DARK ANGEL: A Mafia Romance -- Book Three: A Violent Love Affair (Erotic Romance)

DARK ANGEL:
A MAFIA ROMANCE

Book 3: A Violent Love Affair

A Contemporary Erotic Romance by Angela Jordan

(13,100 words)

Copyright 2013 by Angela Jordan. All rights reserved.

Reproduction expressly prohibited.

Contact Angela:
[email protected]

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Dark Angel: A Mafia Romance

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A sizzling romance with sex so hot, it leaves a body count...

Can Karen keep her head on her shoulders, even as she gets wrapped up deeper and deeper into Angelo's dark world? Or is she doomed to fall prey to her DARK ANGEL?

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A Violent Love Affair

Chapter One

“Take care of Carlo… or I will.”

That phrase had been haunting me ever since I heard the news report saying Carlo Fernelli had been found dead. When I saw it on TV, my heart had stopped. They said it was suspected that he was a victim of a robbery gone wrong, but that seemed just too coincidental – especially considering what had happened the night of my friend Amanda’s engagement party. And though I didn’t want to admit to myself – didn’t want to say the words – I knew why I felt so scared.

And yet, here I was...

Trepidation filled me as I exited the taxi in front of the sleek, modern, mid-rise building in the heart of city. A light breeze fluttered through my hair, making me shiver in the brisk evening wind. I suddenly wished I’d thought to wear a jacket.  Murmuring a “thank you” to the doorman as he held the door open for me, I paused for a moment to look up at the steel tower before I entered the building. My dark angel was waiting for me upstairs in his apartment, and though I couldn’t quite believe it, I was once again about to enter his domain. I could feel my palms growing damp with apprehension, and I gripped the handles of my purse even tighter. I was both thrilled and terrified to see Angelo DeSilvo again, but one thing was for sure: efter everything that had happened, I knew this was something I had to do.

Man up, Karen…

Last night I’d taken the coward’s way out. After hearing the news report, I’d cancelled my plans with Angelo DeSilvo, telling him that I had missed a deadline for edits on my new book and had to finish them. I knew he saw through my excuse, but thankfully he’d left me alone. His quick acceptance of my excuse had left me slumped over with relief, but a little part of me was also troubled at the fact he’d given in so easily. Did he suspect something?

This wasn’t me. Normally I never hid from the bad shit life threw at me, and I was pissed at myself for burying my head in the sand, even for just one night. But hearing the news report had rocked my senses. I was in uncharted territory, and I needed answers to know how to proceed. I needed to face Angelo, to talk to him about my concerns, and I hoped that his answers could help ease the worry that had my belly tied in knots.

So tonight was the night, and here I was. I walked into the lobby of the building, over to the guard at the desk. “Karen Blackwell to see Angelo DeSilvo,” I told him, my voice sounding stronger than I felt.

The guard typed a few keystrokes into his computer then smiled at me. “Ah, Ms. Blackwell. Yes, go right ahead.”

His kind face threw me off-guard, piercing my tough façade in an instant. I could only respond with a weak smile in return as he waved me on. The last time I’d come here with Angelo, he’d had my name placed on the visitor list, granting me unrestricted access to his floor. At the time, it had given me a warm feeling. For someone as guarded as Angelo to allow me into his world, I knew it was a big deal, and it was something I appreciated greatly. But now?

…I wasn’t quite sure anymore, about anything. Which was all the more reason this had to happen. Tonight.

I didn’t have the best track record when it came to relationships. In the past I’d been known to have a short attention span when it came to men – always casting about, searching for something, though I wasn’t even quite sure what that something really was. But with Angelo, all that had changed. He had me completely captivated; I craved him like an addict craved a fix. His touch, his fire – that was my drug of choice, and I couldn’t seem to get enough.

My hands shook slightly as I hit the button and I was forced to wait for the elevator.
Damn it.
“Calm down, Karen,” I whispered under my breath. “You’ve got this.” When the doors opened I walked in and hit the button for Angelo’s floor, leaning back against the wall as it began to rise. As the car moved, my thoughts were consumed with everything that had happened in the last few days.

I’d run into Angelo DeSilvo at the party on Friday night, not knowing that my best friend was engaged to be married to his cousin. When I saw my dark angel I’d tried to resist, but he had a power over me that I couldn’t explain. Since meeting him, nothing in my world had been the same. It was like I had been living in the dark before him. And then Angelo, all of a sudden, had blasted into my life in vivid, vibrant color.

Rage had filled me as I saw him with another woman. Jealousy was new for me, and I hated it. It had taken me by surprise, and left me shaken and off-balance. I’d needed to get away from him, so I stepped outside for some air. But before I’d found my focus, Angelo found me – and he’d taken me there, out in the shadows, standing on the balcony of his restaurant. I wasn’t an exhibitionist, but every time he touched me I lost my mind. He overwhelmed my senses, so that nothing mattered but his hands on me. I couldn’t deny the need that tore through me when we came together, and I was slowly learning to just stop fighting it. One thing I could always count on was that Angelo seemed to need me just as much as I did him, and he was as helpless to fight the attraction as I was. We needed each other with a desperation that bordered on insanity, and it gave me comfort that I wasn’t suffering alone.

We made love in the shadows, solidifying our connection to one another with that same raw, brutal need. I’d loved feeling my back scraping against the stone wall as he’d pounded himself into me, filling me with his essence as if he was somehow marking me, branding me so that no other man could follow.

Of course, I’d been embarrassed when I found out that the woman I’d seen him with had been his sister. On the other hand, Angelo’s reaction to seeing me with my gay friend Jonathan had been equally as telling.  Angelo didn’t like other men around me, and his possessiveness excited me even as it frustrated me to the point of screaming. There was something primal about it, and I had to admit I took some small pleasure in the angry fire that had burned in his eyes that night.

But all that passion wasn’t what was on my mind right now. It was that newscast – and what had happened before it. After that encounter outside, I’d retreated to the ladies room to try and put myself back together before we rejoined the party. But when I walked out, I’d seen Angelo facing off with Carlo Fernelli. Carlo was a young punk, and that night he’d been drunk and insulting. That wasn’t what worried me – Carlo was just a kid. But his older cousin, Vicenzo… When Vincenzo Fernelli had spoken with Angelo it had been like two wild predators facing off. I’d let it go, but the warning Angelo had given Vincenzo regarding Carlo Fernelli had a shiver of fear running down my spine.  It scared me, I couldn’t deny that. And it had given me the faintest hint, just a whisper, of how dangerous my dark angel really was.

But I’d quickly forgotten that fear, to the extent that I could. Deciding to give our relationship a chance, I’d spent the weekend with Angelo at his penthouse apartment. Up until that point, I had let him take me over completely – though to be honest, I didn’t really
let
him do anything. He did what he wanted, and I was never sure just how much power to resist I really possessed. He was like a force of nature, one that completely consumed me whenever he was near. Since the moment I’d met him, Angelo had been like a savage and sensual beast, destroying me with wicked pleasure as he played upon my body with skills that left me breathless.

Never one to just lay back and take it, I had needed to show him that I could match his passion and challenge his will. I wanted us – no, I
needed
us to be equals. The feelings I had for him were so strong, I could barely take it; but still, all the same, I could never be happy with allowing him to think I couldn’t stand up to him as my own person.

So, in a complete role-reversal I’d taken charge of his pleasure, tormenting and teasing him to the breaking point. I’d reveled in the way I had made him lose control as I rode him to climax. His sensual groans of pleasure had been like music to my ears, and I wanted more.
Much
more. And my dark angel was happy to oblige.

After that night, something seemed to settle into place between us. We’d been like any other couple, working to build a relationship together. But with Angelo, the transition had been seamless. Every minute I spent with him made it seem like I’d known him for years instead of days. We couldn’t seem to get enough of each other, and we’d made love in almost every room of his apartment that passionate weekend. It really was like a drug, a love-fueled binge. Every time we came together, it just made me want him that much more.

Yesterday morning I’d left his apartment feeling happier than I’d been in a long time. He had insisted on driving me home before he’d gone into work that day. When his driver had pulled up in front of my building, Angelo had taken my lips in a kiss so carnal it had left me breathless with anticipation of seeing him again.

I’d been looking forward to having lunch with Angelo’s sister Maria. I enjoyed her company, but something she had said had created a crack in foundation of happiness. The hints about their family’s dark secrets left me feeling uneasy, and I was never the time to be satisfied not asking questions.

So here I was. I looked at my reflection in the elevator and saw my violet eyes blushed with fatigue, even beneath the layer of make-up I had taken the time to put on. I hadn’t slept well last night, the worry making me toss and turn until I’d finally fallen into an exhausted and restless slumber. After a long, hot shower this morning, I’d tried to refuel with a large mug of coffee to counteract the lack of sleep. It hadn’t worked, except to send my mind racing even faster. I’d been useless all day and it was late afternoon when I’d finally gotten the courage to call Angelo, telling him we needed to talk.

His voice had sounded clipped on the phone, bordering on brusque. It gave me comfort that it sounded like he hadn’t gotten more sleep than I did, and that had me immediately feeling guilty, thinking I was the cause of his restlessness.

I told him I’d meet him at his apartment whenever he was available, and I’d been surprised to hear that he was already at home. I’d dressed quickly, throwing on a plain black three-quarter-length shirt and a pair of comfortable caramel-colored Capri pants. I put my long jet-black hair up in a clip, so I wouldn’t have to deal with it, grabbed my purse and headed out the door.

Now, only moments away from seeing Angelo again, my nerves were making me a jittery mess. But even in my agitated state, I felt my body heat up at the thought of seeing him again.

Angelo was a dangerous man, and if I was being honest, the darkness inside him made him even more irresistible to me. I had a particular weakness for bad boys, and Angelo was the epitome of every wild fantasy I’ve ever had.  In some twisted, messed-up way, he was perfect for me.

But before things could go any further between us, I needed to know just how bad he really was. I liked to think I was a fairly tolerant woman, but
murder?
That was something I couldn’t just ignore. And even if it turned out Angelo had nothing to do with this, all these secrets he was keeping from me were creating a divide I couldn’t live with. I needed to be able to trust him, one hundred percent, and I couldn’t do that if I knew he was keeping things from me.

The elevator came to a stop on his floor, and I took a deep breath as the doors opened. Walking across the marble foyer, I crossed over to Angelo’s apartment. I stood silently, trying to gather the courage to knock, when the door opened.

And there he was…