunk in more and swore.
“Condom.” No fucking wonder he’d never felt anything like this. He eased away, but she grabbed his biceps.
“I’m on birth control, and the feds test us regularly. If you’re clean, I don’t want anything between us.”
He searched her eyes, an emotion he was too scared to define shone in them. “I’m clean, too.”
“Duke,” she whispered.
Unable to look away, he stared into her gaze as he slowly pushed all the way inside, relishing the glorious feel of her engulfing him. It was heaven and hell. Hope and destruction. She was home to his battered soul.
Slipping his arms under her, he gripped her shoulders and held her to him. “My virginal Vi.” He’d long ago taken her virginity, but this time felt somehow like a continuation of that. Then again, it could be because this was a first for him. Gauge had never been in a committed relationship, so he’d never had sex without a condom. Not that he was in one now, but a part of him yearned for it with her.
Her eyes rolled back, and he buried his head in her soft hair, breathing her in, wanting to consume her everything.
“What are you doing to me?” she asked on a breathy sigh.
The same thing you’re doing to me. At least he hoped so. He prayed he wasn’t alone, drowning in the emotions swirling around them.
She said his name again, this time more urgently.
“That’s it, baby,” he breathed, feeling her clench around his dick. She was getting close to coming again, and no matter how much he wanted to last, to keep taking her bare, he knew the moment she came, he’d go right over with her.
“Don’t stop.”
“Never.”
His chest ached where his wound was since they were plastered together, but he didn’t give a shit. He crushed her to him as he plowed into her. The bed shook with his effort, and she wrapped her legs around his back to hold on.
“Jesus, Vi.”
Her thighs crushed his hips as she began to scream, but he didn’t slow his pace. A few more thrusts and he was following her over that blissful edge.
Time ceased to exist.
The breath he finally drew was labored, and he eased up slightly, worried he was suffocating her with his mass.
Making up for that loss of contact, he kissed her hair, her cheek, forging a path to her lips. When he reached the hot heaven of her mouth, he took it in a searing kiss.
This woman.
She was his everything.
She always had been.
Gauge had known on some level that the depth of his feelings had never changed, and every second he spent with her, the emotions he’d tried burying were fighting their way to the surface.
He was in love with her. He’d never stopped.
And even if she was only temporarily in his life, even if he didn’t want to risk hurting her further, he knew exactly what he had to do. She deserved to know the truth. He had to tell her why he’d walked away all those years ago. He’d done it to protect her, but if her past had taught him anything, it was that she was strong enough to handle anything. The truth might not even matter to her anymore, but it did to him.
She already held his heart. It was time to give her his honesty, too.
Chapter Nineteen
Luc held his trench coat tighter as he got out of the town car. It wasn’t cold, but it was windy as fuck and raining. He hated meeting Horace Collins on his own turf, but the man used a walker and refused to leave his home with weather like this. He couldn’t really blame the man. Of course, if Luc wasn’t in such a hurry to talk with him, he’d have strong-armed the guy into doing things his way, but time wasn’t a luxury he had. At least had Dominick secured the meeting as quickly as he had.
Security patted Luc down at the door. He hated coming without a gun, but their families weren’t allies just yet. Salvatore wasn’t happy he’d come unarmed and alone, but nothing in this business was ever easy. When the goon was satisfied he wasn’t carrying, he opened the tall iron door and let him in the house.
“May I take your coat, sir?” a man wearing coattails asked.
Luc wanted to roll his eyes at the pretentiousness of it but refrained as he handed it over.
“Would you like tea or coffee?”
“Neither.”
The man bowed and stepped away as another man walked into the entry.
“Mr. Grasso, Mr. Collins is in the study waiting. This way, please.”
Luc looked around at the stately house that was about two decades past its prime as he followed the nameless soldier. Wallpaper peeling in places, wood floors that dulled where traffic would be common. It was clean but definitely dated. Even the furniture was a mix of nice antiques and pieces that were too old to be current but not old enough to be valuable. What the outside concealed behind timeless construction was the true desperation of a man trying to keep his life together.
And desperate people did hasty things.
The large guy opened another door and motioned for Luc to enter.
“Mr. Grasso.”
“You must be Mr. Collins,” Luc said, although he knew it was. Even though he’d learned everything he could about the man over the last twenty hours, the fact that he didn’t try to get up from behind his desk would have given him away.
“Yes. Please, have a seat.”
Luc took in the office as he sat. No other guards were in here. There were several items he could use as weapons for a quick and efficient death, if it came to that.
“My condolences for your uncle.”
“Thank you. It is actually his outstanding business with you that I wanted to discuss.”
“Ahh, I’d heard that you’d taken over the family.” His tone held an edge to it.
How had he found out so quickly? Luc had only met with his capos yesterday. Word traveled fast, but not that quickly. That told him this man was still talking to someone in his family. Luc’s first guess was Giuseppe, but with the man still missing and Valerius hadn’t been able to find him and officially update him on everything. If Giuseppe was the culprit that meant he was in contact with someone inside the family.
“Does your granddaughter know you intend to marry her off to secure an alliance?”
“Chiara is aware of her obligation. She is lucky it will be an Italian man and not the Bratva Pakhan who’d expressed interest upon learning her betrothed was killed in an unfortunate accident.” Like the Italians, there were many Russian families operating in the U.S., so Luc had no idea which boss Horace referred to. Not that it mattered.
Horace picked up a picture frame and showed it to Luc. “She beautiful, no?”
Luc barely glanced at it before agreeing. Her appearance was irrelevant. Now that the idea had been planted in his head, Luc liked the idea of taking over this other family. Not because of their wretched trafficking scheme. Hell no. Their real estate holdings and location provided a tactical advantage to Luc’s overall growth objective in both legitimate businesses and criminal dealings.
“When was the last time you spoke with Giuseppe Costa?”
“I have not,” the older man said with disdain. “Why would I? He is my cousin’s child who left the family, thinking he could do better.”
Luc smiled. “With my family.”
Horace sputtered. “I meant no offense to you personally, but one does not ignore blood ties for greed. At any rate, I’ve been assured he can handle the assignment, so there’s been no need for us to meet.”
“I can respect that.” And he could, but rather than thinking about family honor, he was dissecting what he’d just learned from Horace.
Felice had led Luc to believe Giuseppe was negotiating the arranged marriage, yet the man hadn’t spoken to Horace. Either he was still focused on the first part of the plan, or he’d never been a part of the second.
If not, then Luc’s grandfather had lied.
“Who all have you sent to retrieve your grandson?”
Horace’s eyes widened. He looked to the side before saying, “Giuseppe—”
“Who else?”
The old man’s hands shook. “I do not have the manpower to let—”
“Names,” Luc said firmly. “You are getting in bed with another family to keep your organization alive. You are willing to kill to get your grandson back, and you’ve already spoken of your distain for Giuseppe. I do not for one second believe you are leaving that task in his hands alone.”
Horace sat there quietly for several seconds. Then he nodded. “As I’ve said, I don’t have anyone to spare. I hired an assassin to ensure Giuseppe did his job. Then he was supposed to kill Giuseppe.”
Luc wasn’t surprised this man had it out for his cousin’s son, but he’d assumed Horace would put his own trusted family members on the job, not some hired guns.
“How many?”
“Oh, just one.” He’d said it so confidently that Luc actually believed him.
“Who?”
“The Shadow.”
Fuck. The man was a ghost and a legend. No wonder Horace hadn’t felt the need to hire a complete unit. The Shadow was an army by himself, rarely working, and only taking the hardest assignments for the largest paydays. Hell, even his contact methods were a tightly guarded secret.
“How?”
With a quickness that Luc didn’t anticipate, Horace pulled out a gun with a silencer and pointed at him. “You ask too many questions.”
Luc raised an eyebrow as he quickly assessed his options. Staring down the barrel of a gun didn’t give him the best odds, but he refused to show weakness. “Clearly, I do not. So let me try again. How does a man barely holding onto his empire contract with the deadliest assassin known to the criminal underworld?”
Horace scoffed. “Thad and I go way back. This is personal for him now, too.”
“Okay. I get you want your grandson back, but your first order of business with your new ally is to stab them in the back by killing one once the ink’s dry? No wonder you don’t get ahead in this life. You can’t make enemies out of the people who help you.”
“What you don’t seem to understand is it’s not a double-cross if your leader agreed to all of my terms.”
Luc rose slowly, shaking his head. That motherfucker. Francesco had given up Giuseppe as part of the deal. “Francesco is gone. Whatever he agreed to must be cleared through me.”
Horace laughed. “Francesco? Please. That man didn’t wipe his ass without his father’s permission. My agreement was with the true leader, and he’s still here.”
Felice. Luc’s fucking grandfather. He wasn’t just helping Francesco. He was pulling the goddamn strings.
Horace cocked the gun. “When Felice called and asked me to kill you when you got here, I didn’t understand why he’d want to take out his own grandson. I, of all people, know your family doesn’t want to limit your heirs, but I have to say, I’m going to enjoy this.”
Luc shoved the desk, startling the man, and leaped over it before Horace could recover. The gun clattered to the floor, but that didn’t matter. Luc was already reaching for the tassel rope securing the crushed velvet drapes. He yanked it loose and wrapped it around Horace’s neck. The old man struggled, but he only tightened his grip. Luc didn’t let go until he’d choked the life out of the old man.
Once he let go and eased the body back into the chair, he pulled out his cell and hit Salvatore’s contact.
“Yes, sir?”
“Horace has been eliminated. Bring the team. We’re going with Plan B.”
Salvatore barked some orders to the men they’d brought along on this trip, and then said, “We’ll be there in five.”
The line went dead, and Luc quickly turned the executive chair holding Horace around so that it seemed as if the old man gazed outside the window.
Luc called Dominick as he retrieved the man’s gun and began digging around in his desk.
“Miss me already?”
“Felice tried to have Horace kill me. He believes he’s still in control.”
Dominick growled. “Told you that you should’ve killed him.”
“That’s a mistake I intend to rectify as soon as I return.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“Remove all communication devices from Felice’s room. I want eyes on him at all fucking times. There could be others he’s planning with, more in his pocket.”
“On it. Does this mean we’re not going to be allied with the Collins?”
“It means that, as of two minutes ago, I became the boss of the Chicago syndicate of the Grasso Family.”
“And if the Collins members still standing don’t willingly agree?”
Luc picked up the photo of Horace’s granddaughter. “Oh, they’re going to. They won’t have any other choice but to do whatever I say.”
He would never traffic a woman, but thanks to his Uncle Diego, he had no problems taking one to fulfill his agenda.
And little miss Chiara would serve his purposes quite nicely.
Chapter Twenty
Viola had made it into the hallway before Gauge was on her again. She hadn’t even made it to the shower to clean up after their mind-blowing sex before he’d wanted her again. After screwing like bunnies on the wood floor in front of the return air duct to the central heat and air unit, he carried her into the bathroom and took her under the hot spray of the shower. They’d stayed in there, kissing and groping, until the water started to cool. Then, they’d both rushed through the shower. He’d tried following her into the guest room, but she’d swatted him away with a giggle to get dressed in peace.
He was sitting on the couch with a bottle of water when she walked into the living room. Jeez, why did her cheeks suddenly feel so warm? After everything they’d done, there was no reason for her to be timid in his presence.
“You look so beautiful.”
