He didn’t seem to hear her. She was afire, writhing against his mouth, but he didn’t give her the possession she needed. She bucked and a gasp escaped her as he savored every inch of her until a violent quake erupted inside her body. Mariella sobbed out her release.
“I’m now addicted to your taste,” Joe murmured. Raw lust and hunger were etched across his features.
But before she could recover her senses, Joe was sheathing himself with a condom. Then his tip was probing her with shallow thrusts.
Mariella groaned in pleasure as he sank deep within her, settling perfectly between her thighs. “You feel amazing,” she said. Her body drew him in, bathing him with her readiness. The moans and keens she made as Joe took her higher and higher were her own. It felt good to be brazen and carefree with Joe.
And when Joe hit a particular sensitive spot, she uttered a loud cry.
He lifted up from her slightly and began to withdraw. “I’m not hurting you, am I? I would never want to hurt you, Mariella. If I am, I’ll stop.”
Mariella shook her head, and instead of speaking, she locked her ankles around him and thrust her hips upward as every cell in her body begged for more, more of Joe and all the pleasure that only he could offer her. “Don’t stop. Don’t stop.”
* * *
Joe was overcome as Mariella pulsed around him. If he could, he’d make their coupling last forever. The reality, the carnality of being with Mariella was all he’d ever wanted since the first moment he’d laid eyes on her. And now, he had her. He withdrew again slightly, and she cried out in protest. Joe struggled to hold back, to not show Mariella the depth of his emotion, but when she opened her legs wider and kissed him so deeply, he lost his mind and buried himself inside her yet again.
God help him...but she was everything he’d imagined and more. And her perfume was filling his nostrils, overloading his senses. It was like some sort of aphrodisiac that Joe knew he would never get tired of. Mariella melted into his chest, blasting away any thoughts that what he could be doing was wrong—that he was betraying his long-standing friendship with Harrison. Right now, Joe could only feel and see. He watched Mariella, gauging her reaction.
And when she wound her legs around him, his pleasure intensified, and Joe admitted defeat, growled and plunged inside her with one final thrust. The entire world detonated around him as pure and profound pleasure coursed through him. He roared aloud and fell atop her. Mariella clung to him, pressing soothing kisses on his jaw and closed eyes, until he finally eased away from her onto his side. The last thought he remembered as he drifted off to sleep was the feel of Mariella wrapped in his arms.
* * *
“I’m getting worried,” Luc said as he, Rafe, Elana, Gabe and his tía Ana sat on the plush leather sofa at the family estate the next morning. Meanwhile, his soon-to-be brother-in-law, Thom, sat in an adjacent high-backed chair nearby if Elana needed him. They were all wearing the same clothes they had last night, because the entire family had been up all night hoping to hear from Mariella. “We’ve called everyone, and no one has heard from Mom.”
Luc was racked with worry and ran his hands through his hair as he paced the palatial room. He hated this room the most, with its ornately decorated walls, crystal chandelier, gilt molding, Persian rugs and rare Ming Dynasty vases. In his opinion, it was overdecorated, but he would never tell his mother that. She’d had it redecorated countless times already. Ah, his mother—where in the hell could she be?
As the oldest of three children, he felt it was his responsibility to take care of everyone after his father’s accident. And he was failing miserably at the job. Was Gabe better suited for the task? He knew how close his cousin was to his parents and that they leaned on him. Luc envied that, even resented Gabe for it. He knew the family had been disappointed when he’d chosen medicine over the family business, but he’d always felt he had a higher calling.
His parents were proud of him and had supported his decision because he’d achieved a successful career as a plastic surgeon, but he’d give it all up in a heartbeat if it meant his father would open his eyes and his mother would return home.
* * *
“Are you sure we’ve exhausted every avenue?” Gabe inquired as he sat in a nearby chair across from Luc. His constant pacing was driving Gabe insane. Although there was cause for concern, he wasn’t jumping to conclusions like the Marshall children. It wasn’t as if she’d been gone even twenty-four hours yet. He always thought logically, and it had served him well working with Harrison and Mariella all these years. As the Fixer, his job was to ensure no detail was overlooked when it came to cleaning up rich folks’ messes. And this situation was no different. All the family needed was the press to get wind of his tía’s disappearance and it would be front-page news. And he couldn’t allow that. His aunt meant the world to him, and she’d suffered enough lately with the hungry paparazzi watching her every move, waiting for her to crumble. He refused to let Mariella be the topic of their next news cycle.
Luc’s stormy blue eyes trained on his cousin. Gabe sensed he didn’t appreciate being second-guessed, but then again, they’d never seen eye to eye, so why should now be any different? “Of course we have. I think it’s time we called the police.”
“We should have called them sooner, but you and Gabe said no,” Elana sniped from the couch, wringing her hands in her lap. “What if Mom’s been kidnapped or held for ransom or something?”
“You mustn’t let your overactive imagination run away with you,” Gabe said calmly, “Tía Mariella was here in the house. It’s doubtful kidnappers just walked in and took her with all of us present. Her keys and car are both gone. So it’s likely she left of her own accord.”
“You don’t know that!” Rafe shouted from the other side of the room, raking his hands through his hair. “Look what’s happened to Dad. He could have been run off the road. Someone could be after the entire family. Maybe it’s the Fixer. No one knows who he is. He could have it out for everyone in this family. First Dad, now Mom.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Gabe stated. “We’ve been over this. Aren’t the Fixer and Harrison business partners? Why would he want to get rid of him?”
“So he could have the business for himself,” Luc responded. “What’s it to you, anyway? It’s not like you’re the Fixer.”
Gabe glared at Luc, but didn’t respond. Why is it that everyone in the family other than Mariella and Harrison doubted his abilities? He’d always done everything he could to fit in, but he would always be on the outside.
“Who cares about the Fixer?” Elana jumped out of her seat, nearly tripping on her four-inch Jimmy Choo stilettos. Her long wavy brown hair swung from her shoulders as she began pacing the room. She was still wearing yesterday’s outfit—a strapless jumpsuit with a cutout back and choker neck band—which had been as inappropriate for a family dinner as it was this morning. She looked like she was going out to the club—maybe the same one his mother was headed to in her flashy bandage dress—and the clicking of her heels on the marble floor was grating on Gabe’s nerves.
“Our mother is missing, and all you boys can do is fight. Well, I’m sick of it, all right? We need to take action.”
“I think you all are blowing this way out of proportion,” Ana said with a snort as she sipped a glass of wine. “Mariella is a grown woman and quite capable of taking care of herself.”
Gabe regarded Ana from where she perched on one of the leather sofas. As she sat drinking her pinot noir; she seemed cool and unfazed that her sister had gone missing. How could she drink at a time like this? And at this hour? It was only a little past 8:00 a.m. If anyone had a bone to pick with Mariella, it would be Ana. He wouldn’t put it past her to try something underhanded like steal her money and jewels, but even he didn’t think Ana capable of harming Mariella.
“You couldn’t