"You were ignoring me," I retort, and am pleased that my voice does not tremble. Or my chin, for that matter.
"Did that upset you? You wanted my attention to be solely focused on you?"
Yes.
Yes.
"No." I shake my head.
"Liar." He peels his lips back and his pearly white teeth suddenly seem too sharp. Too lethal. I wriggle in my seat, try to pull away, but his grasp is unshakeable.
"You sassed me; I have to teach you a lesson."
"You can go take a hike," I say in my best convent school, prissy voice impression, because remember, I went to one of those. A laThe Sound of Music, the nuns who taught me wore habits and were very strict, and drilled into me the notion of 'sin,' something I will not be recovering from anytime soon. No wonder I've been in therapy since I turned eighteen. And no, the nuns did not sing on hilltops. I left with a repressed sexuality, and a desperation to lose my virginity, which I promptly did with the first man I could find, and let me tell you, it was a forgettable encounter. Neither traumatic nor earth shattering. It was nice, and left me with a vaguely dissatisfied sentiment when it came to the thought of sex; that is, until I met this brute, and now my ovaries seem to have gone into overdrive.
He makes a noise deep in his throat, and it’s so manly, so feral, so... dare I say, erotic, that my pussy clenches. A pulse flares to life between my legs, and my now awake ovaries seem to blossom further. Jesus, Mary and Joseph— Yep, if I swear, I prefer to do it in familiar language, especially because the nuns told me not to use the lord’s name in vain. Of course, I must do the exact opposite. My nipples distend, and oh, god, if he glances at my chest, he’ll see just how turned on I am.
He chuckles darkly, and the grasp around the nape of my neck tightens. Then he leans into me until his nose almost bumps mine, until his lips almost brush mine, until that dark chocolate and coffee scent of his makes my mouth water. A nerve throbs at his temple. The heat from his body slams into my chest and I gasp. The pulse between my legs turns up in intensity, until it feels like my heart has dropped to between my thighs. I bring them together, trying to squeeze down to contain the emptiness that is suddenly so obvious.
"You were saying?" His voice rumbles up his chest, and wraps about my shoulders, and down the valley between my breasts. If I thought my nipples were hard earlier, now they seem to swell until they feel almost too weighted for my breasts. My toes curl, and my scalp feels like it’s about to catch fire. I lock my fingers together and hold his gaze.
"I said, go take a—"
He moves so quickly that I yelp. The next second, he’s unbuckled my seatbelt and pulled me toward him, and his mouth is on mine. He kisses me firmly, his lips assured. He drags his tongue across the seam of my lips, and when I part them, he plunges it inside my mouth. A growl of satisfaction rumbles up his chest. The vibrations feather over my skin, sink into my blood. I dig my fingers into the front of his shirt and drag him even closer. He wraps his arm around my waist, closes the distance between us so we’re plastered chest-to-chest. My breasts crush against the hard planes as he tilts his head and deepens the kiss. My eyelids flutter down—all the better to savor the taste of him that is all swirling darkness like the creamy topping of a cupcake that melts in my mouth and twines about my senses and pulls me into the vortex that is Luca. Heat flushes my skin, my thighs quiver, the flesh between my legs is melting and yearning, and I must have made a noise at the back of my throat, for the next second, the world tilts. I crack my eyes open to find I am in his lap, straddling his hips, and the thick, hard, column at his crotch is stabbing into my center. A moan wells up my throat. I dig my fingertips into his shoulder and begin to raise and lower myself against the welcome length. I spread my legs wider, trying to notch the rigid head against my slit. His big palms grasp my hips and he squeezes down, holding me in place.
He tears his mouth away, pushes his forehead flush against mine, and glares into my eyes.
"If you move again, I won’t have a choice but to fuck you right now, and I don’t want to do that in the backseat of a car driven by my brother."
19
Luca
The moment the words are out, I regret them, for she freezes. She raises and lowers her eyelids slowly and her eyelashes brush over mine. A weird sensation coils in my chest and grows and expands until it seems to drag down my chest and sink to the pit of my belly, where it settles as if having found a new home. I swallow down the ball of emotion that has appeared in my throat from seemingly nowhere.
Her pupils are dilated, the black of them huge enough to bleed into her irises until there’s only a circle of gold left. It’s the sexiest, hottest thing I have seen in a long time. I see myself reflected in the sheen of darkness, and it feels like a precursor to what is to come.
Me. Her. Us. Me giving up my freedom for this inescapable connection that binds us. That I never agreed to...
Which is why I had proposed to her in the first place. A marriage of convenience for a short period of time, until my family was convinced I’d tried it and decided it wasn’t for me. In one stroke, I’d have delivered on Nonna's last wish, and I’d have convinced my brothers that I’d given this entire marriage thing my best shot. Then, I’d go my own way and she’d go hers. I’d compensate her, of course, to make sure she wouldn’t want for anything for the rest of her life. I'll be rid of her sassiness, her need to always have the last word, which drives me up the wall, her penchant for swearing without using any known four letter word which is so annoying, and also, so adorable.
Hold on. Did I use the word adorable in relation to her? Pets are adorable. She… a grown woman who agreed to be part of this business transaction that we came up with to benefit the both of us, is, on the other hand, simply vexing. I have to put distance between us while I figure out what to do with this arrangement I suggested. At the very least, I need to get control of my thoughts and slam my emotions back into the hole where I’ve buried them for all these years, until she came along, and with a snap of her fingers, opened that Pandora’s box.
I’m not falling into the trap like my brothers did. All of them married and happy and shit. A status that is not for me. I will not allow myself to be vulnerable toward another person the way my mother did. She fell in love with my father, and look what happened to her. He broke her heart. He abused her until she finally dropped dead, in the prime of her life. I will not let myself develop feelings for another. Every time I’ve been emotionally dependent on another, it has only resulted in betrayal. In me being hurt. I’ve learned enough from my past. Enough that I will not walk into this trap set by her beauty, her innocence, her beguiling charm. I know better than that, surely.
"Fine." I lean back into the seat so the air in the car rushes between us. "I’ll take you to your home."
"Eh?" She opens and shuts her mouth, "You mean, you’ll—"
"Take you back to your place. That’s what you wanted, right?"
"You don’t want me to stay at yours?" she bursts out.
I raise a shoulder. “My feelings don’t count in the matter."
"And you mentioned it would be dangerous for me. You said the people who kidnapped me are still out there somewhere."
"I’ll make sure you’re picked up and dropped home from your play. I’ll also post men outside your house."