Coercion (The Cassano Series Book 3) Read online

  Paris pulls off his tank top. “Did you hear about Chip here? He’s another pussy-whipped one.”

  “You have one woman, too?” I ask Chip.

  “From what I hear he’s got him some sweet, young ass there in El Paso.”

  Tipton smiles and takes a seat around the table we’re sitting at. His shades come off since we’re covered by an umbrella. He and Chip are tight, so I’m sure he’s got something to say about this.

  “Tell them how young we’re talking here, Chip.”

  “Like is her entertainment center brand spankin’ new?” Paris asks.

  “She’s twenty-one.” Chip’s face turns crimson as he gets his words out.

  “And your old ass is thirty-two,” Tipton adds.

  Paris throws his head back in laughter. “Damn, her entertainment center is taking eight track tapes.”

  Chip holds his hands out, his face beet red.

  “Hey now, my dick is no USB, but it’s at least at CD status.”

  We’re all chuckling now. I point again to the pool house.

  “Guys, there are beers in the fridge.”

  The sun is setting as Tipton whistles and looks opposite of my finger. That’s when I notice all my teams’ eyes have shifted in the direction of my home.

  There stands Victoria. I suck in a breath. She’s tantalizing in black short shorts and a silky, light blue blouse unbuttoned too far.

  Her heels are taller than what she normally wears, and I love how her look has changed since I met her. It means her confidence has lifted. Her dark hair is up in the back, and pieces have fallen around her face.

  Dammit, get it together, Ace.

  “Victoria, what the fuck are you doing here?”

  “That’s my greeting after I fly to Tucson and ride out to …,” Victoria glances around at the desert surrounding the property, “out to southern Uganda?”

  The guys’ laughter doesn’t go unnoticed.

  “I don’t know how you got here, but you need to turn around and march your ass right back to the airport.”

  “Uh, we should go inside,” Chip says.

  My arm stretches out in front of him as he starts to rise.

  “No, stay. Ms. Hart is leaving.”

  “You can forget that right now.” Her arms cross and eyebrows lift.

  “I picked her up, Adrian,” Boone announces after stepping around the corner of the house, carrying a suitcase. He’s accompanied by Kasper, the last of the guys I was expecting.

  “Yeah, we’re going inside,” Chip interjects. Chairs make screeching sounds as the men rise from their seats to leave Victoria and me alone.

  “Why the hell did you go get her?” I ask, yelling it across the yard.

  “Frankly, I don’t like your new attitude, and your brother Theo thought she could change it. Sorry, man, but I was all for rounding up someone who could get this corn cob out of your ass.”

  I glare at Boone. I will deal with him later.

  “Leave us alone.”

  “Sure thing, boss,” he says with a smirk before he follows the rest of the guys into the house.

  My gaze shifts back to the goddess standing before me.

  “Victoria, what are you doing here?”

  “I should have listened to you. Heard what you had to say.” She nervously shifts her weight from one heel to the other.

  “No, you shouldn’t have.”

  Looking at me with a puzzled expression, she strides closer. Her heels click against the blue and yellow mosaic tiles that line the perimeter of the pool.

  The closer she gets, the better I can admire her physical beauty. Her legs are toned and skin flawless.

  “I don’t understand, and I didn’t come this far only to leave clueless, so you’re going to have to enlighten me.” Her tone drips with irritation.

  “The less you know, the safer you will be. It took us being apart for me to realize the danger I was putting you in.”

  “You’re seriously telling this to me, a damn cop?”

  I scowl up at her as she stands only a few feet away from me. I still can’t believe she’s here.

  “I’m telling this to the woman I love who I will keep safe at any cost. I might not be able to control what you do on your job, but I sure as hell have a say in this.”

  “You can think again,” she spouts. “I know almost everything. Theo filled me in, and I thought I would get a different welcome than the one I’m receiving.”

  “My brother shouldn’t have told you shit.”

  Victoria takes a chair and places it in front of me. Taking a seat, she stretches out her shapely legs and gives me a sardonic smile.

  “If you don’t hear me out, I’m going to nail Noah Sanders all by myself. The FBI won’t even need to intervene. Did you know he had a stripper murdered? The one that died the night I was pistol-whipped.”

  Recalling how distraught I was that day over Victoria being injured, I blink a few times and grip the arms of my chair.

  “That’s right; Noah Sanders is responsible for having me beat. And if you think for a second that I’m going to sit back and play tea party while the FBI and Cassano brothers bust this asshole, then you don’t know me as well as I thought you did.”

  I grab the front of my hair with both hands.

  “Why do you have to be so goddamn bullheaded?”

  “Remember? You fell in love with this stubborn-ass girl, so what’s it going to be? Are we doing this together or apart?”

  “You’re not cornering me. Go back home, and for once, follow the oath you took to be a cop. Stay out of trouble, and let me and the FBI handle this.”

  Victoria exhales a loud breath and rises from her chair. In seconds, she’s kneeling at my feet. “Adrian, I know about your relationship with Reggie and your military time. I know Agatha is your twin. The only thing Theo wouldn’t tell me about was my father, Sonny.

  “He told me the whole story about the FBI’s involvement, too, so please, let me in.” She reaches her arms out to put them around me, but I pull them back down. I feel my wall crumbling as I touch her and stare into her pleading green pools of desperation.

  “I can’t let you get more involved. It isn’t right.”

  “It’s too late. Theo told me you would’ve stopped all the illegal activity for me if you could. That speaks volumes. We committed our love to each other, so we need to get through this together, and I’m sorry I lost sight of that.”

  “I can’t risk something happening to you.”

  “You chose me, Adrian. You chose our love and a life with me over justice and vindication. Let me love and serve you back. Let me help get you out of this mess, so we can live the life we’ve dreamt about.”

  My head shakes an adamant no, but my heart doesn’t even believe it as I hold onto her hands. Pulling free from me, she stands.

  “Dammit, you can’t run from your heart, so you might as well listen to it!” Her hands are balled into fists at her side, reminding me of when she threw the rock at the truck in Red Rock Canyon. Victoria swiftly unbuttons her blouse.

  “Fuck me, Adrian. Fuck me like it’s your only chance!”

  Her shorts are unbuttoned next before she yanks them down. As she steps out of them and kicks off her heels, I look toward the house.

  “Put your damn clothes back on, Victoria.”

  “Bind me like you do so well. Tie me up like you’re terrified I might get away!”

  My fallen angel stands before me in a blue satin bra and panties. Tears are filling her eyes as she fights for what she wants.

  “Adrian, love me in a way I could never doubt.” Her voice is softer now. “Don’t push me away a second longer. Please, I love you, and I’m sorry I didn’t listen.”

  I stare at her, and my restraint frays. All rational thought as to why we shouldn’t be together dissolves into a puddle at the feet I worship.

  Chapter Five

  Victoria

  What I’m doing is out of raw desperation. A stall tactic. A
nything I can think of to get him to hang on to me–to us.

  The balmy breeze washes over me from behind, but it does nothing to dissipate the still thickness of the air between Adrian and me.

  “Dammit, your realness makes me love you so fucking hard,” he says before he charges toward me in a pair of black swim trunks. In mere seconds, he’s wrapping his arms around me and pushing me back into the pool.

  We both fall in, and I inhale a breath before I’m snapping my eyes and mouth closed. Adrian lifts me out from underneath the water. His hands stroke my hair lovingly and wipe water from my face.

  “You don’t strip down half-naked in front of my team, who are likely watching from the house, and expect me to let you stand there.”

  I smirk at him. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to take it.”

  Slowly, he shakes his head. “My stubborn-ass girl. God, you’re so damn beautiful. The water is beading above your vivid eyes, and your hair is shining.” He rakes a hand over my long strands again. “I missed you so much it hurt to breathe.”

  Leaning my forehead against his, I try not to feel the pain that has consumed me over the last week.

  “It hurt for me to breathe, too. I’m sorry.”

  “No, I’m sorry. Regardless of my reasoning, I was dishonest to you about so many things. I was only trying to protect you and not lose you.”

  “I know that now.” For the last two days, getting to him was all I thought about, and it feels surreal to be with him somewhere other than the penthouse.

  “Juice Box, I’m going to do everything in my power to show you that you can trust me. I can’t believe you’re really here.”

  Adrian grips my thighs, signaling for me to wrap them around him. He walks with me until my back presses against the side of the pool.

  Our lips collide, and we savor each other’s mouth, tracing the familiar lines. Soon he’s working my tongue over as if he’s punishing me for my previous behavior, and I welcome it.

  He has long forgotten about his so-called team who could be watching as his cock presses turgidly against me. A hand snakes around my back, and my bra is unhooked at lightning speed.

  “I want nothing between us,” he murmurs against my lips. I yank down my panties, and they’re soon drifting off in the water.

  Reaching over, I pull on his trunks, and he helps me remove them. “Shit, I can’t let anything happen to you. Taking you back home and dealing with Noah Sanders is still going to happen even after I fuck you.”

  “Precisely, so let’s make the most of this,” I say impatiently. Adrian’s forehead falls against mine.

  “What am I going to do with you?”

  “Fuck me like it’s your only chance, and then tie me up like you’re terrified I might get away.”

  A smile curves from his lips. “Why did I think I could send you back home?”

  “I haven’t a clue. Now, fuck me already. I’ve never done it in a pool.”

  “Another first with me.” In a beat, his lips are slamming against mine. He grips my hips and thrusts deep inside of me, sending a tidal wave of familiar sensations crashing into me.

  Our tongues feed in a frenzy as my elbows rest on his shoulders, my fingers entwining in his thick, ebony hair.

  I can’t express enough to him what relief and happiness I feel to be embraced by his touch. The expedition to physically arrive here was a journey in self-discovery. I unveiled to myself the loyalty I feel to Adrian.

  It’s undeniable, and I was fooling myself to think I could separate from my counterpart, my parallel of passion. I believe our love is the most honest part of each of us.

  My legs wrap tighter around his hips, my heels bearing heavily against his iron-hard ass as he shamelessly bounces me up and down.

  Water swooshes around us, and the momentum of his cock sliding in and out of me propels the ecstasy front and center. It crosses the finish line, winning against my self-control.

  Adrian buries his head against my neck as his hands clamp down on my hips. He spills deep inside of me, the ecstasy now taking its victory lap.

  Adrian

  After Victoria and I consummate our reunion, I find my trunks and pull them back on.

  “Wait here. I’m going to get a towel for you to dry off with and one for you to stand behind, so you can dress.”

  I climb out of the pool and grab two beach towels from a table. Juice Box has rounded up her bra and panties and carefully climbs up the stairs to exit the pool, all while I hold a towel to block the view of her exquisite nakedness.

  Shivering, she dries off as I look toward the house and back at her.

  “You’re adorable when you’re nervous and territorial,” she says with a giggle.

  “There is only one of you, yet there are eight testosterone driven males on this property.”

  “OK, but only one of them gets to touch me.”

  “True, but my team is too valuable to blind, so I can’t stop their wandering eyes.”

  She giggles again, and I’m not finding this as funny as she is. I’m dead serious that I don’t want the guys viewing any of her fine assets.

  After I’ve been given an amazing view of her nakedness once more, she buttons up the blue blouse she wore to Arizona. Shit, she can’t put back on her soaked bra, so her nipples are saluting me.

  “Wait here,” I order. Victoria has her long locks draped to the side of her shoulder as she towel dries them. I stride to the back door of my home, and once inside, I survey the area.

  I find Boone and Chip in the kitchen, and I hear laughter coming from the game room. The guys are always outdoing each other in their real lives, so they’re likely trying to kick each other’s ass on the Xbox, too.

  Going back outside, I wave for Victoria to come to me. She’s carrying her undergarments and heels and looks straight out of a teenage boy’s wet dream with her soaked hair, short shorts, and nipples protruding through her wet shirt.

  Fuck yes. I’m definitely not done with her tonight.

  “My bedroom is on the third floor and last door on the right. I will be up shortly.” I steal another kiss from her, and swat her ass, encouraging her to take it upstairs.

  I never would’ve had my team here had I known Victoria was going to show up. They’ll never let me live this down. I stroll to the kitchen, noticing the suitcase sitting by the patio doors.

  Boone and Chip shut up and stare at me.

  “I’m guessing this is Victoria’s suitcase.”

  “Yes, sir,” Boone says before a broad grin spreads from his clever smirk, and I know how to get rid of it.

  “The pool now needs a chlorine treatment.” After a few seconds, my words resonate with him.

  “Gross, and I guess you’re welcome. Hell, she’s been here a whole five minutes, you slut.”

  Chip snickers and takes a swig from his beer bottle.

  “Actually more like twenty. I guess I owe you a thank you for getting her here safely.”

  “Yeah, no problem, and I’ll get right on that pool treatment, your Royal Highness.”

  “Thanks.” My smirk descends as I recall my concerns over the guys being here.

  “I wasn’t expecting Victoria, so I expect all of you to be on your best behavior.”

  “Please, she’s a tough cop. We talked about it on the way here. I’m sure we’ll seem tame to her.”

  “Regardless, behave please and relay the message.”

  Victoria

  Adrian’s Arizona home is more like a mansion. I take in his master bedroom, my gaze moving panoramically. It’s in shades of blue with some white and grey speckled in.

  The wrought iron bed has a pewter finish and an intricately designed head and footboard. I imagine Adrian’s firm body rocking over me, and a shiver streaks through me.

  I should find a restroom and finish drying off, but I spot two doors that have no window coverings. Since we’re on the third floor, I assume they hold the key to me viewing the desert from above.

  I pad t
heir direction and open them up. They lead out to a balcony, and although the darkness has tucked us into its blanket for the night, I can still spy the sandy color beneath us.

  “You don’t miss anything.” Adrian’s arms slip around my waist, and I lean back into him. His body surrounds my still damp skin and warms it like the summer’s sweltering heat.

  “You don’t miss anything, either. I’ve always loved the way you admire every inch of me.”

  His hands glide upward along my waist until they’re at my breasts. Fingertips begin to rub over my nipples, and I fall back farther into him.

  “I also like to put my hands and mouth on every inch of you.”

  My fingers slide up until they’re sailing into his hair. I grip it tightly in the back as my nipples throb under his diligent touch.

  “Please do it, Sir. Touch me everywhere. Give my body what it’s missed.”

  My blue blouse comes apart, white pearl buttons flying off the balcony. The surprise of it leaves me heaving for air. His strong hands mold over my breasts and begin kneading them as I cling to his hair.

  “Don’t worry, no one can see us up here,” he whispers in my ear before he’s coasting a hand down over my taut stomach. His fingers work at releasing the button of my shorts and then shove into them.

  I’m ready to come apart from his bare chest pressed to my back and his arms holding me tightly. His fingers dip right into me, and I inhale a sharp breath.

  “Damn, baby, I’ve missed this, and you’re soaked for me.” Lord knows I’ve missed it, too. His free hand jerks my shorts to the ground before he kicks my legs apart, opening me up farther for him. It’s as if he’s the cop and I’m the criminal.

  It might be a crime to devote myself to Adrian Cassano, but I don’t care. I will give up my career if that’s what it takes to be with him and save him from the malevolence eating him up inside for over a decade.

  Fingers stroke me in and out, and I’m brought right back to the place of pleasure. His heated breath bathes my ear, and his dirty talk, encouraging me to come, is wizardry. An orgasm grips me ultrafast, and I split apart. Adrian pulls me in solid against him, and I feel his erection stiff against me.