Page 10 of Kiss of Death
She felt his touch in his gaze. She had to stop herself from letting her fingertips dance up the inside of her thighs and cup herself where she felt him the most. It was insane how quickly things could get hot between them, and this was just from a simple look. Ivy was almost afraid to see what would happen if they ever got their hands on each other.
The light changed to green, and it was as effective as being dunked in an ice bath. Ivy let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. The heat in the car seemed to be nonexistent, like the two of them hadn’t finished mentally ripping each other’s clothes off.
She cleared her throat. “You used to ride a Harley or a crotch rocket?” She asked, hoping it would keep her libido from reacting to Otto in any way.
Otto laughed. “Crotch rocket, huh? Kawasaki to be exact. I fell right into the fad when they were a big thing way back in the day. I did all the stunts, raced, and even belonged to a little crew.” He shrugged. “Thought I was hot shit in my youth.”
Ivy glanced over at him, picturing him in some biker boy gang. “What happened?” she asked, curious why he had given up something he seemed to have enjoyed. It was a mistake; she knew finding out more about him would only pull her in closer, and she didn’t need any more reasons to be attracted to him.
“Bad accident...scared the shit out of Gia and myself. I tried to get back on the bike after, but I couldn’t stop picturing the accident or the pain and fear on my sister’s face. It was hard to walk away, but I couldn’t put my sister through that again. We’re all we have.”
“You and Gia are pretty close then?”
Otto nodded, “Always been as thick as thieves. You have any siblings?”
The question was natural given the flow of the conversation they were having, but it still made her hesitate. She didn’t want to give up any piece of information about herself that could hurt her or her sister, and she didn’t want to get caught in a lie either. That would be the first sign something was off about her, and given the way Smoke had threatened her in the locker rooms, she needed to be careful.
“Yeah, but we’re a little more like oil and water, so we’re not as close as you and Gia.”
Otto pulled up to her apartment building, and the neighborhood block guys were all sitting in front drinking, smoking, and playing loud music. It was almost four in the morning, and they looked like they weren’t winding down anytime soon.
Guess I won’t be sleeping either.
She turned toward Otto to thank him, but she swallowed the words at the angry look on his face. His gaze wasn’t on her; it shot past her toward the guys in front of her building. “You live here by yourself?” he growled, and she nodded. “I’m walking you up.”
“You really don’t have to. It’s not like I haven’t done it before.” The words came out as a whisper, and she wasn’t sure where her voice had suddenly gone.
“Doesn’t mean you have to tonight.” He quickly stepped out of the car and walked over to her side of the door before she could utter a protest. It really wasn’t that big of a deal—she had to pass them enough times since she was set up here. They’d been polite for the most part, but Ivy knew what a few drinks and boasting could do to men.
Otto opened her door, and she quickly stepped out, not bothering to argue her point. As soon as he closed the door behind her, his palm stretched out against her lower back. Her breath caught, and she shivered against his hold, even as her entire body warmed.
Ivy felt Otto’s breath in her ear. “I’d ask if you’re cold again,” he murmured, “but the way your breathing just changed….” She heard the smirk in his voice, and while she wanted to tell him he was wrong, she couldn’t. Her pulse hammered loudly in her ears; she was positive he could hear it too.
Ivy turned to face him, looking to make some quick and witty remark, but the words fizzled out on her tongue. She was held captive by the weight in Otto’s eyes. It was the same way he looked at her up on that stage at Tres—he looked famished for her. There was some feminine part of her that wanted this to be the end of a date so she had a reason to invite him back up to her apartment—let him have a taste of her and hope it wouldn’t be enough to sate his appetite for her.
They were outside, but the air around them evaporated. She couldn’t see or hear anything but the man standing in front of her. She felt his fingertips make lazy circles against her back, and she found herself relaxing to his touch. She leaned in and Otto followed suit like he was going to kiss her, and she was just as desperate to feel his lips against hers.
This was disastrous.
She didn’t understand what force was surrounding them that seemed to be driving their attraction, but it scorched the earth beneath her feet every time they locked eyes.
The sound of a hand coming down on a table, followed by loud shouts, made Ivy jump out of her skin. She completely forgot she was outside her shitty apartment building. She cleared her throat, not willing to meet Otto’s gaze for fear she’d fall right back into whatever was going on between them. She waved her hand out in front of her. “I guess if you insist on walking me up—this way.”
Otto quickly moved around her, making sure her body was blocked from the knowing gazes of the guys sitting in front of her building. He never took his hand off her low back, and each step they took toward her apartment building only seemed to make her hyper aware of his body next to hers.
In her mind she knew this was just Otto being polite and walking her to her door, but her heart hammered in her chest, and she became wet with each step she took—her body was counting down the minutes until he got inside of her, though she feared he probably somehow already wormed his way there.
Boris ended his call. He had his own plan in place but it was set in motion before Sofia had come home. It still burned him how quickly she was able to get Wolf to sign off on his casino when he’d been pushing him for it for a couple of years now. Boris didn’t care too much for Queens—the borough held no appeal to him—but the casino and the guns Wolf ran out of there did.
There was money and power in pussy, drugs, and guns. He had the first two on lock and he wanted in on the third one to expand his ever-growing empire, an empire he almost lost a few times at the hands of Barbati. It was a blessing for him when Barbati was killed. It left the door wide open for him. All he had to do was kill off Vinny once Vinny had his hands on the properties he was after. He would have brought out Bruno or killed him for Tres, and Boris would have had the majority power amongst the remaining two families.
Unfortunately for him, that hadn’t happened yet. Boris went over the plan Bruno had in place for Tres again. It was an okay plan if everything went exactly how it should, but Boris wanted to bury Sofia and the whole Barbati organization. He had the next steps in motion once Tres was either in the ground or back in his pockets. Sofia had too many weak spots, whether she realized it or not—all men under the rule of a female were easily swayed with the right incentive.
The sound of sniffles brought his mind back to the beautiful gift Bruno left for him. It was Bruno’s way to make amends for losing their last shipment and Tres. Boris stood up and walked over to his newest toy. “Look at me,” he snapped.
She flinched at the sound of his voice but kept her eyes glued to the table. He grabbed her hair, rearing her head back and forcing her gaze to his. She wasn’t like the other girls he’d brought. Some did have a little fight in them, but it was quickly diminished once they realized the reality of their new situation. There were some that came to him already broken and resigned to their fate.
But this one before him?
