Page 34 of Brutal Heir (Ruthless Heirs #3)

THREE ESSENTIAL PIECES

R ory

Alessandro is impossibly still beside me, every muscle in his body carved from stone as he stares at the flat screen on the wall.

Swinging my head to meet his gaze, his expression is completely unreadable—if I didn’t know the man so well.

Beneath that frosty mask is barely contained fury.

His jaw ticks, his hands clenched into fists, knuckles white.

His wrath is raw, palpable and seconds from detonating.

And suddenly, I know.

I don’t need to ask because the answer is stamped across his face.

Just like that, three essential pieces fall into place, and icy cold realization slams into me.

Alessandro brutally murdered the man who hurt me.

All the mob rumors surrounding the Geminis are a hundred percent true.

I’m falling for the heir to Manhattan’s most ruthless crime syndicate.

The first two discoveries should frighten me, but instead, it’s the last one that has me terrified.

“Rory… Are you okay?” The deep timbre grounds me from the downward spiral.

“Yes,” I whisper before I climb into his lap.

He watches me, those mismatched eyes, one stormy, one clear, mirroring the war within him: light and shadow in constant battle.

I take him in for what feels like an eternity before I accept my fate, and I choose to fall. Because I want this man, every broken and scarred piece of him. I know exactly who he is, and I’m falling for him all the same.

My lips crash into his. The surprise only lasts for an instant before he’s kissing me with equal intensity. I straddle him, feeling his cock hard across my center. It’s all I can do not to rub up against him like a needy little thing.

As he deepens the kiss, his fingers wrapping around my throat, I fumble with the buttons of his shirt. I need to feel his skin against mine. I want to see all of him in this moment. He stills beneath me, his entire body suddenly rigid as steel.

“Don’t,” he hisses.

“Alessandro, I’ve told you before, your scars don’t scare me.”

“I know.” A hard line slashes across his lips. “Please, just don’t. Not today. For just one day, I want to pretend like I’m not ruined, not a monster.”

“You’re not any of those things.” I press a kiss to his lips. “Not to me.”

“Please, Rory, I’m begging here.”

I nod slowly, untangling my fingers from the buttons. “Okay, whatever you want.”

The tension slowly dissipates from his brow, and he swings us around, splaying me out on the couch. This time the kiss is not sweet, it’s not soft or patient. It’s a demand, and I’m more than happy to comply.

His hand moves down my torso, drifting beneath the scrubs to settle on my abdomen.

My fingers dive into the silky hair at his nape just like I’d imagined doing so many times before.

He shifts closer so he looms over me, caging me between his powerful arms as his kisses grow more desperate.

His cock strains against his slacks, heavy against my leg, and mirrors the need surging through my core.

As he hovers over me, essentially trapping me beneath his enormous body, I wait for the panic to surge.

This is the closest I’ve been to a man since that night…

And for months, nightmares had plagued my thoughts, faceless men pinning me down in this very position.

But with Alessandro, I feel nothing but raging need.

Is it because I know Chip Armstrong has been chopped up into tiny bits, fed to the fishes and he can never hurt me again? Or maybe it’s something else entirely.

Either way, the realization is incredibly liberating. I’d feared this moment for nearly a year now. That gobshite didn’t wreck me. He didn’t ruin me. I’m still here. Still whole. And for the first time in a year, I want. Not just to forget the past, but to feel again.

And to erase every terrible memory of the man before with this one.

As if Alessandro has read my mind, he shifts his weight to one side. Leaning against the back of the couch for support, he lifts my top over my head. His hand skates down my torso, pausing at the curly script beneath my breast, then tracing the lines of the butterfly.

“What does this mean?”

I don’t answer for a long moment. He’s the first person to see the tattoo. It feels too personal to share, but for some reason I want to tell him. My lips part, but as if he’s understood my reluctance, he slowly shakes his head.

“It’s beautiful whatever it is,” he murmurs, a sense of awe in his tone that has my eyes burning.

“It’s Gaelic,” I blurt to ease the heavy silence.

“I assumed.” His gaze turns pensive.

“It’s a long, boring story,” I breathe. “One I’d rather not get into right now.”

He nods, but the line between his brows remains furrowed. As if he’s trying to put together the mystery.

Until my legs part for him, drawing his attention to my traitorous minnie who is desperate for his touch, desperate to obliterate the shadows of the past.

Somehow, hearing my unspoken plea, his hand glides between my thighs, tentatively, giving me all the time in the world to stop him.

I should. My head tells me I must, but the desire flooding my system screams at my brain to shut the feck up.

He cups my apex over the light fabric of my scrubs, and I roll my hips into his touch, a faint gasp parting my lips.

A deep growl vibrates his chest and his eyes meet mine, so full of desire and something else…

“Mmm, my naughty little leprechaun,” he whispers against my mouth. “Is your pussy already wet for me?”

Another gasp slips through my lips. I should have expected the dirty talk from the cocky Gemini heir, but still, it catches me off guard. And has my lusty minnie purring for more.

Alessandro is more than willing to give it to her.

His deft fingers dance up to the waistband of my scrubs and slowly inch beneath the fabric.

Releasing my swollen lips, his eyes meet mine, an unspoken question in the multicolored depths.

As if he understands, somehow. And because I’ve clearly lost my mind, or maybe it’s simply been too long since I’ve been with a man, a good man, I take his hand and slip it beneath my panties.

Another groan purses his lips as his finger streaks through my slick heat. “ Cazzo , Red, you feel incredible.”

I would say the same thing, but I don’t need his head getting any bigger. Instead, I only lift my hips, grinding against his palm. His thumb toys with my clit, drawing fevered circles before slowly dragging his thick finger through my center.

Oh, bullocks, I’m strung so tight I’m going to explode.

As his mouth devours mine, his fingers work me into a frenzy.

And I need more, so much more. For the first time in a year, I want to be fecked.

I need Alessandro’s cock inside me. I want to feel the safety of his strong arms around me, protecting me from all the shite that’s been thrown at me my whole life.

“I need to taste you, Red.” The rough rumble of his chest presses against my own.

“Huh?” The embarrassing sound peals out.

Ignoring me, he slides down my torso, dragging my scrubs and panties down with him.

“What are you doing?” I stammer.

He licks his lips as his hands close around my thighs, baring my minnie. “What does it look like?”

His head drops between my legs, and his tongue drags through my slippery folds.

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph!” I groan, my hips bucking off the couch.

Alessandro splays his hand out across my belly, pinning me down as he licks and sucks, drawing my clit between his teeth.

“Mmm, you taste like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”

If I wasn’t so consumed by the raging need, I would have laughed at his ridiculous comment. I’m a puddle of wanton desire, nothing but pure pleasure licking through my veins. Conall Quinlan was a selfish bastard. All our years together and he never did this.

Alessandro’s head pops up over the smattering of auburn curls, and a devious grin parts his lips.

His chin is slick with my arousal, and he slowly drags his tongue across his glistening skin, savoring me.

Feckin’ hell it’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.

“What’s the matter, wildling? Has no one ever worshipped at the altar of your thighs? ”

I slowly shake my head because I’m fairly certain I would’ve remembered if it had been like this.

“Good, then I’ll be your first and your last .” That feral gleam in his eye has all thoughts abandoning my mind. My last? I wasn’t sure I agreed to that.

His tongue streaks across my center as he thrusts a thick finger inside me, and my entire body thrums with pleasure. All questions scatter and all I can focus on is the rush of sensations shooting down my lower half, making my toes curl.

“Oh, feck,” I moan as the building fire intensifies. His tongue flicks at my clit, moving faster and faster before dragging his teeth over the sensitive nub. “I’m going to come…”

“Not yet,” he murmurs against my swollen clit. Lifting his eyes to mine once again, a devious grin parts his glistening lips. “You may be the boss when it comes to my recovery, but in here, I’m in charge, and I get to call the shots. And now, I want to worship you.”

And just like that the all-consuming fire burns brighter. “I can’t hold on any longer.”

“You will.” His voice is commanding, and feckin’ hell my minnie obeys. The pleasure balloons with each maddening circle of his tongue, with each thrust of his finger. I’m certain I won’t be able to hold off for another second.

“Please, Alessandro,” I cry. “I need to come.”

His smile grows more brazen as he devours me, the sopping wet sounds only intensifying the raw pleasure.

“Please,” I whimper.

He thrusts a second finger inside me, and stars streak across my vision. I can feel myself tightening around him, desperate to ring out my own release. My hips buck, moans sliding through my clenched teeth.

“That’s a good girl. Now, you can come for me, Red.”

And just like that, I do.

The pleasure explodes, a burst of liquid lightning burning behind my eyes and surging down my torso, racing to every part of my being. My lungs contract, all the air siphoning out, and all I can do is cling onto him and enjoy the ride. It’s the most powerful, heart-stopping orgasm I’ve ever had.

I can’t think. Can’t breathe. Can’t do anything but let the waves drag me under.

His name tears from my lips, raw and desperate, and I don’t even care. My nails dig into his hair, grounding me as my body shatters around him, every nerve lit up like a live wire.

For a moment, I forget everything, who I am, what I’ve run from, the darkness that’s always waiting. For a moment, there’s just this. Just him. Just us.

And God help me, I don’t ever want it to end.

With my entire body still vibrating with pleasure, Alessandro climbs up my torso, curling into my side. A satisfied expression softens the typically hard lines of his jaw.

He’s happy.

The realization tightens my chest.

Am I the first woman he’s been with since the explosion? It’s likely, given how sensitive he is about his scars.

He curls in closer, a yawn splitting his lips. His cock is heavy against my leg, and just the sight of it has another wave of desire igniting. Then guilt. He’s left me quite satisfied, and here he is with a raging hard-on.

I reach for his cock, but he stops me, his hand encircling my wrist. “No.”

“What? Why not?”

Those eyes meet mine and again, the surge of emotion beneath the surface is like a wild, raging tempest. “Just no.”

“Okay,” I murmur, only slightly hurt by the rejection. He had his hands all over me a second ago, and I’m not allowed to touch him? That’s hardly fair. But there’s something in his expression that halts my objections.

We remain like that in a comfortable silence, my body still humming from the aftershocks of the orgasm. He’s already drifting off, breath evening out. But I’m wide awake.

Not from fear.

From the dangerous truth pulsing under my skin. I’m falling for him. And if I’m not careful, I won’t survive it.