Chapter 32 – Amanda
It was neither a light nor a sound. My sleep was dreamless, body relaxed. But something pulled me out of the depths of unconsciousness. A soft grey glow illuminated a corner of the bedroom. Several seconds passed before my sleep drenched brain formalized what had happened.
“What are you doing?” My voice was thick and heavy. The words didn’t come out strongly.
Vincenzo’s gaze lifted from the screen to look at me. “Snooping.”
He made the casual statement with brutal honesty. On top of that, he’d entered the house again. The new security system hadn’t fazed him.
What a freaking waste of time having it installed! I should have just bought a gun instead. But only one with a tranquilizer. Then he would be the one incapacitated, and I could have my way with him.
The place between my legs warmed. Yeah, that was a better plan than buying expensive security systems. Give the monster a taste of his own medicine and see how he liked it.
We’d probably both like that….
Annoyed, I pushed myself up in bed. “That’s not yours!”
“Your search history is squeaky clean.” He closed the lid and plunged the room into darkness. “Don’t worry, I didn’t find what I was looking for.”
The tempo of my heart picked up. There was no stopping him.
Why—why hadn’t I gone to one of my family’s other houses?
They had properties scattered across the Continental US and several international locations.
Hell, I could have remained in New York.
The thought of enduring my stepmom and her pet rat was preferable to this constant intrusion.
No…that’s not true.
“You were sleeping really good,” Vincenzo murmured. His tone was buttery soft. I didn’t want it to soothe my anger, but it did. Just a little.
And he was absolutely right. I might be able to wean myself off my sleeping pills, not that I had many left. Actually, I was pretty sure they were a faulty batch, because I didn’t have the same groggy feeling in the mornings. I’d even planned to try to sleep without them tomorrow night.
“What are you looking for?” I demanded.
Vincenzo sighed. “You’re hiding something.”
“And you aren’t?” I huffed.
“I’m an open book, Mandy. Ask me anything.”
It was probably the teasing lilt of his voice. I wanted to ask him something outrageous. Dare him to prove it was true.
But the only thing my stupid brain could come up with was: “What happened when you were arrested?”
“You read the case files,” came the counterstatement.
I chewed the inside of my cheek. He wasn’t asking. He already knew I would have. As a law student, I spent a terrible spring break poring over the documents. While the other students were kicking back in the Bahamas, I stayed in the library, dug around, and reopened old wounds.
“You were indicted on racketeering charges, but you said my father did that.” That was the heart of my question. He said he would tell me the truth? Well, this was what I needed to know. “Enzo, he wasn’t on the prosecution team.”
“But he was there. Behind the scenes.” Vincenzo spoke with such certainty.
“Why would he do that?” I insisted. “He didn’t know we were secretly dating. That you asked me to marry you.” That I said yes.
Back then, the possibility of having a happily-ever-after seemed so real.
Now, I was trapped in a nightmare, with few options to escape.
“Ah, the answer that’s been tormenting me.” Vincenzo moved. The shadow rose, advancing toward me. “I can hear it in your voice, fiore. You weren’t the one who told him that I proposed.”
“No!” I wheezed. “He didn’t know.”
“He did.” Another step. “Someone told him.” He was close. “He wanted me gone.”
It gutted me fresh, this feeling of keeping the secret all these years. Someone betrayed us, if what he said was true. But it hadn’t been me.
Relief dripped through Vincenzo’s voice. “I’m glad it wasn’t you, and that leaves a lot of questions, but those don’t matter right now. You asked how I knew he was behind my sentencing? He was friends with one of the prosecuting attorneys.”
I went to speak, to prove him wrong. My breath hitched. The words wouldn’t come out.
Vincenzo stood over me, arms crossed, glaring at the bed. “You’re putting two and two together.”
I was.
“Before he became a name partner, before he became the managing partner of the firm, your dad’s old buddy Kirk was a state prosecutor.”
“He was,” I breathed. “How did I miss that?”
Vincenzo shrugged. “I kind of thought you tipped him off.”
“I didn’t! I swear it,” I said quickly.
Oh, lord, all this time!
While I was confused about the silence from Vincenzo, why he chose to end our relationship with a short informal message, he thought I was part of the force that put him behind bars.
“Fuck,” I breathed, the word drawing out on my tongue. There was really no other reaction to that.
“Fuck,” Vincenzo agreed. “It made me suspect the worst of you when I discovered you worked in that firm, but…I believe you.”
Good lord—he thought I would betray him like that? Even now, with the divorce papers filled out and waiting to be printed, I wasn’t that kind of person.
I shook my head vigorously and held up a hand. “You’re telling me that Dad found out about us, brought the case to one of his friends, and made sure you were put behind bars?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because, fiore, you might have a desperate desire to please your father, to have his approval, but at the end of the day, if you had to choose between him and me, we know who you’d pick.”
I went very, very still. Did we?
Vincenzo leaned down and brushed the back of his knuckles down my cheek. “It’s alright now, Mandy. I’m here.”
Despite every fiber of my being screaming at me to reach for him, I turned my head away. “I’m sorry, Vincenzo,” I said politely, the tone of a Karen in control. “For all that happened to you, truly, I am. But the misunderstanding in the past doesn’t mean we have a future.”
He barked a laugh and grabbed my shoulders. Drawing me up against his body, his voice turned to gravel. “My feelings for you never died.”
Funny…mine did. The moment I buried the shell that was once my soul, I let us become the past.
The ironic fact was that now I was pretty sure my soul had new life. I was in danger of wanting this man, and not just for his body.
That wicked hot body that made me prickle with need.
“I’m the only man for you, and you know it,” he rasped.
His lips pressed against mine in a hard, sweltering kiss. I fisted my hands, pounded against the solid wall of flesh. It might as well have been made of stone. Vincenzo made a sound in his throat. A warning, primal and masculine. It sent a trickle of desire shivering down my spine.
Before I could think, he pushed me back against the mattress. My cotton shorts were in his hands a moment later, pulling them right off my legs.
“Spread those legs for me,” he growled. “Let me see you.”
Maybe I was still sleepy because I couldn’t find it in myself to protest. What was one more night? I would serve him papers tomorrow.
My legs fell open, my center exposed to the night and the beast who ruled it.
“Bellissima, I love how pretty your pussy looks, bare and glistening,” he groaned and sank to his knees in front of the bed. “I could spend hours here, worshiping you like this.”
I shuddered. That didn’t sound bad. It should have. But it didn’t.
“I’m going to give you what you need, put you right back to sleep.” His promise was sweet music to my ears.
Better than any cocktail or medication. My hips tipped up, body greedy for him.
He buried his face between my legs. His tongue slid across my slit, one long, languid lick. I scrunched my eyes closed and tried not to gasp. He wasn’t getting away with it that easily.
I shouldn’t have underestimated him.
His tongue flicked wickedly over my naked pussy. Pleasure pulsed in heady shocks, vibrating to my core, shooting out with fire. Teeth sank over my clit, and the responding throb was euphoric.
I wrapped my legs around the back of his head, pulling him closer. “Enzo, you bastard, what have you done to me?”
He chuckled darkly, and I realized I’d said that out loud.
I didn’t care, though. I ground against him, chasing the pleasure.
Those strong fingers dug into my ass. He devoured me as though he was starving. As if I was the one thing he needed. And right now, he was exactly what I needed. His lips on my clit sent a current of electricity zipping through me. It was hot. I was desperate.
I am his.
I arched into his hold, crying out with delirium. Right there, right on the edge.
Another moment, and I shattered.
My voice was hoarse, and the release left me spent.
“Yes, fiore, you are mine,” he promised with another kiss on my too sensitive pussy.
And I realized I’d said that part out loud too.