Ruthless: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (18 page)

"Come on where?" I asked, and he took me by the hand, leading me to the bed and laying me down.

"I may not be as good as you, but I spent the past few weeks learning about massage. Now, I know that with us dancing tomorrow that a deep tissue massage isn't the best idea, but I was thinking a little relaxing rub down wouldn’t hurt.”

I smiled and sat up. "You have oil?"

"In my room," he said. "Wait here, two minutes."

In the time he was gone, I quickly stripped off my sweatshirt and pants and stripped away the bedspread, lying chest down on the sheet. When Dante came in, I heard the thump as he dropped the bottle on the floor, and I smiled, turning my head to look over at him. "See something you like?"

He recovered quickly enough, picking the bottle up off the floor and coming over, scooting onto the bed to kneel next to me.

I turned on my side, pulling him slightly with me and he shifted quickly, laying out next to me. Our lips met, and I felt something shift inside me, something that I hadn't expected, even with the reality of what was happening between us for the past few months staring me in the face. I opened myself up to him, completely and fully, pulling him in closer until we were wrapped around each other, our legs and arms fully entwined. Dante's left hand stroked my back, and when I pushed into him, he rolled onto his back, letting me feel both of his hands on me.

I sat up, looking down at him, and smiled devilishly. I reached down, grabbing the neck of his tank top and pulling hard. The thin cotton parted like tissue paper, and Dante looked down, somewhat surprised. "What? Easier that way.”

"Remind me never to get you seriously pissed off. Well, more than I have," Dante replied, bringing his hands up behind his head and stretching out. He gave me a little smile, not so much cocky as confident and eager to show himself to me.

I let my fingers trace between the clear definitions of his muscles, and rested my hand over the left side of his chest, above where I could feel his heart beating strong and sure.

I leaned down and kissed him again, my nipples sending little sparks of electricity through my body dragging over his chest. I grinned and kissed my way down, finding Dante's nipples and nipping at them with my teeth, our eyes locked. I giggled when he hissed and laughed at the same time, the hard bulge of his cock pressing into my lower stomach teasing me of what was to come.

I kissed my way lower to the waistband of his pants and undid the drawstring, pausing to relish the moment. "I know you've imagined this."

“And dreamed of it,” Dante replied, his voice husky with desire. “And of returning the favor.”

I shivered in anticipation and nodded, pulling his pants down. His cock sprang free, and I immediately swallowed him, wasting no time. I slid my lips down the hard shaft, my tongue massaging his head as I drew him deeper and deeper, until he bumped against the back of my throat. I didn't want to rush things, I wanted to draw this out, giving Dante the pleasure and warmth that I felt, so I drew him out, tracing the flare of his head with the tip of my tongue.

I licked his cock from the base all the way to the tip and then swallowed. I pulled back and sucked again, my tongue finding every ridge and bump in his skin and caressing it, finding the little areas that soon had him gasping, his hips lifting from the mattress to thrust in and out of my mouth. Dante reached down, resting his hand on my head but still letting me control the pace, and I felt his balls tighten, he was so close.

"Carmen . . ." he groaned, and I timed it just right, sliding him out of my mouth and pumping his shaft as he emptied himself, gasping until the very last spurt.

It took him a moment to catch his breath, but before I knew it, he was like an animal, flipping me over and kissing down my body hungrily. He teased my nipples with his tongue until I was growling at him, my pussy aching like I’d never felt before. I'd never noticed how long Dante's tongue was until he trailed it down my stomach, pausing at my belly button, giving me a grin before lowering his head between my legs.

He dragged his tongue over the lips of my pussy, driving all conscious thought from my mind. I don't know if he was a born genius or someone taught him, but oh my god did he know how to use his tongue. Starting with slow, careful licks of my labia, he opened me up carefully, stoking the fires inside me slowly, not rushing but not letting my desire wane.

I lost track of time as a warm red haze of desire washed over my body and mind, comforting and arousing at the same time. I was safe, secure, and able to abandon myself, knowing that he would take care of me the whole time. The first time his tongue parted my lips and tasted inside me, I cried out softly before regressing into a deep rumble of contentment that kept going, purring in my chest as he licked and nibbled with his lips on my tender flesh.

I reached down and ran my fingers through his hair. "You can do this to me forever,” I managed to whisper.

"I could be talked into that," Dante said jokingly. He brought his tongue up, finding the button of my clit and flicked his tongue over it. My eyes, which had been half lidded, shot open, my breath catching as electricity shot through my entire body.

"Fuuuu . . ." my garbled voice could only choke out as Dante's devilish tongue worked his magic on my clit. Swirling around, flicking over the tip, dragging his tongue over it, it didn't matter, each touch brought new levels of previously unimagined amounts of pleasure. My fingers clenched and I ground my pussy into his eager mouth, Dante never relenting as I went higher and higher. I knew I was going to come quick and hard.

I never imagined what would happen though, as in one instant, my body exploded, every muscle stiffening and locking. My eyes were fixed to the heavens as I screamed, my lungs unable to pull in anymore air as my orgasm took over. The world went gray as the lack of oxygen brought on by my frozen lungs made the orgasm even more intense, and I fell back into the mattress.

I came to moments later, Dante behind me, holding me gently. I took his hand, chuckling. "I've never come that hard before.”

Dante held me close, not rushing, letting my body recover, just nuzzling against my neck. "I don't think I could ever give you up," he whispered. "You're too beautiful."

"And you . . .," I said, turning over onto my back and beckoning with my eyes and hands, "don't ever have to."

He maneuvered between my legs, his cock hard and jutting, already spreading open the lips of my pussy. "Hmm, seems he's found his home," Dante teased as he slid the head of his cock up and down between my lips. "Are you ready?"

I nodded, opening my legs as far as I could. He slid inside, both of us pausing as his cock filled me all the way. I found his eyes and reached up, resting my arms on his neck as he started to thrust in and out, his eyes never leaving mine. We connected, body and soul as the slow, languid strokes became faster and faster, his powerful hips driving his cock into me and building both of us toward another orgasm.

I wrapped my legs around him as he hammered me, his cock pounding into my pussy over and over as we both struggled to get enough air into our lungs to allow our bodies to continue building together. I was desperate, vulnerable and open to him as I'd never been to another man, and I could see in Dante's eyes that he was the same. We had crossed the line from just having sex to something better, something purer, and it added fuel to the fire. For the first time in my life images of me becoming a wife and mother flashed through my head, and in each of them it was Dante who was with me. Lightning flashes of sensation and what seemed like glimpses of the future rocketed through my mind with each slap of his hips into mine, and I was sobbing I needed him so badly.

Both of us trembled on the edge of muscular exhaustion, he'd been thrusting in and out of me for so long, but neither of us were able to stop even if we wanted. Instead, I felt his cock swell, and I clutched at him greedily, my own orgasm held back by only the thinnest whispers of control. With a final plunge of his hips, Dante groaned, sending me crashing over the edge into another maelstrom of pleasure. I clutched him to me as I rose and fell inside, my soul shattering before being reformed, the hurt and shame of my past gone forever as this man, this good man, held me.

"Even if we end up in last place tomorrow, I'm happy," I whispered after we both were able to speak again. "After finding this . . . after finding you, I don't need the trophy."

Dante smiled and kissed me softly, then leaned back, his smile becoming feral and predatory. “I agree. But you know what?"

"What?"

"I still want to go in there tomorrow and kick some ass. Are you with me?"

I could feel my own smile change, and I nodded. "Let's get some rest. Tomorrow, we kick ass."

T
he lights
in the arena were nearly off, except for the glaring lights which blazed down on the two dance floors that took up the floor of Madison Square Garden. Who'd think that I, of all people, could possibly end up on television?

I glanced over at Carmen, who looked cute as hell in her short dress, a riff off Marilyn Monroe's famous white dress, except that Carmen's was in baby blue. Her hair was pulled back, the two of us were going for a look from
West Side Story
. I was wearing a sport coat like Tony from the movie, and while Carmen's dress wasn't quite the same color as Natalie Wood's, we still could have walked out of MSG and onto Broadway and people would know exactly who we were.

When I had first heard the song for the compulsory round, I laughed my ass off. First, any song with the title "Bounce Me Brother with a Solid Four" is pretty much proof that while music critics may claim, there isn't exactly a big drop off from the
Golden Age of Radio
to now. However, the beat was danceable, and as Carmen and I launched into the first movements, I felt the magic we'd started in Las Vegas wrap itself around us again.

There was only one flaw in our performance, and it was one that we knew we'd be unable to do much about. One of the last big movements of the dance involved me picking her and doing the classic 'legs to the right, legs to the left, throw your partner between your legs and snatch them back into a big lift' move that you can see in just about a thousand or so movies.

With my hand, a proper copying of the move was impossible. Carmen and I could either alter the grip on my right hand, which would make the twirl difficult if not painfully impossible for my wrist to accomplish, or we could keep the normal grip, and I'd be unable to check her rotation in the air properly. A flaw either way.

As it was, she landed a few degrees over, but we practiced for that, and pulling her back in for the twirl I tugged a little harder, bringing her back into my arms and onto the next sequence without losing a beat. When the three minutes were over, we were both damp with sweat, but grinning. The applause was thunderous, and I got another round of applause when I pulled Carmen in and gave her a kiss in the middle of the dance floor.

Waiting for our scores, I was shocked when they popped up. A ninety-three, while not as good as what we'd done in Vegas, was still a great score, and better than I thought we'd be able to get with my hand.

"You did it!" I yelled so Carmen could hear me. "Ninety-three!"

"
We
did it," she reminded me, returning the hug. "Come on, let's go get ready for the wildcard round."

"Don't you want to see how the scores end up?" I asked, but Carmen tugged me toward the locker room. "No?"

"Nope," Carmen said with a grin. "We did the best we could, and we're going to do it again. Let the judges sort out the rest. Come on."

We retreated to the locker room, exchanging thanks and good lucks with some of the other competitors. We were third in the lineup, the organizers figuring that putting the hip-hop dancers on last would be the best way to send the crowd home happy. A couple of them were raving about our moves, especially when they realized I was working with only nine fingers.

Finally, we were about as alone as we were going to get, and I looked into her eyes and took the plunge that had been on my mind for days. "Carmen, this is amazing. And except for a few unfortunate circumstances, every day since I met you has been amazing. But I haven't said the three most important words of all, the ones that I've been afraid to say until now. I spent my entire life since my father died looking for something, and I've found it. Carmen, even if we lose, even if you don't love me back, even if this is nothing more than a dance competition for you . . . I love you."

Carmen blinked, tears in her eyes, and hugged me. "Thank you," she whispered, kissing my cheek. "I . . . I just need some time to digest this. I don’t want to just say it back and not completely mean it. God, I thought last night was a mind trip, now this? I need to think. Is that okay?"

"Take all the time you need," I replied, smiling and taking her hand. "Either way, in about forty minutes, we need to be back on that floor for the wildcard round, so you do have to clear your mind for that. Unlike last time though, I'm in the zone, and could take on the entire world."

We went back to the locker room, Carmen quiet but not down as she took her second dress, the same purple dress she'd worn for the compulsory round in Vegas, into the screened off booth while I stripped down in front of the locker.

The competition organizers had turned the fans on high, so while the air in the locker room wasn't overly cool, it did seem to silently rush through at high speed, sucking away the sweat on my body, and I drank half a bottle of water before taking out my tuxedo for round two and putting it on.

"I'm ready," Carmen said, and I looked up, still amazed at how beautiful and elegant she looked in the ball gown. "Let's go kick some ass."

I pulled my coat on and handed her a bottle of water. "You good?"

Carmen opened it and took a swig, nodding gratefully as she recapped the bottle. "Actually, I'd forgotten that. Thanks. Bring it with you?"

"As long as you don't need to take a pee break," I joked, seeing the tension in her face and trying to ease it. "Carmen, if you're nervous about what I said . . ."

"I'm not," she replied quickly. “My nerves are just getting to me a little, that’s all.”

I nodded, taking her hand. "Like I said, I'm in the zone. We’re going to kick ass.”

We went back out to the arena, where we saw on the scoreboard the results from the compulsory round. Our ninety-three had held up pretty well, sixth place overall, with the lead couple having an amazing ninety-nine, but second through fifth all being no higher than a ninety-six. "The numbers are different, but we know how quickly the places can change. Like you said, we just worry about our dancing, and let the judges take care of the rest. Come on, the director's getting everyone lined up."

The television director got everyone arranged, and we walked out, Carmen trembling slightly as we made our way down the aisle toward the dance floor. With the end of the compulsory round, the real television theatrics were kicking in, and I was slightly dazzled as a spotlight hit me directly in the eyes. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just ready to get it on," Carmen whispered back as we lined up on our designated starting position. "What do you want them to pull?"

I shook my head, still in the zone. "Don't matter. We're going to rip this floor up and set the roof on fire with anything."

Carmen gave my hand a squeeze as the last of the couples in our floor filed in, and the head judge stood up. We waited while he spun the big brass drum and pulled out the envelope, opening it and smiling. "Ladies and gentlemen . . .
Oh, Those Dark Eyes
by Tango No. 9."

I felt joy take hold as I lifted my arms and Carmen came into position, resting her hands right where they were supposed to be. The tango was my favorite of the smooth dances with Carmen, mainly because of how the music reminded me of her, but also because it was so intimate. After telling her how I felt about her, there was no better dance.

Our steps were perfect as we whirled around the floor, keeping in perfect time with the music as I steered us. All that work in the big dining room paid off, as I felt like I had radar in my mind. Every little pressure from Carmen brought just the right adjustment, and I didn't have to lead her as much as think a direction, and we were moving that way. Our will and movement became one, and as the last of trombone faded away, I knew we nailed it.

"We have to wait," Carmen reminded me as I stepped toward the exit. "Part of the pageantry, remember?"

"God bless the television camera," I said softly in reply, both of us turning back to the head judge as he rattled off a little speech about the AADP and a new era for dance while the scores were tabulated. "Here we go."

The big screens on each side of the arena lit up, and I felt my jaw unhinge. "First?"

Carmen was silent, and I looked over to make sure she was breathing too as I looked again at the other scoreboard, convinced someone had fucked up. But there it was. Floor A, first place: Esperanza & Degrassi. Carmen took a breath, but still her voice was barely above a husky whisper. "Oh my God."

The scores stayed up for about ten seconds, before the new combined scores were displayed. We'd jumped, from sixth to third, only four points out first.

Leaving the dance floor, we made our way back to the locker room, and I sat down, my hands shaking as I opened a bottle of water. I looked over at Carmen, and I could see worry written on her features. “What’s wrong? We just got first that round!"

“Just worried about the next round. That's all," she said, not meeting my eyes. She had something else on her mind, and I sat next to her, letting her think. "You know what I'm not worried about though?"

"What?" I asked, sipping some more water.

"Us," Carmen said, turning her head to look at me. "Because I've been thinking about what you said, and I realized it was just fear holding me back too. I love you, Dante. I want us to be together for a long time."

Carmen leaned in and kissed me, and I forgot the rest of the locker room as I felt her lips on mine, our first kiss after we finally put words to our feelings.

"Ballroom dancers, forty-five minutes," a competition assistant said, coming around. I looked at Carmen, who nodded and smiled.

"Let's get ready." Carmen got her outfit, retreating again to the women's booth while I peeled off my tux. I unpacked my matador outfit, pulling on the
toroeo
shirt and pants, glad that the rules had forced us to modify what I'd worn at Regionals and not go the traditional route of knee length pants and high socks, and instead wearing tight but full length trousers. I finished up my tie just as Carmen came out from her dressing area, nearly ready herself.

“Need help with your hair?" I asked her, and she nodded, handing me the headpiece that I knew was a pain to pin in. It took nearly five minutes just to attach the twenty bobby pins that held the whole thing together. When I was done, I pulled on my jacket, and we were complete.

"Ten minutes, ballroom!"

"You ready?" I asked, and Carmen nodded, smiling. We walked back out to the arena and did a quick little parade with the other finalists, bowing before walking off the floor. We had fifteen minutes while the couples in front of us did their showcases, and we retreated into the hallway, holding hands.

"Can I ask you something?" Carmen asked as we waited. "Just to get our minds off things?"

"Anything."

"When did you know?" she asked. "You know, about us?"

"About halfway back from Vegas. Nobody has ever gotten under my skin the way you did when I got angry at you, and I knew the only reason it could have happened was because I was already falling for you. What about you?"

She thought, then shook her head. "It's been so organic, so subtle and slow, I can't pinpoint an event when my memory says 'yep, you were in love with him right here.' If I had to pick a certain time, it was seeing you in that clinic that I couldn't fool myself any longer. At that moment, I didn't care about dancing. I didn't care about the trophy or the trip or anything. I cared about you. It wasn't until I'd been there a while and Luisa said something about your hand and the finger that dancing flashed through my mind."

I nodded and pulled her close. "I love you."

"I love you too."

A production assistant came by and interrupted us. "Three minutes, guys. You are up next."

Carmen and I went to the base of the tunnel, where the couple in front of us was in the middle of their routine. I turned to her and let my heart ask the question that had really been burning inside me since the night before. "Carmen, one more thing."

"What's that?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Before we go out there and dance the dance of our lives, I want to know one thing." I bent down and took a knee. "Carmen Esperanza . . . will you marry me?"

"One minute!" a production assistant yelled back, and I ignored him, my eyes fixed on Carmen. She nodded, tears of happiness forming in her eyes as she tried to find her voice.

"Of course," she finally said after three attempts. "Yes, I will marry you."

The production assistant turned back, calling, "You're on."

I stood up, and took my life partner's hand. "Come on. Let's dance, not for a title, not for the people watching . . . just us. Let's go dance for us."

Carmen nodded and wiped under her eye, carefully not smearing makeup. "For us."

The lights were dazzling again, but I didn't care as Carmen and I walked out, taking our positions on opposite ends of the dance floor. Before turning around, I saw her smile and mouth,
I love you.

I love you too
, I mouthed back, and I turned, taking my opening position.

The music started, and my new life began.