"Your brother outranks you. And his orders are clear."
The light in her eyes dims a little bit, and I fucking hate that I’m at fault, but what choice do I have?
Yesterday, she "accidentally" brushed against me while reaching for a book.
The day before, she asked me to zip her dress, her bare skin inches from my fingers.
Last week, she challenged me to teach her self-defense, knowing full well it would require physical contact I've been desperately avoiding.
Each time, I maintain my distance.
Each time, it gets harder.
"Are you coming to dinner tonight?" she asks.
"I'll be stationed at the door, as usual."
"Pity." She steps closer, and I start mentally reciting baseball stats to distract my dick. "I was hoping you'd sit beside me."
"Your fiancé wouldn't approve," I remind her, and this time, I see pain and fear in her gray eyes.
"My fiancé isn't here. You are."
Thankfully, she gets into the car.
I exhale slowly, trying to regain control.
Alessandro didn't warn me about this when he gave me this assignment.
He didn't mention I'd be fighting a war on two fronts, protecting Valentina from external threats while simultaneously protecting her from me.
And I'm losing.
God help me, I'm losing.
More than once, I’ve woken up in the middle of the night with my dick tenting the sheets.
The dream clings to me as vivid in memory of it as when I conjured it in my sleep.
Valentina beneath me, her raven hair spread across white sheets.
Those gray Dante eyes locked on mine as I move inside her, her legs wrapped around my waist, pulling me deeper.
Her voice, usually so commanding, breaking on my name as pleasure overcomes her.
Each time the dream comes, I bolt awake, my body throbbing with need, hard and aching.
I close my eyes, knowing I should banish these thoughts, but instead, I give in.
My hand slides beneath the covers, gripping myself, imagining it's her soft fingers wrapped around me.
In my mind, she's straddling me, head thrown back as she takes what she wants.
My Valentina isn't shy.
She rides me with the same determination she shows in everything else, her perfect tits bouncing with each movement, her lips parted on silent moans, her pussy pulsing around my cock.
I stroke faster, picturing how her skin would flush pink, how she'd tighten around me when she comes.
