51

Joey
Saturday night, I leave Swank early. I can’t stop thinking about Sophie. The way she looked when she came all over my fingers last week.
How much I’m looking forward to her making me dinner tomorrow night.
There’s something about the offer that makes me feel like she’s a keeper. Everything about Sophie has felt like home since the moment I stepped into her massage studio. She’s the perfect combination of familiar and foreign.
It’s hard to get serious with a woman when you’re a Made Man. You have to consider what you’re bringing her into. That the commitment has to be for a lifetime because there’s no way out of this lifestyle except for in a box.
You marry a woman, and she becomes a party to all our crimes. You protect her from it all, of course, but she’ll find things out. She’ll know.
So there are no break ups. No divorce. You can’t have a situation where a disgruntled ex goes to the Feds. Either you keep her and make sure she stays happy or…. I don’t even want to voice the alternative.
In the end, that was what made me break things off with Amelia. I wasn’t sure if she was really “the one.” I don’t know why I even proposed in the first place. I guess because I’m at the age where I should settle down and start a familyaccording to my ma, anyway. I didn’t want to marry a woman I might change my mind about in the future because there is no changing your mind in this business.
But Sophie’s already in the family. She grew up in the culture. She knows what it involves. That doesn’t mean she’s willing to go back to it, but for some reason, it makes her seem like a better choice.
On the other hand, the fact that she resists me and everything I represent makes her a challenge. The alpha male in me likes the chase. I’m determined to win her over, if for nothing else, to prove I can.
Remembering she was going out with her friends tonight, I text her to ask if she’s still out. I probably shouldn’t booty call her, but I can’t stop thinking about her. I can’t wait until tomorrow.
When she doesn’t answer, I find myself irrationally jealous of her friends. Wondering what she’s doing. Where they went.
Somehow, I end up in front of her townhouse. Her car is parked on the street, but there are no lights on. I should drive away.
This is more than a little stalkerish. I’m being creepy.
But then a guy in a Nissan drives past slowly, like he’s looking for a parking spot, and I catch Sophie’s lovely head sitting in the passenger seat.
Jealousy rages through me like a dark storm.
I know I have no right. She didn’t commit to me. We aren’t exclusive.
It doesn’t matter. I want to kill the guy. Murder him and stuff him in his trunk then push the piece of shit car off a bridge.
My hand is on the handle before I can think, but I stop myself. Drag in one breath.
Then another.
Sophie doesn’t belong to me. Well, she does, but she doesn’t know it yet.
I force myself to remain in the car, one hand on the door handle, the other strangling the wheel. I watch as Sophie climbs out of the car. Is it me, or does she look like she’s escaping the guy? She turns to say something over her shoulder to him, then waves, like she doesn’t want to be walked to the door.
The stronzo follows her, though.
He’s a dead man.
Seriously. I’m going to kill him.
Sophie opens the door and pushes in, not waiting for the dolt following her. Again she turns and gives him a wave, but he’s jogging toward her.
A low growl issues from my throat, like I’m a doberman pinscher guarding a bone.
She stops, fully faces him. Says something. Hefuck notries to kiss her.
I’m out of the car, walking swiftly to them without thinking. “Hands off,” I growl as Sophie twists away from her date, trying to avert her lips from his mouth.
“What? Who the fuck are you?” the guy demands.
“Oh no.” Sophie’s eyes round as she sees me coming. I know what she sees. A guy about to commit murder with his bare hands. I should really dial it back.
Right now.
Before I permanently fuck things up between us.
“Who is this guy?” her date demands.
“I’m the guy telling you to leave now.” I arrive at the bottom of the steps and force myself to stay there. To not put my hands on him yet. He gets one chance. “I’m only gonna tell you once,” I say in a low voice. “After that, you’re gonna be bleeding all over this sidewalk.”
“This is the someone new I told you about. So yeah, you should go.” Sophie’s voice sounds strangled.
I don’t take my gaze from the stronzo on the step with her. Even though I’m giving him room to walk down the stairs and leave here unscathed, I make sure he feels my threatening glare right down to his bones.
He moves. Skitters down the steps like a fucking cockroach, mumbling something to Sophie that I can’t hear above the roaring in my ears.
I’m only slightly mollified by her words. This is the someone new I told you about.
I was part of the conversation, at least.
I wait until the guy’s in his car and driving away before I stalk up the stairs.
Sophie folds her arms across her chest. “What are you doing here? You can’t just show up at my place and bark at the men who take me out.”
I reach past her and turn the handle then push the door open. “You said you were out with friends.”
“You can’t check up on me. I don’t owe you anything.” Her words are bold, but she backs into her place as I advance.
“You don’t owe me the truth? That you’re seeing someone else?”
I need my hands on her. I need my hands on her so badly. I settle them lightly on her waist, continuing to walk her backward, toward her bedroom.
“O-okay, maybe I owed you that. I’m sorry. I ended things with him tonightnot because of you,” she adds.
“Not because of me?” I slide one hand up the back of her shirt, needing to feel her skin. I’m gratified to note that she’s not wearing a sexy short skirt like she wore for me. She’s in jeans and a fitted shirt. Nothing sexy. No apparent effort put in.
“It was just a date,” she says. “I made it before we-before I met you. And I just wanted to tell him in person I couldn’t see him anymore. That’s all. I haven’t slept with-I mean been with anyone since we…”
Relief sweeps over me. No, more than relief-triumph. She answered as if she already considers herself mine. The pounding in my chest slows, but I press my advantage. “Did you kiss him?”
“No-I mean yes. Just a peck when he picked me up.”
I keep my expression serious. “No tongue?”
She shakes her head.
I get her into the bedroom and pull her shirt off over her head.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” I grab her ass and pull her against my body, my other hand curling behind her neck to turn her head and kiss her throat. “I’m going to fuck him out of your system.”
I love the catch of her breath. The way her hands come to my chest and her eyes dilate.
I work the button on her jeans open and she kicks off her kitten heels.
“But firstpunishment.”
She goes still. “What?”
I give her a wicked smile. “You heard me, bella.” I turn her around to face the bed and push her torso over. My hands mold to her hips, slide over her curves, squeeze her ass. Having her body under my hands soothes my jealousy. Still, the need to claim her as mine is a driving force. I give her ass a slap.
“I know we’re not in a committed relationship yet, but you still don’t go out with another man without talking to me about it. That’s disrespectful.” I hook my thumbs in the waistband of her jeans and shimmy them down her thighs.
She holds the position like she’s into it, so I spank her again, rubbing away the sting, waiting to see if she’ll protest.
She doesn’t. I give her three more spanks, a little harder this time. She bares her teeth, looking over her shoulder at me. Her face flushes, and her pupils are dilated. For a minute, I’m afraid I’ve gone too far and ruined my chances with the one woman I’m actually interested in. But then I recognize the wild look in her eye-arousal.
Lust kicks through me like an explosion. She squirms. I pull up on her panties, lifting her to her tiptoes and applying pressure across her pussy and anus. She gasps.
I keep pressure on the panties and deliver several more spanks. Then I rub one of her reddened cheeks as I lean forward to murmur in her ear, “You liked that, didn’t you?”
“No.” Her husky voice reveals everything.
I release my hold on her panties to wrap my fist in her thick, silky hair, using it to tug her head backward. “You’re lying.” I dip my hand into her bra to find an erect nipple. I roll it between my fingers, then pinch it. “Your body gives you away.”
She sucks in her breath between her teeth, which are still clenched and bared like a little wildcat. I slide my hand down her belly and between her legs, moving her panties to the side to stroke a finger across her hot, glossy opening. Her labia spread open like flower petals, swollen with desire. “You feel that?” I murmur. “You’re turned on. Tell me you want it.”
“Want what?” I love the husky note in her voice.
“Want me to fuck him out of your system.”
She lets out a tiny moan before speaking. “He was never in my system. Nobody’s in my system.”
“Nobody?” I loop an arm across her chest to lift her torso against mine.
Her head drops back against my shoulder. I continue my slow stroking between her legs. When she doesn’t answer, I stop and tap her clit lightly. “Nobody, bella?”
She curls her fingers over mine, pressing for more friction against her clit.
I tsk and hold both our hands away, removing all contact. “Admit the truth.”
“What truth?”
I give her clit a light brush. “I’m under your skin as much as you’re under mine.”
She urges my fingers forward again. “I don’t want to admit it.” Her voice is a hoarse whisper.
I smile. She acknowledged the truth even though she won’t say it. I push her back down and lower her panties.
“I guess I’ll just have to fuck it out of you, then.”