The Rival Roomies Read online

  “Always so beautiful,” I mumble, happy to see she went sans bra today. Her nipples are already peaked, but I squeeze them between my thumbs and forefingers and her back bolts up off my chest for a moment. “How do you want it?”

  She turns her head and kisses the hollow of my neck. “I’m not picky. As long as it’s you I get.”

  All those questions about whether we should or shouldn’t do this finally dissolve. Having Val in my arms again is like picking that one crazy stock that everyone thinks will crash but soars.

  My hands glide down her thin dancer’s frame, pulling the dress until it falls off her hips and cascades to the floor.

  “I have to see how wet you are.” I tease where her panties meet her skin. I almost want to save this part to make it last, but I’m way too greedy. Her body softens when my finger dips into her folds. “Tell me if this happened after our kiss.”

  She raises one arm up and around my neck. “I’ve been wet for weeks around you. The kiss might have been the final straw, but…”

  “Come here.”

  I bend closer to kiss her and she turns in my arms, both her arms around my neck. Our kiss is slow and gentle. I can’t explain why I want to go ape-shit crazy on her, but at the same time I need to take my time. The thought that I’ll never have her again is scary. She’s only ever in my life for short excerpts.

  “You’re way overdressed for this occasion.” She smiles, pulling at my tie. With my help, I’m quickly stripped down from the waist up. When her hands land on my belt, her fingers dip under the fabric to graze my skin. “I’ve missed him.”

  I chuckle and shake my head. Her incessant need to refer to my manhood as though it’s a third party between us always gives me a laugh.

  “He’s missed me too, I bet.” She lowers to her knees, her eyes on me.

  I watch her undo my belt and pants, unzipping them carefully.

  “Yes, he did.” She palms my hard length over my boxer shorts, and her other hand pushes my pants to the floor. After she runs her cheek over my bulge, her teeth tease me.

  A groan echoes in the room, and I’m not sure if it was her or me.

  “Come here.” I try to bring her back up to me, but she shakes her head, looking at me.

  “You’re not the boss here, Mr. Mancini.”

  My hands find the edge of the desk and I grip so hard my palms ache, watching her take me out of my boxer briefs. Just like we both knew would happen, my dick springs out like a panting dog when his owner returns home. Pre-cum rests on the tip, indicating my excitement. She twirls her hand over my cock, opens her mouth, and slowly accepts all of me until the tip of my dick slides into the back of her throat.

  “Val!” I’ll have little restraint if she keeps doing that. No one can get me off with a blowjob like Val can, and if she continues, this night is going to end early.

  She draws back with a satisfied smile, and I pull her up under her arms so we’re face to face.

  “Another time.” I don’t want her to fight me on the topic, so I take her lips with mine and slide my tongue in. She doesn’t complain as I backstep her toward the bed.

  When the backs of her knees hit the bed, she falls down then slides up the mattress, dipping her fingers over her pussy. I toe out of my shoes, take off my socks, and push my boxer briefs down the rest of the way.

  “Still have an IUD?” I climb up the bed.

  She nods. “Are you clean?”

  I tilt my head because of course I’m clean, but she found out about Nell and who knows if she slept with anyone else… Damn, I can’t even think about her and someone else without wanting to kill someone.

  “Yeah,” I bite out.

  Her legs open farther. “Come.”

  “I plan on doing just that, but I think I need to get you to like the beard first.” I nestle between her legs, my arms wrapping her legs over my shoulders as I kiss the insides of her thighs.

  Her hands grab the pillow behind her head. The smell of her pulls memories of other times I’ve been in this position with her to the surface. Moments I took for granted. I’ll never do that again.

  When I run my beard over her inner thigh, she yelps and grinds against me.

  I chuckle. “Not so bad, huh?”

  “Not at all.”

  I swipe my tongue up her center and watch for her reaction.

  Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. I’m already thinking of all the ways I’m going to take her, and it’s going to take a hell of a lot longer than we have left together.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Valentina

  * * *

  His beard feels amazing on my thighs, and when he runs it over my clit? I’ll have to tell him I was lying when I said I didn’t like the way it looks so he doesn’t get rid of it.

  Dom’s tongue slides along my folds until he hits my clit, then he twirls his tongue over my bud before sucking it into his mouth. I buck up and he chuckles into my depths, placing his hand on my pelvis to keep me on the bed. He quickly brings me to the brink because he’s mapped me before. He knows what gets me there. As my hand grabs the pillow, fisting it, he draws back and stares at me.

  I hate this game.

  “Don’t,” I warn.

  He smirks. “Don’t what?”

  “You know what.”

  “Enlighten me.” He blows on my clitoris while staring at me. “I’m doing what you love.”

  “I do not love the ‘come, oh wait no, don’t come’ game.”

  “That’s not the game.” His finger runs through my wetness and he teases my opening without inserting his finger.

  “Then what is it?”

  “It’s called delayed gratification. It’s fun.”

  “For you.” I prop up on my elbows, and he bites his lip, getting a laugh out of this. “There will be payback.”

  “That’s where we’re different. You love satisfying me, and I love watching you.” He buries his head between my thighs again, his beard creating the best friction along my skin.

  As he masterfully climbs me up that ladder again, I anticipate that he won’t let me come, but he inserts his fingers while his tongue moves at the perfect speed and applies pressure along my clit.

  “Dom,” I sigh and bite my lip because I don’t want to give him any sign that I’m about to come.

  My toes curl along his muscular back, and blackness creeps in at the edge of my vision. I clench and he pulls out his fingers, his mouth leaving my clit.

  “I’m going to kill you!” I scream.

  He laughs, blowing on my wet bud again, his finger slowly gliding down my center. “Don’t worry, I always deliver.” His cocky smile is annoying.

  But he’s right. He always does deliver. In spades.

  When he dives back down this time, my hands entwine in his hair so I can keep him where I want him. But he ups his game, adding another finger and sliding his thumb between my clit and my opening. With his tongue, it’s like a trifecta. My hands fall off of his head to the sheets, grabbing and gripping until my knuckles ache.

  “Don’t stop. Please, Dom, don’t stop,” I beg just like he probably hoped I would.

  I soar into another dimension, as though I’m floating in a galaxy without gravity, and he doesn’t relent. I clench around his fingers and he moans, his tongue circling and shifting, then with one long suck on my clit, my orgasm explodes. I cry out and buck against his face, and he eases the pressure on me until I float back down.

  When I come back to Earth, Dom places a kiss right below my navel, then he climbs up my body. “That was worth it, right?”

  I have no words because he knows me way too well. I take his head and pull it down to mine in a ravishing kiss. My taste on his tongue is too much to bear, and another climax starts like a bass drum between my legs.

  “I need you.” I pant when we tear apart.

  His lips make their way over my jaw, my neck, my ear until he comes back and captures my mouth again. He pushes inside me, my wetness coating him. “S
hit, Valentina, you feel so damn good.”

  He thrusts immediately and I’m not complaining because I want him to use me for his sexual pleasure. I don’t want lingering kisses or touches right now. I want him to grip me, grind me, flip me, fuck me.

  He never disappoints, as though he knows what I need before I do.

  Pulling my legs up to lay flat on his chest as his hands grip my hips, he drills into me over and over, sweat forming on his face and glistening on his muscular chest.

  “Harder,” I say, and he obliges. With my legs up, he’s so deep and my climax crashes over me without any warning.

  When I open my eyes, he’s smiling, staring at me and probably mentally tallying that that’s number two.

  Dom allows my legs to fall, then his hips find their way back between my thighs. He kisses me once before his face lands in the crook of my neck, his breathing increasing, panting and swearing and telling me how I’m made for him. He pumps hard, then with a groan, he stills inside me.

  We’re two sweaty messes on the hotel bed, but he kisses me slow and unhurried until I wrap my arms around him, wishing this wasn’t just sex. When I decided on this, I forgot how much he owns my body.

  Times like this, it feels as if I was made for him and he was made for me. But if that’s the case, how come we’re so wrong for each other?

  Dom’s lips trail kisses down my spine when he wakes me the next morning.

  “Mmm.” I smile into my pillow, my eyes remaining closed.

  “Are you sore?” he mumbles, his naked limbs sprawled over me like an octopus.

  Dom always flirted his way into getting more from me unless I kicked him out. Which I did well for the first few months we were hooking up. I couldn’t take the chance that I would want more from him. But gradually, as it always does, he’d stay for a few hours. We’d share a meal that he’d make. And then on the weekends that Ryder was with Max, our hook-ups turned into a full weekend of sex and lounging around.

  “Not bad.” Truth is, I relish the delicious ache between my legs from last night.

  He rolls on top of me, his hand brushing my hair so it lays on the pillow while he kisses across my shoulders and up my neck. I feel his hardness pressing into my ass cheeks. “That’s good news. I ordered breakfast. Should be here in about an hour.”

  “An hour, huh? How will we ever fill the time?” I grin.

  He chuckles, using his strong palm to roll me over. He situates himself between my legs, his hard length already poised and ready at my opening. “I have a few ideas.”

  “What about the wedding?” I ask, tilting my head as his lips travel down my throat.

  “Right now I’m thanking God that I’m not a groomsman.”

  “Do you think we need to talk?” I ask, unable to ignore the obvious—me being here this morning because we’re sharing a hotel room doesn’t make this feel like a hook-up.

  “No, I don’t. This might not be part of the plan, that I actually get to feed you breakfast, but when we get back to New York, we’ll get you moved out of my place and figure out the annulment.”

  Of course Dom has it all already figured out. He always does. Always one step ahead.

  “Okay.” I’m not going to argue. When I agreed to sleep with him again, I knew the score. That’s the problem when you go back to someone a second time. Who they really are isn’t a surprise.

  Just as Dom’s sliding down my torso and I’m losing any fight as to why this might be a bad idea, a knock sounds on the door.

  “An hour, huh?” I ask when his head pulls up from between my thighs.

  Dom puts up one finger and calls, “Who is it?”

  “Carm, jackass. Open the door.”

  “Sorry, busy.”

  “Yeah, yeah, but cousin duty calls.”

  I look at the alarm clock. “It’s eight o’clock.”

  Dom gets up and puts on his slacks from where they rest in a ball on the floor. His back flexes when he runs a hand through his hair. “Don’t move.” He points at me.

  I slide up the bed so my back hits the headboard. Dom leaves the bedroom and heads into the living area. The locks clink, and I hear the brothers talking.

  “This is like déjà vu, am I right?” Carm laughs.

  “I’m busy.”

  “I can see that. First I want to thank you for putting pants on this time.”

  “Get to the point.” Dom’s impatience has me holding back a smile.

  “Luca can’t dance.”

  Now I do smile. He probably can but thinks he can’t. Men are so weird about dancing, whereas most women I know go out there and do their own thing.

  “And why does that concern me? All he has to do is hold her and spin in a circle.”

  I shake my head.

  “I’m guessing Val is in there naked in bed?” Carm asks.

  “You assume wrong.”

  “Okay, sure. You’re standing here smelling like sex, but she’s not in there?”

  I hear a scuffle, then Carm is standing in front of the bed with his eyes covered. I pull the sheet up over me.

  “Carm!” Dom scolds. “What the fuck? What if I did this to you?”

  “I’m sorry,” Carm says, turning around with his eyes covered. “It’s an emergency.”

  “We’re busy.” Dom digs through my suitcase and tosses me the pajamas I should’ve been wearing.

  “He’s your cousin. It’s his wedding. We can’t leave him hanging.”

  “Luca doesn’t seem like a guy who can’t dance,” I say.

  “Can I look now?”

  I get up off the bed and shimmy on my shorts. “Go ahead and turn around.”

  Carm does, but his gaze scatters over the room. “I was expecting clothes hanging off the lights and condom wrappers everywhere.”

  “Talk, Carm,” Dom snaps, and I laugh.

  “Sorry, jeez.” Carm’s eyes set on me. “Val, how long would it take to teach Luca?”

  I shrug. “What’s he looking for? Just a basic box step? It depends how fast he can keep it up. Plus, I’m not a ballroom dancer.”

  “You’re the best we got.” He inspects a chair before sitting down.

  “Don’t sit down,” Dom says.

  I smile at him. Carm narrows his eyes. I always did love their relationship. It’s amusing to watch.

  “Relax, big guy, it’s like a second. You’ll get your orgasm this morning. Won’t he, Val?”

  I ignore his question. “Let me eat breakfast. Is he here at the hotel before the wedding?”

  “He’s at his parents’ house. The church is over that way.”

  I nod. I didn’t mind the idea of spending the day in bed with Dom, but the distraction is probably good. “Okay. Tell him we’ll be there mid-morning.”

  “Thanks.” He stands from the chair and pats Dom’s back. “See? That was, like, five minutes.” Then he stops before walking down the small hallway back to the suite door. “Don’t tell Annie, but you’re my favorite sister-in-law.”

  I raise my eyebrows. “Technically I’m your only sister-in-law and—”

  “Nope.” He puts up his hand. “Let’s not speak of the foreseeable demise of Vominic.”

  “Vominic?”

  “Your couple name. Like Brangelina?” Carm shrugs.

  “I get it,” I say.

  “And it’s stupid.” Dom takes Carm by the shoulders and pushes him down the hall.

  “I think it has a nice ring personally. Bella and I are going with Barmelo. Awesome, right?”

  “You’re just taking one name and replacing the first letter with the first letter of the other person’s name. That’s not really how it works.” The door opens and Carm’s voice fades.

  “Not true! I came up with Lorenzie for Annie and Enzo.” His voice is as prideful as a kid coming home with an A on their spelling test.

  “Perfect. Go interrupt them. I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear what you’ve come up with,” Dom says.

  The door shuts as Carm screams a thank y
ou to me.

  Dom appears at the doorway of the bedroom. “Take those back off.”

  He undoes his slacks, stepping out of them on his way to the bed. The flutter in my stomach as he stalks toward me is a bad sign, but I can’t stop myself. I’m an addict when it comes to Dominic Mancini.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Dominic

  * * *

  Val and I step out of the Uber in front of my zia’s house. Flowers still line the sidewalk up to the front door, but the gate isn’t white anymore. It’s black wrought-iron now. The hanging baskets boast colorful flowers that clash with the large Italian flag hanging from the porch railing.

  “I remember running along these streets when we’d come for vacation.” I link my hand with Val’s mostly because I want to, but it’s nice to have the excuse that we’re supposed to be happily married.

  “It must’ve been so great to come from a big family,” she says.

  I hear the sadness in her tone. Val was alone a lot when her parents had to work at the store. It’s how we were thrown together—ma met Val’s ma at a church function and volunteered to watch her. Ma had no clue that from that moment forward, Val’s and my lives would be like tree roots—entwined forever.

  “You always have us.”

  She frowns. “Not for long. It’s almost time for us to part.”

  “When does Ryder get back?”

  “Next weekend.”

  I let go of her hand, and she walks up the concrete steps. She’s wearing a sundress. The fabric is light and clingy and gives me a perfect view of that ass I love to bite.

  I knock on the screen door. I can already hear loud conversation coming from inside.

  “Val!” Zia comes to the door with her robe on. “Come. Come.” She opens the door and hugs Val. “This is so my boys. Waiting until the last minute. Lauren asked Luca to take ballroom lessons when Maddie and Mauro did, but Luca thought he had it handled.” She shakes her head. “Dominic.” She pats my cheek, smiling at me. “Look at you two. You could be on a magazine, you’re such a gorgeous couple.” She waves us inside. “Downstairs. You know the way, Dominic.”