Chapter 4 #3
“My own personal, walking vagina?” he mocked. “What else would I want you for? Your scintillating conversational skills?”
Her “I hate you” was stark.
“I would be doing a very bad job as your husband if you didn’t hate me, now for the last time, come here. I won’t tell you again.”
The hardness in his stare told her loud and clear he wasn’t bluffing.
When she got to her feet, her legs felt so jellified that she had to grab her desk to stop herself stumbling on her heels.
She thought of her mother. Valeria Esposito never lost her poise.
It didn’t matter what shit life threw at her, she always kept her cool, even with Siena’s father.
Siena had long believed her mother was the only person in the world her father was afraid of.
Had been afraid of. Her father was dead, and one day the man demanding Siena’s soul would be dead too.
She might even find the courage to end his life herself.
The worst part, she dimly realised when she reached him, and Elio put his hands on her waist and lifted her onto his lap so she was straddling him, was that her heart was now racing in anticipation. Her treacherous body liked the sensation of his kisses.
Silver eyes fused on hers, he speared his fingers through her hair, evoking more treacherous sensations through her skin, and when he pulled her face to his and slid a hand beneath her shirt dress to the naked skin beneath, she couldn’t stop herself from trembling.
“Touch me,” he commanded softly.
Unfurling her fists, she tentatively placed her hands on his sides. The black shirt he wore was thin enough for her to feel the heat of his skin beneath it. And then she felt the heat of his breath as his mouth closed on hers.
Her lips bypassed her brain and danced straight to his tune, her skin seeming to sigh into Elio’s mouth.
She had the hazy thought that if it had been Elio who’d pinned her against the wall all those years ago, her reaction would have been very different, and then she stopped thinking altogether because his tongue had swept into her mouth…and her tongue had swept into his.
Heat more potent than what she’d experienced with their other kisses surged through her veins.
The fingers in her hair tightened, the hand on her back flattening and pulling her closer.
Their kiss deepened, his beard scratching into her skin.
The hot, heavy beat between her legs pulsed strongly over the ridge of his arousal, hard and solid even through the denim of her black, skinny jeans and the jeans he was wearing.
Only when she felt a deep thrill of sensation did she realise she’d pressed herself down on it, and shock at what she was doing ripped through her.
Furious and mortified with herself, Siena wrenched her mouth away and shook her head to free her hair from his knotted fingers. Pushing at his chest, she fumbled wildly to get off his lap, any poise and grace she’d ever had lost.
“Let go of me,” she snarled when his arm remained around her waist, preventing her from getting off him. “You’ve had your kiss.”
His laughter low, he pressed a kiss into the arch of her neck. “But you taste amazing.”
“I said, let go of me.”
Still laughing, he let her go. Immediately, she unhooked her left leg from his lap and twisted her burning body off him. Her backside practically fell onto the empty section of sofa beside him.
“Who are you angry with?” he asked, amusement vivid in his smooth voice. “Me or you?”
“You.” She hauled herself to her feet and tottered unsteadily back to her desk. “I let you have that stupid kiss. When I say let me go, then you let me go.”
“You were angry before you told me to let you go.”
Throwing herself into her chair, she made the mistake of looking at him.
His silver eyes were gleaming. “Admit it,” he said. “You’re angry because you want me.”
“Like hell I do,” she spat.
He leaned forward, the gleam deepening. “Really? I’m willing to bet anything that if I were to slide a finger inside you, I’d find you all hot and wet for me.”
The imagery was enough to freeze her insides and have her jumping straight back onto her feet. “Don’t you fucking dare.”
His eyes narrowed. “I don’t know where you’ve got the idea that I’m some kind of rapist,” he said, an edge coming into his voice, “but you are wide off the mark, princess. You can deny it until Vesuvius erupts again, but I know when a woman wants me, so why don’t you grow the hell up and stop acting like an outraged vestal virgin – it really doesn’t suit you. ”
Breathing heavily, wanting to hurt him more than she’d ever wanted to hurt anyone in the whole of her life, Siena left her office without looking back at him and headed straight to the ladies.
Only when she’d locked the door did her shaking legs finally give up on her.
Sinking to the floor, she hugged her knees to her chest and swallowed over and over, doing everything in her power to stop the hot tears that had welled behind her eyes from falling.
Whatever happened, whatever degrading, inhumane treatment Elio had in store for her, she would never give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.