Dancing with the Mob: A Dark Mafia Romance Two-Book Collection Read online

  I stifled a laugh and looked over at Jack, he looked happy. I don’t think I’d ever seen a look on his face that matched what I would call happy. I saw it in him now and it made me doubly glad.

  Oh, Jack! When all this is over… before all this is over...

  I wanted him so bad, and looking over at me, I knew, for the first real time, that he was feeling exactly the same as I was. We just smiled at each other for one second, but it was our pact. It was on, this was real. I hadn’t been imagining things.

  Ladies and gentlemen, Mrs. Slade… Mr. and Mrs. Jack Slade… Alright, take it easy, Mia. Let’s get your severed head to the bad guys first, then stitch Uncle Lucias to daddy and then, maybe then, we can think about tying Jack to that old ball and chain…

  I must have had a faraway look, or zoned out completely. It wasn’t wedding bells I heard, it was the two boys, clicking their fingers in unison. “Mia, Mia!” I was back. Phew.

  We all looked up, like schoolchildren being caught out by the teacher. Giles was in the doorway with his arms folded, clearing his throat. He was pretending to be mad, but I think he was a little upset.

  “And just how, pray tell, did you get past our watch, Mr. Little?”

  Rich wasn’t going to give that part away, but we did fill in Giles on the plan we’d come up with. And he was suitably impressed, telling us he would get a team ready to go as soon as we were.

  “This is just the chance we’ve been waiting for, to lure him out. Excellent work, people! Let’s do this!”

  The atmosphere was electric, but we had a lot of work to do yet. Giles was off, barking orders at whoever was close enough. Rich had to go make his rendezvous appointment, and I had to find a way to tell Papa that his brother was dead, and that we wanted him to assume his identity... all in one hour.

  Once Rich had left and Giles was out of sight, I felt Jack’s huge hand envelope mine. He took both my hands in his and we looked into each other’s eyes like a pair of teenagers who’d just had their first kiss. My heart was doing somersaults. Was my hand trembling, or was Jack’s?

  He kissed me again, but it was slow and tender, like signing his name and waiting for the ink to dry before he could do anything else, just in case it got spoiled.

  “I have to speak with Papa, Jack. I have to tell him about Lucias, and convince him our plan is the best way forward.”

  Jack nodded silently, his fingers were tracing mine. I could feel his excitement building as my own breath faltered and I realized how wet I was getting again, just being so close to Jack like that. I pulled back, slowly.

  “Then, Mister,” I said, raising a finger in front of his steel blue eyes. “Then, you have to put me down on the floor, like before; and fuck me like a little slut dog until I come on your hot, fat dick. Do you understand?”

  Jack grabbed my hand and forced it to his harness. I felt him pulling my hand, palm down, the entire length of his majestic thick organ. Then he teasingly threw my hand back to me, telling me we’d both have to wait. I was so wet.

  Jack went into the next room. I could hear him making his own calls, his own arrangements. My pulse was still up from Jack, but I also felt scared as a lamb at the prospect of telling my father his brother was dead. I did what I always did when I had to do something I didn’t like. I just did it.

  I used the secure line, the one that Giles had allowed us to be used only in case of an emergency. This time counted for that. Papa was shocked, then he was angry, and he was angry I hadn’t come to tell him to his face. He wanted a lot of details, but I only told him what I knew, and that he had to tell no one else, not even Brown, or any of the men who were guarding him.

  It took an extra ounce of will, but I summoned up the courage to outline our plan, and how he could resume his place as head of the family -- if only he took his brother’s face and fingertips as his own.

  He was silent for so long, I thought the line had dropped, or that he’d hung up in disgust. But then I heard the familiar clip of the cutter, then the striking of the big, heavy, crystal lighter that he loved so much. He was thinking… smoking and thinking.

  “You came up with this all by yourself?” he asked, suspiciously.

  “No. No, Papa, it was all of us, it will take all of us to work together to pull it off.” I had to be honest with him, there was still no guarantee any of this would work, but we needed his blessing, at least.

  “It’s a good plan, Mia. I am-a so sad for Lucias. But you know… I never really liked him much. He was always mean to me when we were boys. Mia?”

  “Yes, Papa?” I asked quickly, letting him know he had my full attention.

  “Ah, Lucias he is-a fat. I am not so fat… how we make that switch, eh?” He had a very good point.

  “Papa, Mikey is in a hospital. He is getting better from the drugs…” I could hear Papa’s breathing getting hard; he was making an angry sound from the back of his throat.

  “So? So what!?”

  “So, maybe we could tell people, if they asked, that Lucias went to the same hospital as baby Mikey, to get off the drugs. It could be a condition of the will that Don Leone made… and when he comes out, he can be thin and strong, just like you, Papa!” I was leaving it open for Papa to make his own plan out of it.

  “Ah yes! Haha! Is-a good. I have the wills, all of them. Too many, I need to pick the one which is going to suit the best-a situation heehee. Mia, you are so clever, my beautiful little angel. Just-a like your mama…”

  He broke off, I could hear his quiet tears as he let go of some emotion. Sure, he didn’t like his brother, but family was family; he would shed more than one tear for his fallen brother, for Mikey, for Mama, for all of us and what was to come. Come what may.

  I was still on the phone to Papa, when I heard Jack come back in the room softly. He ran his huge hand across my back, making a circle. It felt better than a hug. He stayed like that for a while as I finished up speaking with Papa, then he went and stood over by the window, looking out to the ocean.

  We stayed in a strange silence after I got off the phone. Papa was all for the plan, it should all work out, just as we had arranged. But what would really become of us? Of Jack and me?

  “Mia, I’ve done some terrible things in this life, and I’ve had some terrible things done to me.” He was still staring off into the distance, across the horizon, into his past, which was a bridge to his future.

  “I’ve killed people, Mia. Men. Lots of men. Some in a war that will never make sense and some… well, some just because I had to kill them.”

  I shifted, uncomfortable to hear Jack talking like that, but I had to hear him out. If I interrupted him again, I might never know how he felt, how he really felt.

  “I swore to avenge the death of my parents. That gave me a reason to go on. Then I swore to avenge the man who made me… who made me do terrible, sick things, like robbing me of my teenage years and young adult life. That’s all passed now, Mia. None of it matters.” He turned to look at me, his eyes were calm and clear. There was no emotion, but it was almost spiritual.

  “None of it matters when I see you, when I touch you or feel your hand on mine. Everything else, all that horror, it was leading me to the moment when I could take you into my arms, the moment when we could be one.” I felt myself tearing up; this was the most beautiful thing anyone had ever said to me.

  “It’s hard for me to find the words, Mia. I want you to be patient with me. But I want you to be with me, always. I want nothing else anymore. I knew it when I saw you walking up the dunes to come into this house. I knew I only wanted to be wanted by you; like nothing else in this life. If you’ll have me?”

  I raced across the room, throwing myself around him, burying my face in his huge chest, just so he wouldn’t see my tears. They were tears of sheer happiness, and relief. It was such a happiness I’d never known.

  “If you’ll be patient with me, Jack Slade; I’ll do the same. We can do it, I know we can. I know you can. I love you, Jack Slade. I love
you more than anything; I want you to know that.”

  We held each other for what felt like an age, the clock ticking on the mantle and the waves breaking in the distance against soft sand. It was like we were home, but it would take us both some time to accept that we had finally made it. That we had survived the storm.

  Thirty-Nine

  Jack

  If someone had told me a couple of weeks ago that my life would turn out the way it had, I probably would have put a bullet between their eyes; to put them out of their misery. It was nuts. The daily grind, wishing for some more action, feeling safe in the knowing that I was an emotional island... all gone.

  I closed my eyes as I held Mia. It felt like I was falling backward, but I didn’t try to stop it this time. Tumbling backward, and down. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t afraid of hitting the bottom anymore. If we could pull this plan off, or even if we couldn’t, I told myself I would at least try to live to make Mia happy. I would try to be with her so we could both be happy. Whatever happy was, I was willing to have some help in finding it.

  The plan’s success was dependent on every stage happening at just the right time. Greene had instructions now to wait for the techs from the institute, and he was charged with making sure that nobody, absolutely nobody knew that Lucias Leone was dead. He’d done right by calling me straight away. I just hoped like hell he was telling the truth when he swore nobody else knew.

  Rich, who I felt I could trust again, would contact us with the meeting time and place. This was the most critical aspect of the plan, because if there was no meeting with Mr X., there really was no plan.

  Giles’ part was to assemble a team quickly. One that could integrate with our plan and be ghosts, right up until the last minute. The fact that Rich had managed to walk across the keys into Mia’s house undetected had disturbed me, but it had bothered Giles even more, I think. Rich was a natural though. In the forces, we often used to like that Rich was already dead, an actual ghost. It was the only way to explain how he could always go undetected. It’s what made him one of the most sought-after assassins in the underworld.

  One thing we had to count on, based on our limited knowledge of the so-called Mr X., was that we didn’t exactly know what we were up against, so we had to be prepared for anything. This was ironic, considering we had just a few hours to prepare. Normally, I loved a challenge, but the recent memory of the man and his henchmen had left me feeling shy, vulnerable even. Not a state I was used to being in.

  We had some time though, and holding Mia so close for so long could only result in one thing. “Shouldn’t we be planning the plan or something?” Mia whispered in my ear as I ran my hands across her chest, touching her nipples and flicking my fingers from underneath her dress.

  I let my low, mumbling groan answer her, tracing my stubbled chin over hers, breathing in her excitement.

  “I said, not until we’ve finished the mission,” she continued, faking forcefulness, grinding her hips into mine.

  She gasped suddenly, as I tore the top of her dress open, exposing her naked, firm breasts. They stiffened further to attention as I grabbed one firmly while holding the torn fabric taut with my other hand.

  “I changed my mind,” I growled. “I couldn’t wait to see you on all fours again.”

  “Oh, Jack! What if somebody comes?” she asked, trying to catch her breath, whining for my hot dick inside her.

  “That’s the general idea,” I said, easily tearing the thin fabric all the way, letting her dress hang in strips from her perfect body, cupping her sex in my palm as she cried out.

  She was twisting herself onto me, becoming out of control with desire. My cock was so hard; it was painfully stretching across the front of my pants, which Mia fumbled to free with my swift assistance.

  I kissed her deeply once more, letting the salty sweetness, the sherbet tang of our passion remain there, swirling in each other’s mouths as we fought to stay upright.

  I pulled back, looking intently into her eyes as I gently placed my hands onto her shoulders, then firmly pushed her down as she submitted to my unspoken orders. She took the full length of me into her throat as I continued to free myself from my clothing.

  I gripped the back of her head, feeling the softness of her hair as it bobbed to and from against the swollen head of my rigid cock. I felt my pressure building too soon. I pulled her head back again, taking myself out of her mouth.

  “Turn around,” I said huskily. “Let me see you on all fours.”

  Another low grumble escaped my lips as I saw her expertly assume my favorite position of hers, lifting her rear and spreading her thighs with one hand while looking back up at me with an innocent, teasing look in her eyes. I felt a bead of our shared moisture running down the length of my shaft, which was so hard that it almost hurt, until I felt her warmth on it again.

  Mia had straddled herself wide open for me. I was trying to take my time, to enjoy seeing her on all fours, spreading herself for me. But my own urge was growing, as was hers. The heat from her snatch was met with a wetness which had begun to run down the inside of her milky soft thighs.

  “Uh! Fuck me, Jack Slade, give it to me, fuck me!” she cried.

  My entire length entered her once again, with the tight warmth gripping us both with an electric charge that ran through the entire length of both our bodies as we fought to control an imminent climax, to relish the pressure of the wave as it reached its peak.

  I could see her ample chest, soft and white, like her thighs, bouncing in time with my thrusting into her. With each push and pull of our bodies, she cried out for more, grinding further back onto me with each stroke, until at last, she held herself there. She was clenching herself over my twitching, aching member. I tried to hold on, but it was useless, hearing her purr like that as I fucked her from behind, seeing her tits dance in the light. It was impossible.

  I held my head back, gripping her hips firmly with both my hands as I cried out and felt the milky flow of heat pulse from my swollen head, deep into her as we both spasmed to a shared and shuddering climax. It was the most perfect thing I’d ever done.

  Don Leone had been briefed by one of the techs from the institute, one we had cleared and trusted implicitly. The whole staff there had been working on these projects for years, and it was obvious they had wanted to see them succeed; to see all their work in action someday. Don Leone had left the penthouse happily, going to the institute with ease. He would be ready to undergo surgery within twelve hours.

  Our main goal, the most important part of the plan, was to get to a meeting with Mr X., who we now had more intel on. Giles and his team had finally found out who it was we were hunting, through false names and documents used to set up trustee accounts in the Cayman Islands; before the money had been transferred to Swiss accounts.

  Dane Claridge was a nobody. He’d stolen an identity off one of his own clients fifteen years ago, shortly before the client became a billionaire recluse. We now knew that the client was long dead, like everyone this guy came in contact with. His exact identity was still a mystery, but he had used the Claridge name and accounts for so long that it was how he legally and easily traversed the globe and conducted legitimate and criminal business transactions. He’d been posing as a hedge fund manager and high-end financial consultant. Very private, and only for amounts over a billion dollars at a time.

  Once Giles had the name the guy was using, it was easy to pinpoint him, to learn more about him and how he worked. Where he had been, what he’d done. He was elusive, but getting something was always easier when you had a place to start.

  Rich had called to let us know that the meeting was on; we’d have to wait for Rich to get to a meeting, to make sure that Claridge would actually be there. This guy was, apparently, notorious for paying other people large sums of money to do his dirty work for him. He didn’t need the money, it was results he wanted. He wanted control, and power of others. That was his trip.

  “I’ve got a meeting set
up, Jack. But I’m pretty sure it’s one of those yellow brick road scenarios, where they want to lead me on to different locations, making sure I’m not being followed, y’know?” Rich said. He was calling from a pay phone, with terrible static and background noise.

  “I hear you, Rich. Keep us posted. We have six hours of air time up here, and the planes can be anywhere within the city limits, within ten minutes if needed.”

  We did have an army, but getting it anywhere in the city, if indeed his meeting was in the city, within a few minutes, wasn’t that cut and dry. We were relying on our own secret part of the plan to get us over the finish line. I hoped, for all our sakes, that Rich would come through; that he could pull this off.

  Giles nodded and knotted his brow as he listened in on my call. He was sitting opposite Mia and myself in the new helicopter. The huge air force plane with all the tracking equipment was now flying, circling above us; keeping a watchful eye on as many of the seen and soon to be seen players in the drama which was about to unfold.

  “I can’t do much about that static, Jack. It’s these damned payphones, but we can’t risk him calling on his cell. We won’t know how much of his own technology Claridge has until we can pinpoint at least one of the meetings.” Giles was all business now, no sweet talk or joking around. His ruthlessness impressed me, but I still thought he was an asshole, deep down.

  “I know we have some stealth, but what about the Dragon Lady up there,” I said, pointing upward with my index finger. “That thing’s so loud and ugly that even I could feel it coming, even if it was ten miles in the air.” Giles stared at me, deadpan.

  “There’s no chance of our spy planes being detected,” he scolded me, matter of factly.

  “Spy planes? I thought there was only one? I said, a little confused and annoyed.

  “I rest my case,” said Giles with a half smile.