A Bad Man: Joey Read online

  Over the last year that desire had grown to a dangerous level.

  The sound of bare feet on the hardwood floor had him looking at Marra. She stood there in his clothes, her hair an even wilder mess around her face. “How long were you standing there?”

  She shrugged. “Just long enough to hear about Angie, the crazy ex-girlfriend.”

  He nodded once, grabbed a cup from the strainer, and turned to show it to her. “Coffee?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t like coffee.”

  He lifted a brow, and then chuckled. “Yet you work at Vincenzo’s, which specializes in coffee.” He grinned and put the cup down.

  “I hope it’s okay, but I found an unused toothbrush in the bathroom.”

  “Anything here is for you to use. In fact I’ll have someone bring some other things here for you.”

  She was silent for a second, looked at the ground, and then finally glanced at him again. “I need to leave, Joey.”

  He didn’t need this shit either. “Marra, don’t be a fucking fool.” He stared at her, saw the anger morph her expression, but didn’t show any emotion.

  “What did you just say?” Although she tried to sound outraged, Joey could hear the hurt in her voice.

  He exhaled and moved closer to her. She took a step back, but the wall stopped her retreat. “Don’t let your need to get away from me, and from your feelings, make you a tragedy.”

  She opened her mouth, but didn’t say anything. “I don’t need your protection. I can leave, go far away from here, and you won’t have to worry about me anymore, Joey. And if you won’t let me leave town, how in the hell am I suppose to get to my job on Monday?”

  He searched her face, and then reached out and cupped her cheek. “It’s the weekend, so worrying about Monday isn’t very productive right now. You’re in danger, and I promise you that shit will get straightened out. You don’t need to run.”

  She jumped slightly when he started moving his finger back and forth over her cheek, but then relaxed in his hold.

  “Not worrying about you is not an option, Marra.” He stared at her lips, wanting to kiss her so fucking badly, but not wanting to get slapped because he was rushing her. “I didn’t want to get gritty with you concerning what you could face if Carlos and his men get you, but it is clear your stubborn ass needs to have it that way. These men are clearly fucking morons and unstable if they think they can go up against my organization and the people I considered under my protection, and not feel my wrath.” He didn’t move although he should have. “If they wanted to hurt you they could do it a hundred different ways, and by the end of it you’d be begging for death.” Joey was all about saying it how it was, but with Marra he almost wanted to keep her in this little bubble of protection, away from the ugliness of how he lived his life. But that wasn’t a reality, and if she wanted to survive, she needed to know. “They’ll gouge out your eyes, pull your fingernails off with rusty pliers, and take a blowtorch to your skin as they watch it bubble up.”

  The sound of her gasping was loud, and the fear and reality of what he had just said covered her face in ghastly horror. “Is that stuff you’d do, too?”

  She may know about what he did, about the mafia, or at least what she thought she knew from watching movies and reading books, but she didn’t know half of it. “If it was to make a point, or to get what I wanted, then yeah. I’d fucking do all of that and more.”

  She didn’t flinch, didn’t make a sound of outrage, but she did look sad, and Joey hated that fucking look on her. He didn’t want her to be sad about what he did, or about him in general. He wanted her to be a survivor, be strong and feisty like he knew she was, and just be with him. That might never happen, especially now, but he wasn’t going to give up.

  “Why are you so adamant on leaving? I know you’re smart enough to realize the danger.”

  She looked down at his chest. He was only wearing a pair of lounge pants and nothing else, and he knew that it was starting to affect her because her breathing became harsher. She looked back at his face, and then sighed as if in resignation. “It isn’t because I’m stupid and don’t think something won’t happen. Let’s be honest here, Joey. But I know that what you want isn’t something I can give you, and that is part of the reason I want to go. I know if I stay I won’t be able to keep my emotions in check, even if I should be focusing on my life being at risk.” She swallowed and then licked her lips.

  “You think I haven’t noticed that you are trying to keep me away?”

  She shrugged.

  “Take away everything else, Marra, everything aside from you and me and right now—”

  “I don’t want this life where I am looking over my shoulder because of the man I am with, and being with you would ensure that.”

  “I would never let anyone or anything hurt you, and you being here right now is proof of that.”

  “A relationship, or even a one-night stand, wouldn’t do us any good. Your life doesn’t have room for a woman that wants your time for more than a few hours a week between the sheets. I am not a goomah, Joey.” He saw her search his face with her gaze. “And my life doesn’t have room for a man that could crush me in more than one way.”

  “I’d never hurt you. I’d never let anyone hurt you, Marra,” he said again, harder this time. God forbid anyone that even tried to touch her, because their fate would be the same as when he put a bullet through the skull of his enemies. “I’d kill anyone that thought they could touch you.”

  Her breathing shifted to something deeper, faster, and he knew that she was becoming aroused.

  “I know you wouldn’t, Joey. And I know you think me staying here with you keeps me safe. But I could go, just leave far away from here.”

  “I can’t let you leave. I won’t.” He felt like he had traveled to some alternate world. His emotions didn’t feel like his. “Just be honest with me.” He knew she wanted to argue about him refusing to let her go until all of this was safe for her, but she didn’t comment on it. “What’s holding you back?”

  “I don’t have anything holding me back.” She swallowed on that last word, and he knew she wasn’t being honest.

  “Something is holding you back,” he said harshly. He cupped her face with his other hand, reveled in the smoothness of her skin, and felt like the world was crashing down around him. It was because of Marra Santos that he felt like he cared about something that didn’t have to do with the “family”. Joey might not have liked the idea of a woman as his, and his life being fulfilled with a goomah, but after the last year, and especially with Marra’s life nearly being taken right in front of him, things had shifted drastically.

  “You’re holding me back, Joey.” She stared into his eyes, and he felt his heart plummet to his stomach. God, did this woman know the power she held over him. Fuck, did he realize the power she held over him?

  “I do want you, but I can’t be with you. And I know if I let myself feel these emotions they might ruin me.” She whispered the words, and although she spoke them, she also didn’t try to pull away. “You could ruin me, Joey, and it wouldn’t take anything at all. I don’t want to be a casualty in this lifestyle, and I can’t be selfish in thinking that nothing would happen if I didn’t give myself to you.”

  He could tell she was trying to rationalize everything to him.

  “I never thanked you for saving my life, but I am grateful you were there.” She lifted her hands and placed them on his chest. “I owe you my life, but I don’t ever let anyone get close. I never have, and starting now, with a man that holds so much power, doesn’t seem like the right move.”

  If she really knew him, knew more than just the rumors she heard about what he did, then she would have known he wasn’t going to let anything stand in the way of what he wanted.

  “It doesn’t matter what you say, Marra. You’re the one I want, you’re protected with me, and I’m not fucking letting you leave until I know you’re safe.” And just when he saw her mouth
open, most likely to protest, he kissed her hard and deep. He had wanted to continue what they started last night, and he wasn’t going to stop until she was done denying this, and ready to sate both of them.

  Chapter Seven

  Joey didn’t know if he could have stopped even if he wanted to at that moment, but it seemed it didn’t matter because Marra started kissing him back. She speared her hands in his hair, tugged at the strands, and made these small noises in the back of her throat. He swallowed the sound, needing more, and wanting her to surrender every part of herself to him. She felt good in his arms, really fucking good in fact, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to let her go. Once he had claimed her, fucked her and let her know she was his, Joey was not going to let Marra walk away.

  She broke the kiss and looked at him. Her lips were swollen, red, and wet from his ministrations. “There is a part of me that feels like I’m doing something wrong, Joey.” She looked at his lips, and he couldn’t hold back the groan.

  “Does it feel good, baby?”

  She nodded, moaned out softly when he moved his thumb along her cheekbones, and he didn’t stop himself from kissing her again. “Then if it feels so fucking good, how can it be so wrong?” he said against her mouth, and when she didn’t respond, just panted against his mouth, he knew she was giving herself to him finally. “The only thing that matters is the here and now. Don’t worry about the rest right now, Marra baby.”

  “But how can this work? How can being together, in any fashion, be the right thing?”

  “You’re gorgeous and intelligent, but all this rationalization and questioning is ruining the fucking mood.” He smiled, slipped his hand behind her head, and gripped the base of her skull. “You’re complicating something that is very easy.”

  She stared at him for a second, and he wondered if she’d find that hard edge of strength to stop this again. But what surprised the fuck out of him was when she grabbed hold of his hair even harder and said, “Fuck it.” She slammed her mouth on his, sucked at his tongue, and pressed her chest to his.

  “Just trust me,” he murmured, grabbed her hair, too, and tilted her head back. “Trust me to make things good, Mara.”

  Her mouth was parted, her pupils dilated, and when she licked her lips and then nodded, he let the beast free. He kissed her again and again, hard, consuming kisses that sucked the breath from her and had her gasping out against him.

  “I’m tired of being alone,” she murmured against his mouth, and kissed him harder, with more desperation. He knew exactly what she was talking about.

  Their tongues slid along each other, frantically, heated, and full of need. He was hard, so fucking hard that he had to grind his erection into her belly to ease the ache. He felt this carnal need for her, one that wasn’t just about wanting to feel himself buried balls deep inside of her, but one that wanted to know what it was about this woman that had him acting so out of character. She was pliant in his arms, pressing her breasts against his chest, and murmuring these little incoherent things. Joey moved his hand lower until he got to the hem of her—his—shirt, and slipped his fingers beneath the material. She didn’t stop him, and in fact arched her back for more. At the first contact of his bare flesh against hers she gasped, and he groaned. She was soft everywhere.

  “God, baby, I could devour you right now until there wasn’t anything left.”

  She wasn’t wearing a bra, and his dick punched forward even harder when he took her nipple between his thumb and forefinger and pulled at the already turgid flesh. Over and over he pulled at her nipple, growing harder by the second with each moan she made.

  The sweats she wore needed to fucking go, too. He moved his hands to the waistband of her pants, but stopped and started kissing her more possessively once again. He wanted his handprints on her body, wanted his teeth marks on her skin, and he wanted her screaming out his name as he filled her with his cock. “I want to be inside of you, Marra.”

  “Don’t stop.” She slanted her mouth on his and speared her tongue between his parted lips. Back was the desperation, but it was the good kind, the kind that he felt down to his bones and wanted more of. He grabbed the collar of the shirt she wore, and in a swift move tore the fucking material in two. He cupped her breasts with his hands, squeezed the mounds until she was rocking back and forth against his erection, and had him nearly coming in his pants.

  “I need more. I need it all from you.” He was already near his breaking point. Moving his hands lower, he pushed her sweats down with frantic need. Joey cupped her ass. For a suspended moment all he did was hold the big globes of her ass while he fucked her mouth with his.

  “Christ, Marra, I’m so hard for you.” He moved his mouth to her ear and whispered, “I need to be inside of you now. I need to fuck you until you can only think of me when I’m not with you, baby.”

  She shivered and pulled back to look him in the face. “I am so wet right now.”

  And then he was done, just fucking done, because he had to have her.

  ****

  It was like an animal had been unleashed inside of Joey after she spoke. He pressed her against the wall, hard, and then moved his hand between their bodies. He started undoing his pants, and before she knew what was happening they were both naked and starting to sweat. Maybe this was a bad idea, but it didn’t feel wrong, not right now at least. After the fact she may have regrets, but she had nearly died, fought herself and her feelings for the last year, and especially since being here for the last twenty-four hours, and she was tired of it. What was so wrong with wanting something for herself?

  Because you want Joey Bacelli, the most feared and powerful mob boss of Bourbon, New York.

  He kissed her again, harder and faster than before, and she knew that there was no stopping this. But Marra didn’t want to, and knew that if she didn’t have Joey, this building pressure inside of her would be too much for her to contain. She had been holding off for a year, making herself think of all the God-awful things he probably did. But right now all she could think about was their hot, sweaty bodies pressed together.

  “That’s it, baby. Fuck, I like you so damn receptive to me.” He groaned against her neck. Joey had his hands on her bare ass and his mouth back on hers to swallow the surprised sound that came from her when he squeezed the mounds especially hard. He had her in his arms only seconds later, and a startled sound left her at the strength he exuded.

  “I want you so fucking badly.” He started thrusting against her pussy. Because they didn’t have any clothes on, the feeling of his hard cock against her slick folds had a moan leaving her.

  “Quit talking. Please.” She emphasized the last word, and he groaned against her mouth. Right now she just wanted to feel him pushing into her, stretching her, and helping her forget about everything else. The feel of his big erection had her insides clenching and a fresh wave of wetness coming from her pussy. Marra wanted to feel so incredibly full she couldn’t stand it, couldn’t breathe, or wrap her head around it. “God, Joey, I am so ready for you.”

  And then he was reaching between their bodies, taking hold of his dick, and placing it at her entrance.

  He rubbed his cock along her cleft, up and down, and bumping her clit with every upstroke. “Fuck, you are so wet for me.”

  She felt his dick throb between her legs, and felt her slickness slip from her pussy and cover his shaft. They held each other’s stares for several long seconds, and then they crashed their mouths together. Hair was pulled, flesh was nipped at, and groans spilled from both of them. Images of them together, skin wet with sweat, muscles stretched and taut from straining, filled her head and had her rubbing herself on him. Marra became wetter by the second as those pictures slammed into her head. Without thinking, because at this point all she wanted was him shoved so deep inside of her nothing else mattered, Marra reached down, pushed his hand out of the way, and grabbed his impressive length. She shifted so she had his tip angled right at her entrance. For a moment time seemed to st
and still. There wasn’t insanity, killing, or maiming. Right now all there was, was her and Joey, and this very heated moment with lost inhibitions.

  He held her body up with one hand holding onto her ass and placed his other hand on the wall beside her head. The tip of his cock became lodged in her body, and they both breathed out roughly. “I’m going to fuck you so good and hard that you’ll only want me from now on, Marra.” When he slid in another inch, stretching her so damn good, he snapped his mouth shut and closed his eyes. He ground his teeth, and the sound shouldn’t have been as erotic as it was, but it was like he was losing control.

  She moaned against his lips and clenched her pussy around his shaft. “You’re making me feel so full, Joey, and you’re not even all the way in yet.”

  He rested his forehead against hers, and they panted into each other’s mouths. “You haven’t felt anything yet, Marra. You’re so fucking tight. God, and so damn wet and hot.” In one swift move he was buried fully inside of her.

  She let her head fall back against the wall behind her and closed her eyes. It felt like she was burning alive, like he was burning her alive. He started moving in and out of her, faster and harder, and she couldn’t wrap her head around the exquisiteness of it all.

  “Marra, Christ, it feels so fucking unbelievable.” He pumped into her.

  “Wait, we don’t have a condom.” It had taken all of her strength to say those words. He stopped immediately, cursed something fierce under his breath, and leaned down to kiss her.

  “Fuck.” He shifted, pulled out of her, and then walked over to the coffee table to grab his wallet.

  Seeing him naked, all of that hard muscle flexing under his golden skin, had a shiver working through her. He had tattoos, but she noticed that he kept them hidden under his clothing. Aside from his arms being covered in some tribal work, and a skull and two guns tattooed in the center of his back—the Bacelli crest—his golden skin could be seen. When he turned back around he stopped to put the condom on, and she felt her eyes widen at the size of his cock. He certainly wasn’t grotesquely large, but he was big enough that she could still feel the soreness of when he thrust into her.