Deception (Mafia Daddies #3)

Hallie

I follow him inside, ready to protest, but my breath is taken away by the view before me. “Holy shit.” I gasp.

He spins to face me, and an all-consuming smile encompasses his face, so bright and carefree if I wasn’t already breathless, I would be now.

Then he slips his leather jacket off his shoulders and places it onto the back of a couch while I stare toward the glass doors framing the back of the cabin. My feet head toward them, taking in the view of the treetops. It’s like we’re suspended in midair.

A balcony wraps around the cabin, and a couch and blankets beneath a covered deck have me longing to position myself there.

“Champagne okay?”

I freeze on his words and spin to face him. He’s in the open-plan kitchen, with not a care in the world, asking me if I want champagne like we’re celebrating something. I shake off the thought and question him.

“Champagne, seriously?”

He shrugs a shoulder with a smirk, then pops open the bottle, sending a deluge of bubbles over the brim. “I could pour it on you and lick it off?”

I shake my head. “I don’t want champagne, Rocco. I want to go home, right fucking now!” I scream as I point toward the door.

“Tough.” He shrugs, angering me further.

“Tough?”

“Tough. You’re staying here.” Staring back at me, he dares me to argue.

Anger floods me. “I want to go home.”

“No!” He clamps his mouth shut and glares at me, and I swear I hear his teeth grind.

I seethe through my nose. “This is kidnapping. You know that, right?”

“Okay.” He shrugs again.

“Okay?” My mouth falls open. “I’m being serious, Rocco.” Tears spring to my eyes. I’m tired and hurt and just let him fuck me on his motorbike. I want to shower and curl up in my bed while I try to understand how my life has become a torrent of never-ending turmoil, and come up with a plan on how to deal with it.

His eyes hold mine hostage, and the air between us thickens. “So am I,” he growls, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

“You lied to me,” I whisper.

His hardened features soften. “You wouldn’t have wanted me otherwise.”

I shudder at his words.

“I might be young, . But I’m not na?ve. If you found out I was your son’s best friend, you would have tried to end us. I was trying to make things easier.”

“Easier?” I scoff.

“Exactly. Matt loves me already.” He grins as if proud.

“As a best friend!” I spit in outrage.

“He’ll get used to us.”

I shuffle from foot to foot, knowing I hold a secret too. Knowing even if I try to end us, Rocco will always be connected to me.

“I know it’s not ideal. But you’re my ideal, , and I want to be yours too. Me, you, and our baby.” His breath flutters over me, and I realize he’s in front of me. “I love you. I know you’re going to think that’s crazy and too soon. But from the moment I laid eyes on you, you’re the only woman I have ever seen. All I want is a chance to prove to you I can be everything you need.”

“I don’t know what I need,” I murmur as my lip quivers.

He takes my face in the palms of his hands. “Yes you do, . You need me to be strong for you, protective and loving. You need me to take you to new heights so we can soar together. You need me to carve out our future and guide you toward it. I can deliver everything you need, but it would be so much easier if you allowed me to do it.”

“What if I don’t?” I hold his eyes, and he licks his top lip slowly, as if calculating his next move. His pupils darken and his body tenses, but the change in him doesn’t scare me, it’s something he does when he becomes dominant, when the gentle Rocco disappears.

“I’ll take what we both want eventually anyway.” Meaning, he’s giving me no choice.

He tilts my head to place a kiss on my forehead, then steps back, taking my heart with him. Then he swoops down and takes me in his arms, causing me to squeal as he marches me through the cabin and kicks open a door. My eyes dart around the room, taking in the huge wooden bed, and before I have a chance to look further, we’re in a bathroom.

Placing me on the floor, he turns the taps to the shower on. The way his muscles flex and his abs contract as he drops his clothes to the floor has my pussy clenching despite already having had sex twice in the past hour.

His cock springs free from his boxers, standing tall and proud with a bead of pre-cum on the tip that has me wanting to drop to my knees and pleasure him.

His chuckle breaks my train of thoughts. “Arms up, Little Red.”

I respond willingly, and he slips my dress up and over my head, dropping it to the floor, then he slaps my ass.

“Shower.”

Knowing he’s watching me, I spin on the balls of my feet and put an extra swing into my step as I walk toward the shower.

The water hits me, and I cry out in delight, basking in the warmth splashing against my skin, unraveling the tension built inside me. The day’s worries and emotions are washed away as Rocco lathers me with his shower gel. My breasts are tender when his palms swipe over them, and I can’t help but push back against him as his hands work up toward my throat. “You’re a good girl letting me take care of you.” He hums in my ear, and the suds slide down my body and into the drain.

One hand roams over the softness of my stomach, causing me to flinch and push his hand away at the discomfort in my bones. Rocco places his hand back on my stomach and tightens his palm there. “I told you I’m obsessed with your body, , and I mean it. Don’t push me away from what’s mine,” he grits out, not realizing the enormity behind his actions.

Then he spins me to face him. His palms flatten on the tiles next to my head, caging me in. “Have you any idea how much I want to punish you for pushing me away?” His gray eyes darken while they bore into mine, making me squirm on the spot, and when his cock twitches, my eyes dart there.

“I can guess.”

His lips tip up into a smirk, then his gaze trails over me, heating me with the intensity of his stare.

When his body freezes and the cords of his neck tighten, I lift my head toward his face to try to decipher the change in him.

He stares at my chest, and I glance down, only now realizing the bruising over my breast from Gerrard’s heavy hand. I jolt and try to step back, but my back is already flush against the wall.

“Who?”

I close my eyes to shut out the darkness in his voice, knowing what I’m about to say might change everything.

“I asked you a question, . I expect a fucking answer!” he booms, making me flinch at the venom in his tone.

A chill takes over my body, and goose bumps spread over me.

I drop my head and wrap my arms around my center, bending as if to protect myself, which I know is silly. If there’s one thing I know and believe, Rocco’s protective of me and would never hurt me. Not physically, anyway.

Instantly, he softens, so quick to change to accommodate how I feel.

He lets out a deep exhale, then turns and walks out of the shower. Returning with a fluffy white towel in one hand, he switches off the shower jets with the other.

When he holds out his palm, my hand finds his. He gently pulls me toward him and wraps me in the towel, then lifts me into his arms, and I bury my head into his neck and breathe in his scent to seek comfort.

He walks us through the bathroom and into his bedroom, then stops at his bed and sits down, cradling me against him.

“Tell me, how did you get the bruise, Little Red?” There’s not a hint of anger in his tone, and my mind becomes jumbled at how calm he appears because, deep inside, I know he’s anything but.

I know the extreme Rocco. I see the danger lurking in his eyes. I’ve experienced the threat of violence he’s capable of, but right now, he’s as far away from the Rocco I know him to be.

Some might say this is the sign of a sociopath.

But I’m grateful for it, because he’s the Rocco I need him to be.

And I love him for it.