“Jesus, Luce. When did you go all soft? Stop worrying. Cam hates me, but that doesn’t stop him from wanting me. He wanted me back in high school.”
“He told you that?”
“More or less.”
“You have a week to shift the business we were doing through the bakery. If you can’t, I’m bringing Cameron in, and we’re going to have a talk.”
“I fucking said I’ll handle it, but now we’ve got shit stirring that we thought was over. We haven’t used the bakery for months. It can wait.”
“You said you were ready for more responsibility. Show me you can do both, and make sure this doesn’t blow up on us. I’ll let you have your fun, but you owe me.”
I blew out a breath and looked away. “When do I ever not?”
Lucien captured my face in his hands and made me look at him. “You know I love you. I’ve got to look out for you, even if you’re the one fucking yourself over.”
“You always have, and I know you always will. But I got this.”
“You’d better.” He pulled me in for a tight hug. When he let me go, he pointed toward the door. “Get the fuck out, and don’t cause me any more trouble.”
11
Cameron
Angelo thought I’d be waiting for him naked and kneeling? Bullshit. I would fuck him—it was damn clear from what happened at the bakery that I wouldn’t mind that at all—but I wasn’t going to wait for him like some kind of fucking sex slave. If he wanted control, then he could take my damn clothes off when he got here.
Would he actually punish me? I wanted to believe he’d just been posturing, but my instinct said he was absolutely serious. No matter what he thought, I wasn’t going to obey his every command. I would let him have me, but he sure as fuck would never own my ass or any other part of me.
You agreed to be at his mercy.
I hated the way that thought sent a shiver through me. Angelo’s words echoed in my head. Taking my belt to your ass isn’t going to damage you.
Fuck no. I wouldn’t allow that. Our agreement needed more fucking rules.
You know you’ll give into whatever he wants. What choice do you have?
I fucking hated that seductive inner voice.
I was pacing my living room when the doorbell rang. The sound made me jump. It was Angelo. The waiting was over. Was I really going to do this? I had to, didn’t I? I’d given my word and sealed the bargain with him that afternoon with the best sex I’d ever had despite it being nothing but a hand job.
I flipped the lock and opened the door.
Angelo had ditched the suit he’d been wearing earlier. He wore faded jeans and a black sweater that clung to his arms and chest. I couldn’t stop myself from fantasizing about licking the lines of his tattoos that showed above his collar. Why did he have to be so goddamn hot?
His expression hardened as he looked me up and down. “You’re already disobeying me, and we haven’t even started yet. Not that I mind. I’ll enjoy punishing you just as much as I’ll enjoy fucking you.”
He stepped inside, and instinctively, I moved back. He closed the door behind him, keeping his eyes on me as he turned the lock and set down the bag that had been slung over his shoulder.
I shook my head. “This is fucking ridiculous. I agreed to give you my body, to whore myself out to you, but this is too much.”
He wrapped his hand around my throat, thumb rubbing along my Adam’s apple, then pressing in hard. “When you make a deal with a Marchesi, you don’t back out of it.”
“I made a deal to sleep with you, to be your plaything after I finished my day at the bakery. I didn’t agree to any of this bullshit.”
“You agreed to be mine, and you’re going to learn what it means to disobey me. I explained this already. I own you, and nothing on your list of rules prevents that. I give orders, and you follow them. If I want you naked on your knees for me when I arrive, that’s how I expect to find you.”
He squeezed my throat harder, and my voice came out raspy. “You agreed not to hurt me. You agreed not to push me beyond my limits.”
“We are nowhere near your limits.”
“How the fuck would you know that?”
Angelo grinned. “I feel your heart racing under my hand.”
“You’ve got your hand wrapped around my throat, of course my pulse rate is high. Anyone’s would be if they thought they might be choked to death.”
“But you just said I promised not to hurt you.”
“And I’m supposed to trust that?”
He squeezed even harder. “Don’t question my word.”
“You’re hurting me right now.” I hated how high-pitched my voice was.