Hold Him Like Gravity (Lombardi Family #4)

Chapter Twenty-Four

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Kick

Rico lived in a very normal apartment building, but on the top floor. There were only four units on the floor, and Rico led me toward his, his hand at the small of my back the whole way as I tried to hold on to the wiggling box.

Bass was behind us, but after handing off my bag to Rico, he went back down the elevator as Rico led me into his apartment.

I have to admit that I’d spent a lot of time wondering about Rico’s apartment. Especially after hearing he’d basically ripped it down to the beams and started from scratch.

The men I’d been around in my life hadn’t exactly been good about the whole decor thing. I mean, my brother and Bobby thought drink cans were art. And as for Kyle, well, when I first went to his apartment, he didn’t have a headboard or an extra towel.

Something about how Rico was always nicely put together, though, made me think that his place would be impressive.

I just didn’t know how impressive.

The common areas were open-concept and dominated by deep gray walls and equally dark hardwood floors.

The living room had a large black brick fireplace and a long sectional in this rich, burnt orange color. Across from it were two chairs. A bar cart was set against the far wall under a generic black and white landscape picture.

The kitchen was behind the living room with slate cabinets, a gray and white quartzite waterfall island, with some open shelving featuring soft white lighting.

It was dark and masculine, but still cozy.

“Wow,” I exhaled as I turned in a circle, taking it all in again.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I agreed, impressed that he even had window treatments, an accent rug in the living room, and a blanket draped over the couch to get comfortable with.

“I have already heard that the art sucks,” he told me, looking over at one of the frames.

“It doesn’t… suck. It might be a little generic, but it doesn’t suck. Why did you want to spend so much time in my apartment?” I asked as I looked around.

“Because you were there,” he said as he took the box out of my hands, placing it down on his coffee table, then opening the tucks on the top.

Evander sprang out, making a beeline for the couch, where he sat, glaring at me. Even though Rico was the one to stuff him in the box in the first place.

“Look, I’m sorry. But look how much nicer this place is. No scratching the couch here,” I said, waggling a finger at him.

“Want a tour?” Rico asked, watching me as Evander started grooming his paws.

“Sure,” I agreed, following Rico as he led me down the hall, revealing a full hall bath that had been finished in a similar color scheme as the main area. “Not gonna go in there. That’s Bass’s room,” he said, waving toward the closed door.

Then he led me to the last door in the hallway.

His bedroom.

Which was surprisingly brighter in color scheme than the rest of the apartment. I imagined in the daytime, when the sun was streaming in the oversized windows, that it would feel even more light.

The walls were partially-exposed brick. The bed was king-sized with a leather tufted headboard in a warm camel tone and covered in neutral bedding that looked luxe and expensive.

There was a single leather chair the same color as the headboard sitting near the window facing the bed. And across from the bed was a large framed piece of art. Except, as I watched it, the art changed.

A framed TV then.

A door was opened to a bathroom that seemed bigger than my whole bedroom, featuring an oversized shower niche, a double vanity, and a soaking tub.

“Why do you ever leave here?” I asked, running a hand over the blanket draped over the corner of the bed.

“Spent more time here when I was working on it than I do now,” he admitted. “Make yourself comfortable. You’re still freezing,” he added, reaching over to touch my cold fingers. “Take a hot bath. Make some coffee. Hang out with Evander. I won’t be too long,” he said.

I followed him back out into the living room.

He checked his phone before looking at me.

“I have two of my guys here standing guard. So if you see someone in the hall, that’s who it is. Don’t want you to panic. Here,” he said, reaching into his pocket and dropping a wad of cash onto the coffee table. “Order some food. You couldn’t have had time to eat.”

I hadn’t.

But I was feeling too wobbly.

“Order me something too. The drawer next to the fridge has some menus,” he said.

I expected him just to walk off right then.

But he surprised me by grabbing me, pulling me close, then pressing a quick kiss to my lips.

“Relax, babe,” he said. “Things are gonna be alright.”

With that, he walked to the door and headed out, leaving me alone in his fancy apartment.

“Well, except for you,” I said to Evander as I went over to the cardboard box, producing the litter box that Rico had thrown in there with him, and setting it up in the hall bathroom. I endured some scratches when I picked him up and put him in there, so he knew where to go.

Then I apologized with some food and milk.

Feeling frazzled, and wanting Rico to have something to eat when he came home, I found the menu drawer, ordered food, and waited for it to arrive.

Then I went ahead and did what he suggested. I ran a stinging-hot bath then climbed in, then let the heat slowly ease the tension in my neck and shoulders.

Eventually, Evander came padding into the room, casting a worried look at me in the water, then hopping up onto the sink counter to keep an eye on things.

“Do you like it here?” I asked him. “I think you might be living here,” I added.

Sure, Rico had been surprisingly kind to me. Understanding of why I’d done what I did. But he’d been confronted by my overwhelming emotions. Once he had some space and time to really think it through, I had a feeling he wouldn’t be so warm toward me. Especially once he talked things over with his cousin, his boss, and whoever else he needed to speak to about the whole situation.

I felt the sting of tears again, but I fought them back as I drained half of the water then filled it back up again with even hotter water.

“I bet Rico can even afford to get you that fancy litter box that cleans itself,” I told Evander as I finally climbed out of the tub. “And one of those cool cat trees. You know, so maybe you play with that instead of scratching the couch all up. But you’re going to need to be an indoor cat because he doesn’t have a fire escape.”

Evander followed me around as I went to get my bag, then got myself dressed.

Exhaustion was pulling at my eyelids as an hour turned to two, then three.

Eventually, I curled up on the couch under the soft faux fur blanket, the TV playing some old sitcom rerun to try to drown out my swirling thoughts before sleep finally overtook me.

___

I didn’t hear the door opening or closing. Or the sound of Rico putting the leftovers in the fridge.

It wasn’t until his arms slid under me that I came awake with a start, my fight-or-flight still engaged as I flailed and gasped.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright,” Rico said, voice soft. “It’s me. I’m just moving you,” he said, then continued to lift me into his arms.

“What time is it?” I asked, leaning against his chest as he carried me down the hallway.

“Late. Go back to sleep,” he said as he lowered me down onto the bed. He pulled the covers up over me, but I was too awake now, too worried about what his boss may have said.

“How’d it go?” I asked, blinking at him in the dark.

“That’s not sleeping,” he said, dropping down on the side of the bed, looking down at me.

“I can sleep later. Am I in trouble?”

“I told you no,” he said, shaking his head at me as he reached to turn on the lamp.

“But your boss…”

“Doesn’t want to punish you for being in a bad situation,” he cut me off. “But he has feelings about that ex of yours.”

“I think we all do,” I agreed. “What about my brother?”

“There’s going to be some questions for him.”

“What kind of questions?”

“Namely, if he knew who he was fucking with,” Rico explained.

“And if he did?” I asked. I wanted to believe my brother was at least partially in the dark, that he had some plausible deniability in the matter. That said, I knew my brother way too well. He was apt to let his greed lead him. Even past using his common sense. If Kyle had suggested that no one would ever figure them out, then Jake would have believed it as he sat there counting his money.

“There’d be consequences.”

“Would you guys kill him?” I asked.

Rico shrugged at that. “Normally, yeah,” he admitted. “But I think everyone understands that it’s complicated. He will have to get his ass out of the city. If he comes back again, I can’t vouch for what Renzo will want to do.”

“I understand that.”

“Also, I can’t tell you what to do, babe, but don’t give that fuck the time of day ever again. If he was willing to link up with an asshole who used to beat his sister, and then put you in danger by stealing from someone like me, then he doesn’t have the right to have access to you again.”

“I’d already cut him off,” I told him. “When Kyle found me that last time, he told me that my brother told him where to find me. And that was the final straw for me with him.”

“Glad to hear that.”

“When are you guys going to, you know, confront them?” I asked.

“Soon,” he told me. “Better you don’t know details,” he added as he leaned down to untie his shoes.

Then he stood, reaching behind his neck to remove his shirt as he walked over toward his walk-in closet, disappearing inside for a moment, then coming back out wearing nothing but a pair of low-slung black sleep pants.

Despite the insanity and emotional intensity of the day, I felt desire start to burn through my system.

Rico paused, likely reading the need in my eyes.

“You’re supposed to be getting some rest,” he said.

“I already did.”

“Okay then,” he said, giving me a little smirk as he climbed up on the bed, pulling the covers down off of me, then coming over me to warm me himself, his weight pressing me into the mattress.

His lips were on mine in seconds, soft and slow at first, then harder and more demanding. My legs wrapped around his waist as his hardness pressed against me.

My hips rocked, making a moan escape me.

Rico’s face went to my neck instead, kissing down my neck as his hand slid up under my shirt, teasing over my bare skin, finding my breast, and squeezing hard.

I arched up into the sensation for a moment before Rico rolled me over him.

I sat back, letting him pull off my shirt, then touch me without anything in the way. I shifted to feel his cock press against my cleft again, then started to rock against him as he teased, massaged, and rolled my nipples.

His hands moved down my sides, then hooked me behind my knees, pulling, and flipping me onto my back.

A gasp turned into a laugh at the move as he moved up onto his knees, pressing my legs into my chest, then reaching to remove my pants and panties.

Then he was lowering down, resting between my thighs, his tongue already on me, working me, driving me up.

“No,” I cried, reaching to grab his head as he moved away just as the orgasm was about to crest.

“Not yet,” he said, lips teasing up, enjoying my frustration.

Then he was flipping me onto my belly, then pulling me back until I was on all fours.

I heard the drawer slide open to his nightstand, then the crinkle of the foil as he worked the condom free.

By the time I felt him move in behind me, I was aching and whimpering.

“Rico, please,” I pleaded, rocking my ass backward toward him.

“Love the sound of you begging for my cock,” he said, his hand massaging my ass for a second.

Then he was moving closer and his cock slammed deep inside of me, making my fingers fist the sheets as I cried out.

He wasn’t teasing me then. His hands sank into my hips, using them to slam me back into him as he thrust forward. He drove me up to the edge, then sent me flying over, crashing down into the orgasm that had me bending forward, pressing my face into the bedding to muffle my cries.

Rico’s hand grabbed a fistful of my hair, pulling me up.

“I want to hear,” he said, fucking me through it, dragging it out. “That’s a good girl,” he murmured, pulling me up against his chest as he started to fuck me again. This time, more slowly, his arms wrapped around me, his lips in my neck.

His fingers found my nipples again, working them into tightened points as he continued to drive me up until my thighs were shaking and my breath felt caught in my chest.

“That’s it, come for me,” he demanded, one of his hands slipping down my belly to work my clit until the orgasm soared through me, this time with nothing to muffle my cries. “One more,” he demanded as soon as I slowed my frantic breathing.

“I can’t,” I said.

“You can,” he assured me. Then he was moving, pulling me with him until I was in his lap, but facing away from him. “Ride me,” he demanded as he brought his knees up for me to rest my hands on and use as leverage. “That’s it,” he said as I started to rock my hips. “Show me how you like it,” he demanded.

The encouragement and the new angle had me riding him harder and faster until the pressure reached a fever-pitch, then the orgasm moved through me, a deep, hard pulsing that had my breath caught and my body trembling.

“Fuck, baby,” Rico groaned, hips rocking up into me, finding his own release on the tail-end of mine.

He pulled me down next to him after, curling his legs up under mine, his arm draped across my hips.

And my stomach chose that exact moment to object to its emptiness. “Why didn’t you eat?” he asked, hand rubbing over my stomach.

“I wasn’t hungry,” I said as he pressed a kiss behind my ear then rolled away from me, going into the bathroom for a moment before coming back out, still gloriously naked.

“Come on,” he demanded, reaching up to grab my ankles and dragging me to the bottom of the bed.

“I need my clothes,” I objected, trying to flip over to reach to the side of the bed to get my shirt at least. Or his.

“No, you don’t,” he said, reaching for my wrists instead, and pulling me to my feet.

“But Bass…”

“Told ‘em to find somewhere else to crash tonight,” he said.

“That wasn’t necessary,” I insisted as his hand slid to mine and started to pull me along with him.

“It was,” he insisted. “What’d you order?” he asked as he led me into the kitchen, then pulled open the fridge door.

“I got spaghetti and meatballs and some lasagne,” I told him.

“Half and half?” he asked, reaching for plates.

“Always,” I agreed, watching as he shot me a soft look before splitting the food up and putting one plate into the microwave. “Are we really going to sit and eat naked?” I asked.

“In bed,” he clarified. “Hey, bud,” he said as Evander came padding into the kitchen to throw his body against Rico’s legs.

“He seems to have settled in,” I said as the cat finished rubbing against Rico, then hopped up on the counter to stare lovingly at him instead.

“Good,” Rico said. “Since you guys are going to be staying here.”

“For a few days,” I said, nodding.

Rico didn’t speak for a second as he took one plate out of the microwave and set the other one in.

“Longer than that, I hope,” he said. “Can’t force you to stay here. But want you to,” he told me.

“Maybe you should give that some thought,” I suggested, taking the plate from him.

He turned to grab forks and knives, slipping one set onto my plate. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while,” he admitted as he went into the fridge to grab two bottles of water. “Been thinking about buying a bigger place for the both of us,” he went on, handing me my water, then going to fetch his plate.

“What? This place is huge,” I said, looking around again.

“Could use another bedroom or two,” he said. “In case we decide down the road to have kids.”

“You’ve… been thinking about that kind of thing?” I asked, cautiously hopeful.

“For weeks,” he said. “I know shit is new and we need to explore this without the secrets between us for a while before we can give that other shit more serious thought. But I’m game if you are.”

“You’re sure?” I asked, still struggling to believe he was so accepting of my betrayal.

“Yeah, babe, I’m sure. The question is… are you in?”

I was in.

God, I was all in.