“Humor me, Don Enzio. A bet is a bet.”
He smirked. “Va bene. If after one month with me you’re not begging for my cock, I’ll give you the freedom Cosimo never offered you.”
My heart skipped a beat. “What do you mean?”
“I’ll give you guardianship over Mario and a divorce.”
My eyes widened, a chill running through my spine, goosebumps breaking my flesh. Could this be true? Everything I could possibly want would be mine if I just play his game for one month. No, he was messing with me. He’d never give me that. Even if he would, the Lanzas wouldn’t let him. “But…”
“You’ll always have my protection even if I let you go.”
I stared at him, dazed. “Enzio…”
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m only saying this because I know I won’t lose. This is how confident I am.” He drew closer. “I’m fucking with your mind already, aren’t I?”
Fuck.
I swallowed. “Four days of him, four weeks of you, and then it’s over.”
“Yes,” he whispered. “One way or another…principessa.”
Everything in me throbbed and clenched and twisted, unlike when he said it at the rape party to torture me. I took a deep breath, and his new scent filled my nostrils. “You scrubbed yourself clean.”
“Umm-hum, and I won’t smoke for four days to keep my word.” He nuzzled his nose against the side of my neck and inhaled. “And even better…” He reached for something over the top of the dresser. Then he sprayed himself with it.
The second the fragrance hit my nose, I was a melting bundle of a hot mess. “Cosimo’s perfume,” I breathed.
His big, warm palms slid down, curled around my hips and squeezed. His nose moved to the crook of my neck for another inhale, and then as he squatted down, he smelled between my breasts and my stomach.
The last stop was between my legs.
“Oh my God. Oh my God. How did you… How did you know he did that? Exactly that. I didn’t tell you. He couldn’t have told you.”
“I’m his twin. While you were still in diapers, Cosimo and I fucked together. I know his every move.” He inhaled audibly over the towel. “Every kink.” He did it again. And again. An animal, sniffing for his mate. Weird and debauched and ever so sexy.
I trembled and throbbed with every intake just like I’d done before. My hand dug in his wet hair, and, shamelessly, I pulled his head closer. “Cosimo.”
His mouth set a hungry kiss over the cotton as he inhaled sharply. I cried. This was too much to bear. What the fuck was I thinking taking this deal?
Four days of heaven, and then I’d lose him all over again. To the same animal that would break me to pieces until there was nothing left to fix.
What the fuck was I thinking?
Mario cooed in his sleep, and my heart pulsed in my throat.
This is what you were thinking. Your son. What’s some more heartache when you can finally be free and give your son the life he deserved? When you can have your closure and say goodbye?
Enzio took my hand out of his hair, and rose to his feet. His eyes were hooded with arousal, his hair messed up and wet, his upper body naked and perfect, and his erection…
“I’m not doing this so you’ll cry.” He sucked in an angry breath and exhaled it next to my ear, causing my heart to hammer. “If you’re not gonna put all your heart into this deal, into closing Cosimo’s page and starting mine, the deal is off, and you’ll be mine anyway.”
“I thought I…You don’t know how hard this is.”
“Whatever. I’m done babysitting you, Bianca. In this world, there is what I want or nothing at all.”
I gasped. He even spoke like him.
He ran his thumb along my cheekbone and then across my lower lip, inducing a shudder all over me with Cosimo’s signature move. “Last chance. Bet or fold?”
