Chapter 7
Leonardo
She tries to hide the breath that catches in her throat, the look of haze in her eyes, right before her body gives her away, her eyes roll back in her head and she begins to tumble to the floor. I reach out and catch her, but she snaps out of it quickly and rights herself, pushing me away from her with fury.
“Don’t touch me!” She yells. “You were sent to kill me?” She sucks in a breath, before she worries her bottom lip between her teeth and tears break free, cascading and drowning my heart with them as they fall down her face. “Then why didn’t you? Why not finish me off? What good am I to you now? You have the notebook! So why…” her body shakes, and I instinctively reach out for her which shocks us both.
I’ve never cared enough to comfort a woman, and I am not sure what it is about this one that makes me want to now. But seeing her this way, and knowing it was my doing, is fucking killing me.
“I couldneverdo what Ihadto, Mia. I knew that from the moment I laid eyes on you at the damn bar.” I confess, needing to stop her from breaking any further. Needing her to trust me, if she even ever can again. Something inside, something that I have never felt before, needs me to try.
“And why should I believe you?” She asks, taking a step closer until her fucking perfect tits are placed against my chest. Her confidence once again shocking me as she stands her ground, making me begin to lose my control. I let out a groan from the sensation, because as fucked up as it is, I have never felt the need to take a woman more than I doright fucking now. When she is challenging me. Testing me. Fucking making me lose every bit of the damn dominance I always command, in every situation.
“Because,” I whisper, as I fight the urge inside to steal what I want from her. To let her consume me, the way my fucking mind is telling me to. “Something about you makes me need,” I grit out. “And I don’t need,anything… ever,Mia.”
She lets a laugh escape her lips. “Need,” she echoes. “Men like you don’t need anyone. That was evident in the way my father treated my mother. The way he treated me. The way he made me never forget the quickest way to a weakness in life is ‘to need,’ Leo. You’re telling me a man like you has a weakness? I call bullshit.”
Mia
I whip around, confident he will let me go, but surprised as hell when I feel his hand clamp down on my arm before he slowly, gently, pulls me around again to meet his stare. He said he’d never lay a finger on me unless I wanted him to, and my body caves, giving into his touch like a fiend and knowing he can read me more than I ever imagined. He knows I want him to stop me, just like I know I will always want his hands on me, forever.
“Amore,” he whispers, and I tell myself not to get caught up on the meaning. He’s said it now too loosely. It’s just a term of endearment, nothing more. But damn it if I don’t feel my heart soar when he says it right before I try and kick myself back to reality.
He kidnapped me. Drugged me. He stole me away, all because he was protecting me? Bullshit. Men don’t do anything unless something is in it for them. And as much as my body is telling me what he wants is something I will gladly offer, I know I need to stand my ground and not let myself ever give into the enemy.
He grabs my chin with his large, rough hands, and holds my face still so I am forced to look nowhere but in his eyes. His gaze drops to my lips, and even with everything that has happened, I want nothing more than for him to kiss me so I can taste him. Just once. But something in his eyes tells me he won’t. Not yet!
“Sei cosi bella,”he whispers. Instinctively I close my eyes as his voice spills over me and causes my skin to ripple with ecstasy. I fight it, as hard as I can, but something about the way my body responds to him effortlessly makes me know that I am walking a fine line. A line that will break at any moment and send me crashing into his arms, no matter how hard I try and fight it.
Not entirely sure what it was he just said, the word“bella”sticks to my mind and causes me to start to smile before reining my feelings back in.Beautiful.He thinks I’m beautiful?I am already losing this battle with this man when he talks to me in English. In Italian, I am a goner. I am a puddle at his feet just needing him to speak again.
“Open your eyes, Mia,” I hear him whisper. When I do, he pushes my body back a step so the backs of my knees hit the couch. I fall against the leather fabric and he leans forward, caging me in with both hands on either side of my body. He teases me, tempting me as his left hand drops and his fingertips run along the curve of my waist all while he looks nowhere else but in my eyes. Soon, he lowers his face to my own. “I need many things from you Mia,” he begins. “I need you to trust me. And I need to trust you. I need for you to see me, the way I see you,” he whispers. My breath catches as my resolve begins to crumble. “I need.. to touch you. I need to feel you. More of you!” He says, as his hand grips my waist tightly. “All of you. Will you let me?”
His lips hover above my own and I can feel his exhale of breath as he sighs. “If I let you?” I echo, wondering why he feels like he needs permission, but then I see something dance in his eyes. Something guarded that I can’t read and know he doesn’t want to tell me. “You don’t seem like a guy that asks permission.” I tease, although remembering again what he said earlier before I feel him flinch like I struck a nerve. “Why do you feel like you have to now?”
His knee parts my legs, and I let them fall apart effortlessly, unable tonotgive into him any longer, I hear all reason fade away in my mind as the only thing that rules above all else inside me right now is my hunger for him to start making good on every damn thing his whole body is telling me he wants to take. To covet. To devour in front of him. Me.
He kneels before me and I feel his large hands grab my waist tightly at both sides before he caresses his way around my back. Soon, his hands fall lower, and he grabs my ass forcing me up against him. I jolt forward and grab out to him instinctively. My heart slams against my chest the moment I realize I’ve finally pushed him too far, and God I sure as hell am going to enjoy every second of what is about to come next.
I’m right! He doesn’t ask. He takes. And right now, all I want to do is give him everything he wants and hope he never fucking stops.
“You’re different,Amore,” He whispers, as his head lowers and his mouth dances inches above my neck. He blows out against my skin slowly as I tenderly feel his lips trail up my neck and to my ear. The sensation of his hot breath on my skin ignites a fire inside as I feel my center begin to throb, my panties dampen and I try to clinch my thighs together in an attempt to keep my wits about me. His low laugh rings around us before he forces my legs back apart.
“I’m not used to going slow. Asking before I take. Thinking before I claim.” He runs a finger down the center of my chest to my belly button and my body hums from the sensation only needing him to drop his hand lower and give me what I am craving. His face comes up to meet my own. His eyes hold me captive. “I am not what youthoughtI was, Mia. But hell if I could ever lay a finger on you that wasn’t meant to accomplish only one damn thing. Bringing you the most fucking pleasure you’ve ever had, and never stopping, even after you beg me to finally fucking let you go. And know this, Mia, I never fucking will. Even though I should. Even though every fucking thing in my world could destroy you. Destroy us.”
I swallow over a lump in my throat and stare back in his dark gray-blue eyes. Although I know his last statement should send off warning bells, it does nothing to make me want to walk away. The way he is making me feel – needed, wanted, desired – I know he wouldn’t hurt me, he couldn’t, regardless of what I thought he did to me before. And even with all he is fighting. Or possibly even worse, what he may be hiding.
“We all have secrets, Leo,” I whisper and watch as his grin widens. His eyes lock with mine and his face lowers once again. This time, he takes what he wants and damn it if it only leaves me wanting more.
Chapter 8
Leonardo
I know she thinks I won’t follow through. I know she thinks I will back away like all the times before I want to ravage her. Claim her. Fuck her to get her out of my system, even though I know there is no way in hell that would ever be possible. But I’m not backing down, not this time, even as one thought creeps into my mind and warns me that I should.
She’s right, men like me don’t have a weakness. But that’s also where she is wrong. She is my fucking weakness! And hell if I can hold back any longer.
This time, though, she gave me the fucking green light, with her legs fucking spread and her nails digging into my forearms in desire. The way she touches me and the feeling of her skin up against mine, is the only time I’ve felt free in years. Like those damn priestesses in the garden, her contact lets me escape the prison I’ve condemned myself to. I can see the want, the need, radiating off her fucking perfect body, and I know now, finally, I am not going to stop until we’re both completely satisfied. She gives me a shy nod that pushes me over the edge, and I waste no time in falling.
