a high ponytail.
“You’re a fucking wet dream,” he murmured as if I’d performed a striptease rather than a hairstyle change.
“You keep this up, it’ll be me with the unreal, massive ego.”
“Good.” His fingers absentmindedly played with my hair.
“A deal’s a deal,” I prodded when he remained silent. “Tell me more.”
“Control freak,” he teased, tugging my hair gently. Inhaling, he launched back into his story. “My father couldn’t get over the insult of not inheriting Black Resorts. Sal left my parents an insane amount of money, but he wanted the power. Rather than letting Sal’s experienced team run things, he took over.”
“Which didn’t end well,” I surmised.
“He had no clue what he was doing. And since learning would’ve been too hard, he threatened, blackmailed, and double-crossed. He got in over his head and nearly lost everything. And then he died—alone and despised.”
My eyes widened. “You didn’t…”
“Kill my old man? No.” He stared me down, unapologetically honest. “But I was going to, Juliet. I was going to pay him back for every punch, knife, and bullet I took thanks to his bullshit. And then I was going to put a bullet between his eyes. But there was a long line of people in front of me and one of them got to him first.”
“You took punches, knives, and bullets?” My anger and outrage grew as I leaned back and scanned his beautifully-marred torso.
My eyes snapped back to his when I felt his silent laughter. It became outright laughter when I glared.
“Christ, you’re perfect,” he said, amused at my rage. “I just admitted I planned to kill my old man, and you’re concerned with my old injuries.”
“What else would I be concerned about?” I asked as my stomach loudly growled.
It was his turn to glare, looking displeased. “You haven’t been eating enough.”
I’d barely eaten for three days thanks to my churning stomach, so he was right. I climbed off him but didn’t stop talking. “You said your dad died when you were nineteen. Have you been running the resorts since?”
“Unofficially. Sal’s will had stipulations about college and age because he knew I’d try to get right to work and he didn’t want me missing out. After my father died, Ma became the legal trustee, though it was in name only. I started running things and cleaning up his mess while I got my degree.”
I didn’t bother to ask how he’d cleaned up the mess because I was certain I didn’t want those details.
Instead, I jerked my head toward the door. “Feed me, Daddy.”
Standing, his body cut and muscular and hard, he rubbed his thumb across his bottom lip. “And when I’m done, you’re gonna ride my face and feed me.”
My nipples tightened and a fresh wave of arousal rolled through me. “Deal.”
Maximo tugged on a pair of shorts, and we went to raid the kitchen. And after he fed me, we made it as far as the living room before his back was on the floor and I was riding his face.
Because a deal’s a deal.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
A Good Life
Maximo
“HOW DID THAT motherfucker just disappear?” I gritted out into the phone.
“He’s always sweating,” Juliet whispered from her spot on my lap. “It probably makes him slippery.”
Christ.
Only she can make me smile when I’m pissed.
“None of his old crew has seen him,” Ash said. “Half the people we talked to thought he ran away with Shamus to get out of paying his debts. The other half thinks Shamus is dead and that whoever took Carmichael out, too.”
“Not yet,” I muttered, my gaze locked on Juliet to watch for a reaction in case she could hear him.
There was none.
My girl was good.
No, she was happy.
She’d finally given me her trust, and with it, her submission.
And, fuck, it was even better than I’d thought it would be.
Each time she gave me more of that weight she’d always shouldered, the happier she got. Smiling more. Laughing more. Touching me more.
Her walls weren’t down. They were gone.
I’d spent the first three days at home in hell, knowing she was pulling away. But the following three had been nothing but heaven.
Thinking about what Ash had said, my brows lowered. “Shamus has been… gone over a year. They haven’t seen Carmichael since?”
“No.”
Vegas wasn’t a big town. It’d take work to disappear. Connections.
“Keep asking. Someone has to know who the bastard is leeching onto.”
“Follow the trail of sweat,” Juliet whispered, again making me smile when I wanted to punch a hole in the damn wall.
“She sounds good,” Ash said.
“She is.”
His voice lowered