Page 31

EPILOGUE

Gloria

“Adriano, wake up,” I whisper, placing my lips on the middle of the ripped, chiseled back next to me, watching the muscles tense and twitch.

“I know you’re awake…”

I kiss my way around, up onto his shoulder, his neck, drifting my hand over the top of the sheets. I feel him harden through the smooth satin.

And then flex as I moan a soft breath into his ear, licking his earlobe.

Right as I grip him tightly through the covers.

Adri lays back, his eyes smoldering.

“My God, Gloria, you’re deadly .”

“You make me feel dangerous… daring .” I take his hand, guiding around my waist, down around the curvature of my bare cheeks, wiggling my butt and arching my back for him.

“Oh, do I, now? I thought we were done with danger for a while…”

“But a little dare every now and then never hurt anyone.”

In a heartbeat, he’s on top of me, flipping me onto my back and pinning my wrist. His eyes ravage my naked body, feasting on my heaving chest, my writhing hips beneath him.

“I think you’ve bitten off more than you can chew.”

“Oh, I certainly bite .” I lunge for his bottom lip, snapping at him playfully.

He pulls back just out of reach before leaning in again closer, letting me get to him this time as I nibble on his lips, sucking and running my tongue along the dent my teeth left.

When he bites me back my body zaps like a bolt of lightning, shivers tingling out into my fingertips and toes.

And I’m instantly ready for him.

The heat blossoming in my core swells, flushing my skin and setting my brain to buzzing. He’s so fucking intoxicating.

I need him inside me and I’m about to say so, when he leans in kissing my neck, taking my breath away, then nibbling on my ear in that way that makes me insane .

My legs loop around his middle, pulling him toward me.

But he shakes his head pulling away, trying to make me wait, make me beg.

But I’m not having it.

We’ve been at it almost nonstop since we got to Andorra, at least whenever we are alone. My sister is probably sick of spending time alone.

Nevertheless, it’s kind of our honeymoon.

Actually, it is.

For real.

Adriano settles back onto his knees, dragging me along with him, wiggling out of my grip and stepping off the bed, curling one finger at me.

Halfway across the room, I launch myself at him, right into his waiting arms, straddling him.

With a single move, he spins, slamming me into the wall and sliding into me all at once.

“Oh, fuck me!” I cry, overwhelmed at the angle of him arcing up into me.

It never ceases to amaze me how good he feels. How big he is, stretching me to the limit in the best way.

“Like this?”

“I was actually just cussing ’cause it feels so damn good,” I gasp, grunting softly with every upward thrust, hammering me into the wall.

“This wall is the last place we haven’t?—”

I take his mouth with mine before he can finish the sentence, a flood of delicious pleasure rippling up through me, a hint of the bigger release to come.

His powerful hands cup my ass, spreading me and holding me up all at once, leaving me completely at his mercy. It’s the best kind of acquiescence.

Not domineering, or demeaning.

Just a gift, the two of us both able to give up control to the other.

God, I never thought trust could be so sexy.

But after everything we’ve been through…

A cool breeze floats in through the cracked window, refreshing my blushing skin, my soaked core. Even as my desire for him slathers both of us, making his deep, satisfying thrusts so silky smooth.

At the same time, the rough impact of every plunge sends chills through me.

I love it when he lets loose on me.

“Harder…” I moan once and he pounds into me. “Harder!”

And his pace increases, my back supported by the wall and his thighs flexed underneath me. This time is fast. Insistent. My ass slaps against him in the most sensuous sound, again and again.

When the climax hits me suddenly, unexpectedly, it’s powerful as hell.

The fucking earth shifts beneath us as I come undone. Tipping, throwing me off the edge and into oblivion. I never want to stop falling. Like this, or for him.

Stars explode behind my eyes.

Showering down through radiant skies, through my entire body.

Adriano joins me as I bite down on his shoulder to keep from shattering the windows with a scream, his growling breaths hot on my neck as he empties himself into me.

It’s the most alluring thing I’ve ever felt in my life.

This, every single thing about our sex, about our touch, about everything he does to me is absolutely entrancing.

We fall back to the bed a moment later, covered in our sex, glistening with sweet sweat.

My head flops back on his shoulder. Completely devastated.

I’m starfished out on the sheets, staring up at nothing.

“So, how’s being Mrs. Diamante working out so far?”

“I’ll let you know when I can think straight again.”

“Hm. I don’t think I can let that happen,” he kisses my cheek, my neck, my shoulder.

“Keeping me dizzy with lust and distracted with sex, huh?”

“Consider it my full-time job.”

“Then you definitely deserve a raise.”

“Give me about ten minutes…”

We lay there, in our new home, our bed. All bought with my money.

When we ran, we sought out places we might go without extradition. Places that we could blend in, where it wouldn’t seem out of place for a young rich couple to settle down.

And when I remembered that my grandmother used to live in Andorra…

The Pyrenees mountains were a perfect fit.

Especially since everywhere we once called home was compromised. Unsafe. There’s no way to tell where Dom might have remnants, anyone still loyal to him.

Not to mention that in the wake of his arrest, a power vacuum has caused massive upheaval in the underworld, worldwide. All of Adri’s underground sources, the ones that Dom didn’t burn, kill, or ostracize during his months in power, have given us a clear picture of what the scene looks like.

It’s officially out and well-known now that the Diamante empire is over, or at least has an empty throne for the time being.

Opportunists are coming out of the woodwork from the sound of things.

It’s pure chaos.

The elders of the families are in lockdown. They’ve doubled down on their legitimate holdings, focusing on those businesses to keep themselves and their immediate family members afloat. All while the various federal agencies around the globe crack down on organized crime, crushing any group they can.

Snuffing them out.

The only thing I was able to leave as a token for Adriano’s people, is a cold trail. I sabotaged the computers at the office and destroyed the archives. They’ll never find the hidden Diamante books, the holdings.

They seized most of Adriano’s accounts, various enterprises.

More than enough for them to think they’ve got the lion’s share of our organization hostage. If they only knew just how far our reach was.

But that’s farther down the list of worries for us at the moment.

Now my main concern is learning how to go back to some sort of normal. Our life is calm. We can do whatever we want.

And we navigate it together so well. Even if we get a little bored.

But with his cunning and my adaptability, both of our analytic natures…

We’re bound to figure out something to keep us occupied while the underworld goes to shit. I’m still lost in thought, content to let the day float away lying in bed.

Until a familiar thump hits the wall, then the door.

“Are you two coming out sometime today?!” my little sister shouts from the loft right outside our door. “I’m hungry!”

“You’re always hungry! We’ll be out in a few minutes!” I holler, plopping my head back down on Adri’s bicep.

Several minutes and a quick shower later, we’re heading down to the living room of the large townhome. The front door stands open, with a moody teenager glaring at us from the front porch.

“Ugh! You two are so gross. Like, I know it’s kind of your honeymoon, but try to remember I’m in the room next to yours .” Anna snaps in her light, adorable French accent, dropping her head back dramatically as she stomps down the front steps ahead of us.

That girl.

She’s a handful.

And I love every single second of it. I’ve missed out on so much.

But no more waiting. No more someday.

Someday, someday.

It was my freaking mantra for so long.

I never thought we’d get out, leave the life behind. Especially Adriano.

Not that we’re completely clear or might not go back years from now. It’s likely that our pasts will come back to haunt us.

Which is why I used as much of that past to set us up for success.

Dom would have noticed eventually but leaving me in charge of finances gave me a unique opportunity. To siphon off enough for us to live comfortably for a long, long time.

So, we indulge every minute of it.

Never take each other for granted.

“Got your blouse buttoned up?” Adriano snickers, passing me on the way to the car.

“Got your pants on?” I clap back.

“Can I drive?”

“No!”

“Come on, Gloria Marie! I’ll be sixteen in a month!”

“But Anna , mon chau, cabbages can’t drive cars.”

“I’m not a cabbage!”