Page 21 of Wicked Union

My lips part, almost letting my secret escape, but I hold it in. I didn't know the person responsible for that drug bust was her brother until after it was done. Tony followed my orders. If I had known, I'd have handled this differently. The Peralta organization would be all mine. But now I'm feeling something I've never felt in my entire fucking life—regret.

"Let's go, then," I tell her, standing up. I offer my hand to her, and she drops her napkin on her plate and stands, taking my hand.

I don't even bother with paying. These people know how to contact me. I escort Aria across the dining room, dropping a fiftyin the waiter's pocket as we pass him. With my hand in the small of her back, I guide her to the elevator. If home is where she feels more comfortable, then home is where I want to be with her. Dad would say she's softening me, and perhaps she is. I'm a little rough around the edges, but it's not going to change my ruthless business tactics. She may just find a man she can love, and I know I need a woman who loves me.

"Maybe you could make me feel something again…" Aria says meekly, her voice so timid I don't believe I hear her right. She's asking for sex, but I hear the plea inside those words. It's a request for intimacy too, something connecting her to this world that's not grief or pain.

The elevator doors open, and I walk through with her, pressing the ground floor button as I turn to her and say, "I would love nothing more than to take my beautiful wife home and make her feel anything her heart desires." Both of my hands rest on her hips, and she curls into me, laying her head on my chest.

There is a storm in her eyes. She's conflicted now. This entire thing is a delicate dance. I'm falling for her, but I'm poised to ruin her father. I'm conflicted too. How do I gain the things I want in my professional endeavors while pursuing something so pure with her? And will she ever forgive me if she discovers that I'm the one who had her brother killed? What about when I destroy Hector Peralta and everything he's built for six decades? Will she still want me when he's out and I'm in charge?

"What are you thinking?" she asks, breathing into my chest.

"I'm thinking that something is happening between us and I like it." I pull her closer. It's not the slight erection I have from her being pressed against me. It's so much deeper. "I want to find out where it will lead because I like it."

I slide my hand over the curve of her ass and pull her in. It's a distraction, forcing her to feel my dick press into her thigh. I'm an idiot for telling a woman I'm catching feelings. Especially a woman like Aria. She's vocal and she's loud, and people listen to her. She's also the daughter of the man whose empire I'm strangling. There's no telling how nuclear this will be when it explodes.

Her hands rise, smoothing across my chest and neck, locking behind my head as they tangle in my hair. "I like this too," she murmurs, lifting a leg to wrap around mine. "And I need you to make me feel something so strongly I forget myself for a while."

She's desperate to not hurt anymore, and I'm happy enough to help her. She has asked me at least four times a week for this same thing. She's using sex as a means to numb her pain.

My hands on her ass inch the fabric of her flimsy dress upward until it's wadded in my hands and my palms are cupping her cheeks. Her lips brush mine, and I kiss her and bite her tongue. Her pelvis grinds on my thigh and she pulls my hair. I'm instantly hard and ready for her, even in this elevator.

"My God, you are intoxicating, Mrs. Ramiro," I growl into her mouth as she deepens the kiss. I knead her ass as I rock my hips against her body.

"I need you to take me to the brink," she whimpers and she grabs one of my hands and places it on her throat. "Please do it."

But the look in her eye isn't desperation for an orgasm. It's just desperation. She wants escape, but I can't give it to her this way.

I whip her around, pinning her against the wall, and let go of her neck. My hand gruffly pushes between her thighs and finds herpanties moist. I slide them to the side and pinch her clit between my thumb and forefinger.

"You're a bad little vixen today, aren't you?" My fingers twist and roll the swelling nub, and she hisses and jolts.

"Fuck, Tito." Aria's hands are on my shoulders, pushing me like she wants me to drop to my knees and finish her right here, but the elevator slows and stops and I let her dress drop to cover her panties.

Aria shimmies it into place and loops an arm around my bicep as we waltz out of the elevator. "You're so getting it as soon as we get in the car," I grumble under my breath, and I don't even bother hiding the large, hard bulge in my pants.

"You're so giving it to me," she says, and I reach into my pocket and shoot the driver a text. He meets us at the door and rushes to open for us.

"Sir," he says.

"Privacy, and drive," I growl, following Aria into the back seat. My coat is off before the door is even shut, and Aria is hiking her skirt back up around her hips.

I'm on my knees spreading her wide when the car starts to roll but immediately stops, sending me toppling backward into the divider behind me.

"What the hell!" I snap as my head slams into the window dividing the passenger compartment from the driver.

"What's going on?" Aria asks. She sits up and looks out the window just as the door is yanked open.

"The fuck…" I grunt as I right myself and see Carlos lean into the door.

"We got problems," he blurts out, and nothing could make me more furious.

"I was in the middle of something." I notice Aria fixing her skirt, covering that delicious moist spot on her panties I was about to drink up.

"Now, Tito. We have huge problems." Carlos looks impatient, and I see cars driving past behind him through the open doorway.

"What the fuck could be so important that you are interrupting sex with my wife?" I crawl onto the seat next to her, and she scoots over to give me space. Her cheeks are red. She's flustered.

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