Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Valerio
S he ambled to her feet clumsily, wiping away the tears that had stained her eyes. Her eyes were not that red, but the circles under them told me that she had not been sleeping well the last few days.
I wondered what was keeping her awake.
I had not seen her in almost a month, but I had been keeping tabs on her. I had my men follow her back to Syracuse after the gala. I needed to make sure that she didn’t try to make a run for it again. She had proven to me that she was good at disappearing.
“What are you doing here?”
I clicked my tongue on the roof of my mouth in displeasure. “Come now, Anastasia. Is that any way to greet a guest? Surely you have better manners than that.”
Her eyes darted over the large space. “How did you get onto the property?”
“Your security sucks,” I said simply.
My eyes moved over the length of her body and drank in her flowing yellow sundress that gave her a more youthful and innocent air. Her breasts were perfectly swollen and round, giving her the perfect amount of cleavage.
Fuck, she was tempting.
“I will scream if you don’t get off my property.” She tried to feign confidence, but I heard the slight tremble in her voice.
“I only came to see you, cielo .” I stepped toward her, and she took a step back. “Come now, I don’t bite. Unless, of course, you want me to.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You need to leave, Valerio. What if someone sees you?”
“If someone was going to see me, then they would have, by now. But as you can see, no one has gone to sound the alarm. You panic too much.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I don’t know what game you’re playing, but you need to leave.”
“You know, you’re going to have to be nicer to me now that I will be in charge of your protection.”
She paused, clamped her mouth down, and ground her teeth together. “I will be under Savina’s protection.”
“Savina is a Valdez, and I am the underboss. Thereby all security measures and instructions are carried out by me. So, you will be under my care and protection, cielo .”
I heard someone laughing in the distance, and that’s when Anastasia cursed under her breath. She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward a small little cottage off to the edge of the property, by the tree line.
Syracuse had few woodlands, but their cabin was situated in thick greenery that I believed was more a security risk than a barrier.
Sometimes I wondered how the Russians had lasted this long with security measures like this on their properties. It was no wonder they had been so easy to topple.
We walked into the small cottage and then into what looked to be a small generic bedroom with a bed and a dresser off to the side. It wasn’t much, but I had a feeling that this was more for servants than anyone of real relevance in the manor.
Anastasia seemed on edge. She walked to the window to see who was on the grounds. She bit down on her lips and pulled the lobe of her ear gently.
“If you wanted to fuck me, all you had to do was ask. I am not opposed to taking you in the open.” The words left my lips before I could filter them through my brain.
Her neck snapped in my direction, the annoyance and fury mixed in her pupils. “Must you be so crass?”
“Force of habit.” I shrugged and walked around the room. There wasn’t much to explore. The thing was about as small as a shoebox. “I’ve missed you, Anastasia. It’s been too long without me being in your presence.”
“Don’t do that.” She pointed an accusatory finger my way. “Don’t come in here and play some Casanova man. How did you get onto my property?”
“My men let me on.”
“Your men? Are you… are you spying on my family?”
I stared at her. “Do you want me to lie or do you want the truth?”
She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“The truth,” she finally answered.
“I have my men watching you.”
“Watching me?”
“Yes.”
My God, she looked so fuckable in that dress. I had seen thousands of women from various ethnicities, cultures, and backgrounds, but this woman took the cake for me. “You changed your hair.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “Don’t change the subject. You are having me watched?”
“Of course. I have all my things protected and watched.” I walked past her and moved to the window. I looked out to the main house that looked to be made out of wood. “Your house requires maintenance.”
“Excuse me? Rewind for a second. You are saying that you are having me watched?”
“Must we go over this again, cielo ?” I swiped my finger against the window and gathered the dust that had accumulated on it. “You need to fire your servants. They are doing a piss poor job.”
“ Hello? Can we talk about the fact that you have me watched and that you called me one of your possessions?” She placed her hand on my shoulder, and I allowed her to turn me so I could look at her. “Look at me when I speak to you. What the fuck, Valerio?”
“I would like to fuck you.”
She ran a tilted hand in her hair, messing up the neatly done curls. “Not a chance in hell.”
“And what of heaven?”
She blinked at me, once, twice and then a third time.
“I can’t do this right now. Get out.”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no? Leave, I don’t want you here. You shouldn’t even be on our property without my brother's permission.”
“Are you worried for my safety?”
“I could care less about your safety! I care for mine, and I don’t want him or anyone thinking I’m having some kind of torrid affair with you.”
“Torrid affair?” I scoffed. “Don’t reduce me to a simpleton lover, cielo . But I wouldn’t be surprised if Sergei doesn’t fuck you right.”
She gasped. “Go.”
“Tell me, does he fuck you right?”
She stepped toward me in warning. “Stop, Valerio. I’m warning you. We can pretend this little encounter didn’t happen, and we can be on our merry way.”
“I think I will stay. I rather like your company.” I had come here with every intention of trying to forget this woman, but here I was entertaining more and more conversation with her.
I was playing a dangerous game here. My brother’s foreshadowing rang loudly in my head, but the high of having her near me was too strong to ignore.
“And I rather despise yours.”
“Maybe you would prefer me fucking you. Tell me, cielo , do you prefer to be taken from behind like a whore or?—”
She raised her hand in the air and sent it flying my way. The movement had been quick, and had it been any other person, I was sure that she would have managed to slap them. But it was me, and I was a lethal weapon in combat.
I grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward me.
“A little rude, no?”
Her eyes narrowed in what was meant to be a menacing glare, but she was as menacing as a kitten. “Let me go,” she spat.
“No.” I held onto her wrist tightly.
The air thickened between us. I didn’t miss the way our body beats mixed with each other.
A subtle hum filled the space between us, the small little electrical sparks moved through the air particles and hit our skin.
My eyes moved from her raging pools down to her lips. They were so plump, and perfect, and ripe for the taking. From the moment I saw her walk into the gala, I knew that I had to taste her.
Call it curiosity.
There was something about her that called to me. It was like this supernatural kind of pull that transcended all logic.
We were not logical. She was not the kind of woman that I should want. Obedient, docile and selfless. I liked my women wild, uncaged, and free. She was too refined for me, or at least that was what I had been thinking for the past month as I got the details from my men.
But standing here in front of her, staring at her face to face, there was more to her.
This facade she put up of the dutiful sister who put family first was only one of her many layers. And I wanted to learn them all.
I should have pulled away; I should have wanted her nowhere near me. But my cock was screaming far too loudly for me to listen to reason and logic.
“Fuck it.” I released her wrist and grabbed both sides of her face. “Don’t think.”
And then crashed my lips down onto hers.
I was prepared for an immediate slap, but what I was met with surprise, and it intrigued me even further.
Instead of pulling away from me, she melted into my body. Instead of closing her mouth to me, she opened for me on her own accord. Her hands pressed against my chest, her nails digging into my Armani shirt.
I lowered my hands and placed them on both her hips, pulling her even closer to my body.
Fireworks .
My blood felt like it had little tiny fireworks going off in every single organ and cell.
Our mouths moved together in perfect sync, like we had done this a million times over. Our tongues moved against each other, tasting every inch of our mouths.
I had expected her to be sweet, but what I was met with was a complete but welcomed surprise.
Kissing for me was child’s play. It did nothing for me, but with her, it felt like… everything . I didn’t kiss women. I didn’t particularly enjoy the act. Why play around when we could get right to fucking? But with her, it was different. I didn’t know why. It just was.
But as hot as the kiss became, she ripped her lips from mine and shoved me hard. I blinked, trying to clear the haze of lust that had clouded my mind.
“Why would you do that?” I had no idea if she was talking to me or to herself. Her cheeks were completely flushed, and her lips were plump and swollen from my assaults. “I want you to leave.”
“That wasn’t what your body was saying a few seconds ago.”
The blush in her cheeks deepened. “Leave, Valerio. I am engaged to Sergei. Why must you overstep boundaries like that? Why can you not respect that I am a taken woman?”
The anger simmered in my blood. She needed to stop saying that she was taken by that idiot. She did not belong to him. She was mine; she just hadn’t accepted it yet. But in time, she would.
“Leave, please.” She walked to the door. “Please, before anyone here sees you.”
I cocked my head to the side. “And what if someone is to see me? Would that be scandalous, would your beloved be angry? Tell me, what does the little Russian Buffon do to you when anger finds him?”
She scowled. “Don’t patronize me.”
I held my hands up to show that I came in peace. “I am not patronizing you. I am simply asking you a question.”
“You know good and well what men in your world do to disobedient women. None of you are ever kind in your punishments.” The venom in her tone was potent. “I know you are just like the rest of them in this world, but if you have any humanity in you, Valerio, leave. Think of it as paying your debt to me.”
“I thought the gala was me paying my debt.”
She stilled. “I…”
“You said that if I was to walk away from you, then that would be payment for you saving my life. Yes or no?”
She gaped at me for a moment, her eyes scanning mine. “I think saving your life calls for many debts being owed, no?”
I shook my head and stepped toward her. “I think not. A favor for a favor. You should have been more careful with what you bargained for. Now you will simply have to save my life again for me to owe you another favor.”
“You’re an asshole, you know that?”
“Please,” I huffed, “compliments will get you nowhere.”
I knew that my antics were only irking her. But getting under her skin was so fun. The lust that had riddled her eyes was still very much prevalent.
“Are you wet for me, cielo ?”
“What?” The look of shock and horror on her face was comical. But the slight spark in her eyes fueled my hunger for her.
I wanted to taste her again. I knew that kissing her would cause problems for me.
I stepped toward her, her back pressed against the wood of the door. I could see the fear in her eyes no matter how well she tried to hide it. She had learned to mask her face with others, but I was a master at seeing beyond people’s bullshit, and she was no exception.
Her lips were plump and swollen from my assaults on them. The kiss had been electric, it was unlike any kiss I had ever experienced in my life. They were soft, but the sweetness I had expected from her was dulled and muted. She had a slight edge to her. She wasn’t just cotton-candy and clouds. She was spice, and she had some bite to her.
She intrigued me, and that was the worst thing that could have happened. Had she been exactly what I had anticipated her to be, then maybe I could have walked away from her right that moment. Had she just been what any other woman of her archetype was, I would have been able to move on. But she was so much more. She was complex like the Diophantine equation. Every time you thought you had her figured out, she shocked you. Her edges were not all sharp, but neither were they all dull. She had a mixture.
It made her unpredictable and thereby made her dangerous to me, because I lived off the thrill.
I watched the small ball in the middle of her throat bob up and down in nervousness. “Please, Valerio.”
What was she asking for? Her eyes told me one thing while her body moved toward my heat.
I leaned forward, my eyes darting to her lips and then back up again to meet her gaze. That one taste was simply not enough. I wanted more. I craved more from her.
That hum that had begun only seconds before we kissed returned, and my body responded to the soft vibrations. The blood pooled to my cock, hardening the length as I stared at her.
I brushed my thumb against her bottom lip and pulled it down. I couldn’t stop thinking about the way her lips molded around mine, or the way her tongue had danced against my own like we had done this dance before, a million times over.
“You… you are addictive, Anastasia.” My breath wafted against her face. “Like a drug that I refuse to quit.”
She swallowed hard, her arms stayed by her side, not moving a single inch. “I am getting married, Valerio.”
Yes, so she had said many times over.
“To a man you don’t want.”
“Does it ever matter what a woman wants in this world? My life was chosen for me before I took my first breath.” I didn’t miss the slight bitterness to her tone. There was something there that I would uncover with time.
“You won’t marry him.” I moved my thumb to her cheek and caressed the soft skin. As I trailed the pad of my thumb over her skin, it heated to the touch, turning a vibrant pink.
I loved to watch her fluster. She was always so prim and put together that I wanted to ruffle her feathers a little bit. I wanted to get her out of character.
“I will.” She placed her hand on my chest and tried to push me back, but I caged her as I placed both my hands on the side of her head. She let out a low, audible gasp as her eyes widened in shock. “Valerio, someone may see us.”
“Does it look like a give a shit?”
“Please.” She tried to push me off her again, but I only pressed myself more into her. “What do you want from me?”
I watched her for a moment. I took my time drinking in every single feature on her face. Her eyes, her nose, her perfectly rosy cheeks, her olive skin, and finally, her lips. Everything about her called to me. She was a perfect vixen. A black widow that drew you into her web, and the moment you realized that you were stuck, it was too late.
I trailed the back of my hand over her cheek and down her jawline until I got to the edge of her neck. I grabbed her neck in my hold and tightened it ever so slightly.
“What do I want? I want you, Anastasia.” Her body shivered at my words. “And I will stop at nothing till I have you. Even if it means taking your beloved groom to be to war.”
I stepped back, releasing her from my hold and creating the space that she had been yearning for. She gasped like she had surfaced from the water and was greedy for air. All the while, I watched her with intrigue.
She jumped away from the door and braced her hand on the side wall. She doubled over like she was trying to catch her breath after a long run. Had I truly left her that widened? Maybe my hold on her throat had been a little too tight.
She would need to get used to my touch. It softened for no one.
“You’re a madman, Valerio.” She flicked her gaze to me and straightened her spine so she could look me dead in the eye. “You’re crazy.”
One side of my lips tilted upward into a devilish smirk. “So many have told me, cielo . The only thing that matters is that you will be begging for me to place my cock inside of you, very, very soon.”
“Over my dead body.” She tried to sound angry and appalled, but I didn’t miss the way her lips parted in anticipation. I had felt her body’s reaction to me. There was nothing that she could hide from me now. She had revealed herself.
“Let the games begin, Ana.” I gave her one last look before I moved past her and opened the door. “And I don’t play to lose.”
I didn’t wait for her response. I walked out of the small room and made my way down the hallway. The lack of security on Danill’s part was appalling. I should have never been able to get onto the property so easily. I would need to bring more of my men here. If her brother couldn’t protect her correctly, then I would be the one to do it.
As of today, she was under my ward and my care. To hell with Savina and anyone else that wanted to keep her from me.
I had come here to see if I could forget the little caged princess, but this visit had only solidified what I already knew.
She was mine, and there was no force on Earth and beyond that would keep her from me.