10. Mia #4
“What would you be doing right now if someone else had been chosen to pose as your wife?” The question is out before I can stop it, before I can think better of asking something that I may not want to know the answer to.
He looks up at me through his dark lashes, and the raw hunger in his eyes has desire racing through me faster than I ever thought possible.
“I would never have agreed to it if it hadn’t been you, streghetta mia .”
I can’t keep the disbelief from my tone when I ask, “You would’ve disobeyed Dominic?”
“No,” he corrects. “I would’ve told him there was no way I could make it believable and that Sandro would have to do it. My brother is a much better actor than me.”
He lowers his gaze and grips my hips tighter before pulling me down so I’m lying more on the deep cushion and he’s towering over me. Fisting my shirt, he drags it up, exposing my stomach to him.
“I like it better when you’re covered in my cum.” He drags his fingers over my skin, scalding me with his touch until it feels like liquid fire is running through me and I’m about to combust. Lowering his head, he slowly sucks on the skin right above my navel.
“You are the only woman I’ve ever allowed in here.
” The words are a whisper against my skin before he kisses me.
His mouth is a temptation I will always succumb to.
His lips and tongue trail a line along my stomach, leaving me writhing beneath him as I fist his hair, barely recognizing myself.
He makes me feral, and even though I’d love for him to dominate me, I still have my fangs, and when I lock my legs around him and fist his hair tighter, he lets out a soft laugh against my skin before biting me hard enough to sting.
“When I take you to bed, little viper, there will be nothing but memories of us under those sheets.”
His mouth latches onto me again. A moan escapes when I feel the wet heat of his tongue before he gives me another suck.
“I’m going to bury myself so deep inside you, piccola, so deep that you’ll never be free of me. You will carry around a piece of me just like I carry around a piece of you.”
“Dario,” I start to say, taken aback by the fierce tone and the possessive way he’s holding me.
“Don’t, streghetta mia .” He nips at my skin one last time before bringing his face to mine. “Don’t break my heart just yet.”
I slide my hand from his hair, trailing my fingers along his neck and then lower until it rests on his chest. “Your heart was never supposed to be a part of this, remember?”
“I lied,” he confesses. “It’s always been a part of this.”
Before I can say anything, he presses his lips to mine, kissing me with so much passion and love that it chases everything else away.
In this moment with his body on mine, his arms wrapped so goddamn tightly around me while kissing me like I’m his entire reason for breathing, it makes me want things I’ve never wanted before.
The weight of his ring isn’t quite so heavy, and the idea of belonging to another doesn’t feel like the death sentence I always thought it was.
Dario is changing me, and I’m surprised to find I don’t hate it.
I’m not suddenly dreaming of babies and hearing wedding bells, but I’m also not pushing him away.
I’m pulling him closer, running my hands under his suit jacket, feeling the gun he has holstered and the knife that’s sheathed along his lower back.
Stunned at how much I love the familiarity of him, I feel the divide between us growing even smaller.
Soon there won’t be any barriers left between the two of us, and a part of me is still terrified of what that will mean.
He lets out another deep groan when I brush my tongue along his, and when he breaks the kiss, the anguish and longing in his eyes nearly does me in.
“You have ruined me, streghetta mia. ” He kisses along my jaw, pulling another moan from me as I cling to him, not sure I’ll ever be able to let him go.
“You’re just going to hurt me.” I whisper the confession as he licks a line to my ear.
“Never,” he whispers before his lips are on my skin again.
“You’ll try to change me, make me a housewife and insist I stay pregnant all the fucking time.” I force the words out, even though every part of me is screaming to shut the hell up and just focus on how good this feels.
He lifts up and cups my face, and the sweet look he’s giving me has me closing my eyes, because I can’t look at that gorgeous face and stick my ground. I’ll cave under those dark eyes and that chiseled jaw.
“Look at me, sweetheart,” he murmurs while his thumb caresses my cheek.
“No,” I whisper, feeling stupid, but at least with my eyes closed I can pretend I’m hiding.
“Why would I try to change you?”
“Because I know you. You won’t let me go out and fight. You’ll feel like you have to protect me every second of the day, and I can’t live like that.” I force my eyes open to meet his when I add, “Not even for you.”
He’s quiet while he thinks. His fingers run through my hair, and when his eyes meet mine again, he says, “Have I ever told you how much I love your pink streaks?”
“No.”
“I do. They’re perfect because they’re so you , Mia, and I don’t want to change a single thing about you.
Do I want to protect you? Of course I do.
What kind of man would I be if I didn’t?
” He cups my face again when I try to look away.
“But I will remind you that we’re here and that I told the truth in Dominic’s office that day.
You can do this. You’re smart and I trained you myself so I know how good you are.
I have complete faith in you, and if I thought for one second that you couldn’t protect yourself, you wouldn’t be here right now. ”
He can’t stop the wicked grin from spreading across his face when he adds, “That doesn’t mean I’m not going to dominate the hell out of you in bed, though, and the thought of you cooking me lunch while wearing nothing but one of my shirts makes me rock-fucking-hard every time I think about it.”
“I wouldn’t hold your breath on that one,” I say, but he just smiles even bigger and says, “It’ll happen one day. I kind of have my heart set on it.”
“Maybe I can manage a grilled cheese,” I say, making him laugh.
“Don’t worry. The bar is set very low as far as the actual meal goes.”
“You’re such an ass,” I say, but he can hear me fighting a laugh while I say it.
He gives me another kiss before lifting me up and sitting me back in the chair how I was.
“I need to go to a meeting with Sandro. Will you be okay while I’m gone?”
“What meeting?”
“It’s with Giuseppe Santoro. Not including us, there are three families who are active in this area of Italy.
Don Santoro is the most level-headed. Sandro and I need to plant a few seeds so when we kill Leonardo, it will look justified instead of a play for power.
We’d rather not have the other families against us if at all possible. ”
“It’s so much different than how a Bratva works.”
He grins. “We try to keep it civilized if at all possible.”
I watch him stand and fix his suit before adjusting the cock that still makes my heart skip a beat every time I see it.
“Soon, vipera mia ,” he says, and there’s a promise in those words, one that lodges itself deep into my core and nearly has me purring with need.
Before he leaves, he leans down and cups my face, kissing me with enough passion to ensure I’ll be thinking about him every second that he’s gone.
“When I get back, we’re finishing what we started,” he promises, and all I can do is nod. He grins and runs his thumb over my swollen lips. “There’s my sweet submissive girl.”
I open my mouth and bite his thumb before running my tongue over the mark I left on his skin.
“You can be submissive and keep your fangs, mia vipera .” He hooks his thumb, pressing down on my jaw as he opens my mouth wider so he can lean in and run his tongue along mine. “I prefer you this way, sweetheart. I have no desire to tame you.”
Letting me go, he checks his watch and then says, “I’ll send someone up with lunch. Sasha’s one floor down, last door on the right. Text me if you need me, and don’t forget to let someone know if you decide to explore.”
“Anything else?” I ask.
He grins. “Yeah, call your dad and let him know you’re okay before he takes the next flight out and shows up on our doorstep.”
“Fuck,” I mutter, reaching around to grab my phone. I’d been preoccupied and then distracted by Dario and the orgasm he’d insisted on giving me to think about calling.
“See you soon, baby.”
He walks out of the room, leaving me smiling like an idiot at the endearment and wondering how he’s managed to burrow himself so far into me when I swore it wasn’t going to happen.