I’ve been a pawn in Giovanni Salvatore’s games for so long, yet in this pool, with the Wolf of Sicily watching me, I don’t feel like a pawn. I don’t feel like the unloved and unwanted child of an unloving man.
With him watching, I feel like a queen.
A certain power flows through me, a power I’ve never experienced before, and I realise something else. He’s staying right where he is. He’s dangerous—so dangerous—yet he’s not leaping into the water to grab me. He’s not doing anything at all to compel me. He’s only standing on the side of the pool, watching.
I lift my hands to my wet hair, pushing it back from my face, knowing that as I do, the wet fabric of the sports bra pulls tight across my breasts. He watches me doing that too, the burn in his eyes getting brighter.
‘Well,’ I say husikly. ‘Here I am. Undrowned.’
‘I can see that. Why did you leave our dinner so suddenly?’
The water is cool, but even so, I can feel my cheeks flushing. He knows why, I can see it in his face. ‘I think you know the answer already,’ I say, not willing to give him the answer quite yet. Wanting to revel in my power a little longer.
He smiles, his beautiful mouth curving, all sensual heat, and my pulse starts to race. ‘Come now,gattina.Surely you can say it aloud?’
I’ve never been attracted to anyone before, still less a man like him, and naturally, sex was never a topic of conversation. So I have no experience, none at all. But along with that power, another feeling threads through me, as if a heavy weight is lifting. I’m here in the pool, married to this incredibly dangerous, beautiful man. My father has chosen his pride over me, which makes me officially free of him. I don’t have to be a good Salvatore daughter anymore. I don’t have to be obedient and quiet, only to be seen and not heard.
Right now, right here, I’m not free—or at least not free the way I want to be—but I’m not bound by my name. I have a different one now. I’m Caterina Argenti, and I can be whoever I want to be.
‘Perhaps I don’t want to say it first,’ I murmur, a heady little thrill going through me as I realise that I’m flirting with him. ‘Perhaps I want you to say it.’
The smile that plays around his mouth is intoxicating, as are the silver sparks glittering in his eyes. ‘If you come closer, I can show you instead.’
Oh yes, definitely we’re flirting, and it’s one hell of a rush. Maybe it’s the champagne, or maybe it’s the relentless pull of his charisma, but I can’t help moving slowly through the water towards him, coming closer.
He crouches gracefully at the side of the pool, watching me as my pulse thumps in my head. I’m not afraid, even though this man has stalked my nightmares for years. Even though he kidnapped me and forced me to marry him.
He’s not a nightmare anymore. He’s a fever dream.
I stop at the edge of the pool, looking up at him. ‘Well? I’m here. Show me then.’
For a minute he’s still, then he reaches to gently grip my jaw in his strong fingers, lifting my chin. The pressure of his fingertips sends hot little sparks of electricity streaking through me, and in some dim corner of my brain, a part of me shouts a warning. This man is dangerous in ways I can’t begin to comprehend, so should I be getting so close to him? Should I let him touch me like this?
But I ignore the warnings, choosing instead to look up into his eyes and seeing the heat there, bright flames of desire, and knowing that I’m the one doing this to him. I’m the one making him want.
‘Are you ready?’ he asks, still playing the game.
But I’m sick of games, so I put my hands on the side of the pool and push myself up, kissing him full on his beautiful, cruel mouth just as a mermaid would.
I stay there only an instant, feeling the press of his mouth on mine, the warmth and surprising softness of his lips, and I hear the sudden intake of his breath. He wasn’t expecting me to do that, was he? I’ve shocked him, and a surge of adrenaline goes through me.
I push myself back, coming down into the water, moving slowly away, watching him, wanting to see what I did to him.
Perhaps I’m not quite done with proving my power over him after all.
He’s still crouching by the side of the pool, motionless, and his smile is gone. His eyes blaze like a magnesium flare, and the raw heat in them is the most intoxicating thing I’ve ever seen.
‘What were you going to show me again?’ I ask, taunting him, my voice breathless.
‘Gattina.’ There’s a rough note in the word. ‘You are very naughty.’
‘It’s true.’ I lift my hands to my hair once again, and give a sensual little stretch. ‘I was the despair of my father.’
‘Come here,’ the Wolf orders softly. ‘Or perhaps I’ll come there.’
Oh, he’s even more dangerous now, issuing orders like he means me to obey them. But I like it. It feels as if I’m playing with a tiger and at any moment he’ll turn from a house cat into a predator, and there won’t be anything I can do to stop it. It’s exhilarating. I can’t remember the last time I felt so like…myself.
‘You won’t,’ I tell him, goading. ‘You’ll spoil all those expensive clothes.’
