Chapter 6 #2
Elio’s reflexes kicked in, and he jumped off the bed and chased after her. He caught up with her on the far side of the landing, hooking his arms around her and lifting her into the air when she was only feet away from the stairs.
“No!” she screamed, kicking out wildly and grabbing at his forearms, scratching her nails through his skin.
Ignoring the damage she was doing to him and the wild curses she was screaming at him, he lowered her back to the ground but gave her no chance to escape.
Sliding an arm under her knees, her scooped her up and held her tight to his chest, pinning her limbs, which were frantically wriggling as she bucked for freedom, and stalked back to the bedroom.
Still holding her tight to him, he was about to sit her on the sofa when he felt another searing pain, this time in his shoulder.
She’d bitten him.
Abandoning the sofa, he dumped her unceremoniously on the bed.
He gave her no opportunity to fight or flee, pinning her thighs with his knees and her wrists with his hands.
Making sure to keep his face out of headbutting distance, he glared down at her.
He could feel the warmth of his blood pooling on his shoulder.
“If you don’t get control of yourself, I will tie you up until I can trust you to behave yourself.”
“Tie me up then,” she spat, bucking with her torso. “It’s how monsters like you get your kicks, isn’t it?”
“I mean it, Siena. Calm the hell down. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Bullshit. It’s the whole reason why you married me.”
“I have never harmed a woman in my life, and I’m not going to start with you.”
“You want me dead.”
“If I was to kill you, it would be painless. Your life would be gone before you knew it was happening.”
“That makes me feel so much better,” she snarled.
“I mean it. I would never do anything to hurt you. If I’d known you were a virgin, I’d…”
“You’d have made sure to break me properly, that’s what you’d have done, just as you intended to break my cousin.”
A semblance of understanding dawned. Inhaling deeply, he gazed into the soft blue eyes still spitting fire and fury at him.
“I said that because I knew you would never let it happen. I chose Francesca because I knew you would never let an innocent like her marry a bastard like me, and I said what I said to reinforce it and back you into a corner.”
His plan had worked like a dream, but now he needed to wrap his head around the fact of Siena being an innocent, too… Okay, so innocent in conjunction with Siena was a huge stretch, but until only ten minutes ago, she’d been a virgin.
Her virginity wasn’t something that had occurred to him, not even as a fleeting, idle thought. Not Siena Esposito, Italy’s sexiest woman and one of its most powerful. A woman only weeks away from turning twenty-six.
When she’d been caressing his body with her mouth, he’d been so caught up in the sensations she was eliciting in him that he’d paid scant attention to how she was caressing him.
Even when she’d taken him into her mouth, he’d been so busy revelling in his triumph and how damned incredible it was all feeling, that he’d taken her clumsy hesitancy as belligerence.
“I’m sorry for hurting you,” he said quietly. “If I’d known you were a virgin, I would have approached things very differently.”
She’d stopped bucking against him. Her eyes were intent on his as if trying to read his thoughts.
And then her face contorted. “That is such bullshit,” she said bitterly.
“You manipulated things so I felt I had no choice but to marry you, you call me your possession…” Her features twisted again, contempt now shining in her eyes.
“Am I supposed to be comforted that you didn’t intentionally hurt my physical body when the whole point of me being here in your bed is to hurt me?
I am your vengeance, Elio. You might not have wanted to break me in a literal fashion, but your intention was always to demean and degrade me; to break my soul. ”
A stab of anger slashed his guts, a fury that was for the both of them; her for being who she was and him for allowing even a whisper of guilt seep into him for her.
There was additional anger for allowing a whisper of tenderness to accompany that worthless guilt.
“That would only be true if I thought you had a soul to break.”
“You should know all about a lack of soul.” Disdain dripped from her voice. “Now will you please get off me – you’re hurting me.”
“Will you behave yourself?” As he asked the question, he noticed for the first time the lump forming on her forehead from where she’d headbutted him.
“If you mean will I refrain from fighting you, then yes. You’re not worth the energy.”
He stared into her eyes for another moment. When he found only anger and contempt there, he released her wrists.
The Sienna who’d fought him had been frightened. He recognised that much.
He’d never wanted to frighten her. Not like that.
A frightened Siena was a vulnerable Siena, and he did not want to ever think of this woman as vulnerable.
It had been bad enough seeing her human vulnerability while they’d been eating.
He only wanted to think of her and see her as the tough cookie he’d watched from afar for all those years.
Releasing her wrists, he rolled onto his back and sat up. “I’m going downstairs. Wait here. I won’t be long.”
* * *
Only when the bedroom door closed did Siena allow her body to sag.
Pulling the bedsheets over her shoulders, she turned onto her side and drew her knees to her chest. Her forehead was throbbing, the threat of tears as close as they had ever been.
She’d never meant to lash out or try to run, and she could kick herself for that display of weakness. Panic and fear had gripped her so tightly.
She’d known it would hurt, but the shock of the pain had overridden the self-preservation needed to keep it contained.
Elio had guessed the truth straight away, which had been frightening enough, but then he’d pinned her beneath him and angrily demanded to know why she hadn’t told him, and suddenly she’d been fourteen again, trapped by someone so much bigger and stronger than her, and Elio was even bigger and stronger than Stefano.
That he seemed to feel genuine remorse for taking her virginity the way he just had was laughable. As if his knowing would have made any difference. He’d still have taken her. He just might have been a bit more gentle about it.
Footsteps were nearing the bedroom. She drew in a long breath. It wasn’t even full dark yet. Plenty more hours of torture to look forward to before the new day began.
Closing her eyes at the sound of the door opening, she wished she could close off her heart as easily as her sight. Just to be in a room with Elio was to make the beats accelerate.
The mattress dipped. “I need you to sit up, princess.”
She opened her eyes and found him staring down at her. She glared at him mutinously.
The silver eyes were unreadable. “You need to put ice on your forehead.”
Only now that he mentioned it did she feel the throbbing ache on her forehead, and gingerly pressed her fingers to it. She winced at the size and tenderness of the lump.
Holding the bedsheets tight over her breasts, she sat up.
He passed the tall glass of water he was holding and two pills to her. “Painkillers first.”
Recognising them as the same painkillers she used for period pain, she put them in her mouth and swallowed them with the water. Done, he took the glass and then handed her a tea towel knotted around what she assumed were ice cubes.
She pressed it carefully to the lump, trying not to flinch at its coldness.
“You need to keep it there for ten minutes.” He pulled a rueful face. “I don’t think it will stop the bruise coming out, but it should stop any more swelling.”
“Why are you being nice to me?” she asked suspiciously.
“It’s what normal people consider basic human decency.”
She leaned back to rest against the headboard. “Meaning I don’t have human decency?”
He shrugged. “You’re an Esposito.”
“And you’ve proved yourself so much better than us.” She closed her eyes, then looked back at him. “How come you haven’t got a lump on your head?”
“I guess I have a much harder head than you.” He gave a fleeting smile and pulled open his black robe to show her his left shoulder. “You can take some joy in drawing blood.”
Her eyes widening, her fingers flew to her mouth. “Shit.”
Teeth marks were clearly visible. Her teeth. Tiny spots of red had pooled in the indentation, a faint pink encircling the bite where he’d wiped what must have been more blood.
“I’ll book myself a rabies shot in the morning,” he deadpanned before getting to his feet and shrugging off the robe. Now she could see the deep scratches on his arms made by her nails.
Though the entirety of their circumstances meant she shouldn’t, Siena couldn’t stop herself from quietly saying, “I’m sorry.”