“Gio…” His entire name is too much for me to get out. Sparks are darting, and it’s taking all my willpower not to scream his brilliance into the evening air.
I’m spread-eagled and practically naked in a field. Now is not the time for a guard to rush in and save me.
I’ve scarcely come down from the clouds when Giovanni pushes two fingers inside me. He’s hovering over me, powerful and in control, and it’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.
Only one thing could top it.
“Take your shirt off.”
His eyes shoot to me, heavy with outrage. I hardly know Giovanni, but I am confident he’s used to giving the orders. He’s never taken them.
“Please…” I murmur, not above begging. I’m dying to feel the heat of his skin under my hand, and to drink in his rippling abs and tattooed pecs—desperate enough to plead.
“How can I deny when you ask like that?”
With his fingers still pumping in and out of me, Giovanni pulls his shirt over his head by the collar with his spare hand, unconcerned that he pops several buttons on the pricey garment.
“Now your undershirt.”
There’s no hostility in his tone when he replies with a smirk, “Has anyone ever told you that you’re quite bossy, Ms. Raimondi?”
In the blink of an eye, he freezes. It’s a fight not to whimper. Even though I’ve already climaxed, my wonderful night with Giovanni only twenty-four hours ago taught me that I’m more than a one-and-done girl. Multiples areverymuch anticipated.
“Valeria was the one who joked about them getting your files confused, wasn’t she?” Even though he’s asking a question, I don’t reply. Realization flickers in his eyes. He knows the truth. He justneeded to crawl out of the rubble the clinic threw on us before he could see it. “She lied,” he murmurs to himself. “She lied tome.”
I nod, the relief bittersweet. The damage has already been done. I’ve been drugged, accused, and dragged into a nightmare I never asked for. But even as Giovanni’s anger shifts away from me, I can’t shake the unease that settles deep in my bones.
Even if I’m exonerated, will I ever truly be free? And do I want to be?
16
GIOVANNI
Every instinct in me screams to confront Valeria right now, to demand the truth and make her pay for the lie that nearly tore me apart. The urge is as primal as a storm after a humid day.
Her face when she realizes I know the truth and that her game is over will be worth the delay. But this… this urge is more potent.
Valentina writhing beneath me, her face flushed with ecstasy and her scent permeating above the smell of recently squashed lemons, trumps everything. My obsession with her is a living thing. It’s fierce and unrelenting, bordering on madness.
Even if she had accepted the bribe I offered to test her loyalty, I couldn’t walk away if I tried.
So, for now, Valeria must wait. She lost this battle. There are no misgivings about that, but for the next hour, she can cling to the shred of hope that my intuition isn’t right. That Valentina won’t be the mother of my children.
I know differently, so there’s no need to panic.
I merely need to relish.
A quiet growl rumbles in my rib cage when I only need to trekmy thumb over Valentina’s clit for the briefest second for her expression to shift from anarchy to pleasure. Her clutch on the grass firms when I press my thumb on the nervy bud before I lower my mouth back to her pussy. My tongue goes straight for her clit, and every ounce of blood in me rushes to my dick.
She tastes heavenly, so without concern for the dozen guards who protect our compound, I feast on her pussy as if starved of taste.
My brothers have chased women through these orchards more times than I can count. Matteo and Nico will never admit it, but I’m reasonably sure they’ve chased the same woman at the same time.
I used to laugh while telling them I had better things to do than play hide-and-seek in the dark.
I was a fool.
Chasing Valentina tonight…Dio.I’ve never felt more alive. The rush. The anticipation. I finally get it, and I can’t wait to do it again.
