My fingers walked down her stomach, then splayed flat, pressing her into me. “I think you were bratting in hopes that I’d notice and punish you.”
“I think you’re sick and twisted and that you get off on me struggling.” Ginevra tried to jerk away from me, but my hold on her hair was too strong.
“That’s absolutely true, darling.” I bit her earlobe, hard enough that she winced, then soothed it with my tongue. Running my lips down the sensitive spot right behind her ear, I pressed my hard-on into the small of her back. “Watching you in that dress as you wrapped Pietro and Luis around your cute little finger this morning, as you came so sweetly for Rian at lunch, and then as you charmed your father’s people while they paid you over due protection money, all I could think about was flipping up that green skirt, tanning your hide for being such a gorgeous slut, and then fucking you stupid over the dining room table again.”
Ginevra’s breath turned ragged and uneven. I knew if I looked at her face, her eyes would be glazed over as she struggled to process what she wanted. She was made for submission, I was sure of it. Liam’s eyes fixed on mine, but I couldn’t interpret the expression on his face. Breaking her wouldn’t be hard. She was already on edge, an emotional mess between what we’d done to her and the shooting. I could do it, that night, probably. But I found myself retreating from the thought of destroying this perfect, powerful creature before us.
Wouldn’t it be better to turn her into a willing partner in the darkness? This woman would be a perfect fourth to our trio, both in bed and out. She was the whole package—brains, courage, and audacity, rolled up into this perfect, gorgeous woman. She had the potential to be a real partner, instead of just a toy.
I let her go, shoving her away from me. She stumbled, then stood silent and proud, her back ramrod straight, despite her violent trembling.
Liam tilted his head to the side, a question in his eyes, but he didn’t interfere. Rian watched us from the kitchen — he loved seeing her dominated, but kink wasn’t really his thing. No, his concern was breaking her sufficiently that she wouldn’t get in the way after we’d signed the contracts.
I ran my hands from her shoulders to her hands, lifting them and bringing them behind her. She tried to repress her shudder, to ignore the clench of her thighs, but I saw it all. She couldn’t hide from me.
“Ginevra, darling, we’ll address your disrespect,” I said, holding her wrists loosely in mine as I lay gentle kisses up and down her neck. “But first, I’d like you to strip. Dirty sluts who flash their tits all day have to earn the right to clothes.”
She dragged one foot forward after another, until she was free of my grip, then stared at the ground. I waited. She craved this as much as we did, even if she wasn’t ready to admit it to herself. Slowly, as if she were moving underwater, she lifted her hands and pulled on the tails of the bow at her waist.
Rian and Liam stared at her, utterly rapt, waiting for the dress to fall to the ground. When Ginevra finally shrugged and pushed it off her shoulders, leaving her nude except for her matching red lingerie, their eyes darkened with lust. They didn’t move, trapped, like me, in the enchantment of watching this woman reluctantly bare herself to us.
She waited for a moment before kicking off her shoes, those cute kitten heels that emphasized the sweet roundness of her calves. The lacy red of her bra and thong contrasted with her smooth olive skin, the luscious curves of her ass that begged for me to take a cane and stripe them. God, she was gorgeous.
I dropped my gaze to the gauze taped to her side, covering the wound from the previous day’s adventure at the port, and an unreasonably strong wave of fury washed over me. Alexi had a lot to answer for.
Ginevra’s deep breath pulled me back to the present as she reached behind her and unclasped her bra. Rian and Liam held their breath as the straps fell down her shoulders, and then it fell to the floor. When Rian licked his lips, she inhaled, the sharp intake of her breath the only sound in the hallway.
She hooked her thumbs under the sides of her thong, then slid it down, bending over and exposing her pussy to me as she pushed the scrap of lace down to her knees. Fuck, she was wet and glistening, evidence that she didn’t find this as hateful as she liked to pretend.
And then she was naked, an olive-skinned goddess, bared to us in Rian’s hallway. Ginevra sniffled, shocking me as she reached up to her face and wiped away a tear.
Excellent.
“Now bend over, darling,” I ordered her.
She stiffened and turned around. “What?”
“I said, bend over, Ginevra. You can hold on to the wall.”
“Go fuck yourself,” she snapped, wheeling around to look at me, her hands on her hips and her eyes snapping with displeasure.
I caught Liam’s eye. He nodded. Before Ginevra could blink, Liam and Rian each grabbed her arms, holding her against the wall as she shouted and struggled. They each kicked out one of her legs until we forced her to bend, her ass gorgeous and inviting as she tried to escape us.
“How many men got a peek down your dress today, Ginevra?”
“Jesus! None, you pervert!”
Liam started counting them. “Pietro and Luis, every man at that restaurant, Lorenzo and Alexi, Tom Morelli. Who else did you see today, lass?”
Ginevra stilled, her lips pressed into a thin, furious line. “Gentlemen, I appreciate that you all love these games, and that you’re looking to inflict some pain on me tonight. As you can see by the fact that I’m fuckingnaked, I’m not entirely opposed. But I’m not going to be punished for looking good in a dress. That’s some patriarchal bullshit, and I’m not here for it.”
Rian grinned down at her. “Still smarting from yesterday, aren’t you?”
“I am,” she answered, exhaling in a huff. “I don’t want to have a serious conversation pushed up against the wall like this, though.”
I slid my fingers from her shoulders to her ass, enjoying the way her soft flesh overflowed into my hands. “I don’t want to have a serious conversation at all. How about I punish you because I’m a capricious asshole, and I want to see your ass red and throbbing with pain in Rian’s entryway?”
“Fuck you, Cormac,” she snapped, and thrashed against Rian and Liam, seeking to escape their firm grip.