The Perfect Stroke (50 page)

I’d talk if I could, but my mouth is full of dick—
of Roman.
In the end, all I can do his hum my agreement. That seems to be enough because he thrusts me down on his shaft again and again before erupting with a growl. His cum slides down my throat in waves and I open my eyes to watch as the climax moves through him.
Beautiful.

I pull Ana up beside me. She stretches out on the seat, rubbing against me like a cat begging to be petted. Her head rests in my lap against my undone pants. Her hair is ruffled and finally completely out of order. It’s much hotter than I even imagined. I run my fingers through it while I catch my breath. I hit the intercom when I finally remember I have yet to tell Robert where to take us.

“Robert, takes back to Ana’s apartment.”

“Yes, sir,” he responds and I click it off.

“My apartment?”

“It’s closer and I need you in a bed, pet,” I tell her, not bothering to expand. The plain truth is that if I don’t get inside of her soon, my dick is going to drive me mad. I just came inside of that sweet mouth of hers and I’m still hard as a hammer. There’s only so much control a man can have—even me.

She pulls my shirt up and places a kiss against my stomach before sitting up. Regretfully, I fix my pants, adjusting my damn dick because we should be at her apartment in about fifteen minutes.

“We’ll have to hurry. I’ll need to get to work so I have time to run through my sets and pick out the costumes and things.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Roman,” she starts, and my hand goes to the side of her neck and I pull her face into mine, my grip not hard enough to hurt her, but firm enough so that she is reminded who’s in charge.

“My woman doesn’t strip for other men, Ana.”

“Your woman? Listen Roman, we just started seeing each other and you knew I was a stripper before this started!”

“We’re doing a hell of a lot more than just seeing each other. My cock was just in that throat of yours. My cum is in your stomach. If you think I’m going to let you dance for another man after the dance you gave me in that room, Ana, you’re fucking crazy.”

Her head snaps back, but I just increase my hold on her, not letting her pull away.

“That was different! I don’t dance for other men! I told you that! Of all the pigheaded, egotistical, juvenile—”

“Ana, that’s
enough
. I didn’t mean that you would. I’m just telling you that I’ve claimed this body and there’s not another man out there who’s going to get a look at what is mine. And, pet, let us be clear:
you are mine
.”

She goes still, but most of all she shuts up. “You don’t know me.”

“I know all I need to know and I plan on learning much more.”

“You might not like what you find.”

“And I may like it even more,” I tell her.

She’s cute. Is she worried that her past is something that will bother me? That I will hold it against her? It’s her that needs to learn who I am. I’ll teach her that, too.
In time.
It’s occurred to me that what I’m talking about is something more than just sex. I’m not going to spend time thinking about it. I want her and it’s not showing signs of lessening. Actually, something that has never happened to me in my lifetime is going on. The more I’m around Ana, the more I want her. I’m not growing bored. I’m showing no signs of boredom. Usually one time is enough to take off the new, wear the edge down. Maybe it’s because I haven’t actually been inside of her yet. Fuck if I know; I just know nothing is happening like I thought it would. I have a sneaking suspicion Ana is a game-changer.

“What am I supposed to do if I don’t work? Jesus, Roman, I
have
to work. I have bills and I like having a roof over my head. Besides that, I’m not one to sit around and do nothing. I’ve worked since I was sixteen.”

“You’ll live with me.”

“I can’t—Wait a minute. What did you say?”

“You don’t need to worry about a roof over your head. You’ll stay under my roof.”

“I can’t move in with you! We just met.”

“I’ve had my face buried between your legs and my dick in your mouth. I think that means more than how long we’ve actually known each other.”

“
That’s
what you’re basing asking a woman to move in with you on? Because we got each other off? Jesus, your house must be crowded. Where do you keep all of the women?”

“You’re entirely too mouthy for my peace of mind, pet. Believe it or not, there’s never been another woman in my house. For you, I’m making an exception. I have a feeling it won’t be the first.”

“Mouthy? I’d take exception to that, but I think you just shocked me into silence.”

“I’m not sure that’s possible.”

Ana does something else that shocks me. She sticks her tongue out at me. For the first time that I can remember in what has to be years, I throw my head back and laugh.

“You’re really beautiful when you laugh, Roman,” Ana whispers softly.

I bring my eyes back to her face at her words and take in the sweet way she’s looking at me. Men would go off to war and die, all for the chance to protect that face. I pull her to me and take her mouth. Five minutes.
Five minutes
until we get to her apartment and then I’m fucking her brains out.

My cell phone rings in my pocket and I pull away from Ana after dragging my tongue against hers one last time. I look at my phone. When I see Bruno’s number, I know I’m in trouble.

“Yeah?” I grunt, answering it.

“Boss, we got problems.”

“I’m getting fucking tired of hearing that.”

“The warehouse was just broken into.”

“What happened to the guards?” I growl, anger rolling through me.

“Two dead. Four unconscious.”

My hand tightens up on the phone. I’d like to throw the damn thing. “Who are the two who died?”

“Ivan and Reese.”

“Fuck,” I groan, holding my head down. “Have you told their families?”

“No, boss. I just called the rest of the cleanup crew out and called you.”

“Any idea who did it?”

“They were gone when we got here, but, boss…”

“Spit it out, Bruno, what did the cameras show?”

“One of the security cameras, the new one we put in across the street, showed Banks.”

“I’ll be there in five. I want the cleaning crew called out and I’ll go talk to Ivan’s wife. Reese didn’t have anyone but his mother. She’s still in that nursing home. I’ll go there tomorrow. Keep a lock on this shit. The last thing these ladies need to hear is about their men before I can talk to them.”

“You got it,” Bruno says and I hang up.

I turn to look at Ana and worry is etched all over her face.

“I take it our plans have changed,” she says as the car comes to a stop.

“I’m sorry, Ana. I can’t.”

“It’s okay, Roman. Go do what you have to do. I’ll be here when you get back,” she tells me as Robert opens the door.

I cup her face in my hand. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Her hand moves over my wrist that is resting on her collarbone. She squeezes it, encouragingly. “Someone died?” she questions, and I fight against my need to reassure her. I can’t trust anyone—especially a woman—with my business, no matter how the look in her eyes makes me want to trust her.

“Two of my men,” I answer, compromising. Even giving her that much makes me want to kick my ass.

Ana doesn’t push me, however. She leans up and kisses me lightly on the cheek, and then stretches up to whisper in my ear. “Be safe,
Daddy
.”

The whispered words make me want to smile. I would if I didn’t know what was waiting for me. I watch as she slides out of the car. It’s not until I’m ten minutes down the road that I realize I didn’t walk her to her door and make sure she was safe. I’ve never felt the urge to before, but I vow that will never happen again.
Ana’s mine
. I’m keeping her.

I lean against the door when I make it inside. My emotions are all over the place. Being near Roman makes me forget what I’m really here for. That’s dangerous. It’s also extremely stupid. Roman’s a job. I’m here to find evidence on him and save my brother. It’s that simple. The rest is just static. I can’t allow it to get to me. I can’t allow Roman to get to me. After giving myself a pep talk, I start walking up the stairs to my apartment when a hand reaches out and grabs me from behind. I scream before I can stop myself and years of training takes over. I step into my attacker, deliver an elbow back into his solar plexus. I hear a male grunt and I reach behind my head and wrap my arms around my attacker’s neck, flipping him over my shoulder. He lands with a thud, groaning and still holding his stomach.

“Told you not to sneak up on her, rookie,” I hear Paul say from my left.

The adrenaline is still surging through me, but that’s when I can recognize the guy on the floor as one of the main officers who work underneath Paul.

“What the hell are you two doing here? Are you trying to blow my cover?”

“Gee, Ana, it’s not like we planned on you bringing that slime back home with you. I told you, kid, you’re skating on thin ice here.”

“Back off, Paul. I’m doing what I have to do to make sure my brother survives this shit.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” the man on the floor wheezes as he gets up. I instantly want to knock him back down.

“What do you want? You do realize Roman could be having me watched?”

“You’re safe. We’ve cleared all the security.”

“Whatever. Tell me what you did. Before we got here, Roman got a call that something had happened. He mention deaths. Why did he mention deaths, Paul?”

“We raided the warehouse. There were more guards there than we anticipated. They surprised a few of our men. It had to be done.”

“No, it didn’t. Why are you doing that? I thought the reason I’m undercover is so we can know what property to check into and not do stupid shit and get people killed.
People like my brother!”

“I thought that was the reason you were here too, Ana. But it seems to me the reason is all about you fucking the enemy now.”

“You need to step back, Paul. I’m doing what I have to do to take care of my brother and do my job. You may not like it, but you better damn well respect me and keep your judgments to yourself,” I growl, having enough of the shit he keeps dishing out. It may be frowned on, but if I was a male officer, it wouldn’t even be a question. He’d be patting me on the back. “I am doing my job, and if you would just let me work and give me time, then maybe we wouldn’t have to kill innocent people!”