“I don’t know what you want me to say to that, but this needs to end, Lenora.” He gave me that serious look again, the one he gave me last night, right before he said dirty things. I braced myself. “Do I want you? I think that’s obvious, but nothing can happen between us. You have to know that.”
“Because I’m Dom’s sister, Giuseppe’s daughter, or because of Adriano?”
He let out a rough chuckle. “Take your pick.”
“They’d never find out, so those are stupid reasons for something not to happen between us.” I pushed off the bar and crossed my arms.
“Spoken like a brat who’s used to getting her way.”
“I don’t always get my way,” I said, annoyance shooting through me, an ingrained reaction from all these years I’d been told that. “I’m marrying a man I don’t even know.” I let out a breath. “I’m attracted to you and want to do something about it.”
“What is it you think you want, Principessa?” he asked, taking one step toward me, and then another, until he was directly in front of me. He set a finger underneath my chin and tipped my head up. I forgot how to breathe again. “Do you want me to fuck you on this bar?” He took another step until our chests touched, making it clear that he was hard. All over. He ground into me, his cock at my stomach. I bit my lip but the moan still escaped. “Do you want me to pry your legs open and eat your pussy?” His voice was so low and his eyes as dark as his promises. “Is that what it’ll take to get this out of your head?” He took a step back and dropped his hand. “I can assure you that if I fuck you, it’ll only make things worse when you marry.”
“You mean because I’m going to end up having mediocre sex for the rest of my life?” I huffed out a shaky breath. “I don’t want to get married without ever having experienced good sex?”
“How do you know we’d have good sex?”
“I just do.”
“Well, then, you’re free to use your imagination when your husband fucks you and pretend it’s me.” He turned to walk away.
“One time,” I said, my voice so quiet I was sure he hadn’t heard me, but then he stopped dead in his tracks. “We have sex one time, and that’s it.”
“Have you ever had sex with anyone?” He turned around.
“Not exactly.” I licked my lips. His eyes flared. “I want you to be my first.”
“Jesus.” He ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head as he looked down at the ground. “I can’t be your first, Lenora.”
“Why not?”
“Because it isn’t right.” He pinned me with a stare, the intensity in his eyes making me shiver.
“Please, Rocco.”
“Don’t beg,” he said. “Never beg a man for anything.”
I frowned. “I thought men liked it when women begged.”
“The only time I want to hear a woman beg is when I’m fucking her, and she wants to come.”
“Oh, God.” My heart pounded, and my face heated. “I. . .I want to do that.”
“Lenora.” It was a warning.
“I’m trying not to beg,” I whispered. “I really, really don’t want Adriano to be the first person to fuck me.” I waited when he didn’t say anything. I asked, “Will you do it?”
“I don’t make impulsive decisions.”
“Is that a maybe?” I held back a smile.
“It’s not a yes, it’s not a maybe, and it’s not a no.” He let his eyes rake over my body again, groaning when he was done with his appraisal.
“But you want to,” I said, needing confirmation.
“What I want is inconsequential,” he said. “Your brother would hate me for this. Your father would kill me for this.”
“They won’t find out.”
