Page 49 of Mafia Kings & Wedding Rings

Emerald

“ I vo, what are you doing here?” Sighing, I shook my head while approaching my apartment door.

I hadn’t seen him in days. We’d only been back in each other’s lives a little over a week, and everything had changed.

He was consuming my thoughts, and Jordan was determined to recapture our friendship.

It was all a bit much, and I was just trying not to fall apart.

Every time the phone rang and it was her checking on me or trying to hold conversation it made me feel like shit.

“You have to stop,” I complained, arms full of grocery bags and the mail I’d grabbed out the box on the way up.

I’d rode the bus all the way home, and I was exhausted.

“Stop what, Emerald, fucking caring?” He snatched the bags from my hands to lighten my load. “Open the fucking door.”

He got on my damn nerves. I was doing my best not to think about him, but he kept showing up despite me telling him to leave me alone.

Glaring in his direction, I opened the door, tired as hell and not wanting to fight.

The shit was emotionally draining dealing with him and the back and forth.

He walked the bags right into the kitchen, and I kicked the door closed and set my purse on the nearby table beside the door.

Sifting through the pile of bills and junk mail, a particular letter caught my eye.

It was from the insurance company, but it was addressed to my mother.

Since she wasn’t here, I was damn sure going to investigate.

“What’s that?” Ivo asked, coming up behind me.

“None of your business, just like everything else I do.” I spun to face him. “Why are you here?”

Tucking my arms over my chest, I glared at his fine ass.

His appearance was a little disheveled, like he’d had a long day.

The silk shirt under his blazer was left open, revealing the colorful tattoos against his chest and neck along with his gold medallion M chain.

He’d had that thing since high school when his father gifted him and his brothers with them.

“You can miss me with that. What you got to eat up in here?” He rubbed his stomach and moved back toward the kitchen.

“You got me fucked up, Ivo. Go home to your wife. I’m sure she’s got a meal hot and ready for you.” I stomped behind him.

He stopped at the counter and went through the grocery bags until he came across a bag of red grapes.

“I been at work all day, then had a meeting right after, and my brothers’ dumb asses decided they wanted to go to the fucking strip club.”

“Why didn’t you join them?’

“I wanted to check on you.” He ripped the bag open and reached inside for a handful to wash off at the sink.

“No need. Been taking care of myself for a long time now. You can stop texting me too. You don’t get to give a damn about me.”

“Fuck you for that, aight.” He popped a grape into his mouth. “How the fuck you say some shit to me like that after everything?”

“What part of us not being around each other alone don’t you understand? I don’t want to see you again until the implantation. I know Jordan invited us for dinner, but I’ll just make an excuse. Or… I won’t. Maybe I’ll have plans with Blaine that night instead,” I taunted him.

Lowering his hand at his side, he slowly chewed on the last grape before turning to my fridge and reaching inside for a bottled water.

“Don’t get nobody fucked up out here, Emerald.” His threatening tone and the way the warmth in his eyes faded to black was disturbing.

He twisted the cap off the water and took a gulp.

“I swear I hate you!”

“You hate me?” He slammed the water bottle on the counter and instantly moved closer.

Lifting his hand, he cuffed my chin and smothered my mouth with his. Almost immediately, my lady parts reacted. His tongue eased into my mouth, and he drew me closer in his strong arms. Slowly, his hands lowered to my chest, nudging me away so that he could search my eyes.

“Is that why yo’ heart beating like that?” he asked, hands sliding lower until he was slipping them into my pants and toying with my nub. “That pussy leaking. Must hate me too,” he mumbled, mouth crushing into mine again.

My arms fell across his shoulders, and he lifted me off the ground so that he could carry me back to my room. It was late, and I expected Sapphire home within the hour, but my body was on fire for this man and begging to be put out.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, arranging me on my back on the bed.

His warm eyes seared mine when he spoke. Stroking my cheek, he positioned himself over me once again, lips brushing lightly against mine before fusing together for another kiss.

“I can’t stop thinking about you,” he whispered between kisses. “Every morning, every night. This shit driving me fucking crazy.” Tugging at my jeans, he pulled them down until they were at my ankles and yanked them off.

Using both hands, he caressed my thighs until he reached my panties and tugged on them.

When his mouth latched onto my bud, it sent my body into a frenzy.

The flick of his tongue left my walls clenching, and he devoured me like his last meal.

It was slow and sensual, his need channeling into me as he moaned against my flesh.

His fingers dug into my flesh, clawing at me while he slurped up my juices.

Dizzy and on the verge of an explosion, intense pleasure clawed up my spine when he flicked his tongue in quick motions and inserted two fingers at the same time.

“Oh, shit!” I whined, legs locking around his neck as he applied pressure that couldn’t be denied.

Gripping the sheets, I practically levitated off the bed. An electrifying current ripped through me from head to toe, making my walls collapse as my juices spilled over his fingers, leaving me paralyzed.

“Nah, don’t run.” Ivo cuffed one of my ankles with his hand. “That’s what the fuck I’m talking about.” He knelt to kiss my lower lips gently, sending my body into a fit of involuntary twitches from the rippling orgasm.

While I lay there trying to recover, he climbed down long enough to strip out of his clothes and joined me back on the bed, easing between my legs and grabbing one of my thighs.

“You can’t take this shit from me, mama,” he mumbled against my lips, the tip of him hard and stern against my core.

My breath shortened when he drove into me with force. Every stroke was deadly, tapping at my peak, daring me to cum as he slowly buried himself inside me.

“Ivo,” I gasped, fingers digging into his sweaty flesh when he arched his back and hammered mercilessly into me.

With every thrust, the tension between us heightened, taking us higher together until an orgasm erupted simultaneously.

My head spun as my chest tightened, but Ivo didn’t pull out.

Instead, he collapsed on my chest, applying soft pecks to my neck before greeting my lips and gradually slipping out of me.

Lying beside me with one arm draped across my stomach, he kissed my shoulder and traced my flesh with the tip of his index finger.

I don’t know how I let him get me here again.

“What is wrong with me?” I sat up, grabbing my sheets and draping them across my naked body.

“Don’t start that shit, Emerald.”

“How is this okay with you?” I wondered, peering at him over my shoulder. “Jordan is your wife. You made vows. Does that mean anything to you?”

“How the fuck you ask me some shit like that?”

“Because you’re here… in my bed, and she’s probably at home wondering where the hell you are and making plans for your baby,” I reminded him.

“You think I don’t feel bad about this shit?” Ivo shot up, pulling the sheet over the lower half of his body.

“Not enough to stop pursuing me.”

“Is that what you really want? After all this time, you can cut me off like that?” he asked, hurt glazing his eyes and tone.

“Don’t put this on me,” I argued.

“Why not?” Ivo challenged. “I’ve cheated before, physically. Don’t mean shit because I always go back to her. This ain’t that, Em.”

“You think sitting there admitting that you’ve committed adultery is helping your case, Ivo? If you cheated on her, you’ll do that to me too.”

“Get the fuck out of here.” He brushed it off and reached for his clothes on the floor.

“Why is that so hard to believe? I’d be a fool to put my trust in you.”

“You want to know the fucking difference?” He stood and put his legs in his pants one at a time.

“I’m in love with you, Emerald. It’s always been about obligation with Jordan.

Yeah, I love her, married her, committed to a life and all that, but the only woman that could ever claim my heart is sitting right in front of me.

” He zipped and buttoned his pants with his troubled eyes focused on me.

Every part of me wanted to believe him. There had been this connection between us since we were young, and even though I’d been gone for years, the minute I entered his orbit, it was like nothing had changed.

We tittered on the brink of a relationship for so long, but I never allowed myself to go there with him back then because according to my father, it wouldn’t go anywhere with Ivo.

He considered us from two different worlds.

Ironic now that since his business went under and he killed himself, I was now living this common, dead-end life.

Even with my degree, it was hard finding work out here nowadays.

“I love you, Emerald Crane. I always have, mama.” He hooked his arms around me and got on his knees in front of me with glossy eyes peering into mine. “I know this ain’t how we ever wanted this shit to go for us, but… I can’t… I refuse to live my fucking life without you.”

“But… Jordan, your mother, and this baby… it’s too much. How are we supposed to be together when everything is against us?” I sniffled and shook my head defiantly.

“You trust me enough to let me try and figure this shit out?” he asked, holding me close.

“Your wife wants a baby, how are you going to go around that?”