28 Seconds: A House of Valentine Novella (23 page)

“Valentine plus propranolol.”

“And it’s sweet, isn’t it?”

“Yep.”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Cole was moving around the room, gathering his shoes, keys, jacket.

“What is that?”

“It’s a PTSD drug. The one they give returning combat vets.”

“PTSD again,” he mumbled. “Do we even stock that?”

“No, but I know where to get some.”

“Sweet?”

“Fucking Teresa,” he growled. “She’s been dosing Ariana’s coffee with it since she was kid.”

“Cole’s coffee is much better than mom’s. Hers is always sweet straight out of the pot.”

“Watch her. Do not leave this room. Ten minutes tops.”

“We’ll have ourselves a party, won’t we, kid?”

I nodded. “Tony’s fun. I like Tony.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

I awoke feeling normal. A real normal like I hadn’t felt since before my mother died. I lay still, foggy memories flittering in and out as I tried to figure out what was real and what was imaginary. I rolled over, watching Cole, Tony and my father as they sat huddled in the corner of my room talking in hushed voices. Even they seemed normal. Like a family. Cole’s eyes met mine and I offered him a smile. He nodded my direction and my father was beside me in two long steps.

“Ariana,” his kiss was feather light on my forehead. “I was afraid I was losing you, just like-”

“You lost my mom,” I murmured, patting his hand. “It’s okay. I still remember way more than I’d like to.”

He brushed my hair out of my face. “You look so very much like her.”

“Unfortunately, that is exactly what Marco thought.”

“He is-”

“Dead. Yeah,” I cut him off. “I remember that as well.”

“I’ve missed your whole life, Ariana. I’m so very sorry for that.”

He looked so broken, so very close to tears, and I could see why my mother fell in love with him. But, unlike her, I wouldn’t be blindsided. I knew what he was capable of and I refused to let myself forget that. I patted his hand. “Then we’ll just have to meet each other all over again. Dinner, a real family dinner, tonight? Cole, Al, Tony?”

“Anything you want, it’s yours, darling.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead again. “You are so strong, so beautiful, so much more amazing than I ever realized you could be. You are I, Ariana, are going to change the world. Welcome home, my sweetest Ariana.”

He stepped away and Tony took his place. “We’re going to have that long talk sooner rather than later. But we’ll make it a tequila date. There’s this nasty rumor going around that you have a tolerance level that beats even mine.”

“Destroying your reputation with the boys?”

“Fuck yeah,” he laughed and ruffled my hair. “Go easy on my brother there.” He nodded toward Cole. “You scared the hell out of him.”

“Duly noted.” A Tony left, my eyes drifted to Cole, but it was impossible to determine his mood.

“Come here.”

“You come here.”

“Is that an order, Ms. Valentine?”

I smiled. “Meet you halfway?”

He was there, waiting, before I’d even struggled out of the bed. I got my balance and then made my way to him. I wrapped my arms around his waist, snaking my body against his. His hand was in my hair, his face at my throat as he inhaled me. “There are so many things we need to discuss. Your father, your mother, Marco, Valentine pharmaceuticals, those memories you still don’t want to tell me-”

“Not now.” My hands slipped under his shirt, my nails scratching a path up his chest. “I didn’t know if I was going to ever get to touch you again, Cole, so today, you owe me a lesson.”

I ignored his penetrating gaze, tugging his shirt up enough to get my lips on his skin. He still didn’t react so I buried my nails into his back, jerking him toward me. That
did
get a reaction and he tugged his shirt off and tossed it aside. My teeth buried into his chest but before I could try again, his hand was tangled in my hair and pulling my neck back to assault my mouth. He paused long enough to yank my shirt over my head and then his mouth was on me, a trail of intense fire down my neck. He jerked me forward, taking my breast deep in his mouth. My nipples puckered, hard and thick under his tongue as he flicked them. His hand cupped the other, squeezing and pinching until I yelped from the pain and pleasure of it. His fingers continued down, slipping under the edge of my underwear and going straight for my opening. He didn’t hesitate and thrust his fingers inside, fast and deep. My knees buckled and he tightened his arm around my waist to keep me from falling. He gave a low chuckle as he continued to push inside me. “Always so fucking wet, Ariana.”

“For you, Cole. Only for you.”

“First lesson?” he growled as he began to undo his pants, “that was the perfect thing to say.”

Before he could step out of his pants, I had his cock in my hand. I stroked him, long and slow, as he backed me toward the bed. He pushed me down and his lips were on my throat. “Remember, don’t scream.”

“It’s my house. If I want to scream-”

“In
your
house, your screams will bring a dozen armed men to our bedside,” he grumbled. “Don’t scream.”

He didn’t wait for a response, knowing I would obey. His mouth lit a fiery trail down my skin as he moved down to my thighs. He breathed hot on my sex, sending chills through me, before taking it in his mouth. His tongue traced my folds, pushing inside me and tracing circles around my opening. I grabbed the sheets as he suckled my clit, then flicked it and I realized he was gaging my reaction to his every move. He continued to circle my clit with his tongue until it swelled and then he scraped his rough stubble across it. My body lurched toward him, ripping sheets as I moved. “So,” he chuckled, “rough it is.”

“Cole, please,” I groaned in frustration.

He ignored my plea, his tongue thrusting back into me and I spread my legs wider to give him better access. I could hear him lapping my juices, his own soft moans starting to mingle with my own. His tongue traced down to my ass, circling there, plunging gently and my body rocketed off the bed, wanting more. “Mm,” he groaned, “time enough for that lesson a later day, baby girl.”

“Cole!”

He raked against my clit again, harder and faster this time. My hand went to his hair, trying to force him even harder into me but he broke my grasp and moved to straddle me. My hands circled his cock without instruction, spreading his own slickness down the shaft. He grabbed my arms, locking them above my head just as he shifted to get his body between my legs. “Tell me what you want.”

“You. Inside me. Now.”

His hands gripped my hips, arching them off the bed. He slid his tip inside and then out again, resting it on my clit. I wiggled for more but he held firm. He did the same again, teasing me.

“All of you, Cole.”

He thrust deep without warning and I yelped. He gave a slow, gentler push but I buried myself down on him, needing him far inside me. He dropped to rest on his forearms, touching my face to get me to look at him. “I won’t hurt you again, not without permission. Tell me how you want me, Ariana, and I’m yours.”

“Fuck me, Cole. Hard. Harder than you’ve ever fucked anyone else.”

He thrust into me, our bodies sliding from the power behind it. And again. But it still wasn’t enough. “Deeper, please, deeper.”

He snickered. “I go any deeper and I’m going to end up in your throat, Ariana.” He shifted, grabbing my legs and wrapping them around his middle. Then he grabbed the headboard and plunged into me. A whimper escaped and my hands went to his back, nails burying into his flesh. He continued to pound me, our bodies slapping together as he drew farther and farther inside me. I could feel myself coming and locked my legs around him, arching my pelvis to get more of him. This time, even he felt the difference.

“Christ,” he groaned, delving into me the same way again. His voice was broken, gasps of unexpected ecstasy. “Damn...baby girl...so fucking tight...fuck.” He was faster, thicker, and knowing he was coming sent me over the edge. I felt the spasms wrench him further into me, pain and ecstasy blending together. When he came, seconds later, I could feel his throbbing reaching longer, seeping into my very being. He patted my legs, signaling me to let loose, and then he dropped onto the bed. It was several minutes before either of us could move and he rolled to give me an exhausted kiss before pulling me to rest on his chest.

“So, my little virgin likes it rough.”

“You weren’t complaining a minute ago,” I said, biting him playfully.

“God, no. That last move you made, you rubbed my cock raw, Ariana.”

“You have a filthy mouth.”

He laughed. “You weren’t complaining a minute ago.” His fingers drifted over my nipple, toying with each one. “I can’t wait to take you somewhere you can scream.”

“Can we do that? Go somewhere? Away from all this?”

“You want to run?” he asked, disbelieving.

“No, just...the chaos of this place. It’s all too much, too soon.”

“Is that directed at me, us?”

“I want to go away
with you
, Cole, so that should alleviate your insecurity. You really are not very observant, are you?”

“You’re observant enough for both of us,” he assured me. “A long weekend away? A romantic escape, is that what’s in your head?”

“I’m not much of a romance girl.”

“I don’t know. ‘Fuck me deeper’ was a pretty sweet phrase to hear.”

“You are incorrigible.”

He pinched my ass as he laughed then snaked his arm to rest against my hip. “And where would we go?”

“I’ve been thinking about that.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“How about New Orleans?”

He hesitated and I could feel his body twitch in my arms. “Why there?”

“Why not?”

“Ariana.”

I rolled onto him, folding my arms across his chest and resting my head to look at him. “It was the only place my mother and I lived more than once. You keep talking about how brilliant but devious she was.”

“Devious is your word.”

“Whatever. It’s true. I keep thinking that she would have keep notes, a journal or something. It’s the most basic rule of science. Recipes that worked, ones that failed, and maybe-”

“What she was trying to accomplish with you. I’ve considered that myself. She was meticulous. We found her records after she fled so it makes sense she started recorded things again.”

“They could’ve gone up in smoke when you burned the house down but, if she is as smart as you say, there would’ve been copies. She wouldn’t have wanted to be caught with them.”

“It makes sense,” he acknowledged but I could still feel the tension etching through his muscles.

“We know she still had Valentine men in her life and, somehow she managed to come up with the money to keep dosing me.”

“We talked about that the first time you mentioned it. It made us wonder if she wasn’t pulling Valentine funds from somewhere. Or Bianchi even. Al’s been checking but so far found nothing.”

“If it’s there, I’m sure he’ll find it,” I nodded. “So, why
not
New Orleans?”

“It’s not Valentine territory. It’s a no man’s land of people trying to take control of the port, the city. A couple of years ago, some of the guys went down for Mardi Gras. No business just letting loose. Only two made it back. It’s violent on any given day but visiting? It’s a signal that we intend to take over.”

“But if it was just the two of us-”

“I would never go there without an army at my side. Two if you’re beside me.”

“So it would be war,” I sighed in defeat. “I get it. I’ll try and think of somewhere else she might have left them.”

“You said it yourself,” he murmured, twisting the ends of my hair in his fingers, “it’s the only place she took you more than once.”

“Then I’ll let your pharmacy guys start lab ratting me again. It’s fine, Cole.”

“No,” he sighed, “it’s not fine. Your mother didn’t erase your memories. In fact, she took considerable care
not
to erase them and only hide them. And that means-”

“She would’ve created a way for me to retrieve them. If I ever wanted them.”

“Or needed them,” he corrected. “Her life revolved around the house of Valentine, both the good and bad of it. It’s much more likely that she thought you would need them at some point. Either for your own protection or for the protection of the family.”

“It makes me wonder what else is in my brain. It’s not like she just hid some traumatic event when I was a child and still living in the household.”

“Like Marco,” he growled.

“Yes,” I rubbed his chest to get him to calm again. “That one is understandable if not a little self-serving on her part. It would be hard to go unnoticed on the run with a little kid constantly having meltdowns.”