The Recluse Heir by Monique Moreau
6
After coming hard and not able to do anything but helplessly watch Cat flee like the devil was at her heels, the rest of my day was exhausting. The house was full of pampered women, with manicurists and a variety of other beauticians coming in and out, that I had to monitor for security reasons. Meanwhile, the men were holed up in the library for meetings, taking the necessary breaks for eating, drinking, and to watch a soccer game.
It was past midnight by the time I nodded to the guard in the hallway as he patrolled the house. On the landing of the stairway separating the two wings of my home, I paused. When the guard turned the corner, I ducked into the wing that held the rooms occupied by the Popescu family. I should never have dared step onto their side of the house, but I knew I wouldn’t fall asleep after what happened that morning.
Palming the master key in my hand, I decided to visit Cat and just…feel her for a moment. Sit in her presence and breathe her in. Maybe that would help guide my next steps. It was obvious that I was grasping for excuses to see her, but that awareness didn’t deter me one bit.
Unlocking the door, I slipped quietly into her dark bedroom. In the center of the room was a canopied bed, with burgundy velvet curtains tied to the tall wooden posts. Peacefully asleep, her long lashes fanned across her cheeks, blonde like her hair, eyes moving beneath her lids. Her lush lips curved up in a small, mysterious smile, reminding me of the Mona Lisa.
Her full breasts strained against the pink silk of her nightgown, shadows of her nipples evident against the thin, light-colored material. I salivated at the thought of bending down and sucking them into my mouth, making them nice and wet. Maybe swiping my tongue over the wet material, rubbing until her nipples went stiff. I’d slip my hand beneath the single sheet and tickle her little clit until she woke up moaning into my mouth.
She made a movement, throwing off the sheet and flinging her hand over her head. My eyes greedily drank in her flat stomach. Fuck, she was gorgeous. Her leg bent and slid upward, pulling the silk of her nightie and exposing a beautiful slim thigh. My cock went rock hard. All the while, the scent of fresh nectarine blossoms drifted over me. I could only imagine what she tasted like.
Glaring down, I stared at the slight gap between her thighs. My fingers twitched, and I had to stop myself from helping her silk nightie farther up her leg to show me that sweet, innocent pussy again. Fuck, I was a bastard. Thank God, I’d never pretended to be anything else. Otherwise, I’d take the prize for being a hypocrite.
Mumbling, her brows drew together before they smoothed over and she tossed her head to the side, away from me. What a restless sleeper. That didn’t surprise me, for some reason. As strong as she was, there was a fragile innocence about her. If she were wrapped in my arms, I’d keep her still through the night.
My fingertips coasted down her cheek.
So soft.
Her arm flung out, and she made a distressed sound like some evil interloper had crashed into her dream. Her shoulders swished from side to side as if trying to shrug off the unpleasantness. A keening sound, pitiful really, came from her parted lips, getting louder and louder by the second.
Worried someone might hear her and try to enter, I laid down and wrapped her into my arms. Her intoxicating peach blossom scent wrapped around me. It was like lying in a fresh meadow in the middle of a hot summer night under a cascade of shooting stars.
Turning into my chest, she nuzzled the cotton of my T-shirt. I felt it grow damp beneath her cheek. She was crying. Having a father and brother like hers would make anyone cry, but what the hell? She was a protected princess. A jewel. She shouldn’t be weeping in her sleep.
Suddenly, a rage took hold of me, choking me. What the fuck had they done to her? Why hadn’t they done a better job of protecting her? It was their duty to take care of her, coddle her, and make sure none of their nonsense encroached on her life. One of the few traditions I supported was protecting our women.
Something niggled in the hidden recesses of my mind. Whatever was giving her nightmares was the reason they’d sent her off to boarding school. Cat was the only mafie girl I’d ever heard of being sent away to school, that’s how unusual it was. Maybe I was conflating two unrelated occurrences, but my gut told me something was off. And I followed my gut. It was one of the first lessons of any mafie made man. If I had to take a guess, I’d say something happened to her, and they sent her away to either help her or hide their fuck up.
Petting her hair gently, I racked my brain, trying to recall how old she’d been when she’d left for that fancy school in Massachusetts. I shushed and hummed to her until her heartbreaking crying tapered off and she snuggled into my arms. Drawing her knees into her chest, she huddled into me as if seeking comfort from a thunderstorm. I caressed her cheek with my knuckles until she settled down into quiet, normal sleep. My chest swelled with pride at her response to my ministrations.
I couldn’t leave her. At least, not yet. My lips brushed the crown of her head. The gentle pressure of her lithe body nestled against mine humbled me. For the first time in the longest time, I had a purpose that extended beyond myself and my family. Watching over her made sense. Something clicked inside me, and for the first time, I felt like I belonged. Snuggled together in the cocoon of her bed, where she and I were all that existed, felt right. Her warm breath fluttered over my skin. I soaked in the richness of these feelings.
The night would pass too quickly, and with it, the spell would be broken. I’d stay for a while and creep away like a thief before she woke up. A strain of sadness quivered inside me at the realization that I couldn’t share this with her. That she’d never consciously experience this time with me. She belonged to Nicu and the only moments I’d have with her alone, holding her close, would be stolen ones like these. And even they would have to end once she was married.
* * *
I smelledsomething spicy and warm. Speaking of warm, one whole side of my body was as blazing hot as a furnace. I shuddered at the cold front on my back and nuzzled deeper into the warmth of my pillow.
My hard pillow.
My fingers flexed against white cotton and again…I felt hardness. Soft cotton snagged over a hard surface beneath my cheek.
My eyes fluttered open and I stared into this strange white cotton. My head ticked up and my vision was filled with the beautiful, cruel face I recognized so well. Luca? I must be dreaming. This was a dream. I stared at dark blond eyelashes casting shadows that sloped over the hard angle of his tanned cheekbone.
A puff of breath ghosted over my forehead and I blinked. This was no dream; I was awake and Luca was in my bed.
Lifting onto my elbow, I shook my brain fog and found myself curled into Luca’s side. Good grief, he took up space. His broad chest heaved once and his shoulders stretched the wrinkled cotton of his shirt. Now I knew why the front of my body was so hot. He gave off some serious heat.
And that spicy male scent…I bit into my lip. His chest lifted and fell rhythmically beneath my splayed hand, my fingers digging into the soft cotton.
Okay, okay.
I took in a bracing breath.
Think.
My head snapped left and right.
The room was empty. The door was closed. Dim light filtered through a part in the curtains. No noises came from the hallway, so it must still be early. What the hell was he doing in my room? In my bed?
Panicking, I quickly rucked up my nightie and peered between my thighs.
No blood. No reddened skin.
My gaze inspected the sheets where I was lying.
Pristine.
I blew out a long breath.
Okay, I’m still a virgin.
Spinning my head around the room, I forced myself to focus. I had no idea how or why he was here, but the most important issue was getting him gone. Fast. As long as he was out of here before anyone found him, this situation was salvageable. Otherwise…I shuddered. My father would murder him in this bed, and I’d have another traumatic incident to deal with. Oh, and the little fact that Luca, second son of the Lupu clan, would be dead. Slaughtered by my father. World War Three would be triggered. The streets of Queens would run red with rivers of blood.
Staring down at the hard planes of his chest, I noticed that his T-shirt had ridden up, exposing his tiered abs. A slim trail of dusky blond snaked down between the ridged muscles, and the vision of him jacking off flashed in front of me. That memory dragged my gaze down to the stiff column of his morning wood. Oh, God. I twisted my head to the side and swallowed audibly.
Shaking his shoulder, I hissed out in a low, harsh whisper, “Luca, Luca, wake up.”
Luca’s big body jerked.
His eyes fluttered open.
“Fuck,” he muttered, ruffling his hair with his fingers. His sleepy eyes blinked a few times until they came into focus. Yikes, but was he sexy. I didn’t know what men looked like when they woke up, but there was a moment of vulnerability when he resembled a little boy. It was downright dangerous. I couldn’t lounge back and admire him like I had the right to have him in my bed, but if I did…yum.
Instead, I had to get him the hell out of here, pronto.
“What are you doing here?” I rushed out in a whisper.
“We didn’t do anything,” he assured me, his hand covering mine. The weight and warmth of it was delicious and my lashes fluttered in response.
Shaking it off before I did something stupid, I huffed out, “Duh, I know. I already checked.”
His lopsided smirk slid in place. “You checked? Like you checked to see if that silky pussy was still intact? Fuck, wish I had seen that.”
In a gruff just-woke-up voice that had my nipples pebbling, he teased, “What, you don’t trust me?”
Crossing my arms to hide the evidence of my arousal, I glared at him. “Why should I?”
His gaze slid down my body, pausing at my arms as if he had X-ray vision and could see the hard peaks that I was so desperate to hide. Forehead furrowed in concentration, his eyes continued down my body in a possessive stare that left me trembling with the urge to spread myself for his perusal. “Maybe you shouldn’t.”
A shudder rolled through me, and I jerked away from him. “What are you even doing here?”
His eyes shot away from me, embarrassment crossing his face. My pulse accelerated. What happened that made him shy away from me? Breathing in, I focused on keeping myself calm. I didn’t remember anything, but I’d had too much to drink again last night. Whatever happened between us, I can handle it.
“I was patrolling the hallways and heard you crying loudly. You’re marrying my dickhead brother, but…even so, you sounded in pain. I happened to have the master key on me, so I checked to see if you were okay.” He shut his eyes, as if recalling what he walked into last night. “You were in distress. I didn’t think you’d want everyone to hear you and come knocking, so I laid down on top of the covers and…held you.” He cleared his throat. “You settled down right away. I meant to leave, but I guess I fell asleep.”
I felt the color drain from my face. Oh. My. God. My nightmares were back. They had gone away while I was away at boarding school. At least, my roommate never complained and she would’ve if they’d woken her up. They hadn’t returned when I came home. Perhaps the stress of my depressing marriage had triggered their revival.
I averted my gaze in shame. There was no way I was going to explain to Luca why I was crying in my sleep so loudly that he’d been driven to enter my bedroom in the middle of the night. At least he’d been kind enough to comfort me. But now? Now there was no explaining away the fact that we’d shared a bed the entire night.
“What happened, Cat?” he asked, watching me carefully. Not with pity, thank goodness.
I shifted nervously under his scrutiny.
His jaw tightened. “Did someone hurt you? Your father or brother?”
My eyes got wide.
“What? No, of course not!” I knew my clan had a reputation for being ruthless, but my family would never hurt me. “That would never ever happen. My family loves me and treats me like gold. I’m their princess.”
The anger flashing in his eyes and the tension in his expression triggered a thunderbolt of heat through my body. He stared at me for a long moment, as if debating something. Finally, he must have decided to trust my word. I let out a sigh of relief. If he was protective enough to comfort me in my sleep, I didn’t want to consider what he would do if he hadn’t believed me. He looked like he was about to tear down the walls of the house. As scary as he appeared in that moment, I felt a well of pride at how defensive he was on my behalf. I’d never been on the receiving end of that kind of sentiment from anyone other than my father, Cristo, and Simu. I wasn’t a member of his clan, yet he was already protective of me. That left me light-headed and giddy.
“So, what was it? Did someone hurt you at school?” His fingers curled into fists. “I’ll go up there myself and tear the fucker limb from limb.”
“No, no, nothing like that,” I insisted, twitching my nose in nervousness. Oh, God, I was going to have to tell him so he didn’t think something god-awful happened to me. I mean, it did, but not directly to me.
Inhaling deeply, I peeked at his solemn face.
“It was an accident,” I started with that caveat to lessen the impact of my confession. “I witnessed my father choke a man.”
Fury lined his face. I flinched at his expression and quickly lifted my hands, palms out, in a pleading gesture. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was no one’s fault. It just happened, but it…rattled me, and I’ve had nightmares ever since. Well, not at school. For some reason, I don’t have them at school. Maybe because I know that I’m far away from all of this.”
“You slept well last night,” he said, his voice dropping. His finger reached out and caressed my kneecap in small comforting circles that made me want to keel over in a swoon. “Once I pulled you close to me, you calmed down immediately.”
“Right,” I said, heat creeping up my neck and flagging my cheeks. Shifting my leg away from his touch, I checked my phone charging on the night table. “It’s after six. My bunică is up by now. I have no idea how you’re going to get out of here without getting caught.”
He sat up. Scratching his abdomen, his fingers raised his shirt up, exposing those ripples of firm muscles that made me gulp. My own fingers itched to touch, to explore. I pulled in a harsh breath. Restrain yourself. Yeah, I had to get him out of here before I did something irresponsible. Something more irresponsible than what I had done yesterday.
He caught my eye. Grabbing my fidgeting hand, he held it tightly as if to comfort me and assured me, “Hey, it’s going to be okay. I’ll get out of here and no one will be the wiser.”
I cocked my head, listening for sounds. I heard nothing, but that could change in an instant, and then how would I hide this huge male specimen in this room. There weren’t any closets, only an old-style wardrobe that he’d never fit in. I leaned over and checked beneath my bed. Not enough room for him to hide underneath. Why did he have to be so enormous? I would’ve definitely fit under the bed. This was a disaster.
“Even if you get out of here without anyone spotting you, no one can ever find out that you were with me alone. Promise me, Luca.”
His sober eyes bored into mine. “I promise. I’m not trying to fuck up your life,” he swore as he released my hand and hopped out of bed. Striding to my window, he peeked out from behind the curtain. I couldn’t help admiring the broadness of his shoulders or how his back tapered down into a narrow waist.
With his back to me, he said, “The guards are on duty circle every fifteen minutes. I’ll wait until I see one and then go over the balcony and make my way down to the bottom.”
“That’s like a lot of distance down there. You’ll fall.”
His head swerved in my direction and he gave me a devastatingly boyish grin. “I won’t fall. I was a gymnast in my teens.”
Of course, he was. God, could he be any more perfect? Really, it was sickening. Nothing was more catnippy to a Romanian girl than a gymnast. My eyes slid down his tall frame, pausing on the definition of his triceps, and I didn’t doubt his skills for a second. The man was built. I shook off the lust, firmly reprimanding myself. I couldn’t have him, and I needed to keep that in mind.
How was I going to manage once I was married to Nicu and we were forced to be in the same room? It was sure to happen. Both their penthouses were on the same floor. The very penthouse where I would be living, day in, day out. Oh, God, what if we were stuck in the elevator together? His huge body crowding me up against a wall, hoisting me into his arms and spreading me wide. Me, writhing against his hard cock, legs dangling over his firm ass. I mentally smacked myself. Get a grip, Cat, and focus. First things first. I had to get out of this situation or there would be no marriage, no living next to him. And when I did live near him, I’d have to avoid him like the plague because I wasn’t a cheater.
He popped the French doors open and focused on what was going on outside. I slipped out of bed and stood beside him. Although I couldn’t see much past his wide shoulders, I did get off on his spicy scent and the warmth emanating from his body.
Five minutes later, he whispered, “Okay, the guard just passed.”
Pushing the door wide enough for him to exit, he swung his leg over the little metal balcony, and expertly scaled down the stone wall of his house with ease and jumped down without a hitch. I watched the whole thing, stunned. Once on solid ground, he glanced up and winked at me before jogging off. I followed his progress until he rounded the corner and was gone.
I pressed my back against the wooden frame of the door.
Holy fuck.
What in the world just happened?
