Page 16 of The Prices We Pay
Around almost everyone else, I’m reserved. I don’t generally speak unless I’m spoken to, and I don’t offer my advice unless asked. People often assume that because I spend the majority of my time behind a computer, I’m shy and have no idea how to command a room, but that’s not true at all. It’s just how I was raised. I’m the quiet, polite guy who sits and observes—except when I’m with the three men in this apartment, especially the one in front of me. They’ve always seen me for me and don’t try to get me to be anyone I’m not.
If only people knew who I was behind closed doors.
“Luca.” He doesn’t raise his eyes, so I stand from the bed and lower my voice. My tone leaving no room for argument. “Luca, look at me.”
Finally, his deep brown eyes meet mine, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows hard. “Come here.”
In three steps, Luca is standing toe-to-toe with me. I reach up with my left hand—the onecovered in tattoos—and grip his sharp jaw. “Don’t hide from me, Baby.”
“I feel so guilty,” he answers softly. The shame in his voice is as clear as day.
“For what?” I knew the moment Joe sat in the conference room this morning that she was going to be more than just an employee. The way Luca’s stare was locked onto her the entire time she was in there, the way Enzo didn’t stop smiling the entirety of the meeting, and the way that Dante so openly cared about her well-being was proof enough. I hadn’t interacted with her enough to form a strong opinion, but I wasn’t oblivious to not notice how insanely gorgeous she was. And not in the typical way. No, her dark hair, piercing blue eyes, floral tattoos that were much like my own, and fierce personality weren’t of a woman who wanted to fit in with other women. Josephine Jenkins was made to stand out. She was made to take up space and hold her own. That much, I was already certain.
“For looking at her the way I’ve been looking at her. I’m her boss, Seb. She’s my employee. I have no business thinking about her that way. Enzo’salready obsessed, so now I’m going to have to deal with that. And… and I don’t need her. I have—”
“Me?”
He sighs heavily, and instead of turning away, he leans into my hand and says, “I have you.”
“How do you feel about her, Luca?” I have known Luca for five years now, and I quickly learned that he doesn’t divulge his feelings easily. As upbeat and friendly as he appears to be, he holds a lot inside. He takes on so much responsibility, shouldering the weight of being a good son, a good friend, a good partner, a good boss, and a good leader. He fights relentlessly to hide his emotions, thoughts, and worries, in fear that he will become a burden to others rather than a haven.
I give him a place to let go, a place to voice his emotions, thoughts, and worries. A place to be who he is rather than who he thinks he needs to be. He loses himself in me as I do in him.
“I shouldn’t feel a damn thing, that’s the problem. I’ve known her for two fucking days.” His frustration is mounting. I can feel it beneath my hold.
“But?”
“But… there’s something about her, Seb. I can see it in her eyes. There’s something in her that’s calling to me. I don’t know why or what it is. I can’t explain it. But I canfeelit.”
“Then let yourself feel it, Luca.”
He lifts his hands to my waist and drops his forehead on mine. He stands a few inches taller than me, but somehow, he always feels so much smaller in my arms—like he was made for me to hold. “What about you?”
“You have me, Baby.” I lift my other hand, holding his face on both sides now. “You deserve whatever you want in this life, and I want to give that to you.”
“Okay,” he whispers.
“What do you want?”
He hesitates for only a moment before saying, “Right now… all I want is you.”
Liquid heat courses through my veins the moment the words leave his mouth. I swipe my thumb across his full bottom lip. “You want to please me, Baby?”
“Yes, Mio Re.”
I push my thumb into his mouth, and his lips close around it. His eyes roll back into his head as he sucks it deeper, and I can feel his erection pressing against my stomach.
“Take it out.”
His eyes snap open. With my thumb still in his mouth, he works quickly at unbuttoning my pants. I inhale a sharp breath as his palm wraps around my throbbing cock, pulling it out of my briefs.
“Kneel.”
Removing my thumb, I watch as he kneels before me, and even though I’ve seen him before me countless times, my breath catches in my chest just as it did the very first time. Lovingly, I run my hand through his dark hair. “Beautiful.”
Luca licks his lips as his eyes drop from my face to the piercing at the head of my cock. “Do you want it, Baby?”
“Yes.”
