Page 8 of Single Mom’s Mafia Daddies (The Forbidden Reverse Harem Collection #22)

LILA

N eed for Alessio rocked me to my core. Nothing prepared me for the feel of him pressed against me, the scorch of his tongue on mine.

When he walked in, I’d fully expected to drive him away with my anger. I didn’t expect this. I should have. I should have known that my body remembered him and would fall apart for him the way it always did.

I groaned into his mouth, hating him and loving the forceful way he held me at the same time. The dichotomy of my emotions ravaged me from the inside out.

He anchored my hands over my head and used his other hand to grip my lower jaw. His fingers tightened slightly around my throat, his thumb stroking back and forth below my ear as he teased my mouth into obedience. He pulled back a fraction. “Do you still hate me?”

I nodded even as I leaned forward to taste him again.

His knee drove higher between my legs and my temperature spiked so high my body ignited.

I didn’t trust myself to speak. I didn’t need to.

Alessio knew me. He proved it when he tightened his grip on my hands, pulling my spine taut and removed my pants with one swift jerk, yanking my heels off at the same time.

Then, he was between my legs, his cock thick and full.

“I missed you, Lila.” Four words shattered my world as he thrust into me, sealing my fate—and my doom—with his full length.

My head fell back, the ecstasy of fucking Alessio an inferno in my veins. I rose onto my tiptoes, needing him deeper, harder.

He grunted into the side of my neck and released my hands. Before I had time to place them on his shoulders for balance, he’d hefted me into his arms and locked my legs around his waist.

I’d bared my heart and soul to this man, and he walked away. I braced my palms and lifted my hips, riding his cock hard and fast with the aid of his hands on my ass. He guided me on each stroke, slamming me down hard and yanking me up again with enough force that my teeth rattled.

Revenge sex. That’s all this was. Alessio needed to prove he still had control over me. Fine. I’d allow it. I’d take what I needed from him the same way he took from me. I dug my nails into his shoulders and leaned back to deepen the angle.

“You’re getting old, Alessio. Old and slow.” I bit the edge of his jaw. “Fuck. Me. Harder.”

He unleashed a string of curses. Some I recognized.

Some were new, but it was the way he said them, the way he walked us to the nearest counter and dropped me onto the glass, spread my legs wider than I thought possible, and absolutely fucked the ever-loving hell out of me until the room spun and my mind stopped racing, that stole my breath.

“You’re going to regret challenging me.”

“Never.” I bowed my spine, grabbed his tie, and pulled.

Veins popped in his throat, his own back arching.

His cock rammed into me hard enough to bounce my ass.

I rose to meet his next thrust and stars exploded in my vision.

They sparked around the room as passion overtook me and turned me savage.

I released my hold on his tie and reached for my clit.

Alessio smacked my hand away with a growl. “Mine.” His pace increased beyond my abilities to match, and when he pressed his thumb into my clit I came apart with a shout that rattled my own eardrums.

I couldn’t breathe. The explosive orgasm ripped away everything but the feel of him. Nothing else mattered. He came seconds later in a series of familiar, shuddering jerks that brought reality slamming into me.

I pushed him away, surprising us both with my panicked strength. “This was a mistake. A giant, fucking mistake.” I dropped to the ground and reached around him for my pants and panties.

Tires screeched outside.

I jolted upright at the same time Alessio wrenched around to face the windows. Gunshots blasted the air. I screamed and covered my head, my pants flying around my neck.

Alessio grabbed my shoulders and threw me to the floor, covering me with his body. “Can you get to the panic room?” he growled.

Smoke filtered into the shop, the gray tones contrasting with the bright colors and fabrics.

Glass shattered. People outside screamed, or maybe that was me again.

I’d lost the ability to tell the difference until the burning in my throat choked me into silence.

Glass shards flew in every direction, raining down on us in tiny daggers that pricked my exposed skin.

“What the fuck is a panic room?”

What was he talking about? Why was someone shooting up my shop? I tried to raise my head.

Alessio held me down. His chest pressed into my back, both his hands covering my head and neck.

His legs draped over mine, pinning me. Drops of blood splattered the floor around my head.

Not my blood, I realized when Alessio grunted.

“I had one installed for you. In the closet behind your desk. Leave the phone in the cradle and dial eight one nine. That will open the door.”

Eight one nine. His birthday. Tears burned my throat, along with dust and grit.

Another series of gunshots ripped through the shop, ripping apart dresses and sending fabric floating in every direction.

Footsteps thundered into the shop, the floor beneath my cheek shaking with the impact.

Seven masked men stormed our way, each of them dressed in tactical black and carrying weapons I’d only ever seen on TV.

“You’re impossible.”

He ignored the barb of my words and raised his head a few inches to peer over the narrow ledge separating us from the guns.

“Lila, when I say go.” Alessio rolled off me and helped me scoot into a better position.

Cuts marred his cheeks, his forehead, and his arms. Streams of blood flowed from every wound, and his face drew tight when he looked me over.

I’d heard the phrase “if looks could kill” but never understood it until now. Alessio looked murderous, like he was about to storm all eight men with nothing but his bare hands.

“You’re coming with me,” I whispered into his ear, my hand finding his and squeezing tight.

He started to shake his head, the fire in his eyes turning them silver. “Let’s go.”

We bolted into the office. Alessio slammed the door, and I raced for the phone, praying my fingers didn’t shake so much I missed the numbers.

I dialed them frantically, waiting with my breath held, until the wooden panel beside my desk split open and a door appeared.

“Inside.” Alessio hooked me around the waist and carried me into the small box. “Put your hand here.” He grabbed my palm and pressed it against a green square on the wall. “That opens and closes the door from this side.”

The door closed with a sudden silence that was almost as frightening as the fact that Alessio had somehow managed to install this whole thing—last night? Years ago when I opened my store?—without my knowledge.

Adrenaline and panic plowed into me with enough force to send me sideways.

I leaned forward and gripped my knees, only then realizing I was still naked from the waist down.

I shot a look at Alessio. He’d managed to zip his pants, and except for the wounds, looked totally unaffected by the unconscionable act of violence we’d witnessed.

“Here. Let me help.” He unwound my pants from my neck and held them out. “Hold onto me. I have you, Lila. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

“You did.” The stupid, ridiculous tears threatened. I sucked them back and concentrated on lifting my leg and sliding it into my pants.

Alessio raised his head, the murder and mayhem slipping into something warm, something more dangerous than the man I’d glimpsed when the intruders burst into my shop. “I’m sorry.”

“Not good enough.” I fisted his shirt in my fingers long enough to catch my balance then let go while I still had the strength. “Not nearly good enough.”

“I know.” Sorrow laced his tone.

Steps sounded outside the panel, and Alessio held a finger to his lips. He drew me into the back corner, tucked me to his chest, and put his back to the door. If anyone came through, they’d find him a prime target. I tried to push him away. “Can they get in here?”

“Only if they find a way to override the system,” he promised in a barely there whisper. “They’re not smart enough for that. They won’t find you.”

Then why did he spend so much energy trying to hide me? The footsteps turned into raised voices. “Where’d they go?”

“Out the back?” That voice sounded uncertain but determined.

A sound I recognized as the magazine from a gun falling and another replacing it sent a tremor through me.

They were reloading. While we hid in here and hoped Alessio hadn’t underestimated their brainpower, they were reloading and preparing to kill us.

“Why are they after us?” My words barely made it out of my mouth, but Alessio heard.

He stiffened against me, his body becoming hard and unyielding. “They’re not important. Just a few old enemies of mine.”

“Enemies?” I couldn’t stop the scoff. “You’re a literature professor’s assistant. What kind of enemies could you possibly have?”

“Let’s wait until we don’t have men with guns actively hunting us before we discuss my career choices.” A smirk lifted one side of his mouth.

Wait. I could see him. How was that possible when we were stuffed inside a box in the walls.

And how had he found this much room when my store was stuck literally a foot from my neighbors.

We shared a freaking wall. I craned my neck to look up past his handsome face.

Two small bulbs within arm’s reach overhead provided a tiny bit of light.

I leaned past his shoulder and stretched out a hand.

My fingertips brushed the other wall, then the walls on either side.

“You have some serious explaining to do.”

“And I will.” His thumb brushed over my cheek. “You’re bleeding. We’ll need to clean that up.”

“Too bad you didn’t install a sink in here. Maybe a shower and some food.” I was going for sarcastic, but Alessio shrugged.

“We were on a time crunch. I’ll take care of it in case you need it again.”

“I hope to fuck never to step foot in this box ever again. What if I was claustrophobic?”

He held me tight to his chest and brushed his chin over the top of my head in a soothing gesture that somehow still calmed my rattled nerves, even after all this time.

“You’re not. And if you were, I’d have made other arrangements.

” He held a finger to my lips when I started to speak.

“Wait.” He retrieved his phone and dialed. “Are we clear?”

“Yes, sir.” This voice held an air of authority. “You can thank Matteo for letting me know you left.”

“Thanks, Renzo. We’re coming out. Meet at the safehouse.”

“Right behind you.” The call ended.

Alessio gripped my hand hard enough I lost blood flow. The dangerous edge returned to his voice, deepening it to an animalistic growl. “You’re coming with me. Now.”

His eyes locked with mine as he pressed his hand to the panel and the door opened to reveal the devastation behind him.

“I’m not going anywhere without Leo.” I locked my body so he couldn’t force me to leave and wrenched away from the hands that moved up to clasp my shoulders.

Something had shifted between us. I felt it in the moments before the guns fired and in the indeterminate minutes that followed.

Alessio belonged to a world I didn’t understand.

If I went with him, it meant crossing into that world and possibly discovering the real man whose gaze burned with death and mayhem.

“My men already have Leo. That’s why Renzo wasn’t here sooner.” He marched from the panic room and stopped to survey the damage.

“Your…men?” My heart stopped. “What the fuck are your men doing with my son?”

“Protecting him.” He glanced back then turned around fully to face me. “They’re trained in child protective custody. Leo will think he’s on an adventure. He’ll never know otherwise unless you tell him.”

“You bastard.” A surge of adrenaline kicked my heart back into rhythm. “You’re such an arrogant ass that you take my child without my permission and then tell me that you’re protecting him. You should have told me we were in danger. I can protect us.”

“No, you can’t. Not from this.” He waved toward the absolute devastation that my shop had become. “You need me, Lila. And I don’t give a rat’s ass if you can admit it or not, I’m going to protect you and Leo.”

He was right. I hated that he was right, and it terrified me to admit that I was in over my head.

“Fine.” It was the best I could do, so I held out my hand and let him guide me from the rubble.