Savage Heir {Dark Mafia Romance + Thriller}

Chapter 11

I felt out of control and incredibly alive with the recklessness of my decision. My brain, my limbs, my stomach, my skin, my everything tingled with the high of breaking every silly rule that had been imposed on me my entire life.

Don't trust strangers. Don't look at boys. Don't stay out past curfew. Don't trust boys. Don't disobey your elders. Don't talk to boys you don't' know. Don't leave the block without telling someone where you'll be. Don't, under any circumstances, kiss a boy.

I'd got a glimpse of the horror tugging at my uncle's expression as we soared out of the parking lot, but even that wasn't enough to change my mind.

It wasn't my first kiss with a boy, but it was the only kiss to ever set my whole body aflame.

The unexpected ferocity of our passion was as shocking as it was uncontrollable.

And I wanted it again.

I craved it so much I felt crazed, and I know he did too.

His intimidatingly large hardon was wedged between the cheeks of my bottom, straining through his pants. Every time his thick column twitched it tickled my deliriously sensitive pussy, forcing me to shift in his lap.

"Back to the canyon?" Xavier's friend rasped in a voice as tough as nails.

The thick band of his neck was covered in dangerous-looking tattoos leading up to an angular face so confoundingly pretty, he could have been a male model. He was about Xavier's age, with wary clear-green eyes that popped against his russet skin.

"Yes," Xavier's delicious baritone fanned my neck, shivering gooseflesh in its wake. The tip of his Romanesque nose was millimeters from my skin, skimming the dip of my collarbone and shoulders. He was so maddeningly close I could hear him inhaling my scent as if committing it to memory. "Grace, meet Matteo."

"Nice to finally put a face to the name," Matteo's gruff laughter had a protective edge, one that said he hadn't made up his mind about me (yet).

It awakened those pesky butterflies in my ribcage to know that Xavier had been talking to his friend about me.

Then again, I wasn't entirely sure Matteo was friendly.

"Don't be looking too hard at my girl," Xavier growled, tossing Matteo a dark scowl as a thrill skittered up my spine.

His girl. The possessive edge of Xavier's tone was frighteningly sexy in a way I wasn't expecting.

"You gonna tell that to every straight, red-blooded man that runs across her, Jefe?" I noticed that Xavier's buddy didn't attempt a second glance to substantiate his smartass remark.

"Anyone stupid enough to get caught looking," the crook of Xavier's threatening smile sent another shiver into my panties. The primal snarl that tore up his throat hushed Matteo's sardonic chuckling and stole the breath from my lungs. "Won't get a second chance."

I knew I should be afraid of him. That I should run home to my mamo, like the good girl I've always been, to mourn my brother and make another cup of tea.

Xavier's dark authority and merciless prowess should have been enough to send me scurrying for safety. Then again, the rush of sensual euphoria that enveloped us was everything I needed to block out the pain of the past weeks.

His touch seared my skin and left me breathless. Like the keen of a tuning fork, my cells ignited to his dominant frequency when he got close.

The charge in the air crackled with the intensity of our illicit attraction.

"Nice to meet you, Matteo." I addressed his friend, finally.

Matteo's startlingly clear eyes flickered to mine in the tiny space of the luxury car that smelled like the rich leather and cedarwood of Xavier's cologne.

"Grace," he snapped his attention back to the road and dipped his chin into the flaming heart tattooed on his neck in a nod of deference.

Xavier's fingers brushed my cheek, as gentle as a glissando, trailing his scintillating heat along my skin while his steely eyes devoured me. His hand closed around my jaw, guiding my lips back to his for a fervent kiss.

As my eyelids slid shut our tongues tangled and my body pulsed with urgency. His throttled groan shot electricity into my core, flushing my skin with heat and pooling moisture between my legs.

"Fuck!" I peeked to see Matteo wince at our embrace. "Can you two wait, for like, five minutes? We're almost there!"

"Where are we going?" I asked, pulling away from Xavier to look out at the darkened scenery.

The smell of the ocean seeped through the tinted windows of Xavier's fancy car as we wound up the Pacific Coast Highway. Though, for me, it was impossible to hear anything outside of the hum of the engine and our uneven breathing.

"My house," Xavier purred in my ear to make my sex clench.

Well, ask a stupid question.

"I'm taking your pussy wagon after I drop you off, Jefe," Matteo grumbled as Xavier nibbled my earlobe to illicit an involuntary mew of desire from me.

I shifted in his lap at the tickle of his minty breath and his hands clamped down on my hips to push my bottom into his girthy cock.

"Grace," he nuzzled his stubbled jaw into my neck, grazing his teeth down my ultra-sensitive skin to set me alight. "Fuck, I need you."

"Don't make me stop and get a fucking hose," Matteo groused.

"Don't make me think about using my fucking piece," Xavier snapped, half-joking and half growling. "Just drive, dude, we're almost there."

The car sped up and Xavier crushed me to his heaving pectorals.

It was enough to get lost in the masculine scent of him. To feel him everywhere on me. To thrill at how he made me feel safe, even when he was the crux of all my irresponsible actions.

When the car pulled up to a stony storybook-looking wall, complete with a wood and wrought iron gate, I hardly noticed.

All I could see, hear, feel, or taste, was him, and still, it wasn't enough.

Like an addict, I was desperate for my next fix. I wanted to chase the high as far as it would go and ignore all the consequences.

After all, nothing mattered anymore.

If Gannon was gone and all I was left to deal with was unending sadness, then I was going to hold on to the amnesty Xavier could offer. Fleeting as it may turn out to be, nothing could hurt worse than the pain I'd already endured.

Matteo cut the engine and waited impatiently for Xavier to open the passenger-side door and lift me out of his sporty car. The chilly ocean wind left us unbothered as we enjoyed the heat burning between us, pushing our mouths to explore.

Sure, I'd had crushes on boys in the past, but those childish infatuations couldn't have prepared me for what Xavier stirred at my core. The pulsing, carnal lust drenching my panties and entangling my thoughts was all new and dreadfully chronic in nature.

His eyes on my body sparked raw, unquenchable arousal that left me panting like I was in heat. I was relying on my body's inexorable reaction to his closeness but riding the wave of our tumultuous passion wouldn't disguise my lack of experience.

Eventually, he was going to realize that I was a virgin, and I wasn't quite sure how a man like Xavier DeLuca would react. Or myself, for that matter.