He doesn’t move, lounging like a panther. “So soon, my bad girl?”
Angrily putting my hands on my hips, I glared at him. “This-” I waved my hand awkwardly, “this is all just a- a business arrangement. We’re not doingthat.”
Uncoiling from his chair, he loomed over me. “Oh, we are most definitely doingthat,”he chuckled unkindly. “You were delicious and soaking wet when I spanked you earlier. Don’t pretend you don’t want me.”
Clenching my fists, I tried to turn and head for the doors.
“Running away?” Dario asks lightly, stepping in front of me again. “You know that just turns me on.”
“Yeah, because you’re a creep,” I snapped.
He tilts his head, looking me over thoroughly. “No, it’s because I turnyouon. Shall we put it to the test?”
“What?” I don’t understand this colossal lunatic.
“You outrun me, and I’ll leave you alone tonight.” He’s grinning as if this issoentertaining, but I can see the bulge that is growing with an alarming speed in his pants. “Just make it to any of the gates here in the vineyard and I won’t touch you.”
“You’re such a nutjob,” I snarl, “you just can’t accept that I want nothing to do with you?”
“Your wet pussy says otherwise,” he notes crassly. “Here’s your chance,Bellissima.”His grin is wild, unhinged.
“Run!”
Chapter Eleven
In which Dario gives Cora a very unconventional wedding night.
Cora…
“Take off your shoes.” What is happening here? My eyes are narrowing, my focus is zeroing in just the way it does when I’ve had to escape him before. Am Ienjoyingthis?
“Why?” Dario’s laughing, the tent in his pants large enough to really alarm me.
“You know this vineyard like the back of your hand,” I folded my arms, glaring at him.
“Fair enough,” he husked, looking me up and down like I’m an all-you-can-eat lobster buffet before bending to take off his shoes.
Seizing the champagne bottle off the table, I crash it over his head, knocking him to his knees with a groan. I don’t care that it’s a stupid thing to do. “Just leveling the playing field, you son of a bitch!” I snapped before racing for the stairs.
Fuck this,I think wildly,I am out of here! Why did I agree to this? This guy’s a lunatic.
I’m charging toward the front gate until I realize Dario’s got men stationed there, so I cut to the left, racing toward the even rows of vines. I’ll get over the fence somewhere else.Oh, my god! I hit Dario over the head with a bottle! Why did I do that, why? I’m not a violent person but he just…
My thoughts are flying everywhere like startled birds. He railroaded me into this deeply dysfunctional sham of a wedding and I’m soangry.
What’s worse, I can feel my blood racing and my lower half is warming up and I’m tingling and- “What the actual hell iswrongwith me?” I wheeze, dashing down another row, eyes fixed on the south side of the vineyard where I can almost see the stone fence-
A shrill whistle splits the night and it makes me shriek.
“You better have one hell of a head start,cattiva ragazza,you bad girl, because I am fucking you right where I catch you!” Dario’s yelling, laughter in his voice like the complete psychopath that he is. He shouts louder, “Right after I paddle your ass purple!”
My breasts suddenly feel sensitive, my nipples hard against the night air and my flimsy dress is tangling in my legs so I haul the skirt up and run even faster. He isnotcatching me. I am done with men telling me what to do.
I used to run track back in high school, and I open my stride and really dig in, feeling my legs respond, flying over the soft, rich dirt as I suck the cool air into my aching lungs. I can outrun this spoiled asshole. I’ve been on the run for the last six months.
“Bellissima!”He sounds so much closer that I have to bite down against a startled screech. “I can smell you,miacattiva ragazza,are you getting wet for me? I think you’re enjoying this a little more than you want to.”
The laughter is still dancing in his words and I wish I’d hit him harder with that bottle.
