‘That’s not what I asked.’ I reach out to cup one side of her face, my thumb tracing the full curve of her bottom lip. It feels so soft I want to bite her. I want to bite all of her, eat her alive. ‘You must say “I promise, Vincenzo”.’
She shivers, her gaze captured by mine as I ease my thumb between her lips and into the heat of her mouth. Her lashes drift shut as I feel the soft tip of her curious tongue against my skin, and my cock is so hard it’s almost painful. But I’m not rushing this, not now, not like last night.
I take my thumb from her mouth, rubbing the pad of it over her lower lip, and her lashes flutter. ‘Say it,’ I order softly. ‘Give me the words,gattina, and I’ll consider making you come.’
She swallows, the pulse at the base of her throat racing as her lashes lift. ‘I…p-promise,’ she breathes.
‘My name, Caterina,’ I remind her as I grip the hem of her dress. ‘I want you to say it. I want to hear it.’
She takes a shuddering breath and for a second I think she’s not going to give it to me. But then she says, ‘I promise, Vincenzo.’
My name sounds like a prayer in her mouth and abruptly, I can’t wait any longer. Not that I need to now since I’ve got what I wanted.
‘Lift your arms,’ I say and she does, letting me pull the yellow dress up and over her head, and then off.
Beneath it she’s naked and just as beautiful sitting on my desk as she was floating in my pool the night before. Her skin light olive and silky. Her breasts perfectly round with hard little pink nipples. Dark curls between her smooth thighs.
She looks up at me, utterly unselfconscious, as if daring me to find fault with her, but I can’t. ‘My wife, you are flawless,’ I tell her. ‘And now I’m going to give you what I promised you.’
Then I put my hands between her thighs and spread them wide.
Chapter Fifteen
Caterina
I’M SITTINGNAKEDon his desk, my body wound so tight I can hardly breathe. The feel of his big, warm hands spreading my legs wide apart is almost too much. I’m sensitised all over, my mouth throbbing from his kiss, my clit aching from the touch of his fingers, my sex wet and my nipples hard.
This morning I woke up, vividly remembering what had happened between us last night. But I didn’t want to think about the sex and what it meant. I was wholly consumed with the idea that he’d ignore what I’d written about leaving my father alive, and issue a hit on him anyway.
In the cold light of day it seemed even more important that he live. No matter what kind of father he’d been to me, he was still my father and no one should get to say who lived and who died. Especially not the Wolf of Sicily.
So I decided that Vincenzo needed to understand that. I had to get a promise from him that he’d leave my father alone, another vow like the one he gave me when he said he wouldn’t hurt me, and there was only one way I could think of to do that.
So I got out of bed and had a shower. Used some of the scented body lotion that was sitting on the vanity, smoothing it everywhere. Then I walked determinedly to the closet, leafing through the dresses until I found one that looked good on me, and I put it on. Without underwear.
He wanted me, I knew that. He’d dived straight into the water, still dressed, to get to me the night before and there had been no holding back from him. I’d tested the power of my sexuality on him last night and it had brought him to his knees, and that meant I could do it again.
I could use it to get him to do what I wanted, and since that was the only power I had here, why the hell shouldn’t I?
Impetuous of me, but since I didn’t want to think about what was going to happen beyond saving my father, I simply headed downstairs and bearded the wolf in his den.
He’d been as intimidatingly beautiful as he had been the night before, lounging there behind his desk. His silver eyes full of flames and a cynical, barbed amusement. He was in a white shirt this morning, the top buttons undone and the cuffs rolled up, and plain black suit trousers. Austere, yet also making him look devastatingly attractive.
I’d known a moment of doubt as I’d stormed over to him, leaning on his desk and making my demands, because he’d appeared so determinedly unmoved. But then I’d caught the dip of his gaze to the neckline of my dress and all my doubts vanished.
If he was so determined to take this path, he’d discover that there was at least one person more determined than he was. Me.
So I’d rounded his desk before he could move, and I pushed myself up on top of it right in front of him. And I’d placed my feet on the arms of his chair so there could be no doubt about what I was offering. Then I’d made my demands.
It had worked beautifully. He’d been up out of the chair, his hands on me before I’d had a moment to think, but I’d at least had the presence of mind to make him give me his promise before anything else happened. And I got that.
But I hadn’t expected him to make demands of me in return, to be in his bed every night. There was danger there and I knew it, though with his hands on me, his mouth on mine, my brain was too fogged with desire to know where the danger came from. And when he’d put his thumb in my mouth, shocking me, then electrifying me with the taste of his skin, all I could think about was, yes, that’s exactly where I wanted to be every night. In his bed.
I could have refused, I really could have. I hadn’t needed to give in. But if I hadn’t, I knew what would happen. He’d walk away from me, leaving me aching and wanting and furious the way I’d been last night, and I didn’t think I could do that again.
And I know now as he spreads my thighs apart, his gaze fierce and hungry, that I’d been lying to myself last night. I didn’t think sex could have the same power over me as it had over him, but it does. His every touch, his every look makes me feel wanted in a way I haven’t felt since I was a child, not to mention free. I’d felt it in the pool last night as I’d taken my underwear off, daring him to come and get me, and I want that feeling. I want that freedom.
So, I can’t feel any regrets as he kneels before me, spreading me apart with his fingers, and even if I had any, they’re lost in a blaze of electric pleasure as he ducks his head between my legs and puts his mouth on me.
