DARK ANGEL: A Mafia Romance -- Book Three: A Violent Love Affair (Erotic Romance) (3 page)

I laughed lightly. “
Indeed I have. Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

He smiled at me before drinking
another sip. I smiled too, feeling some of the pressure in my chest ease. “I like to have my hand in different ventures,” he said. “And besides, I wanted to make sure my cousin Tony stayed out of the life.”

That sobered me. What did he mean by that? This was what I had been worrying about, the foundation of my indecision to commit to something further with him. I put my glass of wine back down on the table and took a deep breath.
I decided to just ask him directly – no more dancing around it.  No more bullshit.

“Angelo, are you in the mob?”

He stood up immediately, too agitated to sit still any longer. Walking over to the large bay windows, he looked out over the city. His movements were taut, filled with tension. He reminded me of a dark panther, graceful and deadly.

I was completely and utterly fascinated by him
, even though I was terrified of what he would say.

“
…I can honestly say that no, I’m not,” he finally said after long minutes. “But… you could say my family is. It’s not that simple, of course, but it’s not an unfair assessment. Thankfully, they deal in gambling only – nothing really too serious. But I try to stay out it.
All
of it. The less I know of what goes on, the better for everyone involved.”

“
…Which is why you didn’t want me to know.” My skin was buzzing, and I could feel my body going limp with relief. I hadn’t realized how tense I was until hearing his denial. I took a deep breath.
Focus, Karen
.

“Exactly,
” he said. He turned back to me for a moment, and when he looked back into my face his eyes had taken on a steel-hard edge. “I won’t lie to you. I am a dangerous man,
cara
. I’m no stranger to violence, and I often have to use force to make people understand that I’m not a man to be fucked with. I remain a neutral party, that’s true – but when someone goes after what belongs to me, I can be ruthless.” He took a step towards me, his voice dropping to a whisper. “I didn’t kill Carlo, but make no mistake… if your life were ever in danger I wouldn’t hesitate to do
whatever
was needed to keep you safe.”

I shivere
d at that. I saw the conviction on his face, and I had no doubt he would make a very powerful enemy. But the strange thing was that I was no longer as scared. His honesty was such a relief, and in a strange way, he sounded so honorable. For the first time in what seemed like days, I took an easy breath. My heart wasn’t beating quite steady, just yet, but still – I felt…
safe
with him.

He took a step toward me. “This isn’t something I tell you lightly.”

“I understand,” I said softly. “I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you would tell me this. Thank you for trusting me.”

“Trust isn’t something I take for granted, and I need to know this is something you can handle. This is me
—” he said holding his arms out to his sides, “—and I need to know if you can accept me and my life the way it is.”

I thought about it for a moment. Yes, I was concerned about all of the things I still didn’t know, but Angelo was a man who had worked hard for what he had
, and who didn’t take the easy way out. He stood by his morals, and he didn't join his family in whatever criminal activity they were a part of. He was his own man, wild and untamed – and I loved that about him.

When I answered him, I was certain of my answer.

“Yes,” I said, looking him right in his dark eyes. “I can handle it.”

Tho
se dark eyes of his grew heated now as he stared at me. A smile curled across his lips. “Do you have any idea how much I want you,
cara?
How far I would go to keep you with me? I’m more than happy to be honest with you – of course I am. The only thing I ask in return is that you don’t run from me. We have something special between us, and I need to know you are willing to make this work.”

It struck me hard. This powerful
, brooding man, with such mystery and vitality swirling about him, was willing to bare his soul in order to keep me with him. The mere thought of it was making me melt. He felt the same inextricable pull that I did, and we were both powerless to fight it.

“All right,
” I said, grinning.

“That
’s not enough,” he growled, and my smile turned to a frown.

“What do you want me to say, Angelo? I understand that your life is dangerous, but you aren’t a criminal. I can deal with that. I want to be with you.”

And it was true. I reached out my hand to him, unable to bear the physical distance between us. He stared at me for a long second. He seemed satisfied. In an instant he’d crossed the room to take my hand in his, drawing me up so our bodies were pressed tight together, and his mouth took mine in a brutal kiss.

This was what I needed. To show him how much I wanted him
, and that I accepted everything he had told me.

“God,
cara mia
. I want you so much. It killed me when I thought I had lost you. I fucking ache to be inside you again,” he breathed out against my lips.

I put my lips to his ear, breathing heavily.
“Then show me.” 

Chapter Three

Angelo’s dark eyes glittered down at me dangerously, and he grinned as he swept me into his arms. He carried me into his bedroom, not bothering with the lights as he set me down on my feet, slowly lowering me so our bodies remained touching.

More
, I thought greedily.

Impatient to feel his skin pressed against mine, my hands lifted, unbuttoning his shirt to bare his chest as we continued to kiss. He helped me remove it from him completely then he pulled my own shirt over my head, making quick work of my bra as well.

I moaned as his large hands cupped my breasts, tweaking my nipples so they were hard peaks. I pulled at the strings of his pants, letting the material fall down his legs and he kicked them off so he was completely naked. I reached for him, my hand aching for the feel of the heavy weight of his cock, but he stopped me before I could touch him, restraining my wrists with his hand behind my back.

“Not yet, Karen.”

“I want to touch you,” I pleaded, straining against his hold on me, but he held me firm in his grasp. “Not tonight. No power games, Angelo. I want this to be just you and me, together.”

He pressed his lips lightly against mine and his hold on my wristed loosened. “I like the sound of that. Just you and me. But I want you too much right now, and if you touch me I’m going to come.”

Understanding, I stopped reaching for his erection, rubbing my hands over the planes of his chest instead. He laid me down on his bed, leaning over me so that our bodies were pressed tight together. I couldn’t stop staring into his hauntingly beautiful eyes, needing to feel this connection after all we had discussed.

We were two strongly inde
pendent creatures who had somehow found one another and seemed to fit perfectly. He made me feel more than I ever had for another man, and I knew that I would never want anyone as much as I did him. Angelo was a good man, and I would be damned if I let what his family did destroy what we had together.

Angelo’s hands reached up to gently cup my face, his thumbs rubbing my cheeks slowly, almost reverently. My tongue slipped out in a seductive gesture, running along my bottom lip, and I loved how his gaze fo
llowed that movement. He cursed softly, and excitement filled me as I felt the hard shaft of his cock pressing against my core through the fabric of my pants. His eyes met mine, blazing with hunger as he used his arms and legs to hold me in place beneath him.

“What you do to me,
cara mia
…” he murmured.

I wound my arms around his body, craving the feel of him, running my hands over the corded muscle
s of his back and reveled in his strength. Angelo’s mouth slowly moved over mine, touching and tasting. His lips trailed over the side of my neck, down to my breasts until he took one of my nipples in his mouth and sucked hard. I cried out, my back arching off of the bed, but he held me still as he treated my other breast to the same rough treatment.

“Angelo…”

“Shh, Karen. Let me have you.”

He went to work on my pants, quickly pulling them off so I was bare beneath him. I reached down, trying to draw him back up to me, but he shook his head. Moving lower, he lifted my thighs to spread them wide
, so that he could settle his big body between them.

“I need to taste you.”

My body clenched at his words, and I shivered as his thumb rubbed over the tight bundle of nerves of my clit.

“Angelo, please,” I moaned as his rough hands caused chills to ripple over my skin.

He lowered between my parted thighs, humming in approval as he looked at my pussy spread open for him. I could tell I was dripping wet, ready for him and aching for his possession, but he simply looked at me, making me squirm under his intense gaze.

“Look at this pretty little pussy. So wet, and all for me. Tell me what you want, Karen.”

“I want you, Angelo.”

“And you’ll have me,
” he promised darkly. I loved the way he spoke to me.  “You’re going to get your fill of my hard cock. But first, I want you to come on my tongue.”

“Yes, fuck me with your tongue, Angelo. Do it,” I demanded, need
ing to feel his mouth on my sex. I let out a scream as he buried his head into my pussy, lapping and sucking at the juices spilling from my tight hole. He worked my body so skillfully that I suddenly came, my entire body shaking as he continued his delightful assault. I was equal parts surprised and delighted. No man had ever made me come so quickly before. He pushed his tongue deep, drinking down my release, and I cried out again as he sucked on my clit, the pleasure so acute it bordered on pain. Sharp hunger clawed at me. I wanted him to shove his big, hard cock inside me. Wanted to feel him moving over me.

“I need you, Angelo. Fuck me. Fuck me like you can’t get enough of me.”

He crawled up over me, his mouth coming down on mine so I could taste myself on his tongue as he used his knees to shove my thighs wide. I gasped into his mouth as he thrust his hips hard, driving the head of his cock deep inside. 

“Never. I’ll never get enough of you, Karen.”

The pleasure of feeling him inside me again drove me wild. I raised my legs to his hips, holding him to me as he began thrusting his cock into my tight pussy, over and over again, his control breaking.

“You feel so damn good inside of me,” I whispered as I gripped his hair tightly, pulling his head back down to mine so I could kiss him again. Our tongues tangled in a slippery dance as he pounded inside me, both of us racing toward the ecstasy that awaited us.

“Look at me!” he shouted. I opened my eyes at his command and looked up at him, watching the way his jaw clenched against the pleasure my body was giving him. “You are mine, Karen.”

“And you’re mine,” I countered.

“Fuck, yes.”

This was more than fucking. It was
possession
. He was claiming me in a way that no other man had ever done. In that moment I gave myself to him completely, and I saw the triumph burning in his dark eyes.

“Yes,” he repeated
, as if answering my silent thoughts. Reaching between us, he moved his finger down to stroke over the hard crest of my clit as he continued pounding his cock into my clenching pussy. “I want you to come again,
cara
. Come for me and take me with you. Clench this tight little pussy and milk me. Do it now.”

His dark, seductive voice left me no choice. I screamed his name as I came, my body clamping down on his cock as he fucked me raw. He groaned as his hips pistoned in a punishing rhythm of fast, hard strokes, forcing his cock through my rippling muscles so he prolonged my climax until I couldn’t take anymore.

“
Dio
,
cara mia
. I’m gonna come. Your sweet pussy is going to make me come.”

“Come in me, Angelo. Give it to me,” I demanded, wanting his surrender as much as he’d craved mine.

“Karen!”

Our eyes held
each other as he exploded, filling me with pulse after pulse of his hot, thick semen. Shudders racked his body as he buried his face in my neck as he rode out the pleasure tearing through him. My own body responded, clenching down on his cock as another orgasm tore through me. I couldn’t breath as my entire body tensed, and I let myself fly with him over the edge into madness.

****

We spent the whole night making love.

Over and over again we reached for one another, solidifyin
g our commitment to each other with the physical expression of our feelings. I loved the way he took me with silent desperation, like he couldn’t get close enough to me or have me enough to sate the need burning inside of him.

And I was the same way with him.

Tied to my dark angel by some insatiable pull, my desire for him only grew more powerful with each moment we spent together. Every time he looked at me I felt my body heat, and just thinking about him left me with a breathless anticipation that had me aching for the next time he touched me. What we had was worth fighting for, worth spending the time to nurture and cherish. Everything we did was a promise to make it stronger. And after a lifetime of running from romance, it surprised me just how much I wanted this.

The following day I woke with a feeling of contentment I hadn’t felt in a long time. Part of it was because I’d had more orgasms in the last twenty-four than I’d had in the last month, but another part was because I loved waking up with Angelo’s strong body surrounding me as if he could protect me even in sleep.

Turning my head to look at the alarm clock, I was shocked to that it was eleven o’clock in the morning, until I remembered we hadn’t actually gone to sleep until the sun had already begun to rise. As I moved to get up, Angelo’s arm wrapped around me tight, drawing me close. I settled into him, giving up the urge to get out of bed and rubbed my cheek against the warm skin of his chest.

“Don’t you have to work today?”

“Later,” he murmured in a deep voice heavy with sleep, as he rolled on top of me again.

It was hours later when we finally left his bed. We took a shower together where we leisurely cleaned one another. His hands on me ignited a yearning I couldn’t fight, and his mischievous smile said he knew it. In retaliation I ran my own hands all over his perfect body. I loved how his muscles quivered under my touch and how his eyes
flared with hunger.

Teasing and tormenting him, I stroked my soapy hand over his large cock until his control snapped. I laughed victoriously as he shoved me hard against the shower wall, picking me up so he could drive himself inside me. I welcomed each heavy thrust, driven wild by the way he needed me. We came together in another mind-blowing climax
, washing the sex off each other, and then dressed for the day with a comfortable companionship that belied the short time we’d known one another.

“I’ll drive you home.”

“It’s out of your way,” I protested as we rode the elevator down. “If you’re going into DeSilvo’s, my apartment is in the opposite direction.”

“I don’t care,”
he said stubbornly. “I’m only going in for a few hours anyways.”

I sighed, giving in as the elevator reached the lobby of his building. “Fine. Then tonight you can come over to my place for dinner after you’re done with work.”

“Really?” Angelo asked, his dark eyes gleaming with amusement. “I didn’t know you could cook.”

“I can’t, but I can do a mean takeout order.”
He laughed so hard at my lame joke that I had to laugh with him. “Is Chinese alright with you?”

“Sounds perfect,” he said
, as the doorman opened the front door for us. I saw that his town car and driver were waiting at the curb right in front of his building, and I started to walk to it – but in the next moment I came to an abrupt halt, as Angelo shoved me frantically behind him.

I peeked around
his large body to see car idling on the other side of the street. There was a man sitting in the passenger seat looking at us with hate-filled eyes. The man looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him. He had dark hair, slicked back, with features that spoke of his Italian heritage, but even from across the street I could see his bloodshot eyes. He was hyped up on
somethin
g, that was obvious. But before I could ask Angelo who he was, the car started up and disappeared into traffic.

“Get in the car, Karen.”
Angelo’s harsh order had me turning to him in surprise. His driver had gotten out, opening the back door for us. I slid into the back, moving over so he could follow me in.

“Who was that?” I asked as his driver got back into the car and pulled the car from the curb.

Angelo’s body was tense as he answered me. “Paul Fernelli… Carlo’s older brother.”

Shit.

“Why would he have been waiting for you like that?”

“That’s something I’
m going to have to figure out today.” He turned to me and smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. I’m sorry if he frightened you. It’s probably nothing,
cara.
Please don’t trouble yourself with it.”

“I’m fine,” I assured him, but it wasn’t the complete truth. The way Paul Fernelli had looked at A
ngelo filled me with fear. We spent the rest of the drive to my apartment in silence. I was slightly comforted by the way he linked our fingers together, but I could tell his mind was miles away. I didn’t blame him.

When we pulled up in front of my apartment, Angelo gripped my chin and crushed
his mouth down onto mine in one last searing kiss. I melted into him, but he pulled back as quickly as it had begun.

“Wow,” I breathed out. “That should hold me until I see you later.”

“Yes,” he grinned, letting the moment stretch out deliciously. “Until later,
cara mia
.”

I got out of the car, heading up to my own apartment. Once inside, I couldn’t help but walk over to the window in the living room to see if he
was still waiting. It made me smile when I saw his car still sitting outside of my building. I waved and pulled open the curtain. A few seconds later, it pulled away from the curb.