All the time I could desire to enjoy my bride once—and only once.
It’s the one thing that’s been keeping me sane since I saw her yesterday, and realized that for some inexplicable reason, I want to fuck Sofia Ferretti more than I want to breathe.
“I’m not in the habit of lying, Ms. Ferretti.” I smile at her. “Besides, you would enjoy it. I’m told that a night with me is quite—pleasurable. I’m in the habit of being a generous lover.”
Sofia smiles too, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’m sure most of the women in Manhattan could attest to that, if I asked them.”
“Maybe you should.” I shove my hands in my pockets. “Don’t tell me that my reluctant bride is jealous.”
“Not a bit.” Sofia holds firm, her dark brown gaze meeting mine, and she pauses, taking a deep breath. “You say I don’t have a choice. Well, Iwillhave a choice in this. I’ll marry you, since you leave me little option to do otherwise. But I will not sleep with you.”
She meets my eyes fearlessly, and for a moment, I can’t help but respect her bravery. She believes me, I’m sure of that. But she’s refusing to bend regardless.
Despite how desperately I want her, and how frustratingly infuriating all of this is, I feel a flicker of admiration for my future bride, even as she narrows her eyes at me.
“I’ve made my choice, Mr. Romano. What’s yours?”
Sofia
My heart is galloping in my chest.
I know Luca is telling the truth. If I refuse this marriage, I’m as good as dead.
But I won’t walk out of one captivity just to face another. If I have to marry him, I’ll do it on my own terms. I won’t be his slave any more than I would for the Bratva. I’d die before I let them sell me or use me for sport, and Luca promised that he wouldn’t force me into his bed.
So now I get to see just how well that promise holds up.
Still, I don’t know what I’ll do if he refuses, if he insists that we have to consummate the marriage in order to make it legal.If it’s just once, is that worth my life?
The problem is, I’m not sure that it would be just once. I felt him last night, when he had me up against the door, and even as innocent as I am, I know the reactions of a man who desires a woman. Luca Romano wanted me, and violently. I’d felt it not just in the hard pressure against my thigh, but in every inch of his body. I’d felt it in the way he’d kissed me.
No one has ever kissed me like that before. And when I bit him, it wasn’t just because I wanted him off of me.
It was at least partially because I wasn’t sure that I wanted him to stop.
I’m being forced into an arranged marriage with the most gorgeous man I’ve ever laid eyes on. Everything about Luca is pure, masculine sexuality, poured into a bespoke suit and standing in front of me with the arrogance of a god. And that would be manageable, if he were bad at kissing. Selfish in bed. A terrible lover. Then I could grit my teeth and let him get it over with once and move on with my new life. But I don’t think he’s any of those things.
That kiss made me fantasize about things I’ve never even thought about before. The heat of his lips on mine had made me suddenly, achingly wet, so much so that I’d cursed the fact that Ana had convinced me to go out without my underwear, and terrified that he might notice somehow. The feeling of his heavy, muscular body against mine—
Just the thought of it is making me flush with heat all over again, aroused in a way that I’ve never felt. I should have hated his touch, hated the forceful way that he threw me up against the door, hated everything about his body against mine.
But if I’m being honest with myself, I didn’t hate it. And I can’t allow that.
I’ll marry him if I have to, but I won’t allow myself to want him. To give myself to him in any way other than the most basic, legal requirement of signing paperwork.
And in order to ensure that, I have to make sure that he never, ever touches me again.
“Well?” I stare up at him defiantly, making sure that he can’t see how terrified I am. How I’m shaking at the thought of him refusing to bend, insisting on taking me to bed, and leaving me with the choice all over again of whether to sleep with him or die.
I can see the frustration on his face, the anger.He wants me,I realize, and the thought sends a shiver of desire down my spine despite myself. Which is exactly why I have to keep him out of my bed, and from forcing me into his.
Luca might be the only one who can protect my life, but I’m the only one who can protect my heart. And that starts with protecting my body fromhim.
“Fine,” he says, his voice cutting. “You win, Ms. Feretti. If you want to stay as pure as the Virgin Mary, be my guest. There’ll be no shortage of women offering to warm my bed in your place.”
For some reason, that hurts. It shouldn’t, but the idea of him looking at another woman the way he’s looking at me right now, kissing and touching another woman with the same passion that he displayed last night, makes my chest ache.You’re being an idiot,I tell myself firmly. Besides, that painful flicker of jealousy is just another reason to deny him. If just the thought of him being with someone else hurts now, how much more would it hurt if I gave him my virginity, if I made him the first and only man that I’d ever take to bed?
He’s already made it clear that he has no intention of being faithful to me, or even returning to my bed after the first night. Giving in even once would just make it so much harder in the end. I can’t allow myself to want him.