Hunter (25 page)

She was still shit at giving directions, no matter what she said. Who says 'right' when someone asks if you're going left?

A woman. That's fucking who. Like it makes some crazy ass sense in their minds.

I dumped the bags on the tiny table in the corner, catching the small bag Gemma handed me before it fell to the floor. I set it on the chair and took the key from Adriana. She tugged at the ring on her finger as I locked it.

“Great. I can't get it off,” she said after thirty seconds of trying. “It's too small.”

“Run your hand under the cold tap,” I suggested, grabbing the remote from the nightstand and turning on the tiny TV. It was late, approaching midnight, but there had been too much silence on the way here. I'd only slept on and off when she took over driving.

I didn't want to have another nightmare with her around. I'd scared her last night even if she denied it. It made me worried to fall asleep again tonight in case I had another and it hurt her.

They came and went without rhyme or reason. I wondered if they were being triggered this time by my failure to carry out Enzio's orders and the knowledge I'd be facing him soon enough. I hoped that was all it was, and that when all this was said and done, they'd disappear quickly and go back to their random appearances.

I clenched my fist, wondering if she'd yell if I took the bandage off. I was certain my knuckle wasn't bleeding anymore, but there'd been a tiny bit when she changed it when we stopped three hours ago, so I doubted she'd like it if I took it off.

She was so fiery it was worth giving in once in a while.

Only once in a while, though.

She'd get madder if I gave her everything. She secretly liked a good screaming match.

“There,” she said, coming in, holding the ring up triumphantly. “Off!”

“It's getting real offensive, you know that?” My eyes followed her as she retrieved the box from the bag and set the ring back in it for the night.

“It felt weird. Heavy. Kind of like a shackle. Like I'd never get away from you.” She shrugged and put the box back.

“Well for one, that's the general idea of marriage, and two, again with the offensive.”

She cut her bright blue eyes to me, and I swore she rolled them. “According to you I have my pick of men like I'm on The fucking Bachelor or something. At least if I offend everyone I'm good.”

“So dramatic,” I muttered, flicking through the TV channels. I fought to keep my eyes on the screen as she pulled her shirt over her head, revealing her slim figure and perky tits. It got even harder when she bent forward and pushed her jeans down.

She was doing it deliberately. At least it felt like it.

Fuck.

I shifted, discreetly adjusting my pants. I'd never had so many fucking hard-ons in my entire life. I suddenly knew how a pornstar felt. I needed to be inside her constantly.

Hell, I'd take my own hand at this point.

“I'm going to shower.” I dropped the remote on the bed as she climbed beneath the sheets. She watched me as I disappeared through the room into the tiny bathroom that connected to it.

Fuck, I missed the Hilton in Los Angeles. I was a snob, but whatever—I liked to have room to sit down on the toilet to shit and then close the door. This bathroom didn't even qualify as one. More like a goddamn converted broom closet.

I found a thin towel hanging on a rail and let out a long breath. Jesus Christ, I could tell already that it'd be like wrapping my ass in a porcupine.

I shut the door and stripped off anyway, then turned on the water. This room was pretty cold, but the sudden chill did nothing for my hard on.

I'd only fucked her this morning.

This was gonna be a long ass fucking trip.

I stepped into the tiny shower cubicle and looked down. Did I even have room to knock one out in here? I reached down as the water drained over me and decided that yeah, with tiny jerks, I could totally get off in the world's smallest shower.

I didn't have much of a choice. I didn't think she could take me a third time in less than forty-eight hours.

I turned my back to the door and dropped my head forward as I gripped my cock comfortably. I could feel the blood pulsing through the vein that ran along its length as I slowly moved my fist back and forth along it.

I felt like a goddamn creep standing here—more than before. She was in the next fucking room and I was standing here in secret like a teenager getting myself off.

There was so many things wrong with me I was running out of room on the sheet of paper to list them down.

A chill blew across my back, and when I turned around, Adriana was standing in the doorway to the shower, completely naked.

I gripped my dick tightly. “What are you doing?”

She—somehow—slid into the tiny space with me and shut the door. She gasped as the water ran over her, soaking her. “I'm not an idiot, Hunter,” she whispered, the back of her hand brushing my thigh. “You just randomly needed a shower, yeah?”

“Maybe.”

She shoved my hand away and curled her tiny fingers around my erection. “Don't treat me like an idiot.”

I clenched my jaw as she slowly moved her hand along my length. Her hand was so soft, her palm so gentle against me, even as she squeezed lightly and rubbed her thumb over the head of my cock.

Heat bolted through me. Fucking hell. I'd imagined it, sure, but before now, it'd all been about her. Now for some reason it'd changed and it was about me.

I wasn't going complain.

Not even as she dropped to her knees and flicked her tongue against me. My hips jerked toward her, and I flattened my hand against the wet tiles when she took me in her mouth fully.

Fucking fuck.

She took me greedily with her hot little mouth, and I couldn't resist looking down her as her head bobbed back and forward. My hand slipped down and grabbed her wet hair. My body tightened as she massaged the underside of my cock with the tip of her tongue before taking me right inside.

She gagged as I hit the back of her throat, and I watched her, mesmerized. There was something so hot about hearing her gag on my cock. Maybe it was my desire to own her entirely and it was just one more reassurance that a part of her was controlled by me, but I didn't know.

She cupped my balls, and I jerked back out of her mouth.

That was it.

I dragged her up, half by her arm, half by her hair, and spun her away from me. “Hands on the fucking wall,” I ordered, slamming her palms against the glass cubicle. “Step back. Ass out, Adriana. I want to see you before I fuck you.”

She obeyed, stepping back and arching her back so I could see her pussy. She was exposed fully, and I pushed one finger inside her to test her wetness.

“So wet,” I murmured, leaning forward and grazing my teeth across her shoulder. “If that's what it does to you, you can suck my cock more often.” She didn't respond, so I fisted her hair and pulled her head back. She whimpered as I pumped two fingers, then a third inside her. “Was that an agreement?”

“Yes,” she whispered, gasping when I replaced my fingers with my cock. “Fuck!”

I slid my arm down her side and over her hip, along her thigh and behind her knee, then lifted her leg. I pushed one of mine forward as I struggled to keep a grip on her wet skin.

Her moan as I slammed my cock unapologetically inside her drowned out the sound of the shower. The reflection of her hard nipples shone back at me, and it just made me harder, made me need her more. Her desire was flooding all through her body just like my own was. My balls tightened as her cries became louder and she reached back for me.

I grasped her wrist and put it back against the wall. My breathing was harsh as I focused on nothing but fucking her so hard that she'd pass out before her head even hit the pillow. I wanted it, too.

If I fucked her so hard I'd fall asleep standing up, there would be no more nightmares. No more internal darkness, just for now.

The sound of my hand hitting her ass rang out as the water only acted to make it harsher. I gritted my teeth as I hooked my arm under her leg, pulling it higher, and thrusted into her tight pussy harder. She clenched around me, but I could feel the desire to smack her ass harder growing.

I want her to hurt so I don't have to.

I drew in a sharp breath and stilled, buried inside her.

“Carlo,” she whispered, turning her head back to me when I let go of her hair. “Don't stop. Please.”

“I'm—”

“You're not.” She reached back, and the touch of her fingertips against my stomach comforted. “I want you. Please.”

Her words were all I needed.

I let go.

She linked her fingers through mine against the glass and stuck her ass out further to me. Deep inside I wanted to pull my cock out of her pussy and fill her ass, but not today... Not here. Not when I could have hurt her. Not when she'd told me she wanted me anyway.

Her cry of release bounced off the walls, and I pounded into her more fiercely. Jesus, fuck,
merda.
I came inside her harshly, her pussy contracting around me and encouraging my orgasm to come and come and come.

Adriana dropped her head forward and relaxed. Her leg shook in my grip, so I slowly lowered it, pulled out of her, and wrapped my arms around her. I turned her in my arms and she fell against my chest, laughing quietly.

“Wow,” she breathed through her giggles. “That was unexpected.”

“Really,” I drawled, relishing the hot water beating against the back of my neck. “You walk in here stark naked, drop to your knees to suck my cock, and then you're surprised when I fuck the hell outta you.”

“Basically.” She sighed and circled my waist with her arms. “I just... I don't know. Wanted you.”

“Not complaining, Addy,” I said into her wet hair. “Come—wait. Shit. I didn't bring any soap in.”

She looked back, grinned, and then screamed when the water splashed on her. She slinked out of my hold to open the door, and produced three bottles from the floor. “How do you think I knew you were coming in here to get off?”

I looked at the bottle of bodywash in her hand, then the shampoo and conditioner on the floor. At least I thought it was shampoo and conditioner. I just used normal soap everywhere. “All right, you smart fuck.”

She laughed and opened the bottle before squirting a freezing stream of gel all over my body.

“Fucking hell!” I yelled, batting at my stomach to get rid of it.

Her laughter was still so loud, so strong, so I grabbed the bottle from her and shot it right back at her. She screamed when I dropped it just as sharply and pulled her against me. I captured her mouth with mine as my hands found the soap on her sides and rubbed it over her back.

She smiled against me as I rubbed it all over her upper body. We washed each other between laughs and kisses, and when all the soap was finally washed out of her hair, she reached behind me to kill the water. I pushed the door open and we half-stumbled out, grabbing a towel each.

“Errr,” she groaned. “One towel each? What about my hair?”

“I won't complain if you walk around with a towel on your head and nothing else,” I assured her.

Really—it wouldn't be a hardship.

She glared at me, squeezed some water out of her hair into the sink, and left the bathroom.

The light of the room was glaring as I joined her in it. It was the most basic room, but enough for one night. I hoped she wouldn't care about the lack of a hairdryer or I knew we'd be stopping somewhere for a travel hairdryer. The last time I vacationed with my parents my mom was horrified about the lack of a dryer and searched three stores before finally threatening the hotel concierge.

Women were serious about their hair. That much I knew.

Thankfully, Adriana scrubbed her body, dressed in some underwear, and then rubbed her hair dry with a towel. I pulled my boxers onto my half-damp body. I couldn't be bothered with drying off—that was what the air was for—and got into the bed.

She tied off her braid with a tie and climbed in next to me. “The light's on,” she whispered, pulling the sheets up to her chin.

I shot her an annoyed look as I got out and turned it off.

“Thank you,” she said when I got back in with her. She snuggled up to my arm, so I wrapped it around her, and she laid her head on my chest. Her wet hair was a little cold against my skin, but her breath was hot as it skittered across my chest, so I didn't mind too much. It was a fair balance, I thought.

She hooked her leg over mine, and I turned into her. She smiled and rested one arm over my waist as I pulled her against me a little more.

It was nice to just hold her.

'Nice' seemed sorely inadequate.

I held her, blindly watching some midnight game show on TV, as her breathing leveled out and she fell into sleep. When her breathing had been steady for several minutes, I shuffled back a tiny bit to look at her.

She was still vulnerable. Gorgeous, but vulnerable. Breakable. Like a china doll. I wanted to wrap her up in cotton wool, despite her strong spirit. I wondered a lot if she knew what she was getting herself into by chasing after Enzio.

He was a monster unlike any she'd ever crossed.

He made me look like a saint.

She still had good memories of him. He wasn't a terrible father when she was young. He simply... changed. He became corrupted by the power he held, and she became his unwilling victim.

He'd already broken her heart once.

I didn't want her to see him and know he was nothing like the man she remembered.

Then again, maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing. Maybe she'd see him and how the life was and say she wanted out. She was about the only person that could do that. She'd been away long enough that she could hand the family to someone else and allow them to control it.

She wouldn't, though.

I smiled as I pushed a thin lock of hair from her eyes. She was a spitfire. Ferocious. A fighter. She wouldn't go down without giving her all.

It terrified the fuck out of me.

I didn't think I could I survive if she didn't.

If she died... For real this time... I'd take any bullet, any torture, any pain.