The Perfect Con (A Bad Boy Romance Novel) (Bad Boy Confessions Book 1) (14 page)

“Please stop asking me about it,” he breathed raggedly into my ear. His teeth grazed the flesh and I shuddered. Fuck, I’d do whatever he asked. I needed this in my life. “The only heart I want is yours.”
His hand slid over my t-shirt, where my heart was thundering away. Then it slid further down, between my tingling breasts, down my stomach, and cupped my sex in the palm of his hand. It warmed to his touch like a pet, excited that her master was home. All my breath rushed out and he descended again with a bruising tenderness, so that I was starving for oxygen, but completely unwilling to break away from his lips.

When we separated and dragged in our breaths, hot mouths mingling against one another, I knew that he felt the same way. Desperate. Famished.

His firm fingers traveled down my torso, down my side, and gripped my ass like a horseman grabbing reins.
Time to ride.
He hoisted me onto the hood of the car and clenched my skirt in his fingers, shoving the hem higher on my thighs. I felt his breath rushing against my ear and he crushed his mouth down onto my neck, hands winding around my wrists and peeling them back, slamming me down onto my back. The metal dented and groaned beneath us. “Oh, Leo,” I groaned, spreading my legs wider for him. I exhaled long and low. “Can’t you imagine what a team we would be?” I bit my lower lip at the thought. “We could have anything we wanted.”

“Shh,” he murmured, one hand sliding into my panties. “Fuck, yes. That’s just perfect.” His thick index finger played at my eager entrance while his thumb pressed my clit. “Can’t we just forget everything and start over?” The tip of his finger dipped into me and swirled while the thumb began a subtle rub back and forth.

“Okay.” My hips bucked against his hand and a fog descended over my brain. “Okay.”

More fingers plunged into me and I trembled as they pumped. If anyone passed us on this road, they would see me, spread across the hood of my car, a businessman with his hand deep inside my skirt. “Let me in, Sofi,” he whispered, gently shoving my t-shirt up over my breasts. He took one nipple in his mouth, then migrated over to the other, then slid down between my legs. Shit, he knew how to play me. He hooked his finger into my panties and pushed them to the side. A bolt of electricity forked up my torso as his tongue flicked over my sensitive button. “Let’s start over.”

“Yeah,” I breathed. “Yeah.” He mauled over me until I shuddered and exploded against his face. When he emerged from beneath my skirt, a knowing grin on his lips and an impish sparkle in his eyes, my body was screaming for him. I was ready. I was hardly aware at all of where we were, of the passage of time. He descended to trace kisses along my neck. His rigid cock prodded at my drenched pussy, so welcoming, so warm and familiar now, the sensation of our bodies pressed together, sliding into place. “Mm, Leo,” I cooed, nuzzling against him as he kissed along my neck. “I love you—”

I froze and my eyes popped back open. I jerked away from his mouth as if I’d been stung. I hadn’t meant to say that. It had just come out.

“Sofi,” Leo said, bracing my cheek in the palm of his hand. “You don’t have to be embarrassed.” His thumb came up to the crest of my cheekbone and gave it a slight, gentle stroke. “I…I think I know how you feel.”

I pursed my lips and shook my head. “I don’t think you do,” I said. “I’m very confused.”

“Then let me clarify things for you.” Leo leaned into my space and pressed a soft and articulate kiss on my lips. It unfolded slowly and gracefully between us, and then, when it was over, I pulled in a deep, shuddering breath. The sky rumbled overhead as Leo moved into me with a purposeful and measured stroke, striking my clit with the hilt of his cock and sending a shudder of pleasure up my spine. My arms and legs wove around him and locked us into place. His thumb roved rough over my lip and my breath came in gasps as we launched toward another climax. I clung to him for dear life and reveled in the sensations coursing through my nervous system.

The cloud split apart and a warm summer rain tumbled down onto us, making our bodies slick and sweet with the aroma of earth. Leo’s perfect hair crumbled apart between my fingers, and his movements became less measured, more wild and animalistic. “Oh, Sofi,” he grumbled into the crook of my neck, slamming into me at shorter and shorter intervals. My fingernails bit into his forearms and my teeth sunk into my lower lip. The thought of him coming inside me was enough to send me reeling onto the ledge with him.

“Leo,” I called out.

“Yes…” His massive paw of a hand wrapped around my throat as his body went rigid, and he drove himself fully into me. Diamonds shimmered in the periphery of my vision and my toes flexed and went numb. Orgasm cascaded from between my shuddering legs. “Yes!” He roared like a caveman and pulled away to pump into me one final time, his shirt plastered to his frame and his wet hair loose and dark. I’d never seen him like this before. He was so—so undone.

He leaned onto me and pressed his lips to mine, oddly chaste. Rainwater trickled over his nose and onto my cheek, and our kisses gained a new dimension, a heady flavor. When he pulled away from me, in spite of all the drama, I grinned and touched his cheek. I wanted us to stay in this moment forever, entwined and wet and out of breath.

Leo sighed and leaned down into my neck. “Come back,” he murmured into my hair. “Come back to Aurora Beach with me.” The sky rumbled quietly as the storm clouds overhead shuffled away, and I pursed my lips thoughtfully, peering up at him.

“Let me do the score,” I whispered. “I’m not some little princess. The government has been watching us—you and me—from the day we were born, Leo. Don’t be scared.” I ran my hand down his damp cheek and pressed my thumb to his lips. God, they were gorgeous. “I can do things. I can do things, and do them right. You don’t need to worry about me. Believe in me. We can do this.”

His eyes gleamed down at me, and he whispered, “Do you really think that you might be in love with me?”

I nodded, solemn, and his eyes softened further. He laced his fingers through mine and pulled my hand away from his face, leaning in to press one more kiss to my lips, so tenderly, so slowly, it was almost as if he was saying goodbye. His other hand slithered into my hair, but it didn’t clutch and pull like he obviously loved to do. It just cupped the back of my head. I sighed and lulled in his embrace. Rather than electrified, I felt more weakened by this kiss. It was so soft. And so sad. The rain prickled over our embrace in its own departure, a drizzle.

Before Leo pulled away from me, he pressed his forehead to mine and whispered, “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“Well, shit. That’s never good,” I half-laughed, nervous as hell now. Our warm, cozy entanglement fell apart and he abandoned me. I winced. I was empty and cold without him filling me. “What is it? Are you pregnant?” I joked, sitting up and shoving my skirt back down. I swept all my hair to the side and began to braid it. Maybe it was a nervous habit; I couldn’t help but notice that I was doing this a lot around Leo, particularly during our talks.

Leo shook his head and cracked a half-smile. There was a grimness to the gesture—as if he knew, too, that he was about to lose me. My stomach clutched in anticipation. I was already sick. “Maybe it will explain,” he said, “why it seems as if I’m trying to control you, and trying to keep you from doing this, and you’ll see that—it’s not because I’m anything at all like your parents. I’m not holding you back because I think you will fail. I’m holding you back because I know you will fail.”

“Leo,” I said, my voice soft with hurt from that statement.

“I know you will fail because I made sure that you would.” Leo smiled, though there was no real warmth there. Just sorrow. I frowned up at him, incredibly lost. How could he want to poach me, then ensure that I would fail? “It’s about—it’s about the Heart of Icarus,” he confessed, his tone low and confidential. “And it’s about Gertrude van Buiten.”

I frowned and nodded. “Okay…”

“You didn’t steal those jewels from Dominic del Papas.”

My mouth kinked up. “I know that.”

“And you didn’t steal them from Gabe, either.”

I tilted my head to the side, uncertain of exactly where he was going with this.

“Did you think it was just Gabe who was behind that operation?” Leo asked.

My brow furrowed. That was true. It was obvious that Gabe had charm for days, but it was Leo who—who made the plans, and who—who set everything up—

A pained sense of understanding dawned in my eyes.

“I stole the collection from you,” I breathed.

Leo nodded.

“And then,” he went on, “I resolved to—avenge myself against Ronaldo. At the time, I didn’t even know you existed. But then—when I did—when I found you—it was to use you.” He must’ve seen the way my eyes ticked over him, assessing where the lies ended and the man began. “Originally,” he added, despair giving an edge to his tone. “Originally!”

I looked away and sifted through the past few days, everything he’d told me. That he was afraid to lose me, that I wasn’t worth the risk. That maybe we could just settle down and forget about this lifestyle. That there was a federal agent following us.

“Was the fed your doing?” I whispered.

Leo squeezed his lips and nodded definitively. “His name is Cyrus de Silva,” he said bleakly. “He’s been on my case for a long time. I knew that he was watching us every day, and I led him right to you. I was going to pull out of the Heart heist and leave you behind.”

“You were going to send me to jail.” My heart throbbed with disappointment. My shoulders rounded and sagged. “Oh, Leo.”

Leo closed his eyes shut, brow furrowed. “I know. Whatever you want to say to me—whatever you want to do—I deserve it.”

“When?” I croaked.

“Any time you want,” Leo answered, reaching out and wrapping his hands around my arms. “I’m at your mercy here. You know that.”

“No, Leo.” I pulled from his grip and slid off the car hood, suddenly needing to put some space between us. I struggled to even gaze at him. I had been making an idiot out of myself for him in ways I hadn’t even known about, ever since the moment we met. I didn’t know if I could be with him and not think about that. “What I mean is, when did you change your mind about all this?”

Leo looked heavenward, as if the answer might be etched up there. “Ah, I’m not sure,” he said. His Adam’s apple bobbed. “I guess it was…after I went to your place. The night you danced for me. I had been saying that we could reconsider. I was trying to talk you out—”

“THAT night? THAT night?” I shrilled. “Leo, that was only a day or two ago! Jesus Christ! And everything else…” My eyes welled with humiliated tears. “Everything else was just—” I looked back up at him and saw that his own eyes bore the same dark wall of heartache. Flat. Still. “Just—”

“Stage setting and sound effects,” Leo whispered.

I nodded savagely, furious that he remembered what I’d said about Anthony. Furious that he remembered, and he knew that it applied to him, too. The first night we’d met, I’d told him that.

“I can’t believe you,” I said, glancing at my car. I considered getting back inside and pulling off. Just forgetting this place. “I came here to get away from lies,” I added. My mouth tightened with anger as I spoke. “But I still couldn’t get away from being used. Told what to do. Moved around like a little pawn on a—”

“I know.” Most men, when they’re caught, don’t want to look at you. But Leo wouldn’t look away. “I know. And I’m sorry.” He reached up to my cheek, but I flinched from his touch. “If it means anything, I’m telling you because—because I think, if you might really love me, then it’s worth it to tell the truth. It’s worth the pain, if it means that we can start out completely clean.” He spread his hands in front of himself, then dropped them. “I didn’t ever think that you couldn’t do it. If I wasn’t such a vindictive son of a bitch, I’m sure you could have.”

I raked my hands through my hair. “That’s a lot of if’s,” I whispered bitterly. I couldn’t bear to look at him. I wanted to get the hell OUT of here. For real this time, and not just as a gesture brought on by a wave of PMS. “And if I wasn’t so damn sick of being micromanaged my whole fucking life, maybe it would be okay that I had been a—a
pawn
for you, Leo. And if I didn’t want to end up just like my mother, alienated from an angry man with no options except to get away. To start over completely fresh in her thirties…just like you would have done to me.” I shook my head. “Wow.”

His eyes flashed and he started up from the side of my car. “Sofi—”

“And if I hadn’t genuinely been feeling something the whole time that you were planning to send me to jail! The whole time you were playing with my trust, playing a part, having your little plans! If I could believe anything you say now!” I marched toward my car door and wrenched it open. “But I can’t.”

“Sofi.” Leo lunged forward and grabbed my arm, gently twisting me to face him again. He just stared down at me, stricken, his eyebrows low and his large gray eyes so heartbroken, as if he couldn’t fathom that I was really saying these things. He braced me in his arms, and as much as I wanted to be strong, when he pulled me close and pressed his lips to mine, I still cracked open for him as easily as an egg. His hands traveled up over my back and I let my body bow against his, let myself become immersed. It was so hard to struggle away from him. When we broke for air, he whispered into the space between us, “You can’t really think that I wasn’t feeling anything.”

I swallowed and pulled away from him, the edge of the car door digging into my shoulder blade. Even as I put a distance between us, my hands lingered on his chest. “I think I don’t really know you after all,” I replied sadly. “When you punched out those jerk-offs at the club—was it because they were showing me disrespect, or was it because they didn’t do what you said? And what would you do if you had to see Spider again?”

“Probably nothing,” Leo said, but his eyes flashed away from mine first.

“Let’s really think about this,” I added sharply. “Because he’s my friend, you know. We pulled the van Buiten’s heist together, and I’m the one who gave him a safe place to stay. But if we do whatever this is—what will you do when you have to see him again? Will you kill him?”