It was my paranoia, galvanized by my mother’s actions in the past, which drove me to that conclusion after witnessing Violetta in Benito’s embrace. I don’t know whether or not she sought out his comfort, however, Violetta did accept it when it should’ve been with me. I know I’ve made it difficult for her to want that from me, but there will be other times when things are tense between us and I expect her to come to me. Not find another man to take solace in.
Regardless of whether it’s in his arms or in his bed, both are considered disloyal to me.
“What changed your mind?” she asks. Violetta squints at me, her face scrunching. If this conversation wasn’t so important I’d fuck her for being so adorable. “You seemed very convinced I was a slut.”
After wiping myself down and disposing of the washcloth, I return to the bed. The pulse flickering in her neck picks up speed when I crawl across the mattress. Is it from excitement or apprehension?
I place my knees on either side of her thighs and my palms next to her shoulders, caging her in. Then I lower my face until her tiny breaths fan across my mouth. “I knew you were telling the truth when you said you loved me.”
Her face pales, the flush of embarrassment from earlier gone in the blink of an eye. “That was a mistake.”
“How so?”
Now my pulse is thundering in my ears, almost to the point I can’t hear her answer.
“I…I didn’t mean it.”
That response sets my teeth on edge and a muscle in my jaw twitches from the effort it takes to keep from shouting. And executing my threat to spank and fuck her ass. She clamps her mouth shut, which is very wise of her because if I hear her say that again I don’t know what I’ll do to her.
“I’m not in the mood to play games with you,” I say, after I’m able to employ my self-control. And damn, it’s so hard around her.
“You’re being such an unreasonable assho—” Violetta presses her lips together at the sound of my teeth grinding together. Her voice is less hostile when she speaks again. “You’re being unfair. You can’t sleep with me and then ignore me, but decide the next day you want to have sex with me again because it suits you. And you can’t accuse me of being a whore when you’ve basically turned me into one, but for you.”
“Andonlyfor me,” I say. “Along with your fidelity, I want your obedience and for you to always tell the truth, starting with what you said about loving me.”
I swipe my tongue along the seam of her lips and then lick mine to taste the flavor of her. Both truth and lies can be deceptively sweet and sometimes it’s hard to tell them apart. However, she wasn’t lying when she called me an asshole.
Violetta gasps and then licks her lips, almost as if it’s an uncontrollable reaction. That small thing has my cock hardening. She is sexy and no matter what she does I want her. Even when looking at me like she’d prefer I leave, the way she is right now.
“Please…” She inhales deeply and closes her eyes before releasing the breath. When she lifts her lashes to stare up at me there’s a shadow covering the cerulean hues that wasn’t present before. “You were right when you said I was too young to know what I want, and continuing with that logic leads me to believe I didn’t know what I was saying earlier. I was overwhelmed by what you were doing to me and I…”
“You what?” I bite out.
“I misspoke.”
“I see.”
Violetta flinches when I move, but I have no interest in hurting her. Once my feet are on the floor I run my gaze over her, starting at the arches of her dainty feet. Then I take in her smooth, long legs and supple thighs, the curves of her waist and the fullness of her breasts, and end with the loose, dark curls framing her lovely face. She’s a vision, there’s no disputing that. But none of the things that attract me to her sexually compare to the way Violetta looked at me when she said she loved me.
That is what I want.
And that is what I’ll fucking get.
1 My tiny rebel.
Violetta
Whenever I think about what happened between Tristano and me last night, I can’t stop my hands from shaking and my heart from trying to escape my ribcage. He was intense in a way I’ve never seen and, as much as it excited me, I was equally nervous.
Because Tristano looked at me as though he wanted to kill me, fuck me, and marry me all at once.
It’s a lot to take in, and after spending half the night thinking through everything I’m not any closer to understanding what actually happened. Yes, he was being a jealous, possessive asshole, but there was an undercurrent of desperation I can’t ignore. And when I said I loved him? He wouldn’t let it go.
My sigh is loud in the quiet room. I still haven’t decided what to do about Tristano other than lock my door at night and avoid him as much as possible. Carina basically knows we’ve slept together so I could talk to her about the situation, but I just can’t, unless I use it as an excuse to leave. I know we’re staying in Tristano’s house for safety reasons and it wouldn’t be easy to convince anyone, including myself, to let me live somewhere else.
I might not be safer, but my heart would be.
I do love Tristano. And I’ll continue to because he’s more than some random guy who took my virginity. He’s a man who takes responsibility for his family, is fiercely loyal, and self-sacrificing for those he cares about. All the money and power he has doesn’t mean anything to me. My father has those and he’s evil incarnate.
