STORY EXCERPT

Two years ago, to the night, my world changed when Lt. Salvador Delvecchio rescued me from a beat down and decided I belonged to him. A year ago, he changed my life once again when he asked me to marry him. It had been a week after our actual one year anniversary, but what’s a few days in the game of life?

As I sat at the impeccably decorated dining room table, set for a romantic dinner for two, I wondered if I would be spending my anniversary alone yet again. Sal had been due home from work two hours ago.

He still wasn’t here.

I had already eaten my way through the basket of breadsticks and drank a good portion of the wine I had chosen to go with the dinner I had cooked for our anniversary. I was ready to start chewing on my napkin.

Last year, when Sal had missed our special dinner, I had packed everything up, saved the food in the fridge, and gone to bed. I wasn’t so ready to do that this time.

I was pissed.

Sal had promised me he would be here tonight. I had written the date on the calendar, entered it into his phone, called him earlier today to remind him, and sent him a text. Three times. If he didn’t know we had special plans tonight, he had to be living on the moon.

I pressed my hand to my sternum, pretending the ache I felt were hunger pains.

They weren’t, but I was good at pretending.

I glanced at the clock on the wall. Time was going by faster than I could stop it. I wanted to stop it. I wanted to just hover in a bubble until Sal arrived and let me out. I didn’t like feeling as if the things which were important to me, didn’t matter to Sal.

I knew he loved me. I felt it every day.

Just, sometimes, I didn’t think I was his whole world.

He was mine.

I lived to breath Sal in. Cinnamon and whiskey. It was the scent I had come to associate with home, safety, and just about everything I craved. It was Sal’s scent.

I loved it.

I needed it.

I needed Sal.

I picked up my phone, hoping I had missed a phone call or a text.

No such luck.

I sent off another text asking Sal when he was going to be home. I hated sounding like I was nagging, but I was nagging.

If he was on another undercover operation without telling me, I was going to...to...to do something really mean.

Last year, he had been assigned an undercover operation. He had been ordered not to tell me. He had followed that order and it had led to more hell than anyone should ever have to endure. Sal had promised it would never happen again.

I prayed he was keeping his word.

Until I saw him, I had no way to be sure.

My heart lodged in my throat when my phone rang. I answered it without looking to see who was calling. “Sal?”

“No, Clarke.”

My shoulders slumped. “Oh, hey, Clarke.”

Sgt. Victor Clarke, the second in command of Sal’s SWAT team, and a good friend.

“Where are you?” The man’s voice had a frigid chill to it.

“At home,” I replied, growing confused. “Have you heard from Sal? Do you know—”

“You haven’t?”

“No. I expected him home over two hours ago. I’ve been sitting here waiting for him. We’re supposed to be having dinner together.” I swallowed tightly. “It’s our anniversary.”

“No one called you?”

“Called me for what?” I sat up straight, bracing myself. “What’s going on, Clarke?”

“Fuck!” Clarke snapped.

“Clarke?’

“Sal’s here at the hospital, Lany. They should have called you already. He’s been here for three hours.”

My breath caught on a sob.

“Is...is he...” I couldn’t say it. My entire world rested on Clarke’s response.

“He’s alive, Lany. We were on a call and it went bad. Sal got hurt. They took him to the hospital in an ambulance. I just got here. I had to stay and secure the scene until I could turn it over to the detectives and crime scene investigators.”

Tears sprang to my eyes as my heart started beating again. “He’s alive, though, right?”

“He’s alive, Lany.”

“I’m on my way.”

“Let me send a car for you.”

“No, I’ll catch a cab. It’ll be quicker.”

And I wasn’t allowed to drive. Something about destroying twelve cars in four years. It wasn’t my fault if things just sort of jumped out in front of me.

Except the elephant.

That one might have been my fault. I did crash into the circus tent after all.

Still, my uncle, who was also the police commissioner and my boss, had threatened to put me in jail if I ever got behind the wheel of a car again.

“If you talk to him, tell him I’m on my way, okay?” It broke something inside of me that I hadn’t been there for Sal. Instead, I had been sitting at home, being pissed at him because he wasn’t here.

If anything happened to him before I got to the hospital, I’d never forgive myself.

“I’ll tell him, Lany. Just get here.”

I hung up on Clarke without saying goodbye. The man would understand. I dialed the doorman downstairs and asked him to get me a cab and then hurried to my bedroom to change. I didn’t think a g-string and see through mesh shirt were exactly appropriate for a hospital visit, or anywhere public.

Faded jeans, thick socks, a heavy fishnet sweater over my long sleeve shirt, and boots. There wasn’t any snow on the ground right now, but it could happen at any time. And as cold as I tended to get, I needed to bundle up if I even looked out a window.

Before leaving the penthouse apartment I shared with Sal, I made sure the oven was turned off, grabbed my keys, my carry bag with my Ipad, wallet, and phone, and then I was out the door.

A cab was waiting for me.

Unfortunately, once the cab was underway, I didn’t have anything to do but watch out the window and worry. The city scenery passed me by in a blur of tears. I knew I was totally wussing out, but this was Sal. He was the only one who truly understood me, and still wanted me.

I needed him to breathe.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Caro?”

Lany’s hair fell back as he looked up. “Yeah?”

“I didn’t get shot.” I thought it was something worth pointing out.

“You think that lets you off the hook?”

I could hope.

Lany sighed deeply. “I was wearing the smallest little g-string and sheer shirt. You could see my nipples and everything. You would have loved it.”

The transfer of blood from one head to the other was not a good thing when you had a concussion. My cock was pretty damn happy. My head was splitting in two.

“Lany, caro, I think maybe—”

“No,” Lany said in the sternest voice I had ever heard. “No thinking while you have a concussion.”

Not a problem. My thought process had gotten hazy at the first image of Lany in a g-string that crossed my mind. It had pretty much gone up in smoke after that.

“Your nipples were visible?” I whispered on a gasp.

Lany giggled as he leaned closer. “Sheer material, remember?”

“And a g-string?”

“Butt floss g-string.” Lany wiggled his eyes brows suggestively. “Very, very small.”

“Porca troia,” I groaned as I leaned back against the pillows and closed my eyes. The torture of wanting Lany and not being able to take him was almost more than I could handle. I’d sell my soul for ten minutes in our own bed.

When I felt nimble fingers sneak under the covers pooling at my waist, I inhaled sharply. I held my breath, waiting, anticipating. My jeans were unzipped and then one of the best feelings in the world was mine as Lany’s fingers closed around my cock.

“What are you doing, Lany?” I asked without opening my eyes.

“Nothing.”

I would have believed him if his hand hadn’t started moving up and down my engorged length. I had a split second to decide whether to stop Lany from what he was doing in case someone came in, or thrust up into his hand and experience the pleasure only my man could give me.

I had a concussion.

I wasn’t stupid.

I thrust up into his tight grip.

“Più stretto, caro,” I moaned. “Squeeze me tighter.”

I tried to keep my breathing steady but my heart went wild, and blood rushed hot through my veins when I felt Lany’s wet tongue lick at my pelvic bone. A groan rose up in my throat as arousal caught me in a vicious grip.

“Lany, please,” I pleaded as I humped my hips toward Lany, an anxious whine falling from my lips. I gritted my teeth when Lany just chuckled at me.

A moment later my needy cry echoed through the room as Lany’s lips wrapped around my hard cock. I could feel every movement, every lick, every sweet caress. I could almost feel the very air around me moving over my sensitive skin.

I felt flushed, hot, and needy. Fire raced through my body, melting me from the inside out. I didn’t know what Lany would to do next and it drove me crazy. My heartbeat throbbed in my ears as I waited for Lany’s next move. I just wished the man would hurry the hell up.

I was about to go out of my ever-loving mind.

I groaned and started panting when something brushed against my balls. I spread my legs, giving Lany more access. I loved having my balls played with, sucked on, tugged, anything.

And Lany knew it.

The man played me like a master.

I shook as need rushed through my body like a tidal wave and crashed together in my cock when Lany suddenly deep-throated me. I growled as I felt the tip of my cock hit the back of Lany’s throat.

The man had no gag reflex.

I was one lucky bastard.

I reached down and pushed Lany’s hair back, needing to see. I watched Lany as the man moved his head back up and down the full length of my thick cock. It was an alluring sight, one I never got tired of looking at.

“Lany,” I shouted, “don’t stop.”

God, please don’t stop.

I stiffened as Lany’s mouth sank even further down on my cock. Lany swallowed it until I felt the man’s nose brush against my short, curly hairs. Lany began to move his mouth along my hard length.

“Oh, fuck,” I whimpered as the man’s slight hum sent small vibrations through my cock. I tangled my hands in Lany’s hair, holding him in place as I fucked the world’s most perfect mouth.

I could feel my balls drawing up close to my body. I knew I was on the edge of an intense orgasm. I started slowly thrusting into Lany’s mouth. I couldn’t believe the hotness I felt as I fucked Lany’s mouth, the exquisite pleasure.

“Oh, Lany, gonna—” I cried out as a heavy pressure built in my balls. The first tremors began inside, moving along my cock, in tiny convulsive jerks. It moved up to the base of my cock then erupted out the top as I found my release. I shouted as I came, flooding Lany’s mouth and throat. Lany sucked down every last drop.

I lifted Lany up with great gentleness, cradling his body close to mine. I held Lany tight as my heart continued to race.

“Thank you, caro.”

Lany’s face flushed. “You’re welcome.”

“Can I return the favor?” I asked as I started to reach for the zipper of Lany’s pants. I was confused by the sudden embarrassment that he could see in Lany’s amber-green eyes right before the man dropped them. “Lany?”

“I kind of…when you…I did too, so...”

I suddenly read through Lany’s stuttered words and I felt like shouting to the rooftops. I could feel small pants of Lany’s breath tickling my cheek. The man’s breath was coming out raggedly, softly, nervously.

“I love you, Lany.”

His embarrassment apparently forgot in an instant, Lany beamed up at me with a bright smile. “I love you, too.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for our anniversary.”

“We’re together, and that’s what’s important.”

I didn’t deserve the adorable man.