Eight Brothers Fiancee (Love by Numbers 7)

“Wait,” Alexa said, “Malia’s a Marcello?”

“Not technically,” I said, “but she’s been with them ever since she was a little girl. Dimitri practically raised her and now she helps Dante with his dirty work.”

“Dante… Where have I heard that name recently?” Alexa asked. “I feel like I’ve heard it before.”

“You probably have. His name is everywhere, even if the police can’t pin him down.” Harley leaned back against the couch and stared at the ceiling. “He’s with my dad right now. Every year we take a family vacation with my dad, and it’s been Italy ever since he moved there. Malia made a plan all on her own that we’d get married while we’re there visiting next week. I’m afraid if I don’t go through with it, that they’ll hurt my dad.”

“Wow. That is a problem,” Alexa said. “I’m so sorry.” She looked back at me. “This must be hard on all of you.”

“All she does is try to create problems between us,” Huxley said. “She’s trying to take over the company, starting with Harley.”

Harley sat up again and looked into Alexa’s eyes. “Obviously, things could get pretty dangerous. We’d never expect you to just go walking into that sort of situation.”

“Are you kidding?” Alexa smiled. “Of course I’ll go with you! I don’t know what I can do to help, but I can at least defend you to that crazy bitch.”

Harley’s eyes went wide. “Wait, seriously? You’ll go? Why?”

Alexa fell silent for a few minutes before speaking again. “Honestly, I don’t know. I just get the sense there’s more to you guys than you’ve shown me yet, and I’m curious.” She peeked over her shoulder at me. “More material for my story, right?”

I laughed at Alexa and then noticed the look on Harley’s face. Part of it I’d seen before; the part that had lost all control and was about to take whatever the object of his attention was, but the other part was something new. A desperation--a hunger--the likes of which I’d never seen before in Harley. He reached out and took Alexa’s face in his hands and pulled her to him. He glued his lips to hers. I was nervous at first, that maybe we’d made a mistake, but soon Alexa’s hands curled around Harley’s neck, attempting to drag him even closer to her. Not only was she not resisting, she wanted it.

I slid closer to her on the couch, wrapping my arms around her waist to clench at her thighs. Harley pulled away, kissing his way down her neck, and I craned my head around to kiss her in his place. She welcomed the kiss if the way her tongue slunk out to mingle with mine was any indicator. She moaned against me as Harley pressed himself even closer. He reached around her neck and unclasped the part of the dress that kept it hanging around her neck. He grabbed her face again and took it from me, returning her to him in another passionate kiss, and I took over taking her dress and rolling it down her curvaceous form. I pushed it down until her purple, satin bra was visible, and then took each of her breasts into my hands and squeezed, massaging them while finding a spot on her neck to abuse with my lips and tongue.

Alexa let out another moan against Harley’s lips, reaching out on her own to take the base of his tank top and lift it over his head. Harley was just about to go in for another kiss when Alexa put her hands on his chest to stop him. I noticed her hesitation and halted my own movements as well. Immediately, my heart dropped to my stomach; was she rethinking it now, with my pants twice as tight as they’d been when I put them on?

“I’m sorry,” Harley said immediately. “I thought you wanted--”

“I do,” Alexa said immediately. “It’s just… I’m, um… I mean, I haven’t, uh…”

My heart, which was already in my stomach, exploded. “Are you… a virgin?”

Alexa’s cheeks, which were already flushed, darkened significantly. “It’s not that I haven’t had the opportunity, just with traveling and work and all of that. It didn’t feel worth it to invest.”

Harley sat back a little. “Uh, so… I mean, should we stop? If you’re not ready, we can--”

“I don’t want to stop,” Alexa murmured and the shy, thirsty look on her face made me want to continue immediately. “I guess I should have thought this through.” She looked up at Harley, through shimmering, baleful eyes. “Just be careful with me.” She turned her gaze to me. “I trust you.”

I looked at Harley and in that moment a silent understanding crossed between us. We would protect the woman between us with all we had.

I kissed her cheek softly. “We’ll go easy on you… this time.”