Scandalous Heroes Box Set (15 page)

Renaldo gave a half smile. “Yes it happened for real. Her mother was a widow and as kind to me as her daughter. We married and lived with her. She became my mother.”

“I’m sorry. How did your wife die?”

“Birth. She died during childbirth,” Renaldo said. “Complications. Rare.”

Kyra dropped her face on his shoulder. “That’s so sad.”

“It’s life. We are born dying. Some of us sooner than others,” he replied.

Kyra continued to eat. She reflected on his words as she chose an omelet and potatoes next. Renaldo ate from her plate when she encouraged him to do so. “Ever been to the MET?” she asked.

He blinked at her. She didn’t want the day to end. Even knowing all she needed to do before her interview tomorrow. “It’s the Metropolitan Museum here in New York, I’m thinking after we finish eating we get dressed and go. Let me show you some of New York as a thank you.”

“There are other ways to thank me,” he smiled.

“Oh yeah? I want to do that too. Definitely,” she giggled.

Kyra was already swelling up with fuel overload from all the good treats he had delivered. She managed to sample everything. She hated to waste food, but there was no way she could swallow any more.

“Are we done?” he asked.

“Yeah. I can’t eat another bite.” She burped and looked away with shame. Renaldo laughed. He took care to clean their mess. He wheeled their carts out one by one. Kyra escaped to the bathroom. When she peed it stung a bit. Sex with Renaldo was an adventure. Her body ached sweetly in remembrance. Wiping and flushing she checked her image in the mirror. Her makeup had all but smeared away over the white pillows. And how could she possibly fix her hair to go out in public. Kyra shook her head.

They’d have to go to her place so she could change.

She turned to the shower and turned it on. The suite had a fancier shower than most hotel rooms. The glass door opened to a tiled stall fit for three. Kyra loved the way the steam rose and washed over her as she lathered and scrubbed away the night. Just as she neared finishing she heard Renaldo. He was in the bathroom with her. She wiped her hand across the glass and saw he was naked. The shower door opened. Kyra stepped back toward the warm spray and the current soaked her backside.

“What took you so long?” she asked.

He took her hand and pulled her over. Their gazes locked. She felt as if the shower had become smaller, there was no room for anyone but them. He was so handsome. She loved his taut features and muscular form. She ran her hands up his broad shoulders and rubbed her nipples against his chest. Her mouth tilted up to his. A rumbling growl worked its way up her throat when his lips parted to capture hers. His tongue pushed past her lips. It invaded, thrust, swept in and out with mastery. In pursuit of passion she was pushed up against the tiled wall and the flex of muscle against her chest, belly, and thighs crushing down on her felt so sweet.

Kyra groaned.

“Kyra,” he breathed as his mouth left hers and lips brushed the column of her neck.  “Let me have you, just once,” he pleaded.

“Okay,” she said against all other instinct. Her heart skipped a beat. Pregnancy wasn’t a concern because she was on the pill. However, she’d never in her life had unprotected sex.
Why choose him? Why choose now?
It should be for her husband she reasoned, and then her sensible thoughts melted away as he gripped her ass by both cheeks and she parted her legs to wrap high around his waist. Her body was pushed up against the steamy slickness covering the tiled wall.

“Mmm, yes,” he breathed as he angled and thrust raw steel into her already sex beaten vagina. Kyra gripped his shoulders and her eyes squeezed shut tightly. She felt little difference because the invasion was an achingly sweet expansion below. But soon she appreciated the beauty and bliss found in their joining. Renaldo began to move in and out of her with slow cautious thrusts. He too savored the feeling. His continual thrusting gave her more and more of him. And soon all was lost. Thick and hard slams forced guttural gasps from her lungs.

Her breathing went shallow, chopped down after each upward thrust. Oh how she could see herself in love with this big, powerful man. He dwarfed her in everything. Including sex. Her legs could barely wrap around his waist and her ankles could barely reach to connect. Inside of her every ridge of his veined dick was felt deeply. Her tender walls were rubbed with relentless friction. His in and out motion made the sheathed sensation tenfold. Her head smacked against the wall and her mouth stretched with a silent cry for mercy. Her vocal chords couldn’t summon the sound.

It was too much. The safe word? What was it? She couldn’t remember. She didn’t want to remember.

Too powerful.

The orgasm built in her from the sheer overwhelming takedown of all her defenses. Tears leaked from her eyes and she held tighter to him. Renaldo kept grooving, he kept loving her, kept showering her face and neck with kisses that each meant something. He made a promise to her body and soul. At the height of her climax she gave a strangled scream of release with her nails anchored deep enough to draw blood from his skin.

Scalding spurts of his essence jetted up into her in a continual stream. Gradually she came back to her senses. She dropped her face on his shoulder and shuddered. He grunted and shook, continuing to explode deep inside of her.

“I think I’m in love,” she joked.

He stiffened. She felt his entire body go stiff. Kyra lifted her head and he looked her in the eye. With him pinned inside of her the words had meaning she didn’t intend. She swallowed hard. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean it literally. I was… it felt nice,” she smiled.

He kissed her. “I understand,
cara
,” he said and slowly released her. “Love from a woman like you has to be earned. As it should be.”

She didn’t know if he was discouraged or disinterested. But the words he spoke were so poetic she could say nothing in return. Renaldo rarely showed her any emotion other than the times his defenses were down during sex. What was his life like? Day to day was her hired gun, the soldier to a Mafia boss, as attentive and caring with others as he was with her?

“Why did you… did we… do this without protection?” she asked. She traced her finger over the eight-inch scar along his back. It was some kind of knife wound, or maybe from a surgical procedure. “Why did you want to?”

“I apologize. I… I only… I shouldn’t have asked,” he said lathering his hands and then covering his face. He washed and scrubbed his entire head before stepping into the spray of the shower and beginning on the rest of his body. Kyra stood there watching him, silent. Pleasure still rippled through her. She held herself through the aftershocks.

“Maybe when I… if I get the job at Mirabella’s in Paris we can see each other from time to time? Maybe? Or who knows I could get a job in Italy. You never know.”

He glanced back at her from over his shoulder. Kyra walked over to him. “This is good, sex, and what we have… I like it,” she smiled. “Maybe we could get to know each other better?”

He chuckled. “Maybe.” He turned and looked her over. “Can I see where you live?”

“Sure… well,” she chewed on her bottom lip. “I need to change and stuff. And we can do some sightseeing. But…”

He pulled her to him. She held his waist. “Thing is, I’m not a clean freak like you.”

“Freak?” he frowned. “You think I’m strange?”

She giggled. “No. It’s a figure of speech.” She rose on her toes and kissed him. “You wash my back and I’ll wash yours. Then I’ll take you home to meet Jamie.”

He kissed her brow. “I’d like that.”

Later –

“There, that one is my building!” she pointed.

The car came to an abrupt stop. Renaldo spun the wheel to make a U-turn in the street. Kyra laughed. “Your driving is crazy, man!”

He winked at her and found an empty spot to parallel park the vehicle against the curb. The car’s fit was snug. He turned off the engine. It was near thirty degrees and almost noon. He glanced at the building. “You stay here alone?” he asked.

“Yep. Jamie is my best friend. She lives upstairs.” Kyra smiled. “Ah, I need to tell you about Jamie.”

Renaldo looked at her curiously. “What is it?”

“Well… I love her. And I want you to respect her. If you don’t we can’t be friends,” Kyra informed him.

His brows lowered with concern. “I don’t understand. I would not disrespect anyone close to you.”

She smiled. “Jamie is transsexual.”

He blinked at her as if he didn’t understand the term. She didn’t know what the translation was in Italian to explain. So she tried another approach. “She’s a man who dresses as a woman.”

His brows shot up. Surprise registered on his face. It was 1993 and things were changing in New York. But across the world people like Jamie were treated with scorn. She didn’t know what her strict disciplined Catholic lover would think. She held her breath and waited.

“It is his choice to be that way?” he asked.

“Well… she would say she was born in the wrong skin. It’s not a choice. It’s who she is.”

“Ah, I see.” He glanced back out the window. “I’ve seen them before. Men in dresses.” He glanced over at Kyra. “You like these people?”

“I love Jamie. I love people for who they are,” Kyra said.

“I understand. I will respect your friend,” he smiled. He leaned in and kissed her nose. “You are a strange woman, Kyra. Different. My shoe maker. Of course your friends… would be different too.”

Kyra hugged his neck. She kissed his cheek. His aftershave smelled like heaven. She could sniff him all day. “Come on, let’s go.”

When she opened her door he grabbed her hand. He shook his head no. “Oh, I forgot. Sorry,” Kyra released the door handle.

Renaldo got out of the car. He walked around and opened the door for her. It was one of the things he insisted on whenever they passed through a door. He led and opened it for her. He extended his gloved hand to her and she stepped out of the car like a princess. Renaldo closed the door and dropped his arm around her shoulder.

Together they started up the sidewalk.

“Kyra! Kyra!”

She heard her name and her head turned. Cezar walked fast up the sidewalk to catch up to them. Shocked, Kyra wasn’t sure what to say or do. Renaldo at her side he observed the man and she knew he recognized him. She prayed he didn’t.

“What is it?” Kyra asked. “What do you want?”

“Can we talk?” Cezar looked Renaldo over, one step and then two, and he breached her personal space. Kyra stepped back and collided with Renaldo’s unmovable form. The scowl on Cezar’s face deepened. It contorted with rage. “I’d like to speak with my girlfriend alone.”

“No! I’m not your damn girlfriend, you psycho! I told you to go away!” Kyra stepped from the protective side of Renaldo and stood between the men. “If you don’t stop harassing me I will call the police. I mean it, Cezar!”

Cezar glared at her. He glanced back at Renaldo this time with a sneer. “You fucking her too!”

“Oh go to hell,” she said. Something was mounting, she could feel the element of danger and it scared her. She reached behind her for Renaldo’s hand. “Let’s go.”

He didn’t budge. Kyra looked back and Renaldo was still and silent. “Ignore him. Let’s go,” she said again. Renaldo’s gaze never left Cezar. He vibrated with invisible tension.

“You whore! You’re a fucking whore, Kyra! A cold-blooded bitch! What is he? Your next customer!” Cezar yelled after her.

“Kiss my ass, Cezar!” she shouted back at him. Renaldo shoved her aside. Kyra grabbed his sleeve. “No. It’s fine. Let’s just go. Please!” Kyra pleaded.

He didn’t listen. In a flash of violence he was on Cezar. Renaldo seized him by the collar and throat with one hand. And though Cezar was only a few inches shorter than Renaldo he was lifted from his feet. And to Kyra’s horror he was then slammed down hard on the sidewalk. Cezar screamed. The assault was beyond vicious. Renaldo pounded his fist into Cezar’s face until blood spurted from the man’s nose and mouth.

“Stop it! You’re going to kill him!” Kyra tried to grab at Renaldo but he behaved like a madman. Cezar gurgled and his eyes rolled in his head. “Stop it, please!” Kyra wept, with her hands now to her mouth.

Renaldo’s fist froze mid-air. He dragged a semi-conscious Cezar up an inch from the concrete by his hair. Kyra wasn’t sure what he said.

Cezar’s glasses had shattered in one lens. But she saw his eyes through the swelling and blood. He looked at her. “I apologize, Kyra. Forgive me!” he pleaded in agony. Renaldo let him go. Cezar shot to his feet and ran for his life.

Stunned, shaking with terror and tears, Kyra looked at the blood on the sidewalk and then to Renaldo. She backed away from him in horror. She’d never seen anybody respond to anything in her life with such violence. He walked toward her and she put up her hand. “Don’t come near me,” she wept. “What the hell is wrong with you? You could have killed him.”

Renaldo blinked as if confused.

“He’s a jerk, yes. But what you did. My God,” she said with disgust. “I want you to go! Go!” she said. Fearful she raced to her door and punched in the key code. The door unlocked and she hurried inside. Renaldo stood on the sidewalk for a moment. She peeked out at him to see if he would leave. He did.

She breathed a sigh of relief. Cezar deserved it. Hell if she were a man she would have slugged him herself. But what she witnessed didn’t feel heroic. It was both dark and sinister. And the wild look in Renaldo’s eye when he let him go was the most frightening. She backed away and went to the elevator. When she was on the lift she immediately began to rethink her reaction. The man was from a different world. And his actions were only in defense of her. Kyra put a hand to her head unsure of what to do next.

She walked to her apartment door, unlocked it, and went inside. Sad she fell back on her door. Kyra shook her head. She walked over to her sofa and sat down.

Before she could take off her shoes there was a pounding on her door.

Startled she froze. Her heart beat so hard she feared it would go into arrest. Of course no one could arrive at her door from outside unless she invited that person. Still she felt a cold prickle of apprehension move up her spine.