“The jeweler promises to finish soon. I’ll send one of my men to Palermo tomorrow to check his progress if you wish.”
My mouth falls open. “My ring is being made in Sicily? You bought Sofia’s at Tiffany’s.” He dropped thirty grand on it. She talked about it more than him for three months straight after their betrothal dinner.
“I’d never met Sofia when I chose her ring, but Zacheo has made jewelry for my family for generations.”
He’s having a piece made specifically for me? I’m flabbergasted and somewhat freaked out.
Fortunately, Carlo gives me direction again. “You’re so goddamn sexy in that dress. I thought you cruel to wear it tonight until youmentioned coming over here.” His dark eyes burn with desire. This is my chance.
Moving as gracefully as I can manage, I lift my dress and roll so I may straddle his waist on the sofa. My heart pounds between my ears as I soak up his heat and feel all that muscle under me.
“What are you-”
His words end with a grunt as I settle across his groin, both pleased and terrified to find him growing hard beneath me. The unwanted memory of Rocco pinning me down starts up in my brain, but Carlo’s hands automatically find my waist and his intoxicating fragrance surrounds me, pushing the trauma away. I drape my arms over his shoulders, and the memory recedes. “I don’t want your ring. I want you to forget about marrying me. I want you to forget me altogether.”
“I assure you, you’re impossible to forget, especially when you're in my lap.Fuck…"His thick black eyelashes, fuller than any girl’s, flutter when I shift my hips.
“I came here this late to make you an offer - me, in your bed for one night, Carlo. Tomorrow, you let me go back to Las Vegas and forget all about marrying me in two weeks.”
"A bond has been made.”
“We can unmake it.”
“You expect me to accept one night?”
“One night with me willing, or a lifetime of me fighting you every night."
"What do you mean?" he asks, suddenly leery.
"If you force me to marry you, I will never submit to you in the bedroom. So, unless you plan to rape me-"
His features twist with disgust. "I willneverrape anyone, especially not my wife."
I exhale, slowly. Based on how he protected me before, I thought as much, but it's nice to have it confirmed. "Alright then. One night to satisfy your lust, and you’ll lose interest in marrying me." He starts to shake his head, so I cradle his face with my hands, turned on by the stubble digging into my palms. "This offer is only good tonight and if you agree. Otherwise, I’ll leave now, and we'll both be stuck in an unhappily ever after.”
Instinct has me shift my hips again but more slowly this time, rubbing across his hardness with intent. I smile, encouraged by the way he’s starting to pant. Finding my rhythm, I keep moving my hips. Somehow, he’s grown even harder. My panties are getting wet, too.
“If you think dry humping on a sofa is going to make me forget our wedding plans-”
“No,” I say, happy that my following laughter sounds so sultry. “I said one night with me in your bed. Whatever you desire. There’s only one condition - we’re not getting married.”
“It’s two weeks away. I’m a patient man.”
“Are you?” Another slow grind and I can see the tension in his jaw. He wants this.
But since he doesn’t answer my question, I start to climb off of him. He stifles a groan, and the hands at my waist quickly clamp down. He doesn’t want to refuse my offer. I have him. Continuing to rub myself along his cock, I rake my nails down the front of his chest. One of the hands at my waist slides around to my ass. He studies the swells of my breasts above my dress. He’s burning up with lust. But then, so am I.
“All yours tonight if you agree,” I repeat, arching my back.Please agree,I think, not even certain if I want him to agree for the reason I originally intended.
He stares intently at my lips, and I lower my mouth to his for the first time. Firm and demanding, he responds, igniting a bonfire inside me with his passion. The rough movement of our lips meeting leaves me incredibly tingly everywhere.
When I pull back, he lightly touches my bottom lip, fanning the flames again. "That was your first kiss, wasn't it?" I nod, and he makes this rumbling, pleased noise deep in his chest, the sound both soothing and sparking something deeper in my core.
I wait for him to take control, and he doesn’t let me down. He cups the back of my head and tilts it slightly, so our noses don’t bump.
Then he devours me.
What was a pleasant tingling sensation in my lips becomes a live wire starting there and dancing its way down my spine until it spreads through my limbs. Who knew being kissed by the devil would be so heavenly? Heat pools in my belly, loosening that knot of nerves and twisting it into something far more tempting. My core clinches with a need I don’t completely understand. Just from a kiss.
