Chapter 10 #3
He slowly slid his hands back into place over her hips. “I heard about the summons,” he said, his voice rough with desire even as he tried to speak gently.
Tears stung the backs of her eyes. “That’s … that’s why you’re here?”
His expression softened. “You think I’d let you do something that questionable without me?” He kissed her nose. “I need you to hear me on something, beautiful.”
She nodded.
“You don’t ever have to do a goddamn thing that any man says, asks, or fucking demands of you again.
Most especially not your father.” He removed one hand from her hip in order to prop his heel beneath her jaw, holding her steady.
“So, if you don’t want to see him today, Luca is outside and ready to take you home—my home, where you’ll be as safe as possible—while I deal with your father. All you have to do is say the word.”
She pulled her lips between her teeth. They’d talked enough about this subject that she understood what he meant in his offer. And she had determined she wasn’t upset at the notion. How could she be, after everything?
But, now, she also had questions. “If it’s my choice,” she said, her voice quiet but steady, “then I would like … to go with you.” She surprised when his brow furrowed. “More accurately, for you to come with me. If he’s expecting me, we can surprise him.”
“You understand it won’t be a pleasant chat?”
She felt her lips lift in a smile as if in a daze.
“I want to know what his intentions are today. And more than that”—she hesitated just for a moment when she realized the truth of the words about to roll off her tongue, but she trusted Santino would accept them—“I want him to see how wrong he was. About me. I want him to see that his greatest disappointment is about to be doing better than he ever dreamed.” The words hurt, and yet saying them was freeing, and she figured that was why one single tear finally dripped from her lashes.
Santino groaned low and swooped down, catching the droplet on his tongue before it could reach her jawline. He followed it backward, then angled his head to kiss her temple and murmured, “Then we’ll make him see, beautiful. You’ll show him what he’s missed, and I’ll give him what he deserves.”
She was smiling too easily by the time he straightened. “I really didn’t expect you to rush over, you know.”
He caught her hands in his as he took a step away and squeezed. “I’m sure we’ve been over this.” His brow dipped again and he immediately dropped his attention to one of their clasped hands.
She realized before he could speak the question what had caught his attention, and her face flared when she remembered her earlier, irrational thought.
“What the fuck happened?” He prodded lightly at the bottom edge of the bandage on her thumb. “What’s this from?”
“It’s nothing,” she said, a little too quickly. “I was testing to see if my phone was still usable and … determined it wasn’t worth the sacrifice. I washed it out, it’s fine.”
Santino’s nostrils flared and he peeled the bandage off without a word of explanation. He raised her hand, tilting his head to lessen the angle on her wrist, his stare burning into her skin as he examined the small cut. “I’ll fucking own the entire company if this gets infected.”
Reiko opened her mouth to argue, or insist he was overreacting.
He silenced her by pulling her thumb into his mouth and flattening his tongue over the wounded pad.
Her eyes blew wide and their stares collided again. Heat flashed through her as she felt his tongue slide along her skin.
He held her hand to his face and half-licked, half-sucked on her thumb for long, silent seconds before letting it slip free. Then, finally, he broke their stare and raked his eyes over her.
It felt like his fingers were dragging across her skin and she had to fight not to squirm.
“You look so pretty in that dress,” he said, his voice thick. “So fucking innocent.” He licked his lips. “I want to ruin it in the worst way. In every goddamn way. And then I want to put the soiled, tattered remains of it on fucking display where everyone can see the beast you bring out in me.”
Her mouth opened, but she had no words. No man had ever spoken to her that way.
No other man could have made it sound so appealing.
Santino pulled her close again and trailed nibbling kisses over the side of her face, until he had her earlobe between his teeth.
“We don’t have the time, or the privacy, for that right now.
But every man who looks at you today is putting his life on the line, so keep that in mind if you feel like drawing some other guy’s attention. ”
Her arms curled around him as her chest warmed. “We still have about twenty minutes before my father’s car should be here.” Which wasn’t enough time for much of anything. She had lost her mind.
He huffed. “Like I said.” He straightened and pressed a hard kiss to her lips. “Not enough time.” Then he stepped back, caught her hand, and added, “We’re not waiting for his car. Let’s go.”