Hot and Heavy, page 20
“One of these nights, we’re going to fuck your mouth,” Kayden promised.
Hazel’s brows furrowed, but she was unable to question how that was different from this, her mouth too full of him.
“You’re in control during this blow job,” Kayden explained. “When we fuck your mouth, we are. We decide how fast, how deep. You’ll take us all the way down your throat.”
Hazel whimpered—the sound one of need, not fear—and it added to the incredible sensations of her swishing tongue and the firm grip of their hands.
Time and place faded away as the edges of Aldo’s vision went gray. He was vaguely aware he was gripping her hair too tightly, tugging it, using it to increase her pace, but Hazel didn’t pull away. Instead, she responded to it, moaning louder around his hard flesh.
“Fuck,” Aldo said with a gasp. “I’m there. I’m gonna—” He loosened his grip, his eyes wide open as he sought Kayden’s help.
Kayden was whispering something in Hazel’s ear, but Aldo couldn’t hear it over the thudding of his heartbeat. All he felt was the subtle nod of her head, even as she continued driving him out of his fucking mind.
If she was going to pull away, the time was…
“Hazel.”
She held him tighter, worked him faster, and Aldo was lost, come bursting from the tip of his cock, exploding inside her mouth.
His body jerked, then trembled as his balls clenched. Hazel didn’t push away, didn’t let go of him. Instead, she released her grip on his dick, her hands flying to his ass as if to hold him in place.
Jesus. Fucking. Christ.
When he finally came down, he saw Kayden drawing Hazel back, until Aldo’s dick popped out of her mouth. Then, holy shit, her eyes lifted to his and…she swallowed.
Aldo’s legs gave out. He sat back down on the couch heavily. He remained there, probably resembling a zombie, watching as Kayden and Hazel kissed, shared his taste.
And in that moment, he knew. Knew with such conviction, such certainty, that this was it.
He’d found it.
His family. His future.
Forever.
Chapter Fifteen
“I’ll have the special,” Kayden said, the last to place his order.
Their waitress, Debbie, nodded and smiled. “Sure thing.”
Kayden took a drink of water and leaned back in his chair, grinning at the guys around him. Every Wednesday, he and a bunch of his buddies had a standing lunch date at Paulie’s Diner. Some weeks, only a couple guys might make it or some weeks—like this one—almost the entire gang was there. He was sitting between Aldo and Tony, while Luca, Gio, Rafe, and Rhys took up the rest of the seats. The only guys missing were Joey and Elio, who were both out of town, Joey filming ManPower, Elio finishing up his season with the NHL.
“Guess in a few weeks, Elio will start being a regular for lunch,” Tony mused.
“Twenty-eight days,” Gio replied, quickly enough that everyone stared at him. He sighed. “Gianna has a countdown going on a big whiteboard at the inn office. Makes a big deal of marking off a day every single morning. It’s not a bit annoying,” he said sarcastically.
“Those two are so sticky-sweet in love I get a toothache every time I’m around them,” Luca groused.
Tony slapped Luca on the shoulder. “I’m going to remember you said that when you find your girl because I know you, brother. When you go down, it’s gonna be a hard fall.”
Luca snorted. “I’m not going to be a sap about it like you two,” he said to Tony and Rhys, before jerking a thumb toward Gio and Rafe. “Or these two.” Then his gaze landed on him and Aldo, and he added, “Or those two.”
Tony and Rhys were both happily shacked up with Jess, and now the proud fathers of her young son, Jasper. As such, they didn’t hang out with the gang as much as they used to.
“The nurse?” Tony looked toward him and Aldo. “Jess mentioned you’d asked her out on a date a few weeks ago. I take it that went well.”
Aldo answered for them. “Very well. Hazel is…” He didn’t finish the sentence. Probably because he couldn’t land on a word big enough. Of course, he didn’t need to finish. His huge, shit-eating grin pretty much said it all.
Tony chuckled. “Like that, is it? Good for you. I only met her once, when I stopped by to check on how Nonno was doing after the surgery. We talked for a minute or so, but it’s not hard to see she’s good at her job. Nonna was fretting, like she does, over his lack of appetite. Hazel very calmly explained that it was normal, answered all her questions, reassured her he was fine. Never seen anyone able to talk Nonna down off the ledge like that, especially when it comes to Nonno’s health.”
“She’s a very good nurse.” While Kayden was impressed by her work ethic, he was also—selfishly—annoyed by it. Because Hazel was taking her job very seriously. So seriously, she hadn’t left the Morettis’ house since Nonno came home from the hospital nine days earlier.
He and Aldo had gone over a few times, hoping to lure her out for a quick dinner date. Liza hadn’t lied about the family schedule. Someone in the family had come by every evening to help with dinner and Nonno’s care, so Hazel could take a break. Aldo had told her numerous times that no one expected her to work round the clock twenty-four seven, but Hazel refused to leave her patient.
Or more accurately, patients. Because Hazel was taking care of Nonna as well. Keeley had mentioned the family’s concerns that Nonna would work herself to exhaustion looking after Nonno, but none of that had come to fruition with Hazel in the house. What’s more, Aldo had been shocked when Nonna mentioned she was actually considering knee replacement surgery—something she desperately needed—thanks to Hazel’s influence.
“I know I told Hazel I’d hold the waitressing job for her, but I’d hate for her to go back to waiting tables when it’s clear she was born to be a nurse.” Rafe slathered butter on one of the hot rolls the waitress had just delivered to their table.
“Nonno’s crazy about her,” Aldo said. “And the feeling seems to be mutual. The two of them took to each other right away.”
“She appreciates his sense of humor,” Kayden added.
“Get this,” Aldo started, and Kayden knew by his best friend’s grin exactly what story he was about to tell. “We picked Nonno up at the hospital, brought him home, helped get him settled. Hazel is there and she’s reading a list of do’s and don’ts from the doctor. Tells him he can’t lift anything over ten pounds. And Nonno, the old scamp, looks at her with a straight face and asks, “Then how am I supposed to pee?”
The table exploded with laughter, their reactions the same as Hazel’s. Kayden could still see how it took a split second for the joke to land before Hazel erupted in a full-fledged belly laugh, complete with wiping tears from her eyes. It lasted long enough that he and Aldo had exchanged a glance, both thrilled to see such unabashed joy on her face. They’d grown too accustomed to her soft giggles and too-short laughs that she always hid behind her hand.
Kayden vowed to himself that he’d try to find a way to provoke that laugh from her every single day. Because it was obvious there’d been too little genuine happiness in her life. And damn if it didn’t look good on her.
“So Nonno’s doing okay?” Gio asked.
Kayden knew from Keeley that Gio was feeling guilty for not getting over to see his grandfather yet, but between finishing the inn, Moretti Brothers Restoration projects, and closing on their new house, he was burning the candle at both ends, working from sunup to sundown.
“He’s doing well,” Kayden reassured his—hopefully—soon-to-be brother-in-law.
“They kept him at the hospital an extra day than previously planned,” Aldo explained explain.
“Which is not at all uncommon, given his age,” Rhys hastened to include. “I suspect they were erring on the side of caution, rather than from any real concerns.”
The men continued to discuss the surgery and the healing process, asking Rhys questions. Kayden could hear the concern in their tones, and he was grateful to Rhys—Dr. Beaumont—for taking the time to explain things and reassure them, much like Hazel had done for Nonna.
Kayden had never been close to his maternal grandparents simply because they’d lived on the West Coast, both of them dying a few years before the plane crash that killed his parents. His father’s parents had divorced, badly, with Dad the weapon they’d used to hurt each other until he put his foot down and cut off all ties with both of them, moving in with a distant cousin his last two years of high school.
So when Kayden lost his parents, he’d been struck by the fact that Keeley was the only family he had left in the world. It was one of the reasons he’d lost his mind a bit, smothering her, because of the bone-deep fear that if he lost her too, he’d be utterly alone.
That fear faded within a year because the Morettis had stepped in, and not just Aldo, Tony, Gio, and the other guys, but Nonno and Nonna, and the aunts and uncles as well. They’d rallied around him and Keeley and taken them in as their own.
Nonno had been the one to sit Kayden down and tell him that while he understood his need to keep his sister close, and therefore safe, what he was really doing was pushing her away, forcing her to do somewhat dangerous things in order to buy herself some freedom. The old man had seen Kayden’s fear, recognized it for what it was, and helped Kayden find ways to overcome it.
In the past decade, he’d decided there was the family he was born with, but there was also the family he’d chosen—and who’d chosen him. Thanks to the Morettis, he and Keeley would never be alone.
“Anyone talked to Rocco lately?” Aldo changed the subject once Rhys had addressed all their concerns about Nonno.
Tony nodded. “Yeah, he went to the old geezer’s poker game Monday night. It was at Dad’s.” Tony’s father and Aldo’s took turns hosting a poker game once a month with a bunch of their buddies. Rocco had never missed, though there’d been some concern he wouldn’t come to this one.
“How’s he doing?” Aldo was clearly worried about the man. Crossings Motel had been Rocco’s entire life.
Tony murmured “thanks” when the waitress refilled his water glass, then replied, “Dad said he was doing good, apart from dealing with the insurance company, and trying to figure out how to clean up the mess. Had to run some guy off the property the other day who was poking around the debris, messing around with the burned-out cars and shit, despite the caution tape and no-trespassing signs. Dad said Rocco planned to stop by and say hello to Nonno yesterday. Not sure if he did or not.”
“Oh,” Aldo said. “I’ll have to ask him tonight when we stop by. Hope he did. Nonno loves him, and, despite all his own health issues, he’s been worried about Rocco since the fire.”
“Is he planning to rebuild?” Kayden asked.
Tony shook his head. “Nope. Dad said he’s taking the insurance money, adding it to the nest egg he’d built up over the years, and retiring. He’s trying to talk my dad and yours into joining him on a hunting trip out west in the fall. Been looking at cabins to rent in Wyoming.”
“Good for him,” Luca said, as the waitress returned with their food.
Conversation slowed as they began to eat, Kayden’s thoughts wandering to the coming evening. He and Aldo planned to have dinner with Hazel…and Nonno and Nonna…again. They’d seen her three times since the night Kayden taught her how to give a blow job, but since Hazel wouldn’t leave Nonno, they hadn’t had much opportunity to expand on that lesson or anything else.
Instead, they’d all five sat in the living room, watching Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. When the shows were over, Nonno and Nonna always retired to their room, just down the hall—leaving the three of them quietly necking on the couch like a bunch of teenagers.
It was silly and fun and such a fucking turn-on that Kayden felt like he was living with a perpetual case of blue balls that no amount of jacking off could cure.
“So you’re heading to Nonno’s tonight?” Luca asked. “Because it’s my night to help with dinner and hang out, according to the schedule the aunts came up with.”
“Hazel refuses to leave them alone. If we want to see her, we have to go there,” Aldo replied.
“Maybe between the three of us, we can convince her to go out for a few hours,” Luca offered.
“Maybe we can.” Kayden wasn’t holding out much hope.
After lunch, he returned to work, clocking out at five, anxious to pick up Aldo and head over to the Morettis’.
Aldo must have been just as anxious, because he answered the door the second Kayden knocked, his coat already on. The second he stepped out onto the stoop, he gripped Kayden’s shoulders, giving him a hard, hungry kiss. Aldo was obviously in the same horny-as-fuck state.
“Something’s gotta give,” Aldo murmured against his lips.
“Agree. Tonight.” Kayden said it with more confidence than he felt. Though in truth, if Hazel turned them down again, Kayden was pretty sure nothing would stop him from tossing her over his shoulder and dragging her out. So maybe tonight wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Kayden left his cruiser at Aldo’s, the two of them taking Aldo’s truck instead. If they did manage to convince Hazel to go out, they thought it better to have the truck. Hazel seemed very uneasy in the cruiser, even when Aldo jokingly offered to sit in the back and look like the criminal.
Luca was already there when they arrived, he and Nonna in the kitchen fixing dinner.
“Smells good.” Aldo gave his grandmother a kiss on the cheek. “What are you cooking?”
“Chicken and rice with steamed vegetables,” Nonna replied. “And I’m going to need you boys to talk it up, make it sound like the most delicious thing you’ve ever eaten because Vanni is grumpy without his cheesy lasagna and eggplant parmesan.”
“Actually, we were hoping to convince Hazel to go out to dinner with us. Just for something quick like cheesesteaks,” Aldo hastened to add when a brief flash of panic crossed Nonna’s face.
It looked like Nonno wasn’t the only person in the house who’d grown dependent on Hazel’s presence.
“Hazel hasn’t had a break since Nonno came home,” Luca gently reminded his grandmother.
“Oh no. That’s true, isn’t it? That’s no good. Poor girl,” Nonna said, Luca’s words hitting home. “A few hours won’t hurt and Luca is here. You boys have a good time.”
“A good time where?” Hazel walked into the room, about to reach for an apron to help with dinner. Aldo’s prediction that Nonna would teach Hazel how to cook had come to fruition, and now their pretty nurse was obsessed with learning everything she could.
Kayden watched Luca’s eyes widen as Aldo walked over and gave her a big, lingering kiss hello—with tongue. Most of the family was unaware of just how far things had progressed between the three of them.
Nonna, however, never blinked an eye at Aldo’s show of affection. “The boys are taking you out for cheesesteaks.”
Hazel started shaking her head the second Nonna said taking you out. “Oh no, I couldn’t possibly leave you and Nonno alone.”
Nonna may have had her reservations, but she wasn’t letting them show. She walked over and placed her wrinkled hand on Hazel’s forearm. “We’re not going to be alone. Luca will be here. You haven’t left the house since you moved in, Hazel. Go take a break for a few hours, enjoy some alone time with your boyfriends.”
Hazel glanced at them nervously, obviously to gauge their response to Nonna’s label of “boyfriends.”
“Yeah,” Luca piled on. “Your boyfriends miss you. And Aldo said you’ve yet to have a cheesesteak from Pat’s, which is a crime.”
“She hasn’t had one from Geno’s either,” Kayden chimed in. “Which might be even worse.”
Luca rolled his eyes. Kayden was used to going to war with the Moretti boys over the best cheesesteak in Philly.
Hazel looked ready to dig in her heels, but Kayden wasn’t having it. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he turned her toward the kitchen door. “Three hours, Fireball. That’s all we’re asking for.”
Hazel looked over her shoulder hesitantly. “If you’re sure,” she said to Nonna, who shooed her on.
“Go have some fun, Hazel. You’ve earned it.”
They walked to the front door, Aldo retrieving Hazel’s winter coat and slipping it on before stealing another quick kiss.
“Not sure how you could miss me. We just saw each other four days ago,” Hazel pointed out once they were all settled in the truck, referring to the last time they’d spent the evening necking on the Morettis’ couch.
Neither he nor Aldo took that bait. Nor did they correct what Luca had said because they had missed her.
Kayden had claimed his usual spot in the back, giving her the heated passenger seat. Resting his arm along the back, he relaxed for the first time in four days. It wasn’t that he was uptight or stressed out or anything like that. It was more like the world didn’t feel right when they weren’t together. When it was just the three of them, he could kick back and be himself, confident that two people he cared about were where he could keep an eye on them.
It had been the same way with Keeley after their parents died. The nights he slept best were the ones when she was in her bedroom across the hall, safely within his reach. He’d hated the years she’d been away at college because he never knew where she was or who she was with. God help him—and his children—when he became a real father.
None of them spoke, yet there was comfort in the silence. In the way Aldo hummed along with the radio and Hazel watched the world fly by from the window.
“So which cheesesteak place are we going to?” she asked after a few minutes.
“Both,” he and Aldo said in unison. “They’re right across from each other. Figure we’ll get a large with the works from each of them. You can have some of Aldo’s and some of mine, then set our boy straight on which one is the best.”
