Page 102 of The Mastermind
We made it to the car in one piece, Fist’s more uncanny-than-usual hovering telling me the big man was just as eager to leave the Mancinelli compound in his rearview. I breathed a little easier when he shut the bulletproof door, but I waited until wewere on the highway to answer the silent buzzing of my phone. “Hey,cara.”
‘Cesare? I thought you’d be back by now. Are you okay?’
A wave of tenderness swept through me at the proof of her worry and concern. ‘Easy, baby, I’m fine.’
Her hitched breath told me she’d either been crying or on the brink of tears. Another, stronger wave doused me.
‘You’re on your way home?’
I smiled, loving that she already considered my condo her home. ‘After a couple of pit stops, yeah.’
A throb of silence told me she wasn’t pleased with that answer. ‘How did it go?’
I loosened my tie and sprawled back in the seat, letting the sound of her husky voice wash over me. The only thing that would’ve been better was feeling her soothe me in person. I planned to remedy that soon enough. Sagging against the headrest, I answered, ‘He called me some choice names. Threatened me a few times. But I think the message got through.’Fuck, I hope so.
Carnage might be inevitable but I wanted some things to go smoothly. For fucking once. The sound of slow-moving water reached my ears. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Having a bath. I was hoping you’d come back and join me.’
I squeezed my eyes tight as lust unravelled through me. Reaching out, I hit the privacy button, waited impatiently as it rose. ‘Switch to video,bedda.’
‘Hmm, I’m not sure I want to.’ I heard the pout in her voice. ‘I don’t know that you deserve it.’
My breath whistled through my teeth as my cock jerked to painful life. ‘You want me to beg?’
‘I mean, that’s a start, I guess.’
‘Baby,’ I cajoled. ‘I just spent a whole half hour in the last place I wanted to be, just for you.’
‘Are you calling the home I grew up in a hellscape, Salvatore?’
Nah, I knew better. ‘No,bedda. Just a very small faction of your relatives who live there.’ The sound of moving water increased, churning my imagination. ‘Come on, baby. Please.’
She made me wait, breathing softly. ‘Since you begged…’ A soft ping announced the change of medium.
I pulled the phone from my ear just in time to see her fill up my screen.
Her hair was piled up on top of her head in a messy bun my fingers itched to release. But what drew my every focus was the glow of her skin and the hint of glorious tits above the suds. Her face was make-up free, her clamped eyelashes and slightly rosy eyelids telling me it wasn’t just water dampening her face.
She’d been crying. Even still,Cristu, she was gorgeous.
‘Fuck,’ I breathed, tackling my belt with uncouth haste. Pre-cum was already beading from my slit by the time I freed myself. My dick surged then slapped against my abs. ‘You’re so fucking pretty.’
‘You’re not so bad your—’ She stopped, eyes widening when she caught a peek of what I was doing. ‘Are you jerking off?’ she whispered, cutely scandalised.
I laughed. Considering everything we’d done to each other in the last few weeks, it blew my mind that she could still blush. ‘Not yet. But that’s the plan.’
She did that mouth twisting thing that told me she was biting her inner cheek. ‘Can I watch?’ she asked, her cheeks reddening even more.
‘On two conditions.’
‘Cesare,’ she protested.
‘Hear me out before you say no. You might like it.’
‘Doubt it,’ she tossed back, but her eyes glittered, and the tightness in my chest eased a bit to know I’d distracted her from her concerns. ‘Okay, what?’ she said, unable to resist the lure.
‘First, you show me those beautiful tits. Show me what I’m missing.’
