STORY EXCERPT

“London!” Vincenzo raised his voice, and Portofino knew this was bad. They had been so worried about London and Francesca when they were taken. Plus, the description of men beating them and dragging them into a van at the sports club enraged them. When they went along to rescue the women, they never expected to see such bad bruises and feel so much. They were a wild group of men. Ones who didn’t do commitments or made any, to any woman. No need to when so many women threw themselves at them constantly. This was different, and perhaps that was why Vincenzo was acting the way he was.

She froze in place.

“Come here. Now,” Vincenzo barked. It was an order, and by London’s flushed cheeks she knew it was. His finger pointed to the ground by him and his eyes were firm and held her with an expression of authority. She would be a fool to ignore his brother. She walked toward him but dropped the bag of ice on the table with a clunk. She paused in front of him. Vincenzo gave her the stare down as he stood a good foot-plus above her. She wore a T-shirt one of the guys had in the SUV over her spandex pants. The tank top and bra had blood on them from her lip. She hadn’t let anyone look her over, but she did let them hold her and keep her close and bring her home.

Vincenzo exhaled as he stared at her face, cursing under his breath, and then he reached up to touch her cheek when she flinched. The scowl grew deeper. “Never flinch at my touch. I would never bring you harm, nor would my brothers.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m used to handling things alone, and this is no different.”

He stroked her jaw, tilted her chin up toward him. “That’s where you’re wrong. This is different. We’re involved. We care, so put aside that stubbornness and let us care for you.”

“No Vincenzo,” she said to him and went to turn away when Vincenzo pulled her back into his arms. She gasped and cringed, holding her side.

“God damn it, we’re looking you over right fucking now.”

Vincenzo took her hand and led her to the bedroom, Portofino in tow, but Collozar and Lawrence remained back, uncertain if they should follow.

“Let’s take this off and see what we have,” Vincenzo ordered and reached for the hem of the T-shirt.

She gripped his hands. “You’re not serious? Please, Vincenzo, it’s not necessary.”

“It is necessary.” He raised his eyes at her in warning and then slowly began to lift her T-shirt. She breathed through the pain, making Portofino angrier by the second. There she stood in a tight pink tank top and spandex pants in black with a pink stripe along the outside of both thighs. The tank was ripped, bruises and red marks visible. Portofino reached out to check as Vincenzo cursed under his breath.

“I’m fine. I’ll be okay.”

“We’ll make certain of that. Portofino.” Vincenzo nodded for him to remove the tank top, and as he did, she looked scared.

“We won’t hurt you, we’ll just look and see what needs to be done to get you more comfortable.” As he lifted her top, he had difficulty getting it over her breasts. She was well-endowed and seemed to have stuffed herself into this top. Was she shy about her abundant breasts? Jesus, the woman was a sexual fantasy. As she moaned and groaned, he heard his brothers Lawrence and Collozar join them.

“Shit, those look terrible. Could they be broken?” Lawrence asked.

Collozar stepped closer. He started asking her some questions as tears filled her eyes. He was pressing and having her lift her arm. Portofino looked at her body. The bruises and red marks angered him, but his focus went to her abundant breasts, the deep cleavage, her flat, muscular abs, and what appeared to be a tattoo along her hip peeking out. He reached out and stroked her hip as Collozar spoke to her.

“I think they’re badly bruised. The only way to tell would be an X-ray—that means hospital or you let us bring you to someone we know,” Collozar told her.

She gulped. “I think I’ll give it some time and see how they feel.”

“Worse than tonight, that’s certain,” Collozar said, and stroked her arm. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. She stared up at him. Portofino and his brothers towered over her.

“I’ll have Gus see how he’s doing with security for the townhouse complex. Make sure she’s safe, but we’ll still plan on staying.” He raised the phone to his ear.

“No. You don’t need to stay. I’ll be fine,” she told Vincenzo.

“You aren’t remaining here alone. Not after what happened.”

“I can call someone.”

Portofino pressed against her back, then kissed her shoulder. She gasped. “We would feel better knowing that you weren’t alone and that we were here protecting you.”

She turned to look up at him. “I’m not your responsibility.”

He stroked her chin. “Yet,” he said with a promise he hoped she felt. The woman had him feeling aroused and in need. She affected him.

ADULT EXCERPT

Lawrence faced her, ran his palm along her arm, and then to her shoulder. “So, you’ll be staying in Mercy indefinitely?” he asked and licked his lower lip.

“Seems that way.”

He pressed closer, and she tightened up only for Lawrence to pull her into his arms. “We missed you,” he said, and pressed his lips to hers. She was shocked and nearly didn’t stop the kiss from continuing. She couldn’t allow this. She pulled back.

“Lawrence, don’t,” she said.

He ran his fingers through his hair and looked her over. “Don’t what? Don’t react to you? To the attraction we all feel? We were worried about you,” he stated.

“I’m fine. It all worked out.”

“How do you figure, if you’re not with us and in our arms?” Portofino asked.

“Portofino, don’t do this. Nothing can happen between us,” she said to them. “Now, about the setup.” She started talking about the space and pointing when Vincenzo raised his voice.

“London.”

She immediately turned to look at him, taking in that dark hair slicked back, adding to his aura of superiority, charisma, and all that power and control he emitted. She was shaking, and she was aroused. Times Vincenzo’s personality by four, and that was what surrounded her. Four capable, experienced men who could turn her world upside down and make her body react like no other. This wasn’t good at all.

“Come here,” he ordered. He actually ordered her to come to him. She knew not to ignore that order, yet she couldn’t be close to him. Having any of them close would break down her defenses. She had to think about.

“London, now,” Portofino now ordered. She didn’t look away from Vincenzo, and she could feel the others move closer. She swallowed hard.

“Vincenzo,” she whispered, head lowered.

“Eyes on me, London,” he commanded. Holy God, she felt her pussy leak, and her breasts suddenly felt swollen. For crying out loud, why were tears filling her eyes? She walked slowly toward him.

He held her gaze, looked at her lips, at the gap in her dress that showed off a bit of deep cleavage. She inhaled unsteadily but didn’t turn away.

“My brothers and I do not fear your brothers, your father, your cousins, or anyone else in your family.”

Oh shit, she was shocked. What was he saying? Was he ready to start a war? To fight with her dad, her family? Take over something they had control over to show his dominance and power? What?

“Vincenzo—”

“No, you listen. We were worried sick about you. Six fucking weeks and not a word. No indication of your injuries and whether you were okay after the assault and abduction? Nothing? Are we not friends? Do you not care for us as we do for you?” he questioned.

“It wasn’t like that.” She looked away.

“Eyes on me,” he commanded, and as she snapped her head back to look at him, he closed the space between them, gripped her hip, and pulled her into his arms. “You need to know, we want you and we will fight for you.”

She shook her head and he cursed, slid his hand under her hair, and lowered his mouth to hers. It was so crazy and felt incredible the way he dominated her mouth, her body, his hands were everywhere. He grabbed her ass, lifting her up against him, and then moved to her breast, cupping it as she moaned into his mouth.

She tried pulling back, knowing she didn’t want to but had no choice, when suddenly he released her lips and Lawrence was there pulling her into his arms and kissing her just as thoroughly as Vincenzo did. A second set of hands landed on her shoulders, and then lips were against her neck while Portofino cupped her breasts from behind and cursed.

“Jesus, you’re incredible,” he said, and Lawrence released her lips only for Portofino to turn her around and kiss her next. Her head was spinning, and she gripped onto him, moaned against him as he rocked his body against hers, and then Collozar was pressing up against her back, kissing her neck and unzipping the top part of her dress. She pulled back.

“Someone might come,” she said, and looked toward the door, but Vincenzo had closed it or someone did.

“The only one coming will be you,” Collozar said, and pulled her from Portofino and kissed her. Her dress gapped in the front and hands slid up her dress to her thong panties and pussy, then fingers, thick, hard, slid into her cunt.

“Oh!” she exclaimed.

“Shh, we don’t want anyone hearing what we’re up to now, do we?” Collozar asked, and then lowered his mouth to her bra and a part of her breast.

“She’s huge up top. For crying out loud, baby, you hide your body well,” Lawrence said, stroking her hair from her cheeks. He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her as his brothers continued to torment her and break down her resolve.

“She better. No woman of ours will flaunt what is going to be ours very soon,” Portofino said, and Collozar thrust fingers faster into her cunt.

“Come for us. Show us that you feel what we feel. That you can’t resist us. That you want us to fill you with our cocks and fuck you, claim you as our woman. Come, London, now,” Vincenzo demanded, and she did. She gripped onto Collozar’s shirt and cried out her release, then gasped for breath.