The Enforcer (Untamed Hearts Book 3)(150)
Omertà.
He wasn’t sure how he’d missed it.
Maybe he just didn’t want to see it before now.
Maybe he wasn’t ready.
Now he ran his thumb over it, feeling that it was fresh, still healing, making it obvious this was the tattoo she’d gotten the other night before La Bomba.
She wasn’t the first one in the organization to get one.
They’d been showing up everywhere after Tino, Nova, and Carlo’s stand against the old-school administration two years ago. Now lots of young gangsters had them and not just Sicilians; it was more affiliates than anything. The street thugs Nova helped rather than treat like dirty drug dealers who existed to funnel money into the Borgata. The rescued victims of the underground sex market who sat in study groups to get their GEDs with the hope of succeeding at a real life, doubtful, but Nova didn’t care. It was like Nova played the same game Tino learned a long time ago, and all he wanted now was to get the pawns to the other side one at a time, even knowing most wouldn’t make it.
The Omertà tattoo wasn’t a mark of loyalty to the Morettis like most law enforcement assumed, though it was obviously a side effect.
It was an idea.
“It’s not dog food,” she whispered defensively when he touched it. “It means hope.”
“I know what it means, Brianna,” Tino snapped at her. “I’m the first one who got it.”
“It means there’s always a way,” she whispered as she sat up, ass on his chest, making the guns dig deeper into his back as she leaned down and stroked his hair while he lay beneath her. “It means that everyone has a chance.”
“It’s not hope. That’s what the rest of them think because they see it on Nova’s body, and that’s what he means to them. There’s always a way? Those are Nova’s words, Bri. It’s his ideal,” Tino argued as he touched it again. “But it’s not anything like hope. It’s closer to revenge than anything. The tattoo is on his body to prove he can win the Borgata instead of flip against it. That’s why it’s on mine too. We protect it like it’s supposed to be ours. It’s the mark of Nova’s ship, and it’s a gamble at best.”
“I know.” She nodded, like maybe she’d understood all along what the tattoos meant. “That’s why I got it.”
“You think because he’s so smart he’s worth betting on? He’s worth risking so much for?” Tino asked cynically, because he more than anyone knew that Nova’s intelligence couldn’t fix everything. “Just like that, you put a mark on your body that makes you a target for the rest of your life? It’s not even real yet. Like you said, all it is right now is an idea.”
“I didn’t do it for Nova,” Brianna whispered softly. “He wasn’t the one I was betting on.”
Tino snorted. “Then you’re really f*cked.”
Brianna shrugged and gave him a smile, still leaning over him, all long legs and pale skin. “I hope so.”
Tino ran a hand over one strong, smooth leg and decided a tiny tattoo was the least of their problems. He placed a kiss on the inside of her thigh and let it go when she spread her legs farther apart for him. Brianna stroked his hair once more, watching him with hooded eyes that sparkled like dark emeralds in the late-afternoon sun coming into the apartment.
He leaned up and kissed the tattoo next, because if it was on her body, a part of Brianna, then it was beautiful. It sort of made him hope that Nova’s ship would fly one day, a long time from now, even if Tino wasn’t around to see it.
Then he gathered Brianna to him and stood with her wrapped around him. Her legs were tight around his waist, and she let him hold her as she threaded her hands in his hair and leaned in to kiss him.
He flinched on instinct.
“Stop that.” She pressed her lips to his, whispering against them, “Kiss me.”
“You’re on me,” he reminded her, assuming she’d forgotten. “I just went down on you.”
“I don’t care.” Brianna’s breath was still mingling with his. “Am I supposed to care? What’s wrong with me being on you?”
“Nothing,” he said quickly, feeling his heart jolt at the idea she would think absolutely anything was wrong with her being on him. He silently berated himself for treating her like she was Mary. “There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s f*cking perfect.”
He tightened his right arm around her as he walked into the bedroom, and then fisted his left hand in her hair and kissed her. She moaned into his mouth, pushing her tongue in to rub against his, and the rocket fire of lust that one kiss caused was insane.
The goose bumps spread over his skin in a fine sheen of desire as it registered that he’d never had a woman do that after he went down on her. Tino was so f*cking hard it would be a miracle if he didn’t come in his jeans. He had no idea if that was something unique to Brianna, because this was the first time he was making love to a woman as an equal instead of a purchased product. It was so strange to do this for no other reason than the wild rush of excitement that caused his heartbeat to throb in his ears.
He dropped her on the bed and pulled off his jacket with sharp, jerky motions, all the while running his lips down the valley between her tits because he didn’t want to be separated from her.