9. Dario #2
I shouldn’t love the way that word sounds on her full lips, but I do. I don’t care if it’s pretend, I don’t care that the rings on our fingers aren’t real, and I don’t care that the passport is fake—I fucking love it, and I’m determined to make her love it too.
Reaching down, I cup her face and run my thumb over her lips, watching as her eyes dilate and her breathing picks up. Satisfied with her reaction, I say, “I’ll share anything with you, wife .”
Before I walk over to grab our bags, I give her ass a smack, knowing there’s not a damn thing she can do about it.
Her mouth tightens, her eyes narrow, and I know she’s fighting it, but Marissa chooses that moment to walk out with a tray in hand, and my little pretend wife is forced to smile and take the spanking I just gave her.
Married life is way more fun than I thought it’d be, and after I’ve grabbed our stuff I follow her back to the room. We’ve got a nine-hour flight, and she’s going to need to get some sleep or the jet lag is going to hit her hard.
Marissa’s left us a tray of food, a bottle of wine, and some sparkling water.
I just ordered the food to get her out of the way, so I ignore it and reach for the bottle of wine, pouring myself a generous glass before sinking into one of the leather chairs by the windows.
I don’t particularly care for flying. I much prefer to have my feet on the ground where I’m in control of things.
Right now my life and Mia’s life are in other people’s hands, and I can’t say I care for the helpless way that makes me feel.
I watch Mia cross the room. She lifts the lid, eyes the risotto, completely ignores it, and then takes a piece of the focaccia bread instead. She nibbles while I drink. I refuse to break the silence, and when she’s finished the bread, she brushes the crumbs off her fingers and turns to me.
“So what was Alessandro talking about?”
“Hmm?” I ask, forcing her to say the words that she doesn’t want to say.
She huffs out a breath and starts digging around in her bag so she doesn’t have to face me. “About women you refuse to fuck. What did he mean?”
I take another slow drink and make her wait until she becomes irritated enough to look at me. When her eyes meet mine, I say, “He’s talking about something that happened the other night.”
“What happened?”
“It was the night you sent me the video, the one where you dropped your guard.”
I swear her nostrils flare with the angry breath she takes.
“A woman approached me, and I told her I wasn’t interested, so she hit on my brother. He was very offended by it,” I say. A small smile slips through at the memory.
She takes a step towards me, stopping before she’s close enough for me to reach. “Why didn’t you want her?”
“For the same reason I don’t want to fuck Marissa, streghetta mia .”
“And why is that?”
I set the empty wine glass aside and curl my finger at her, motioning her closer, and as soon as she’s within reaching distance, I grab her and pull her onto my lap. Burying my face in her neck, I breathe in her intoxicating scent.
“You know the answer to that already, Mia.”
“You’ve been with a lot of women,” she muses while I suck on the sweet skin of her neck, but my mouth stills when she says, “Maybe I should go fuck a few guys so we’re on more equal footing. I noticed there are a bunch of other men on this plane. Maybe they’d be interested in helping me out.”
I let my teeth scrape her skin in warning. “Those men belong to me, and they’ve already been warned to not look at you.”
She tries to wiggle out of my grasp, but I tighten my arms and nip her skin again.
“What did you tell them? Is that why they won’t even glance in my direction?”
I grin and huff out a laugh. “I told them I’d cut their eyes out if they so much as looked at you. I told everyone that, little viper. Every man who works for us knows that you’re mine and to look at you is a death sentence.”
“That's ridiculous,” she hisses at me. “I’m going to be surrounded by Italian women you’ve fucked, but not a single guy can look at me?”
“You’re not going to be surrounded by anyone but me.
” I fist her hair, exposing her neck even more so I can suck the spot right behind her ear.
“Benny’s seen your tits and pussy,” I remind her, feeling the spike of anger that rises up in me at knowing it’s true.
“ He’s seen more of you than I have. Do you have any idea how fucking angry that makes me? ”
She has the gall to laugh at me. “Cry me a fucking river, Dario. How many women have seen your cock? And not just seen. How many have sucked it? Tasted it? Ridden it?”
Each question comes out angrier than the last, and I wish I could tell her no one.
I wish I could give that to her, but I can’t.
I’ve been with more women than I can remember.
I’ve been fucking since I was a teenager, and I’m a lot older than her.
A high sex drive and a refusal to be tied down means the count, if I’d ever bothered to keep one, is substantial.
“So, yeah,” she says, keeping her voice low as she gets herself back under control. “Benny’s seen me naked, and you haven’t. Deal with it, Dario.”
She breaks out of my hold, grabs her bag, and heads for the bathroom, leaving me pissed and aroused and unable to think about anything but her.
I was supposed to be the one keeping things in check.
She’s supposed to be the lovesick one, and instead I’m the jackass who’s behaving like a jealous schoolboy.
I’m the one chasing her, and I’ve never chased anyone in my life.
This was supposed to be an easy assignment, but nothing is ever easy where Mia is concerned.
She’s in my head, and she’s quickly sinking her fangs into my heart.
I have no fucking idea how to stop it. As if that realization wasn’t scary enough, the one that comes right on its heels is downright terrifying.
Because as I watch her come out of the bathroom in nothing but a T-shirt and sleep shorts, I know with absolute certainty that I don’t want it to.
I’ve fallen hard for the defiant eighteen-year-old who’s staring daggers at me, and I know it would be impossible for me to ever let her go.
For the first time in my life, I’m going to chase a woman, and when I’ve finally caught her, I’m going to make her mine. I’m going to convince her that she needs me just as badly as I need her. If that means I have to keep her trapped on my dick for the foreseeable future, then so be it.
My eyes rake over her, and I nearly groan when I see she’s not wearing a bra.
Her pierced nipples press against the thin fabric, making me question my sanity and willpower all in one go.
She ignores the heated look I’m giving her and instead crawls into bed, pulling the covers up to her chin before turning and giving me her back.
I grin at her attitude. I can’t help it.
I love her fire and her sharp little fangs.
Without a word, I stand, readjust my aching cock, and then head for the bathroom.
It doesn’t take me long to brush my teeth, and when I’m as ready as I’ll ever be, I step out, not surprised to find she’s turned the lights out and shut the covers on the windows.
There are small lights embedded above us that stay on no matter what, and they give me enough light so I don’t have to stumble my way to the bed.
While I remove my shirt and pants, I watch Mia pretend to sleep.
She’s still facing away from me, but I know she’s faking because the covers are way too neat.
If she were asleep, it would already look like a tornado had gone through here.
When I slip under the covers, I swear I feel her body tense, but instead of letting her sleep huddled up on the other side of the bed, I turn on my side, wrap my arm around her waist, and pull her against me so I’m spooning her from behind.
“What the hell?” She tries to push me away, but I just squeeze her tighter and bury my face in her neck.
“Goodnight, vipera mia .” I whisper the words against her skin, fighting my desire to take her right here and now while we’re alone in this room and flying over a vast, dark ocean.
Instead of violently ripping her sleep shorts from her body and sliding into her, I press my lips against her neck in a gentle kiss while keeping my arm locked tightly around her.
Her body is stiff in my arms. She fights the affection I want to give her, but I don’t let up.
I’m not giving her an out, because there is no out for us.
I’ve gone my entire life thinking and believing that I didn’t want or need a partner in life.
I didn’t want to be tied down to any one woman, and I’ve never once regretted that choice, but lying here with Mia’s small body tucked in against mine, her scent filling my nose, and the feel of her slowly softening to my embrace, it changes everything.
“Don’t fight me, streghetta mia. ” I whisper the words into her hair.
“I will always fight you,” she whispers back.
My heart tightens at her words, and I swear it doesn’t start beating again until she adds, “You and I both love it too much when I do.”
“As long as you submit in the end, you can fight it all you want.”
“I don’t want some guy who’s going to make love to me, Dario.”
The disgusted way she says those two words has me grinning as I nip at her neck. “I wouldn’t dream of it, vipera mia .”
“I’m being serious,” she insists. “Don’t you dare start getting all lovey-dovey on me. That’s not what we’re about.”
Running my hand up her thigh, I groan at the silky soft feel of her skin before I grip her hip, digging my fingers into her until she lets out a soft sigh and arches her ass just enough to press against my aching cock.