I incline my head.
“Did you enjoy doing that to me?”
“Yes,” I say with total and absolute conviction.
“I thought so.” She nods, her eyes flitting over my face. Once again she gnaws on her bottom lip and I remove it. “Is that something you typically do to women or just me because I’m young and unruly in your estimation?”
After palming the back of her head, I lift her face to mine until we’re a mere breath apart. I don’t want any ambiguity when I answer her.
“I do it to women all the time.” Violetta stiffens in my arms and squints up at me. “Don’t be jealous,ribelle. I’ve touched your pretty cunt more than any another, and that’swithoutfucking it.”
But I want to, even more now that I know how much she can handle. I assumed if I caused Violetta pain, then she’d give up on trying to seduce me. I did it in order to spare her the agony that’d be sure to come if I took her virginity. Because I have no desire to be gentle or take the necessary time she’ll need for it to be only mildly painful.
However, if she can tolerate it…
I shut down the tempting thoughts immediately. Suffering or no, virgin or not, Violetta is the key to unlocking Pandora’s box and that will only bring about chaos, something I’ve tried to avoid my whole life. Forfeiting my brothers for her is never going to be an option, which meansshe’snever going to be one either.
Violetta
Tristano takes my hand and kisses each of my fingertips.
I inwardly cringe because my nails are a disaster since I clawed at the concrete while he spanked me. If he hadn’t told me to hold onto his ankle I would’ve made my fingers bleed. The agony that radiated through my body with each punishing strike stole my breath, made my eyes sting with tears, and lit my skin on fire with a searing heat.
But seeing the look on his face and the jealous rage in his eyes? Worth every bit of suffering.
I’d go through it again tonight if my ass wasn’t so sore and my muscles feeble. Because the orgasm he gave me was beyond anything I could’ve ever imagined.
That365 Dniguy doesn’t have shit on Tristano.
My head lolls onto his shoulder and I briefly lower my lids, using the quiet moment to recenter myself. Tristano cares for me, and not just because I’m a responsibility for him. If not, then he wouldn’t have gotten so angry with me for talking about giving my virginity to someone else. Maybe Tristano will never admit he wants it, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try to persuade otherwise.
“I have something else for you,ribelle.”
The deep soothing baritone of his voice drifts over me, lulling me into a deeper sense of peace, something I’ve never experienced before. The newness of this only serves to harden my resolve to break through Tristano’s rigid self-control. I understand his desire to keep things amicable with his brothers and my sister because of her relationship with Rafael, but I truly believe if Carina knew about my feelings for Tristano, then she’d give me her blessing to be happy.
Not that I need it. And it’s not as though she consulted me before falling in love. I can only hope that she’s understanding if the time comes. No,whenit comes.
Because I’m not giving up.
“Another present?” I ask with a slight frown. “I hope it’s less painful than the last one.”
His eyes crinkle at the corners and his mouth lifts with amusement. “That was a gift of a different variety. This is something else.”
I shrug. “I didn’t mind the last one so much.”
He blinks at me and then blows out a breath. “Come on, let’s get you back to your seat.” Once he stands and places me in my chair, Tristano pours himself a tumbler full of alcohol. “Don’t take your eyes off the sky.”
“Okay.”
I take my wine glass in hand and take a sip, directing my gaze upward. The first thunderclap has me straightening in my chair and then wincing because of my tender backside. However, the boom isn’t thunder, it’s a firework display. Over and over the colorful missiles shoot into the darkened atmosphere, lightening it with their beautiful hues. I swear my smile is just as bright. The joy within illuminates my soul, just like the lights do to the sky above, only I’m shining where no one can see.
I’ve experienced a number of things tonight and everything has been because I wanted to. Even the spanking. I decided not to tell Tristano I liked it or he might’ve chosen a punishment I didn’t. The pain, although an extreme discomfort, made me feel alive after being the walking dead for so long. And that despondency was there long before my period of silence.
Tristano has had the wherewithal to do what he pleases and when. Plus he’s also had the means, whereas I do not and never have. I’ve been waiting to live,trulylive, but on my terms and without the restriction of someone else’s authority or opinion. Those types of rules or barriers can’t be present, because true freedom requires you to actually be free.
Free to laugh and lament.
Free to love and lose.
