“Clearly true though … I’m your prisoner and you had no issue putting hands on me.”
Massimo’s eyes darken.“Not the same.You spread your legs and wanted what I gave, Sophia.”
My soul burns with humiliation and overwhelming emotion that threatens to engulf me from this godforsaken day.“Get out of my room and don’t come back.And keep your monsters at bay before my father rains a world of fury down on your family that you’ll never recover from.”I point to the door.“Leave.”It’s meant as a demand but comes across as a plea.
The lines in his forehead crease as he notices the cracks of skin on my hand.“I’ll send someone in to take care of your knuckles.”
“Don’t worry about me.Take care of your soldier.His nose looks a hell of a lot worse than this.”
His finger slips under my chin and holds my gaze steady.“For the record, you did want what I gave.You can’t hide your body’s response from me, Sophia.”
He thinks he can catch me off guard, in a moment of weakness, but that’s not likely to happen again.I’m not succumbing to his charm or admitting anything to him.“I had an itch, you scratched it, end of story.I said get out of my room, and this time don’t come back.”
Massimo’s hand snakes around my nape so fast I can barely react, drawing me closer, holding me tight, his lips so close that they almost touch mine.“I’ll make you a bet, Sophia.In three weeks’ time you’re going to scream my name while riding on the end of my dick.”
I pull back from his grasp and scoff.“That’s an easy bet to take.You’ll lose.What’s the wager?”
“You win, your father’s debt is paid in full.”
My heart almost stops.He’s serious.Now I’m interested, very interested because this could solve everything no matter the reason.“And if I lose?Which will never happen by the way.”
“Then you agree to be my wife.”
My eyes narrow.“What the hell?What reason would you have, what sense does it even make?Your father would be furious.”
The handsome devil’s lips part and the smile lights his eyes.“Consider it a game to pass the time.Perhaps before that your father will have paid the debt he owes.And perhaps you will pay it another way.”
I’m at a complete loss for words.I only know that now I have a chance to turn this around, to right a wrong and get my family out of this mess, as long as I’m willing to play.
The board has flipped, I’m no longer a pawn but the one who’s in control.“It’s a deal.”
13
Massimo
Ithought leaving her alone for a few days after spanking her would get her out of my system, allow me to shake the attraction to the youngest Cassone, but my reaction to someone putting hands on her was enough to tell me what I already knew…
There’s no fucking way that’s going to happen.Bone after bone, scream after scream from Snake as I made him pay, but nothing was enough.Not when all I could see is the light in Sophia’s eyes going out and his slimy hands touching her at all.No, even with ten broken fingers and two broken legs it wasn’t near enough.He’s just lucky he has family who pleaded for his life, or he would have found himself at the end of concrete blocks heading into the depths of the sea.
I’ve heard the stories about the way it was in the old country between Mamma and Papa.There was never going to be anyone else for him but her, and maybe these things don’t fall too far from the tree.
Besides, the more I think about my plan, the more sense it makes.Father has been pushing me to formalize things with Desiree, eldest daughter of a rival family.A merger that for all intents and purposes would strengthen our family position, yet she’s not the one who causes my dick to ache or turns my blood cold with anger the minute I hear anyone other than me say her name.
No matter what this attraction to Sophia is, it’s red-blooded, possessive and drives the desire to annihilate anyone who puts hands on her other than me, and to protect her from what I know her future to bring after what I’ve learned about the other rival families in the last few days.
No, whether Sophia likes it or not, she will submit to me.I won’t give her any choice, because it’s the only way to save her, merge a rival family even if it’s with the Cassones, and keep her for myself.Give the contract a year, we will have worked out the undeniable itch as she calls it, and then we’ll each go our separate ways with an agreement of alliances between the families.It will work.I’m going to fucking make it work.
My eyes take in the golden amber orbs staring up at me, not fully understanding the attraction myself.She’s certainly not like the other women who hang on my arm at social functions and bat their eyelashes and do what they’re told knowing their daddies want them to sit beside me as queen someday.Maybe that’s what I like about Sophia.You know exactly what you’re getting, and she knows exactly who I am, but couldn’t help the attraction any more than I.
My little kitten believes she has the upper hand, but she has no clue how convincing I can be.“Three weeks, Sophia.And then my name spills from your lips in a scream and you say I do.You will marry me for one year.”
Her eyes dance with hope, seeing this as a way out of the debt for her and her family, and I feel half bad that in the near future it will be destroyed.She’ll succumb to the pleasures of my bed, she will scream my name, and I will gain a dutiful wife who will solidify yet another territory under the Roselli name.But it’s the only way to clear her family debt, keep her safe, and extricate myself from the arrangement with the Amortes.
I lean in and pull her closer.“A kiss to seal the deal?”
Sophia doesn’t resist, and my fingers splay around her sensitive nape, drawing her in, holding her captive as our lips meet for the very first time.If I thought spanking her or rubbing her slit was arousing, feeling her breath against me and tasting her sweetness as her heart races out of control causes my dick to throb painfully against the zipper of my dress pants.“Sophia, you’re going to be mine soon, and you’re going to want to be owned by me for an entire year.”
Her eyes flash as she instinctively draws back.“Not likely,” she says hoarsely, all while those hazy lust-filled eyes tell me she’s not near as immune as she pretends.
