His Juliet: An Age Gap Hurt Comfort Mafia Romance (Empire of Royals Book 2)

It was late in the evening when I walked into the large gym on one of the lower floors of the building. Our soldiers trained here and were all gathered now, surrounding the boxing ring in the center of the room. This was part of the punishment—everyone, including the soldiers I commanded, was here to witness it.

Matteo stood in the center of the ring and I walked towards him, head high. This was a small price to pay for Juliet. I would pay much steeper tolls to keep her safe.

I removed my shirt before stepping underneath the ropes to stand in front of Matteo.

“Hands behind your back.”

He used a length of rope to tie my wrists together.

“I didn’t know you liked me like this, sir,” I said.

Matteo rolled his eyes, and I heard a few chuckles from my men. Good. The atmosphere had been too fucking tense.

“Kneel.” Matteo’s command was loud and sure, and I awkwardly knelt without the use of my hands.

He stared down at me and spoke in Italian. “Do you accept your punishment for insubordination to your Don?”

“Sì.”

The first strike came fast and brutal, straight to my face. My head whipped to the side at the strength of Matteo’s punch. He didn’t give me time to adjust. The next hit came to my ribs and I hunched over, trying to catch my breath.

The blows continued—strikes to my chest, back, and face. And with each one, I pictured Juliet safe, happy, and carefree, exactly as she always should be. The pain barely registered, but a particularly hard hit to the chest pushed me down on the mat. My bloody face hit the floor and I groaned. The sharp pain in my nose told me it was likely broken. Hopefully Juliet wouldn’t mind.

I lay there until I felt a tug at the rope and my hands were released. I pushed up to a kneeling position, and then Matteo’s hand was in front of me, pulling me up. This punishment was designed to humiliate me in front of my men, but as I looked at them now, I wasn’t embarrassed. They knew I was loyal to the Family, that I would take a bullet for any of them, as they would for me. But now they also knew how serious I was about my girl.

Matteo clasped me on the shoulder before exiting the ring and leaving the gym. I held in a groan as I ducked under the ropes again, my body screaming. My men thumped me on the back, laughter and jokes filling the air now that the Don was gone.

“Why so eager to leave, Romeo? Ready to get back to your girl?”

“Yeah, so she can fuss over you and clean all your injuries?”

“Oh, my poor Romeo! You’re hurt!”

They broke out in raucous laughter. I flipped them off over my shoulder as I headed to the exit. “You sound like a bunch of jealous assholes to me.”

I was smiling when I stepped into the elevator, even though the expression pulled at my busted lip. My face was caked with blood from my nose and lip, and it was hard to take a deep breath after the hits to my ribs, but Matteo had gone easy on me. He needed me well enough to be out in the field.

The elevator opened and I headed into the apartment, relief washing through me when I saw Juliet curled up under a blanket on the couch. The worst part of the punishment was being separated from her, but I could breathe now, knowing she was safe.

Except when she looked at me, she let out a scream.

Shit.noveldrama

She jumped off the couch, the blanket falling to the floor. “Oh my god! What happened?”

I held my hands out in what I hoped was a soothing gesture. “Juliet, baby, don’t worry. I’m okay.”

She closed the space between us, her eyes watering as she took me in. “You’re not okay. Who did this to you?” She reached up like she was going to touch me and then pulled away.

Nope. I wasn’t going to have that.

I captured her hand and put it on my face, leaning into her touch.

“We have to go to the hospital,” she said, sniffling.

One of the rules of punishment was no hospital or care from a doctor unless there were severe complications. Not that I was anywhere close to needing the fucking hospital for these scratches.

I ran my hand through her gorgeous hair. “You’re so pretty.”

“Did you hit your head?” She withdrew her hand from my face as she scowled. “You’re not taking this seriously.”

“I’m sorry, baby. I’m really okay. I just need some bandages and I’ll be good as new.” When she kept scowling, I cupped her face. “There’s a first aid kit in the bathroom. Will you get it for me? Please?”

She hesitated and glanced at the door. “I think the hospital would be better.”

I wanted to gather her to my chest and comfort her, but not until I got the blood cleaned off. I refused to soil her.

“You’re cute. Actually, let me hop in the shower and then you can doctor me up, yeah?”

She huffed, crossing her arms. I didn’t hide the fact that I was eyeing her ample tits, my palms itching to squeeze them.

“Fine,” she huffed.

I gave her face one last caress and headed into the bathroom, leaving the door open wide in invitation. I stripped off my clothes and turned the water on, getting in before it turned hot. The icy spray cleared my head. I touched my nose. It definitely felt like it was fractured, but it wasn’t crooked and the bleeding had stopped, so that was something. Nothing could be done about it, anyway. I would just have to wait for it to heal.

Light feet padded on the tile floor, and there was Juliet, her furious eyes fixed on me.

“Come to join me?”

“No.” Her jaw was set, her cute little nose upturned, and it made me even harder. “I’m just making sure you don’t pass out.”

I grinned, fisting my cock and slowly moving my hand up and down. “Mmm, I’m feeling quite lightheaded. I might need you to support me.”

Her cheeks flamed red and she pointedly averted her gaze. “If you pass out, I’ll drag you out of the shower.”

I snorted a laugh. “What would I do without you?”

She busied herself with getting the first aid kit out from under the sink. Well, if she wasn’t getting in with me, I wasn’t about to stay separated from her for a moment longer than I needed to. I quickly finished my shower and grabbed a towel. I wrapped it around my waist and stalked towards Juliet, pure satisfaction strumming through my chest when she followed the trail of water droplets down my chest.

She shook her head and made a squeaky little noise before grabbing the first aid kit and whirling out of the bathroom. I followed close on her heels.

“Sit down,” she said, pointing at the couch.

My lips twitched as I tried to keep from smiling at her bossiness. “Whatever you say, angel.”

I held in a groan, my ribs screaming as I lowered myself down. Juliet’s trembling lower lip told me I hadn’t disguised my pain well enough. She set the kit on the coffee table, along with a bowl of water and a washcloth. I spread my legs so she could step between them.

“I’m mad at you,” she said as she gently started cleaning the remaining blood off my face.

I cupped the back of her thighs as she worked on me, feeling perfectly content. “I’m sorry.”

“Is this going to be a common thing? You coming home like this?”

My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. She’d said home.

“Why are you smiling?” she snapped. Now tears were forming in her eyes. “I’m serious. I don’t like this.”

I tugged her down so she was straddling my lap and wrapped my arms around her, not caring about the sharp pain in my sides.

“Sometimes I’ll get hurt, but I promise I’ll always do my best to come home to you. This is just from a training exercise. I was never in danger.”

She pursed her lips but continued cleaning the blood from my face. Luckily, she kept her tears from falling. I couldn’t stand it when she cried.

“But you are in danger sometimes.”

My chest tightened at the wobble in her voice. “Yeah, sweetheart. Sometimes.” After a lifetime of craving danger and throwing myself in headfirst without considering my safety, it was strange to have someone to come home to. Strange and wonderful.

“You know what would make my face feel better?” I asked as she finished up.

“Ice?”

“Nah. I think it’d feel better if you sat on it. Rubbed that sweet pussy all over me.”

Her cheeks flushed dark red, and I laughed. She shoved my shoulder—so gently I barely felt it—and pursed her lips.

“Yeah, we will not be doing that.”

“Ever?” I gave her my best puppy dog eyes.

“At least until you’re completely healed,” she said primly.

“I guess I’ll have to find other things to do in the meantime.” I pulled her flush to my body so she could feel my hard-on.

“You’re kidding me,” she said. “Is this all you think about? When your face is all messed up and your chest is cut and bruised?”

“I’ve got the most gorgeous girl in the world on my lap. Of course I’m fucking hard. I’m always hard around you.”

She narrowed her eyes even as she arched against me, grinding her hot little pussy against my cock. She seemed to realize what she was doing and pulled away. “No. Nope. We’re not doing this. I’m going to get ice for your face, and you’re going to stay on this couch and rest.”

She bandaged the cuts on my face and chest before making me stand and spin for her so she could examine my back. Before I could snag her back onto my lap, she escaped into the kitchen, returning with multiple ice packs, a bag of frozen peas, a bottle of water, and a slice of cake. I snagged the ice packs out of her hands and arranged them against my ribs.

“Lean back.” She gently laid the peas over my nose and I groaned at the instant relief. “Take these.” She pressed some pills into my hand and I took them without questioning, washing them down with huge gulps of water.

I didn’t like that I couldn’t see her in this position, so I reached out until I grasped her hip. “What’s the cake for?”

“In case you need a snack,” she mumbled.

I smiled as I tried to tug her closer. “I’m too weak to eat it myself. You’ll have to feed me.”

She lowered herself back onto my lap. “I think you’re milking this.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

I totally was, but who could blame me when my girl was sweetly feeding me chocolate cake and lightly running her fingers over my bruises to make sure I was okay?

“Do you want anything else to eat?”

I removed the peas from my face so I could look at her. “No.” I cupped her face with both hands and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. “But now I need to take care of you.”

“What are you talking about?”

I gently trailed my hands up her thighs so as not to irritate her cuts. “Let me check them. Please.”

“That’s really not necessary,” she whispered.

“It is.” I needed to know she was safe and healing. Needed to see it with my own eyes. “Please,” I repeated, and she relented.

She moved off my lap and peeled down her sweatpants, which were my sweatpants. The possessive asshole in my chest rumbled with satisfaction and questioned my plan to buy Juliet a whole new wardrobe. Maybe I should accidentally misplace all her clothes so she was forced to wear mine at all times.

My mind sobered when I saw the angry red lines slashing her skin. I pulled her between my legs, pressing my face to her stomach and breathing in slowly to calm my heart.

Her fingers ran through my hair. “I’m fine. I’m not the one who lost a fight.”

I scoffed. “I didn’t fucking lose.” If I told her what happened, she would blame herself, but letting her think I was a shitty fighter who couldn’t protect her gave me the burning urge to prove my strength.

“Okay, baby,” she said.

I melted against her. No one had ever called me baby before. No one had held me and stroked my hair like this.

I inspected her cuts and re-bandaged the worst one, pressing soft kisses to her skin before pulling her back on my lap. She rested her head on my shoulder and traced the cut on my chest with her gentle fingers. When her lips brushed against my throat, I groaned. The lightest touch from her set me on fire, and my cock twitched beneath us.

“Ignore it,” I said through gritted teeth.

“What if I don’t want to?” she murmured. Before I could stop her, she slipped off my lap until she was on her knees between my legs.

Holy shit.

Fuck.

FUCK.

My brain stopped functioning. My head filled with conga music as my insides formed a dance line.

But as Juliet reached for my waistband, I returned to my senses.

My hand went on top of hers and gave it a squeeze. “You know I was teasing earlier. You don’t have to do anything.”

“But I want to.” Her eyes were blazing, her tone sure. “Please don’t treat me differently now that you know about my past and stuff. Please.”

I gripped the back of her neck. “You never have to beg. Never. It’s not that I see you differently, but⁠—”

She let out a frustrated noise.

“Just hold on.” I leaned forward and gripped her chin. “I don’t want to do anything to upset you.”

“I can’t promise I won’t ever get overwhelmed, but I don’t want to let that stop me from doing what I want.”

“And what you want right now is to take my cock into that pretty little mouth of yours?”

She nodded.

“Okay, baby. Have your way with me.”

I sat back up with a groan, and she quickly rearranged the ice packs against my ribs. Before I could process what was happening, my cock was in her hand as she gave it a tentative squeeze. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, worried that if I looked at her, I would come way too soon.

My fist flew to my mouth and I stifled a shout when she started playing with my piercing.

“I like this,” she said softly. “I liked how it felt inside me, too.”

I gritted my teeth to stop myself from telling her to take me in her mouth. I wanted her to be in control. But the longer her fingers trailed up and down my length, the more torturous things became until I finally broke. My eyes flew open. “Juliet, please.”

She was wearing a self-satisfied smile, eyes twinkling with mischief. “Wow, you held off a lot longer than I thought.”

“Are you toying with me?”

“Mmm, just a little bit. Are you going to beg?”

My hand went to her hair and I tugged her in until the tip of my cock brushed against her lips. “Open up,” I growled.

Her smile grew wider and then she parted her lips and surrounded me with her warm, wet heat. Her tongue played with my piercing and then she took me deeper, sucking hard. All the pain in my body faded away as pleasure built in the base of my spine.

“Fuuuuck, your mouth is magic.”

She moaned and took me a little deeper. I tried to hold off from coming, but when her hand cradled my balls, it was all over. I came with a shout, tightening my hold on her hair as she drank me down.

Juliet gave me one last long lick before releasing my spent cock and sitting back on her heels.

I was a destroyed, panting mess, and she was looking at me with the cutest little smirk I’d ever seen.

“You proud of yourself, pretty girl?”

She nodded.

“You should be. Come up here.” I needed her closer.

She gently sat back on my lap, but I crushed her to my chest and pressed my face into her hair, breathing deeply. “That was better than any painkiller in the world. Thank you.”

Her lips pressed against my neck. “I did good?”

I snorted. “Better than good.” I ran my hand up and down her back. “Was it okay for you? Any bad memories?”

“I’m good. I’ve never done that before,” she murmured.

My fingers tightened in her hair. “You’re joking.”

She giggled. “Nope. First time.”

I kissed her forehead. “You’re going to kill me.” I wedged my hand between us until my fingers pressed against her panties. They were soaked. “Fuck, your sweet little pussy is so needy for me.” I was desperate to make her come, to watch her fall apart.

She let out a little gasp, and it suddenly became my life’s goal to hear her make that sound again. My lips crashed against hers, and the sweetness of the cake was nothing compared to my Juliet. She was hesitant, her movements gentle like she was trying to stop from hurting me, but I wasn’t having it. I gripped her by the hair, deepening the kiss and nipping at her lips until she was forced to respond.

“You’re going to hurt yourself,” she said between kisses.

“Worth it.”

“Romeo.”

“Juliet.”

Whatever she was going to say next was cut off with a whimper as I kept playing with her. I moved her panties aside so I could dip my fingers into her heat. “You’re clenching so tight.” My cock grew hard between us, desperate to replace my fingers.

“That feels so good.” Her words were soft, almost shy, like she didn’t quite know how to claim her pleasure.

“Take what you need from me.”

My hand on her hip urged her to rock against me, to grind her swollen little clit against my hand. I grinned when she grabbed my wrist and used her hold to get the leverage she needed. It wasn’t long before she was fluttering around me, squeezing my fingers as she came.

“That’s it,” I said, kissing the side of her face as she slumped against my chest. “Good girl. You did so well for me.”

She let out a whine when I pulled out of her. I sucked my soaked fingers into my mouth. “You taste so fucking good.” Her eyes widened and her lips parted, and I used it as an opportunity to press my fingers into her mouth. “See how sweet you are? How absolutely addicted I am to you?”

Having her suck my fingers made my cock twitch.

Juliet arched against me. “I should make you go to bed and rest.”

My nose ran down the side of her face. “But you’re not going to do that because you’re such a greedy girl, aren’t you?”

The heat in her eyes said it all.

“I promise I’ll sit back and let you do all the work for me.” I smirked as I tore her underwear.

“That was one of my favorite pairs.” She jutted her lip out in a pout, and I pulled her in to kiss it.

“I’ll get you more.” I palmed her ass cheeks, gripping hard as I notched my cock at her entrance. “Now ride me, angel.”

She whimpered as she sank down on the first couple of inches. My fingertips dug into her shaking thighs as she lowered herself down. My hips thrust up involuntarily and we both moaned as I seated all the way inside her. Her eyes were closed, head thrown back, and she looked like a goddess. She whimpered as I held her there, her wet pussy grinding against me as she adjusted to my size.

“You’re way too covered up.” I tugged at the bottom of her sweatshirt and pulled it off, revealing her gorgeous tits. I leaned forward and sucked a nipple into my mouth.

“I thought I was supposed to be doing all the work,” she said, voice breathy.

My lips popped off her nipple. “Do you want me to stop?”

Her hand went to the back of my head and she pulled me closer. “No.”

I grinned and gently bit down on her other nipple. “You better start riding me.”

She raised up and then lowered down, her hands coming to my shoulders to balance. Her movements started tentatively, but it wasn’t long before she became more confident and started taking her pleasure.

“That’s my good girl.” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from where we were connected. My thumb went to her clit, circling it as she moved up and down.

“Romeo,” she gasped. She leaned forward, her head resting against mine, her tits brushing against my chest with every thrust.

“I know, sweetheart. I know. You’re doing so well. Now I need you to come for me. Show me what a good girl you are.”

Her fingers curled into my hair and she held on tight as I helped her keep her rhythm as my other hand dug into her ass. Her lips were by my ear, allowing me to savor every gasp and whimper. Just when I thought I wouldn’t be able to hold off any longer, her pussy clenched down on my cock and she came with a cry. I immediately followed, thrusting in hard as we both rode out our orgasms.