Thorn (Thorn Tattoo Studio Book 2) Read online

  There was no way she was going to get into that cage and dance. No way. He could only imagine the faces of everyone else in the club. Some go-go dancer would probably pop a vein out of frustration.

  Before Melanie could climb into the cage, the song melded into the next, and Luciano froze. From the very first note, he knew what it was.

  Cassandra’s favorite song.

  All of the good times he’d been having evaporated. His mouth felt dry. He saw Melanie look back at him, laughing, then saw her face grow serious. She abandoned her quest for the cage and made her way over to him. “Luc?”

  He couldn’t focus on her. The past rose up like a cobra ready to strike, fanning its hood. In his mind’s eye he saw Cassandra, her blue eyes sparkling, her lips full, her face relaxed and at peace. He saw her shimmying to the music. He saw the flash of her sequins under the club lights. He saw her hair flying wild and free as she shook her head.

  “Hey, Lucy,” Cassandra had laughed. He hated the nickname, but she’d loved it. She’d loved to tease him almost as much as he loved to tease her. “Dance with me, will you?”

  Luciano’s knees locked. He stared out across the crowds, lost to the sorrow he felt. She was never coming back. She would never dance to this song again.

  Melanie squeezed his hand, and Luciano redirected his attention. He focused on her. She flashed him one of her strange smiles, her red lips quirked with mischief. She was still dancing, he realized, and by the looks of it, she was trying to get him to dance back. She kept rocking her body back and forth, leaning close and then leaning away, stepping over only to step back, ducking and bobbing and having fun, but looking absolutely ridiculous for it.

  He snorted. How could he be sad when she was dancing like that, so eager to make a fool of herself? Every step of the way over the last two years, she’d cared for him. She’d been by his side through every shop they’d skipped between, through all the month-by-month leases they’d signed, through every hotel and mile of highway. She’d looked after him, and here she was again, looking out for his best interest.

  If he wanted to respect Cassandra’s memory, that was fine. Luciano knew that she would never stop him from doing it. But there was a difference between respecting her memory and being hung up on it.

  And Melanie, impossibly gorgeous Melanie, was trying to get him back on track because she knew he deserved to live, not just survive.

  Luciano’s stomach twisted, and he felt it pinch. He stepped forward, closing the scant distance between them. Melanie looked up, eyes partially lidded. God, was she beautiful. Luciano reached out and tangled his fingers in her hair, letting his fingertips trace along the back of her head. She breathed out, the sound of it lost against the booming bass from the speakers.

  Luciano needed to taste her lips again.

  His fingers tightened in her hair to keep her head in place, and then he kissed her. The passion nearly choked him, and he closed in and gave himself up to the way she felt and the way she made him feel. Like an ice cube left to melt on hot pavement, his whole existence changed for her. The man he was when they’d met was very different from the man who stood before her today and it was all because she’d been patient with him. He kissed her with everything he had, but not hard enough to bruise her skin. The craved need they’d shared on the couch in the truck was replaced with something more tender, but no less starved.

  He wanted her. He needed her.

  Tonight, Luciano would make her his.

  Time passed, how much, he didn’t know. The song changed and another took its place. The music blended together, no song marked by a clear beginning or end. The night was timeless, and their kiss endured.

  Melanie was the first one to pull away. She curled her fingers in his shirt to hold him close. “Let’s go find someplace to ourselves,” she told him.

  Luciano wasn’t going to object to that. Hands all over each other, they made their way across the floor. Sometimes, overwhelmed by desire, they stopped and made out until Luciano’s jaw ached and his cock throbbed in anticipation. Her hands trailed along his chest, across his hips, inward and over the bulge beneath his fly….

  It had been a long time since he’d been so crazy with lust, and Luciano wasn’t going to let it go to waste. When finally they made it to the stairs, he picked her up in his arms, bridal style. Melanie cried out and wrapped her arms around his neck. The moment was perfect. Priceless. Needed.

  Luciano didn’t realize how lonely he’d been until that very moment. With Melanie in his arms, her eyes for him and him alone, he realized all he had.

  There was nothing like sharing a connection with another human being. Cassandra would always be special to him, but he couldn’t keep denying himself. He was human, and he deserved to be happy. He deserved to enjoy this moment.

  He climbed the stairs with Melanie in his arms. She was surprisingly light, and he had no issues supporting her weight. As they went, she kept her arms locked around his neck and kissed the corner of his mouth. Each time, Luciano wanted to turn his head and give into the kiss, but he knew if he held out, it would be worth it.

  The upstairs of The Underground was more lounge than dance floor. Booths and couches occupied the walls. Seated on them, couples made out. Some of the more daring ones went further. None of them realized that The Underground housed a secret—it was very rarely used, and Luciano hoped that no one in the know was looking to use it tonight. He needed it for himself.

  Down the hall leading to the second floor bathrooms was an unmarked door with a keypad that made it look like a restricted area. Looking at it, there was no indication that it was anything more than a janitorial closet. Luciano knew better. He jiggled the handle in just the right way, and the door swung open without taking a code. Behind it was a short stairway leading downward.

  “Are you sure this is okay?” Melanie asked. She didn’t make any move to pull away from him. “It looks like it’s an employees’ only door.”

  “We’re fine,” Luciano promised. Not once had he ever been in trouble using this room. Cassandra had said she’d found it when she noticed one of the bartenders serving shots on the floor heading into it in order to sell drinks. As far as he knew, it was one of The Underground’s secret locations. “I promise.”

  She said nothing else about it. He carried her down the short stairway and into the secret enclosure. It was laid out with the same booths as the lounge was, but they were secluded and divided from the party at large.

  No one else was in the room.

  Down there, the music was an echo. Luciano laid Melanie down on one of the booth benches and climbed over her as she laughed. Soon enough, he silenced her laughter with a kiss, and their passion resumed. She parted her lips for him, and his tongue entered her mouth in turn. The kiss grew darker and more lustful, and Luciano’s hands started to wander. He teased the bottom hem of her dress, sliding it up her thighs, and to his surprise, Melanie didn’t try to stop him.

  He ran his fingers along the soft skin of her inner thigh, and then moved inward. Beneath her dress, the thin strap of a thong was all that separated him from her sex. He shuddered with desire and teased her. She was already drenched for him.

  “Luc,” she breathed against his lips. The utterance was desperate, and he loved how her voice hitched when she spoke. Melanie shifted her hips and pressed down against him. It turned him on to no end to know she was so greedy for him she couldn’t help herself.

  “We’re in public,” he scolded her. The kiss resumed, and when it ended, she sighed with need.

  “Don’t care.”

  “So you want me to touch you here?” He traced his fingers teasingly along the thin string of her thong. Her lips were swollen for him, and he felt her heat. He wanted inside of her so badly.

  “Want it,” she pleaded, her words so laden with pleasure that they were disjointed. Melanie picked up her hips and ground against him. “P-please.”

  It was the most fantastic thing in the world to hear her beg f
or him. Luciano’s balls tightened, and he felt pleasure pulse dangerously inside of him. He wasn’t going to come just yet. Not before he got to feel her. The night was still young, and he wasn’t going to lose his chance to take what he wanted because he was a little too excited.

  “What if I do this?” Luciano whispered. He slipped a single finger beneath the string of her thong and ran it between her lips. Melanie shuddered and pressed against him desperately, and Luciano released a short, throaty chuckle. “Looks like you enjoy it.”

  “So good,” Melanie replied. She was so wet. The awkward, dorky girl he’d kept at his side for the last two years liked it dirty. Luciano never would have believed it if he hadn’t experienced it.

  “Mm, and what about this?” Luciano’s finger dipped a little deeper down, and he found the hardened bud of her arousal. Melanie moaned, clamping a hand over her mouth as she bucked against his hand. It looked like her clit was sensitive. Luciano loved it. “You want more of this?”

  “Please,” Melanie croaked from beneath her hand. She tossed her head back and closed her eyes, and Luciano took full advantage. He stopped touching her, but only long enough for him to wrench her panties aside. His hand slipped back under her dress, and he stroked and swirled and pushed against her clit as Melanie choked back her pleasure.

  It wasn’t long before he’d made her so wet, she was dripping.

  “Luc,” she begged him. Her words were rattled and distant. “Luc, I need you inside of me. I need it. Now.”

  Who was he to refuse a woman who’d done so much for him? Luciano’s cock was ready for her. It had been ready since the night at the bar.

  He was going to make Melanie his tonight, and he didn’t have a single regret about it.

  19

  Melanie

  Luciano sat up, taking his hand out from beneath her dress. Breathless, Melanie watched him. Every inch of her body tingled from his touch. She needed to feel him inside of her. She needed to work the orgasm he’d built up inside of her out in the most satisfying way she could. She needed Luciano like she’d never needed a man before.

  As she clambered into a sitting position, Luciano lifted his hips and withdrew his wallet from his back pocket. He placed it on the table in front of them, and then undid his belt. Melanie found herself watching, ravenous, as he loosened the leather and slipped it free of the buckle. Then he popped the button of his fly open and shimmied his pants down his hips.

  Beneath his slacks, he wore dark boxers. Melanie reached out, too excited to hold back, running her fingers along the tented front. The thin layer of cotton separating them did little to hide the girth of his shaft, and she gasped in delight.

  She wasn’t very experienced with men, but she knew enough to understand that Luciano was big. God, was he. Melanie let her fingers run over the turgid skin he was about to offer her, only taking her hand away when he took her by the wrist and guided her off him.

  Luciano lowered his boxers, and his cock sprang free. Melanie’s heart jumped into her throat. Thick, veined, and hard, his dick was incredible. She longed to touch it, stroke it, suck it….

  The space they shared was a little too tight to perform any of those comfortably, but Luciano didn’t seem to mind. He opened his wallet and withdrew a single condom from inside. A ripple of unchecked desire flooded her chest and radiated outward until she felt it swirl through her groin. She shifted her position on the bench and watched as he tore the wrapper open, then smoothed it down his cock.

  Then, once the condom was in place, he lifted her from where she sat as if she weighed nothing and pulled her onto his lap.

  Melanie gasped and settled down against him. He’d already taken off her thong, and she was bare beneath her dress. Chest to chest, she eased herself down onto him. He held his cock steady for her, and she ran her sex along its tip. Then, slowly, she lowered herself onto it.

  A moment’s pressure gave way to incredible pleasure. Melanie moaned and let her head hang forward. Luciano supported her at the hips, and as she worked herself down his thick shaft, he grunted in pleasure and held her tighter. Between the way his thick cock stretched her open and the way he supported her from the outside, Melanie couldn’t get enough. She gritted her teeth as exquisite pain bonded her to him.

  How was he so big?

  God, she loved it.

  Soon there was nowhere else for her to go. She sat flush on his lap, his cock snug inside of her. Melanie rocked her hips, delirious with pleasure. Luciano guided her hips up, then back down, working with her as she moved. It was too good to be real. Melanie couldn’t believe it.

  At long last, after all these years, she was having sex with the man she’d always wanted but had told herself she could never have. Her boss was inside her, filling her, stretching her, making her his….

  She cried out in pleasure, no longer caring who heard. The room they were in looked empty, and the music was a distant afterthought now. They were far from the party, far from the crowds, and far from reality. In that moment, they existed in a world all their own.

  “Oh, my god, Luc,” she gasped as she gyrated her hips. “You feel so good.”

  Every now and then, when she squeezed her walls over his shaft, she felt his whole cock shudder. The feeling drove her insane with lust. She knew he hadn’t come yet, but imagining him so close to the edge, wanting to lose control inside her body….

  Melanie worked her hips faster, panting for breath as she tried to push herself to come. She needed to feel herself tighten around him, walls fluttering because of the pleasure he brought her.

  It was too much. Luciano growled and grabbed her by the hips, and in the next second, both of them had risen. Melanie gasped, not sure what was happening next. All that mattered was that he stay inside her, that he keep pushing against her, and that he bring her the high she needed.

  Luciano pushed her down onto the table so that she was sprawled out across it on her back, her thighs wrapped around him. He remained standing, but with their new angle, he was able to thrust into her. He did so with abandon. The slapping of their skin fell out of rhythm with the bass, but Melanie didn’t care to keep time. What they needed was more savage than that. They forged their own rhythm, and drove each other wild with their frantic thrusts and moans. It was all she wanted.

  This was fucking.

  Senseless, selfish, utterly satisfying fucking. She worked her hips against him, and he into her, until he pushed her farther across the table and climbed up after her. Between her thighs, he thrust into her anew. They were chest to chest, him over her, and she lifted her head so they could kiss. Luciano kissed her fiercely, and she met his intensity.

  No other lover could ever give her what he was giving her. It was bliss, and Melanie never wanted to let it go.

  “Luc,” she moaned against his lips. The pleasure was building, and she felt it start to twist low in her gut and transform into the overwhelming sensation that was an orgasm. Her body tensed. “Oh, my God, Luc, I’m gonna….”

  “Me too,” he uttered. His voice was like gravel, and hearing it sent her over the edge. She cried out one final time as she came. Her body clamped down around his cock, and her walls trembled as she found herself awash in the incredible sensation of an orgasm. Each pulse of her walls only made him want her more, and when she felt him rutting inside of her, she tumbled deeper into satisfaction.

  Luciano was too amazing to endure. Melanie had never come with a partner before, but there was no denying that Luciano hadn’t just brought her to orgasm—he’d given her one of the best of her life.

  Their bodies parted. In a daze, Melanie propped herself up on her elbows and looked him over. He’d already taken the condom off and had slipped his dick back into his pants. It didn’t look like he’d fully softened yet, and even though Melanie felt weak-in-the-knees satisfied, she secretly hoped he might want to go again.

  The rest of the night was lost to each other’s bodies, and by the time they left the club, Melanie had to clutch hi
s arm for support.

  She’d never had so much fun in her life.

  She’d never felt more in love, either.

  20

  Luciano

  Luciano went home alone that night, and by the time he closed and locked his apartment door, he was a wreck. The night he’d just spent with Melanie had been the best night of his life. He’d danced. He’d laughed. He’d drank. And maybe, just maybe, he’d started to fall in love.

  It terrified him as much as it tore him apart.

  The betrayal was too real. After Cassandra’s death, he’d closed himself off and refused to see anyone else. It was dishonest to her memory.

  But now?

  Now Melanie was smiling at him, and when she did, her eyes softened and brightened, like he was the best thing that had ever happened to her. He’d seen her full lips smeared by his own. He’d felt every inch of her, and had rutted inside of her so deeply and with such abandon that he’d forgotten all about Cassandra. In that moment, there had only been him and Melanie. Nothing else had mattered.

  It was sickening.

  He lurched across the apartment and spread himself over his couch. An arm draped over his eyes, he tried to talk himself down from the ledge. Everything had been going so well. He’d come so far. In the last few weeks, he’d learned that loving someone else wasn’t an affront to Cassandra’s memory. But was being so involved with her that he forgot about Cassandra entirely a different matter? He never wanted to forget. He was Cassandra’s last mark on the world, and he wanted to carry her in his mind for the rest of time.