The Enforcer (Untamed Hearts Book 3) (55 page)

“She does it too?” Tino raised his eyebrows. “Just walks in and starts talking?”

“Usually walks in and starts talking while she’s peeing.” Brianna threw up her hands in defeat. “It’s a big apartment. She has her own bathroom. Why does she have to pee in mine? But what the hell can I say? She’s paying the bills.”

“She’s not paying the bills. Her nonno’s paying ’em. Tell her to stop. What if you were getting yourself off? That’s what I say to Nova. I could be legitimately jerking off. He doesn’t know I’m not.”

“I don’t get myself off in the shower.” Brianna turned to him in confusion. “A bath, maybe, but a shower. No. That sounds very uncomfortable.”

“What about the shower nozzle? You’ve got a detachable one.”

“What?”

He frowned. “You’ve never done that?”

“I’m horrified to ask,” she admitted with a wince.

“I just told you that Mary used to make me eat dog food, and you’re horrified by the shower nozzle. Unbelievable, Brianna. They’ve brainwashed you too. I hope you know that. I wanna say that to you, and I want you to hear it. They did it on purpose. They found a little girl whose parents didn’t give a shit, and they trained you to be Carina’s best friend. They fed you dog food too. It was just in a nicer package.”

“I love Carina.” Brianna said it without flinching, even if a part of her couldn’t deny what he said. “I’d eat dog food for her.”

“You
do
eat dog food for her,” Tino said bitterly. “Every day.”

“I’d do it for you too,” she promised him, meaning it.

He obviously believed her, because he said, “I know. You’re doing it right now. You should get out of this car and run away from me, Bri.”

She heard the catch in his voice, and it made a shiver of desire run down her spine. “Why?”

“’Cause I wanna show you how to get off with a shower nozzle.” Tino’s gaze ran over her hotly, stopping to rest on the V between her legs long enough that she spread her thighs on instinct and shifted in her seat. “I wanna show you how to get off with my mouth too. Madonn’, I wanna feel you come against my lips.”

She bit her lip to hide the moan. Something about the way he said it made her almost feel it, and Tino must’ve known, because he leaned into her in response.

“I wanna taste you so fucking bad. Just once, but I know I’m fucking broken. I know it rubs off. It’ll ruin you too.” His breath was warm against her neck. He licked the curve of it as he threaded his hand into her hair and tugged her head to the side. “I used to pretend it was you,” he whispered in her ear like it was another confession he practiced on the ride here. “It was something Lola and I came up with our first time so I didn’t fucking freak out in front of all those people. She’d make me talk about you to keep me focused. She taught me how to look at her like I’d fucking die to have her, and I just started using it all the time. It worked with the others too. They believed I was aching to touch them, because in my mind I was looking at you. Then one day I did it with Mary, trying to make her like me so she’d stop being so fucking mean. I touched that cunt thinking about you. I fucked her pretending it was you. You should hate me for that.”

“You’re not going to make me hate you today, Tino.” She stroked his hair, pushing it back from his forehead so that he was looking at her with dark, glassy eyes. “Whatever you did to survive, it’s okay. How can I judge you for that? How can
anyone
judge you?”

“Even when she hurt me.” Tino didn’t look away from her when he said it, clearly challenging her. “Even when she humiliated me. I saw you, Bri. It was easier for me that way. It was easier if I was doing it for you. I have
actually
eaten dog food for you.”

There was no romantic rule book for this.

It was never discussed by giggling schoolgirls in the school yard.

Brianna didn’t know if she was screwing up by letting the tears roll down her cheeks. She didn’t know if it was hurting him more or doing some sort of permanent damage by letting out a sob and promising, “It’s okay, baby.”

“I used you. I used this”—he gestured wildly between them—“for that. I took what was yours, and I gave it to her. I used it to make her happy. Do you understand how horrible that is? You should be totally sickened by that.”

“I’m sickened by her, but not you. If it helped you, then that’s all that matters to me.” She rubbed her thumbs over his cheeks and wiped his tears away. “You didn’t do anything wrong, and you can’t do anything to sicken me. You’re not going to be able to tell me something that’ll make me forget I love you. I’m sorry. It’s just not going to happen. I’m in this car with you, and I’m not going anywhere.”

Tino stared at her for a long time, dark eyes still glimmering, tears still staining his cheeks like he didn’t know what to do with that. Then he nodded in silent acceptance, seeming more lost than ever, like he’d failed at a last-ditch effort to stop whatever was between them.

“I guess we’ll just keep it a secret. Carlo and Lola have been doing it for two friggin’ years. If they can pull it off, we can too.” Tino finally sighed in defeat and then closed his eyes, as if knowing this was inevitable, and it affected him too. “I can give you what you need, Bri. It’s the least I can fucking do.” He looked back to her, and Brianna understood now why Tino was able to sell it to all those mob wives. He stared at her like he would actually die to have her, making her believe it as he reached out and traced his thumb over her lips in a soft, sensual way that forced a shudder to wash over her. “Really give it to you.
All of it.
Any way you want it, and if you don’t know how you like it, I’ll help you figure it out. No one needs to know you let me touch you.”

“I don’t care if they know,” she reminded him. “I want them to.”

“I know, baby. If I could be anything, I’d wanna be a guy worth marrying you. That’s what I’d want.” Tino grabbed the hem of her V-neck shirt like he couldn’t resist, tugging it down so the edges of her sports bra showed as he stared at her with a stark, consuming hunger. “I’d wanna be yours in front of God.” He leaned down and sucked one taut nipple through the fabric, making her gasp and arch into him. “I’d wanna be yours in front of everyone.”

“That’s what I want too.” Brianna would marry him tomorrow if she could. “Why can’t we have that? Can’t Nova just get you another job in the administration? He’s got so much power and—”

“It’s not about the job. I’m not to the other side of the board. I’m not even close. I’m still me. A pawn. A whore. You don’t love a whore, Brianna. Never forget that. You take from whores. Use them. Don’t love them.”

She flinched as Tino said it, but all she could manage to choke out was, “Why?”

“’Cause they’re love starved. They’ve been hurt and beaten for so fucking long they are desperate for kindness. Love them, really love them, and they’ll die for you. They’ll bleed for you. Like a fucking dog. My father knows that. He used me against Nova for years. Why do you think Nova’s so feral? He knows not to let anyone too close when the Borgata owns him like it does. They own me too, Bri. A different job wouldn’t change that. They still own me, and I can only have one owner.”

“But I don’t want to own you. That’s not what I’m asking for,” she promised solemnly, even if taking possession of such a sensual, purely sexual man would never stop being a temptation. “Can’t we be equals instead? If we can’t have the rest, we can at least have that.”

“Don’t ever say that.” Tino’s voice was harsh, but his lips were soft as he pressed a kiss in the valley between her breasts. “Just let me take care of you. Gimme that.”

“No.” She shook her head, even as she caressed his dark hair and pushed it away from his face that was almost too handsome to be real. “I want it all. I want it for both of us.”

She leaned into him to kiss him, and he flinched like he had the night of their fight two years ago. The night that nearly destroyed them because she’d been so woefully naive of Tino’s reality. She didn’t know why he flinched away sometimes and was fine others, but she decided right then it was the last time she’d let him get away with it.

She didn’t know how to undo Mary’s programming. She didn’t know how to convince him he was anything less than wonderful, to her if no one else, but she did know how to fist the hair at the nape of his neck and lick his lips when he wouldn’t kiss her.

It was a dirty kiss.

Unapologetically sexy, because that was how he’d taught her to do it. When she caught his bottom lip with her teeth, he moaned. She could feel the shudder of defeat wash over him even before he cupped her face and took over…kissing her.

Hot.

Openmouthed.

As the two of them clutched at each other, and it got frantic so fast she nearly tumbled onto the asphalt when she remembered her door was still cracked open, and Tino pressed against her.

He caught her before she could, tightening his arms around her and pushing her back against the passenger seat instead. Then he ran one rough, calloused hand over her forehead and brushed her hair away from her face as he studied her.

Brianna was still breathing hard, but she felt captivated by the stark hunger reflected in his dark gaze. This was the part when he usually pulled away. At the moment when it burned the hottest and she felt like she’d die if she didn’t have him, he’d leave and prove it was survivable—barely.

When he sat back, she wasn’t surprised—disappointed but not surprised.

Then he took the key out of the ignition and said, “Wanna see my place?”

Now she really
was
shocked, and all she could do was nod numbly and said, “Yes, please.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

This was the last fucking walk-up building Tino was buying.

And if he did buy another one, he was going to catch a clue and make the penthouse on the bottom floor. So he grew up in a walk-up. Fuck the nostalgia; they were horrible creations and the reason Romeo and Nova chose a building with an elevator and a doorman when they moved out of their old place.

Tino kept buying these fucking walk-ups.

In modish little corners of the city, gritty but hip, with interesting restaurants and close to nightlife. What the hell was he trying to prove with it? Nova fixed broken sex slaves. Tino fixed broken buildings, with the excuse of having temporary hideouts until he sold them. He used enforcer funds Nova didn’t have access to because, shock of shocks, the stupid enforcers were pretty good at multiplying their money by refurbishing their hideouts and classic cars and turning a profit. They’d been doing it for a hundred years, maybe more, and Nova would probably drop dead if he saw how much they had to play with and get the jobs done.

One of those little secrets of Cosa Nostra—the muscle wasn’t all dumb. They could do something without the accountants, which would freak the suits the hell out because it meant they could probably take over if they were inclined.

Tino hadn’t met an enforcer yet who was inclined, from any Borgata. Enforcers were more the loyal, protect-the-family types who liked things simple like a name on a little piece of paper and a clear direction on what needed to be done. Plotting takeovers just seemed all kinds of hard, and digging shallow graves sorta killed ambition after a while, so it all worked, but Carlo couldn’t buy all of the hideouts when there were two of them now.

Not too long ago, Tino started getting his own, buying buildings and apartments that no one, not even Nova, knew about, and it wasn’t that hard. Tino didn’t technically own this building. This one belonged to Bobby.

Carlo used bums from his old neighborhood. They had identities. They had social security numbers and state IDs. So he paid them to use their credentials to buy the buildings or the cars or anything else he needed. He’d keep them for a while and then sell them. Did the bums give a shit? Nope. They just liked the cash Carlo handed them.

So Tino used Bobby, because a strung-out junkie didn’t care any more than a bum did.

Bobby owned a lot of buildings.

Cool, trendy walk-ups with too many goddamn stairs, and as far as Tino was concerned, Bobby could keep ’em. Tino would hand him the codes tomorrow. Not like he hadn’t tried before.

“This is such a great old building,” Brianna observed as they hit the landing for the sixth floor. “Does anyone live here? The parking lot was empty.”

“It’s still being remodeled,” Tino said as he stopped in front of the door to the penthouse. He fucked up the code for the door, because he was hard and frustrated, so desperate for a taste of Brianna his vision was hazy, but his emotions were all over the place. All the memories he’d churned up about Mary were still at the forefront of his mind, and his hands were shaking. Why couldn’t he just make all the codes the same? He fucked it up a second time. And a third. As he went over every code shoved in his brain, wishing for once that he was Nova, he mumbled, “Sorry. Too many codes. Same reason I keep the car keys hidden under the cars. I can’t carry handfuls of keys.” Then he got the right one on the fourth try, hearing the lock click open. He turned the doorknob. “Porca puttana, it’s a miracle.”

As soon as Brianna followed him in, Tino fisted her hair and kissed her, thrusting his tongue in her mouth when she gasped in surprise. He pushed her back against the door after he kicked it shut, loving the way she fit against him, a little taller than most women, stronger, smoother. He was shaking again with the memories that were fighting to push their way back, and he stopped kissing her to pull at the buttons to her jacket. She tossed her bag to the floor and shrugged out of the jacket, making it obvious he wasn’t the only one desperate.

Tino forced her shirt over her head, needing to do something with his hands. He wanted to get Mary out of his mind. He wanted to give back to Brianna what he’d taken from her and handed to so many other women, but it was more than that.

He just wanted—desperately—so much it consumed him.

“I need it mean,” he whispered against her neck as he licked and sucked, stopping short of marking her. This was supposed to be about Brianna, but for the first time, he was taking it how he wanted it, and he didn’t know why as he growled, “I need it hard.” He tossed her shirt aside and bent down to suck on her nipple through the black cotton of her sports bra, catching it with his teeth when it tightened. “I need it dirty.” He slid his hand beneath the lining of her sweatpants and grabbed her tight ass as he fell to his knees. “I need to taste it.” He jerked her pants down, taking her panties with them until she was forced to toe off her shoes and kick her clothes aside. Then he kissed the soft spot above the lips of her pussy, because she was so fucking smooth and clean, smelling sweet like strawberry soap instead of high-class perfume. “I need to lick it until you’re screaming.” He pulled on her hips, forcing her down. “I just need it, baby.”