Kane's Ransom: A BWWM Mafia Romance Novel (26 page)

She rocked back and forth, trying to match his movements beneath her. She felt him slide in and out, those long strokes that felt so good on her and made him squeeze his eyes shut as he struggled to hold back. It wouldn't be much longer now.

Killian's eyes snapped open, staring up at her. "Alicia, I-" he began, but cut off, shuddering.

She smiled as she leaned forward, kissed him gently even as she rode him. But he still held back his orgasm for a couple of seconds longer, fighting to speak.

"Alicia, I love you," he finally managed, his eyes staring deep into hers.

For a second, Alicia froze, her every muscle pausing. In that thinnest of instants, a million thoughts and feelings came rushing through her brain, a pounding whirlwind of indescribable color and babble as she heard these words echo again in her head.

He loved her. Did he really? Was he just saying it now, because he was about to orgasm? But no, one look at his eyes, at those strong blue eyes, told her that he spoke the truth. He really did care about her, deeper than anyone else she knew.

This was love.

And in her chest, Alicia felt a bloom of warmth towards him in response, a rush of powerful emotion. When she looked at him, she saw him as a real person with many dimensions, all of which made him even more desirable to her. She wanted to be with him, to lay next to him and held in his arms, to listen to him talk for the rest of her life.

"I love you, too," she whispered back, before kissing him once more, ever so lightly, on the lips.

And a second later, Killian's entire body stiffened, and his hands tightened around her waist to hold her down. Fully impaled on his cock, Alicia felt the man shudder beneath her, holding his breath as he flexed and wriggled inside of her.

Killian's orgasm didn't last as long as hers, but she could see from the way his chest heaved that it was no less intense and powerful. When he finally relaxed, sagging back onto the bed, his eyes looked exhausted - but thrilled and relieved, as well.

For a few minutes, the two of them just lay there, breathing in and out in time with each other, savoring the lingering rush of sensation as their heart rates slowly dropped back into the normal range, as their bodies adjusted to the new rush of pleasurable sensations and neurotransmitters.

"We should probably clean up, take a shower," Killian finally murmured, his chin buried in her hair as she nestled against his chest.

"And order a pizza," Alicia added, as she heard the man's stomach rumble, up against her ear.

Eventually, they ended up doing both - and added two more orgasms to each other's tallies by the time the pizza arrived.

Chapter thirty

Six months later...

Killian woke up from his bed with a yawn, his hand fumbling for the beeping alarm clock. He stretched his limbs out before pulling himself out of bed, grunting as he felt soreness in his arms and legs.

He kept on stretching as he headed for his home gym. Only once he was sure he'd managed to work the kinks out of his muscles did he start on his routine, pumping his way through various weight exercises, and hopping on his stationary bike to pound through the cardio workout.

Sweaty but satisfied when he finished, Killian climbed off of the stationary bike, peeling off clothes as he headed for the shower. He didn't spend long rinsing off, however, giving himself no more than five minutes.

Back in the bedroom, he pulled on his usual outfit of jeans and a tight fitted tee shirt. Making sure his wallet and phone were tucked away in his pockets, he made a pit stop in the living room to collect his laptop, sliding it into the messenger bag slung over his shoulder. With the bag in place, he ambled down to the garage, pulling on his leather jacket before opening the door and stepping out into the chillier garage interior.

Killian threw a leg over his motorcycle, firing up the engine and giving it a minute or so for the bike to warm up in the cold morning air. He opened the garage door, drove out to his driveway, and waited for the door to close behind him. Only once he'd seen it shut all the way did he kick the bike into gear and head out towards the diner.

Pulling into the parking lot, he steered his bike towards an already occupied parking space. Slowing the bike carefully, he maneuvered in next to the other motorcycle already parked in the space, making sure that both bikes sat parallel to each other. Unlike Killian's big silver Harley, the other motorcycle in the space looked smaller, leaner, almost daintier. It had a few scratches, betraying its age, but its lines looked clean.

Killian turned off his motorcycle, removed the key and stuck it in his pocket, and headed into the diner.

"Well, look who's finally awake!"

Killian turned to face the voice as he entered, but he still barely had time to get his arms up before Alicia landed in them, wrapping both her arms and legs around him and hugging him bodily. "Took you long enough, slowpoke!" she whispered in his ear, before pulling back just enough to give him a kiss that left his head spinning.

"Easy now!" Killian protested - although he didn't let go of the young woman. "You're going to make all the other customers expect the same treatment!"

Indeed, several of the elderly regulars who frequented the diner were turning and grinning at the pair of them. Alicia, however, merely stuck her tongue out at the observers.

"Oh, please," she replied. "I own this place - I can choose to greet any customer however I want - and that includes giving special treatment to the man who helped me buy out the restaurant from its owner!"

Killian couldn't help smiling, but he did his best to not laugh along with her. "Well, I'd like a table for one," he said, trying to return to a more normal conversation. "Perhaps a booth?"

"For the famous author, Killian Kane, the man who's written one sexy new mystery thriller already and is hard at work on his second?" Alicia replied, raising her eyebrows. "Why, he's got the pick of the diner!"

For a moment, Killian thought of objecting, of pointing out that his first novel, although accepted at a publisher, definitely didn't elevate him into fame and fortune. But Alicia knew that, of course. She'd been sitting at the dining room table with him when he opened the letter, had jumped up and cheered for him when he read the good news. And ten minutes after that good news, she'd dragged him off to bed to help him celebrate in a different way.

So instead of complaining, he just gave the woman one last smile and headed over to his normal booth. Alicia smiled after him, and then darted off to bring him his coffee.

She arrived with the hot beverage almost before Killian had had time to sit down and unpack his laptop. She slid the coffee cup, along with a little silver container of cream, onto the table, and then hopped up onto the booth beside Killian. "So, how's this next book coming?" she asked. "What's it going to be, again?"

"A romance," Killian answered, even though Alicia knew very well what the next book would be. After all, he'd explained his ideas to her previously, sharing the different plot points as she listened from his bed, her legs swinging back and forth and occasionally dipping down to bounce off her bare ass.

Even now, when he looked at her, he could easily imagine how she looked without her cute little dress, how her naked body curved so gracefully to sit in the booth beside him...

A moment later, Alicia reached out and whacked him, not too hard, with the back of her hand. "Stop imagining me naked!" she protested.

"What? I wasn't-"

"Oh, don't give me that," she cut him off, but she was smiling as she did so - and leaned in to give him a peck on the cheek. That peck turned into another little peck, this one on the lips, and then that turned into another, slightly longer kiss...

Alicia pulled back with a gasp. "Oh man, you're going to totally get me fired!" she exclaimed, grinning at Killian. "Sleeping with a customer? What would the boss say?"

"I imagine that she'd want to drag him into the bathroom for round two," he replied with an uncharacteristic bit of sass, but he turned back to his computer. "Tell you what, why don't you give me some time to think over my order. Come back in five minutes?"

The young woman nodded, hopping up from the booth. "Take your time," she said, looking up as the bell over the front door of the diner dinged as new patrons arrived. "I've got plenty to do around here!"

Killian couldn't keep the smile from blooming back on his face as he watched her hurry off, filled with happy energy. He waited until she'd disappeared around the corner before he finally reached down and pulled up the lid of his laptop.

He had a lot to work on today, even ignoring his novel. Over the last few months, although he and Alicia had started off living in their own houses and only seeing each other for dates, they'd quickly found themselves crossing those self-established lines. At first, it was just a toothbrush and some cleaning products left in Killian's bathroom. Next, Alicia started storing a couple of extra outfits at his place, so that she could change when she slept over (which was happening more often than not).

And before long, almost without intending to do so, they'd moved in together.

To his surprise, Killian never felt the loss of privacy, the intrusion of another person into his own personal space, that he'd always imagined would come with another person moving into his home. Alicia woke up each morning before him, leaving early so she could open up the diner, but even when she was home, he never felt stifled. Indeed, when he arrived home after a long day of errands and found Alicia in the kitchen, whipping up some dinner, a smile always bloomed on his face as he stepped forward to greet her.

But now, they had to figure out what to do with Alicia's place.

At first, Alicia suggested renting the place out, continuing to pay off the mortgage with the rental income. Killian, however, found himself on the other side of the argument, convincing her to sell the place instead. Even he couldn't believe, some days, that he'd chosen this side of the debate. He'd never thought that he would be arguing to commit himself more tightly to a woman - but he'd never before met a woman quite like Alicia!

Today, he reminded himself, he had another appointment with the realtor he'd found. The realtor was a woman in her late fifties with a no-nonsense attitude and a sarcastic streak of humor that Killian immediately appreciated. The woman had taken a single look at Alicia's house and had declared that she could sell the place - but it would take some work, she warned Killian. Appreciating her honesty, he'd hired her on the spot.

Of course, checking off the task of hiring a realtor simply added a dozen more tasks onto his to do list. He now had to hire some professionals to clean Alicia's house, had to clear out the rest of her items and figure out where to incorporate them into his own place, had to repair a couple of little dents and dings in her walls, needed to look into hiring a company to stage a beautiful interior for tours...

Sighing, Killian turned his attention to the menu in front of him. The list seemed to stretch on and on, but he didn't mind the tasks. He felt as though, with each task accomplished, he added another brick to the life that he and Alicia were building together, making their relationship just a little bit stronger.

A minute later, Alicia popped back up in front of his table. "So, has the famous author made his decision?" she asked, beaming at him as she brushed a strand of dark, curly hair back behind her ear.

Killian tapped the picture of the classic breakfast plate - eggs, toast, hash browns, and bacon. "I'll take the classic, I think."

"You got it!" Alicia popped the menu out of his hands and hurried off to put in his order - but she paused before stepping away, glancing back at him.

"I love you," she added softly, her eyes suddenly liquid and vulnerable, reflecting tenderness and caring.

"I love you, too," Killian added back without hesitation, smiling back at her as he felt his own craggy features soften. And he spoke the truth, feeling a rush of love pouring out of him towards this woman, this vulnerable but still strong woman, who had been through so much already in her life but still came out victorious.

Alicia gave him one last smile, and then turned away, heading off to the kitchen. Killian watched her go, watching her shoulders and hips sway. He could stare at her forever, he thought to himself. And sometimes, when he got home late, after she'd already curled up and fallen asleep on his couch, he'd spend several minutes memorizing the lines of her body, the curves of her face, before scooping her up in his arms and carrying her off to his bed, to lay her down gently beside him.