Husband Page 7

  “I’m in. I just thought we could negotiate the price.”

  I stared at him without blinking. “I don’t negotiate.”

  He placed the bags in his briefcase and excused himself from the table.

  “I expect a drop every two weeks.” I didn’t turn around to look at him as he walked off, commanding the room without any exertion.

  “Yes, Hades.” His footsteps faded as he disappeared down the hallway.

  I was sitting in a conference room at the hotel, Damien looking out one of the windows to the city beyond. His hands were in the pockets of his suit, and he leaned against the wall, far more entertained by the view than the deal that just went down. “Can we trust him?”

  “Only one way to find out.”

  Damien pushed off the wall then made his way toward me. “Maddox is still our biggest competitor.”

  Sure, he undercut my prices, but he still couldn’t match my product. He was a nuisance—not a threat.

  “We should have killed him years ago.”

  “We’ll get our chance. Be patient.”

  “Be patient?” He fell into the vacated chair. “If we don’t kill him, he’ll kill us.”

  “Not so easy.”

  “He still needs to be eliminated. He undermines us.”

  If I’d been able to track him down, I would have put him in the ground a long time ago. But he was always on the move, changing residences and guarding his property with enough ammunition for war. I wasn’t hard to find, but he knew it would be a suicide mission to provoke me. So we both waited for the perfect time…the moment we could get the other alone. “We will. I promise you.”

  He looked out the window again, his fingertips drumming against the table. “How’s married life?”

  A lot of fighting. A lot of fucking. “Have you seen my wife?”

  Damien grinned. “I guess that answers my question.”

  It wasn’t the way I wanted our relationship to be, but it was better than the alternative. At least she was there every night when I came home. She was in that bed with me all night long.

  “How does she feel about all this?”

  “She’s never really asked.”

  “Maybe she doesn’t want to know.”

  I gave a slight nod. “I think so.”

  “It’s better than trying to get you to change.”

  “It would defeat the purpose of marrying me in the first place.”

  “And what’s it like with the mother-in-law?”

  I wasn’t thrilled about Maria joining us, but she wasn’t the worst houseguest. “She respects our privacy.”

  “Good. It’d be hard to get frisky when your mother-in-law could knock on the door at any minute.”

  “She doesn’t come to the third floor. I told her it’s off-limits.”

  “Good.” He continued to drum his fingers. “It’s going to be weird not hitting the strip clubs and whorehouses with you.”

  “You’ll find someone else to do it with.”

  “Nah.” He shook his head. “You’re the only guy I’d do that shit with.”

  “Looks like we’ll have to find other things to do together.”

  “Besides selling drugs and killing people?” he asked. “I don’t know…not very much tops that.”

  “Maybe we could take up golf?”

  He chuckled. “Pass. Hey, does your wife have a cute girlfriend?”

  I’d seen Esme before. She was cute, but I’d never paid much attention to her because all my dick could think about was Sofia. “I’ve seen one. She was in the wedding.”

  “That blond girl?”

  “Yeah.”

  “She was pretty sexy…set me up. We’ll go on a double date or something.”

  “I doubt Sofia wants you to sleep with her friend then ditch her.”

  “Maybe her friend likes that. You never know.”

  I packed up my things, and we walked out of the hotel together. When we entered the main lobby, my eyes scanned for the beautiful brunette who rocked heels like she was born to wear them, but she was nowhere to be seen. “I’ll catch up with you. Just gonna stop by Sofia’s office.”

  “If you want to fuck your wife on her desk, just say that.” He winked then walked out.

  I moved down the hallway and approached her office, my satchel over my shoulder.

  She stood at her desk, her pencil skirt making her ass look juicy like a plum. She was flipping through papers, her curled hair pinned back with a few strands coming loose. Her white blouse was a classy choice, but it still hugged her sexy tits in a noticeable way.

  I’d love to fuck her in the office, but she would never go for it.

  I stepped into her office, my heavy footsteps announcing my presence.

  She looked up, her body tightening when she realized it was me. She bunched the papers together then tossed them on the desk. Instead of making fake small talk, she just looked at me as if she expected me to tell her what I wanted.

  Our relationship was still turbulent, with chafing attitudes and cold remarks, but as the years passed, that would all change. My arm moved around her waist, and I pulled her into me, watching the way her gold hoops shifted back and forth with the movement.

  She let me hold her close, her red lips slightly parted.

  “I’ll be home late tonight, but I’ll make it by dinner.” My lips rested against hers, giving her a soft, gentle embrace. I tasted her mouth and felt her lips move with mine, tasted my property and noticed just how sweet it was.

  She kissed me back, her eyes still open. We didn’t kiss unless we were fucking, but that needed to change. We needed to act like husband and wife. She would fight it for a while, but once it became routine, she would stop opposing it. Maybe she would open her mind to other things too…like loving me. “Alright. See you then.”

  When I walked in the door, Helena immediately took my suit jacket. “I’ll serve dinner now, Hades.”

  “Thank you, Helena.” I stepped into the dining room and saw my wife and mother-in-law sitting together, sharing a bottle of white wine while they talked quietly about the events of their day.

  When Maria noticed me, she got to her feet to give me a warm greeting. “How was your day, Hades?” She turned her cheek and allowed me to plant a kiss on her skin. She’d treated me like a son instantly, grateful I took on the onerous task of taking care of her sassy daughter.

  Best decision I’d ever made. “Great. Yours?”

  “I had a wonderful lunch with a friend at La Balena. Such a cute little bistro.”

  Sofia didn’t rise from her chair, drinking her wine like I was a stranger she didn’t want to meet.

  Maria turned to her daughter, visibly embarrassed. “Honey, that’s no way to greet your husband. On your feet.” She snapped her fingers.

  That just made Sofia more disobedient. “I see him at work all the time, Mother.” She spoke in a bored voice, only responding to her mother to get her to shut up. “I kissed him goodbye just hours ago.”

  “Well, you should kiss him again,” she argued.

  “It’s alright.” I pulled out my chair and took a seat across from Sofia. “I mean, I wouldn’t mind a kiss from my beautiful wife, but I’ll live.” I poured myself a glass of wine and stared at Sofia’s stunning face. She was an enigmatic woman. She seemed to despise me one moment but then enjoyed fucking me in the next. She probably hated herself for it, hated herself for getting into this position in the first place.

  Maria dropped the protest, but she gave her daughter a fierce glare in response. “What did you do today?”

  Sold crystal to a new distributor in Portofino. “Lots of meetings. What about you, Sofia?” Maria Romano bent over backward to respect me and tried to make up for her daughter’s rudeness. She was a good mother-in-law. I just wished I didn’t have to see her over dinner on a nightly basis. I wanted to spend all my time with Sofia, cracking her external shell and getting to the soul underneath.

  Sofia took another sip of her wi
ne, drawing out the silence before she spoke. “Today was payday. So I had to handle all of that.” She swirled her wine again and didn’t give me further information.

  Helena set dinner in front of us, tarragon chicken with roasted broccoli. She also set a basket of fresh bread on the table, along with homemade butter.

  “Looks amazing,” Maria said. “Your cooking is phenomenal, dear.”

  Helena excused herself and allowed us to eat alone.

  Maria started talking again, hijacking the conversation. “So, I went to the farmers market downtown…”

  My eyes focused on Sofia’s, noticing the way her lipstick had washed off on her wineglass. Her makeup was still perfect in every other way. With ethereal beauty, she seemed to be an angel sent to torture me…because she wasn’t real. I tuned out everything her mother said and directed all my energy on my wife.

  Sometimes she met my gaze, but most of the time, she ignored me. She focused her attention on her food, but it was obvious she wasn’t paying attention to a word her mother said either. My heated gaze stole all of her concentration, as much as she pretended I wasn’t there at all.

  I wanted this dinner to end already…so I could go upstairs and fuck her.

  We reached the third landing and walked to our bedroom.

  “What did you really do today?” she asked as she glided on her heels, strutting in black pumps that made her legs look even sexier. She was still in her tight skirt that made her ass look juicy as hell. The second I’d seen her at the hotel, my dick wanted to slide between her cheeks and fuck her right in the asshole.

  I almost didn’t answer her question because my mind had wandered so far. “Met with a new distributor. He took a hundred kilos with him, but he tried to argue that my prices were too high. I have a competitor in the area I’ve been at war with for years.”

  “When you say war…”

  “I mean we want to kill each other, but it’s too difficult.”

  “That’s not scary at all.”

  “Don’t worry. He knows it would be suicide to come after me. And I know it’s suicide to go after him.”

  “Why?”

  “Because we’re both protected. We’d have to catch the other one alone and off guard…but that hardly ever happens.”

  She reached the bedroom door first and stepped inside. Now that she had her privacy, she slipped off her heels and set them in the closet. Once her bare feet were on the rug, she sighed as the pain finally left her body. She tilted her head slightly and arched her back, like she was stretching everything to relieve the discomfort.

  I tossed my tie onto the armchair and unbuttoned my shirt. “Long day?”

  “These shoes are so cute, but they hurt.”

  “I’m sure there are other cute shoes that would be kinder to your feet.”

  “Unlikely.”

  I stripped down to my boxers then leaned against the headboard. “Come here.”

  She always gave me the cold shoulder when I bossed her around. “I’m going to take a bath.”

  “I didn’t ask what you were doing. I told you to come here.”

  She turned to me, venom in her eyes. “Stop talking to me like you own me—”

  “I do own you.” I patted my thigh. “Now, take off your clothes and do as I say.”

  “How about you fuck off instead?”

  I chuckled because she was cute when she was angry. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Which do you prefer?”

  “The one where you fuck yourself.”

  “I can do that if it turns you on…but I’d rather fuck you instead.”

  She rolled her eyes and yanked off her clothes, letting them fall to the floor before she approached the bed. Her hips shook with attitude, and her eyes were fiery.

  Exactly how I liked her.

  I grabbed a pillow and tossed it to the foot of the bed. “Lie down.”

  With both hands on her hips, she cocked an eyebrow.

  Her narrow waist and perky tits were so distracting, I almost changed my mind about what I was going to do. But I knew she would be more receptive when she relaxed, so I stayed focused. “Come on.”

  She crawled onto the bed, showing me her ass for a second as she lay down.

  I grabbed her ankles and placed them on my chest before my thumbs started to dig into the balls of her feet.

  She arched her back and sighed with pleasure, like I was releasing pressure everywhere.

  My fingers worked her petite foot, applying pressure to all the places that were the most tender. I even rubbed her toes, gently glided my fingers down her skin and made her relax further.

  She moaned like she was taking my dick. “Oh my god…”

  I watched her writhe on the bed, my cock trying to break free of my boxers. She arched her back and rolled slightly, her nipples hardening because of the exquisite sensations she was experiencing. Her quiet moans filled the room, sounding identical to the noises she made when she was with me. “I can take care of you. I can make all your aches and pains go away. I can do anything you want me to do…if you just let me in.”

  I sat outside on the balcony with the phone to my ear. My wife was in the bathtub, soaking for hours after I gave her a massage that practically made her come. The heat in Italy was unforgivable because the humidity was killer, but this was still my favorite season, so I basked in the warmth after the sun set over the horizon.

  Damien spoke over the line. “I’m telling you, I think he’s hiding out in Tuscany. My guys spotted his vehicles heading to an estate in the countryside. It’s difficult to see because it’s surrounded by four hills. You wouldn’t even know it was there because it’s not visible from the road.”

  “You’re making a lot of assumptions.”

  “But what if I’m right? What if he’s there, thinking he’s immune?”

  “We still have no idea what he’s got behind those four walls.”

  “All we have to do is camp by the roadside and wait for him to leave. Then we hit him.”

  As much as I wanted to take out Maddox, I wasn’t willing to attack unless it was certain. “The windows will be tinted. There will be no way to know if he’s in the car.”

  “Unless we get eyes on the house.”

  “And how do you suppose we do that?”

  “I don’t know…but there’s gotta be something. Look, I’m tired of this asshole making us look like assholes. I’m tired of him siphoning off our business and making us look like pussies to the world.”

  “I assure you, they don’t think that.” My eyes shifted to my side when Sofia joined me on the patio. She held a piece of white lingerie, a lacy bodysuit with an opening in the crotch.

  “Well, I think that—”

  “I have to go, Damien. We’ll talk tomorrow.” I hung up and set the phone on the table. Now that my eyes were on her, her makeup gone and her hair still pulled back, I didn’t care about business anymore. I cared about the sexy piece of lingerie dangling from her fingertips.

  “This was laid out on the bed. Hope you don’t expect me to wear it.”

  “I do.” With my knees planted apart and a bottle of scotch beside me, I stayed in the chair with the cityscape in front of me. But I’d been waiting for this moment all night—to fuck my wife.

  It was the greatest high in the world.

  She tossed it on the table. “I took off my makeup, and my hair—”

  “Don’t care.” She looked better this way anyway. I could see her features much clearer, see the beautiful woman underneath all that makeup she wore. With her hair pulled back, I could see more of her face, more of the exquisite contours she possessed. “Put it on and lie on the bed. I’ll be there in a second.”

  Her eyes flashed with anger. “You know, I’m getting really sick of the way—”

  “Listen to me.” I set my drink aside, my impatience getting to me. I was used to issuing commands that were obeyed without protest. But my own wife was the worst soldier I’d ever had. “I work all day
. I make deals, kill people, and protect the things I care about. Sometimes I deal with bullshit. Sometimes I’m the one cooking the crystal in my lab. So, when I walk in the door, I want you naked on the damn bed so I can fuck you however I wish. That was the deal we made. I protect you, your family, and your legacy. In exchange, I get you. Have I made myself clear?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest.

  “In exchange for letting your mother live with us, you said you would show your gratitude. I’m calling in that favor now.”

  She sighed quietly and dropped her arms.

  “So, get on the fucking bed. Now.”

  I enjoyed another glass of scotch as I waited for her to get ready. I needed to let my anger fade away anyway. Teaching this woman how to be my wife was exhausting. Her disobedience was infuriating…but it also made me respect her. If she just gave in to every command, she wouldn’t be nearly as interesting. Maybe that was why I’d fallen headfirst for her…because she wasn’t like the others.

  I finished my scotch and stepped into the bedroom. The lights were off with the exception of a couple lamps. She was on the bed, her hair out of her ponytail and across the pillow.

  I shut the door behind myself and walked farther into the room. My cock slowly hardened as I gazed at her on the bed, her slender legs pressed together with her knees bent. The bodysuit fit her snugly, her tits visible through the thin fabric.

  I dropped my boxers by the bed and let my hard cock get a little closer to her.

  The anger was gone from her eyes. Now defeat remained.

  I moved onto my knees and positioned myself in front of her, my large hands gripping her knees. This woman was my fantasy, the kind of partner I wanted to fuck every single night. On our wedding night, I couldn’t control myself. I’d bucked into her hard and took her like I couldn’t get enough. I didn’t even last long…because it’d been nearly a month since I’d last had pussy.

  And her cunt was dynamite.

  For a brief second, I felt light-headed, the blood rushing to my dick so fast. I wasn’t sure what was sexier, her beauty or her obedience. I controlled an uncontrollable woman, conquered a woman who refused to be conquered by anyone. Owning her gave me a thrill down my spine.