I squeezed my eyes shut as words I’d longed to hear what felt like my entire life rushed tears to my eyes. ‘I hear you.’
His chest rose. Held. And fell. ‘Marry me.’
I yanked my head off his chest. ‘What?’ Heaven and hell were created and destroyed in my heart in the space of a second.
And even he looked a little shellshocked by his words.
But I still had enough time to live every single fantasy of being Cesare’s wife. The mother of his children. Then I was forced to accept reality. Shake my head free of the fantasy. ‘You don’t mean that.’
His expression morphed into titanium resolution. ‘The hell I don’t.’
He walked me back and I wasn’t surprised at all when I found myself pinned to the wall, my hands above my head.
‘You’re taking this knight in shining armour thing too far, don’t you think?’ I ignored the hitch in my voice that screamed I wanted this too. Now he’d tossed it out into being,I wanted it. With a savage need that went beyond every rational thought I’d ever possessed.
‘You’re mine. You’ve always been mine. Marry me,’ he repeated, serious as a speeding bullet.
On every level imaginable, this was pulling the pins off a million grenades, tossing them into our lives and flipping a nuclear switch on top. Forget decimating families. This was potentially world-ending.
But for three decades I’d done as I was told. Smothered my every want and need in the name of family. Maybe if there’d been a hope that I could chalk this side trip as a little inconsequential me-time jaunt that would be laughed off once I returned to New York, I would’ve thought twice.
But knowing what awaited me? What Bonafacio planned for me…?
This was supposed to be a last hurrah of sorts, to experience the thrilling magic of Cesare’s touch after years of yearning for him. His focused dedication to my pleasure. And yes, thosebouts of tenderness I’d never experienced and grown addicted to.
Now I had, I couldn’t see myself letting it go.
‘Answer me, Maddelena,’ he breathed against my mouth, his grey eyes drilling hard and true. Exposing my heart. My need.
‘You’re insane.We’reinsane. But…’ I gasped and sucked in a breath and released it. ‘Yes.’
His eyes blazed with volcanic triumph. And pleasure. And deep, deep satisfaction. And I didn’t even care.
Because he was yanking up my thighs around his waist. Pounding me like his sanity depended entirely on achieving his next high. Imprinting his possession like he would die without it. And with each shout of ‘Mine’, I knew I was exactly where I belonged.
Cesare
I asked Maddelena to marry me because I wanted her with a desperation and obsession I was done trying to fathom. But yeah, as much as I hated to admit it, I was also marrying her because I needed to give her another layer of protection from her family and mine. From Rafaelle. To make her an Untouchable. Because once the truth came out…
I dragged my hands down my face. I loved him and didn’t want to fight. But if it came down to it, I knew who I would choose. And I sure as fuck didn’t want it to come to that. Ever.
Glancing over to make sure she was still sleeping, I stepped out onto the terrace, shut the French door behind me and hit the dial button.
Luckily the US-Brazil time difference was just two hours so I could kill the proverbial two birds with one stone. I grimaced at the metaphor and tightened my hold on the phone as my grandfather answered.
‘The last time I checked I was still head of this family, true or false?’
I gritted my teeth. ‘True.’
A pissed-off grunt. ‘So explain to me why I gotta chase you around like a schmuck offering a three-dollar shoeshine?’
‘There’s been a development, Nonno.’
‘Oh, I know that much,nupito. You’ve developed a serious case of what-the-fuck-itis, is what you’ve done. I don’t even know where to begin. I mean, of all the places to stick your dipstick you choose?—’
‘Nonno,’ I interrupted before he used slurs I’d have no choice but to call out. Because nobody insulted my woman on my watch. ‘My involvement with Maddelena isn’t why I called. Well, not entirely.’
Orazio cursed under his breath. ‘I’m listening. And this better be good.’
