Page 13 of Soulmate of the Mafia King
No. Of course not. Even if I didn’t know a single woman alive within the bastard’s walls, they all deserved the chance at rescue I’d gotten.
Tom pulled back, and I stared up into his green eyes, so full of relief.
“I don’t want to talk about this,” I said slowly. “But I think we have to. What happens if everything goes wrong, and I’m not with you?”
He blew out a long breath and released me, then sat on the bed next to me, so close his hip touched mine.
“That’s a fair question. I had a protocol in place already in case things broke bad, and you could be gotten out, so I think we’re just going to modify that a little.”
I nudged him. “You had a plan to make me leave you behind?”
“Yes,” he said seriously.
I swallowed.
“I’m not going to lie to you, Paige.” He smiled. “I love you, and being part of these missions means all the gritty details. If things go bad, you’re going to leave without me.”
Tears filled my eyes. I started to shake my head.
“Hey.” He grabbed me. “Let’s go through the details. Then, I can give my gallant hero speech, okay?”
I chuckled through my panic. “All right. Details, then you can be the prince who slays the dragon.”
He kissed the tip of my nose. “Sam will take you to the airport. There are plane tickets and passports for the five of you in the false bottom of my suitcase, along with twenty thousand dollars. That should be enough to cover any problems. And then you’re going to get on that plane to Philly and never look back.”
The bottom dropped out of my stomach, hearing him say that. I could picture the Cairo airport, the charming stories Sam would try to tell to distract me.
“How am I supposed to do that?” I asked. “Just leave you behind?”
He kissed me softly. “Because you know I’ll always come back to you.”
CHAPTER 10
PAIGE
Istared up into Tom’s green eyes, suffused with love and iron certainty. He would always find his way back to me. In any life, in any way he could. Even if I went back to Philadelphia alone, I’d carry him with me.
Silently, I stood and moved the suitcase of supplies off the bed. Then, I straddled Tom’s lap and kissed him. He moved with me, soft and hard like the look in his eyes. Like I knew him to be. The love of my life and the monster who’d saved me, the mafioso and the Robin Hood. He ran his hands up and down my sides slowly, his fingers grazing the sides of my breasts but never settling on them. I cupped his jaw in silent agreement. We would go slow. We would make the most of the time we had before he had to leave.
He leaned back, keeping me balanced on top of him, and ran his hands through my long, loose hair. When he released it, the strands fell around us like a curtain. I rubbed circles in the five o’clock shadow on his jaw, a sure sign he’d been busy all day. His tongue danced with mine. Soft noises of pleasure filled the room.
I leaned up just long enough to remove my shirt. Tom palmed my breasts through my bra and pulled me back down to his mouth. I obliged with a smile. He hardened underneath me,just as slow as everything else. Like staying up last night, maybe if we went slow enough, we could make this moment last forever.
I loosened the knot on his tie and pulled it off then started on the buttons. With none of my usual fumbling speed, I noticed how beautiful the buttons were for the first time, how they caught the light. Certainly a choice someone else had made for him. He was a big-picture man. He had to be. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to pull off his most spectacular magic trick, where he made me feel like the most important thing in his world while always having a million things to do.
Tom sat up, and I slid his shirt from his shoulders. While I pressed kisses to his exposed skin, he unfastened my bra and tossed it aside. I braced for the inevitable jump in speed as passion overwhelmed him, but he circled my nipples with the same easy patience. We had all the time in the world.
I kissed along his chest, playing with his chest hair and laving his nipples with attention in aimless patterns. He teased me the same way, starting to pick up speed before changing pace, occasionally abandoning my breasts altogether to trace nonsense symbols on my back with the very tips of his fingers. Tom knew me too well. He could push me to the edge of orgasm by playing with my nipples alone, and he could keep me from it just as easily. Desire built into a smoldering flame, not urgent, but certain. Lasting.
When one of my circuits took me too near his belt, I gave in. I unfastened it and his pants with slow, certain motions, grazing his cock occasionally as I did. He met my gaze, his green eyes burning. I kissed along the band of his underwear, over his hipbone.
He shuddered. “No fair. I can barely touch you.”
With a smile, I pulled his pants to his ankles and climbed back on top of him. His hands returned to my waist instantly, but I didn’t expect him to roll us over. He loomed above mewearing nothing but boxers and devouring me with his eyes. Then, he put his mouth to my chest and left a trail of kisses across my skin.
“To remember me by.” He winked.
I shook my head. Part of me wanted to believe he’d only say that if he knew he wouldn’t die. The rest of me knew that Tom was a joker to the end, that he’d be doing stand-up at his own execution if he could, and that I wouldn’t love him any other way. In the roll, one of his legs had slotted between mine, and I ground slowly against his muscular thigh as he teased me. The embers of want burned higher, brighter, but never too hot. No rush.
