Chapter 28 #2
Massimo takes my hand and leads me down the hallway, but before we get to the main room, I tug on his arm, stopping him. He turns to look at me.
“Were you being honest back there?” I ask.
“About?”
I tilt my head and let out a sigh. “Come on, Massimo. About never having been here before.”
He raises a brow at me. “Of course I was being honest.”
“Then why do you have a membership here? You’ve never brought one of your models before?”
His grip on my hand tightens, and he pulls me into him. I stumble, tugging my hand out of his grasp and bringing it up to his chest to catch myself. His arms wrap around my waist in a possessive hold.
“I have a membership because I know the owners. And those models? They were never anything to me. I told you I’ve only ever had eyes for one woman in this world, and that’s you.”
His words don’t make sense to me. “You’ve brought dozens of women to my boutique for me to style. You’re telling me you never had sex with any of them?”
“Never,” he says, and there’s something very finite about his tone.
“I don’t believe you.”
Why does it matter if I believe him? Why do I suddenly care so much about the women he’s slept with?
He stares into my eyes. There’s something piercing about them, as if he’s trying to see through to my soul.
“Those women I brought into your boutique were an excuse for me to see you, Liana. I’ve been celibate for the past six years. I haven’t been with anyone since the night I met you.”
My face blanches, and I don’t know what to say. I’m not even sure I heard him correctly. “I’m sorry, you what?”
“You think after I had a taste of you I’d be able to be with any other women?”
I shake my head, not wanting to believe him. This is not the Massimo I thought I knew. “But you brought in all those women. There’s no way you didn’t have sex with them.”
“Think about it, Liana. Yes, I brought those women into your boutique, but did you ever see me touch them once?”
A crinkle forms between my brows. “What do you mean?”
“If I was fucking them, don’t you think I would’ve had some kind of chemistry with them?
Hold their hands. Wrap my arm around their waist. Something.
With you, I can’t keep myself from touching you, no matter how many times you tell me not to.
Don’t you think if I was really seeing any of the women I brought into your boutique, I would’ve done the same? ”
“I-I don’t know,” I shake out.
“Yes you do, Liana. I think you and I both know I enjoy affection. If I was fucking any of those women I brought into your boutique, you would’ve absolutely known it.”
I open my mouth to say something, but I can’t think of the words. Have I really had Massimo wrong this entire time?
“How do I know you’re telling me the truth?” I ask.
“You can call up any one of them and ask. Ask Sheila. I only brought her in those few times because we had work events we needed to attend.”
My brain runs rampant with this information. I can’t believe a man like Massimo Bonetti hasn’t had sex since he met me. And the women he brought into my boutique … They were all models other than his assistant. Did he …?
“The women. They were all models other than your assistant. Why? If they didn’t mean anything to you, why did you have a specific type?”
He caresses my cheek with his thumb before tucking a loose strand behind my ear. As he stares deep into my eyes, he says, “Why do you think?”
It doesn’t evade me that the models he’s brought in continue to wear my pieces to this day.
I actually thank them for helping my brand explode as quickly as it did.
I just didn’t realize this was all Massimo’s doing.
He knew what it meant having them wear my designs, but I can’t bring myself to say the words, because it means I’ve been completely wrong about him.
Thankfully, before I’m forced to acknowledge something I’m not ready to, another couple comes down the hallway. I take a step back from Massimo, whose eyes are still sharp on mine, holding his hands in the same position as if I never slipped out of them.
“We should probably go inside,” I mumble, then turn to walk to the main room.
As I step inside the large space, I take in the red marble flooring, then slide my gaze up to the modern circular chandelier hanging from the middle of the ceiling.
The room is very well organized. There are shelves around the walls that hold all sorts of toys, and three large glass cases in the middle that contain even more. The lights reflecting off the red walls and the red marble flooring give the room a red hue and a very sultry vibe.
The employees are wearing black and are standing off to the side as discreetly as possible, allowing patrons to shop with privacy. It’s a surprisingly comfortable setting.
A hand finds its way to my lower back, then Massimo is whispering in my ear. “Shall we check out one of the cases?”
Thankful he’s dropped the conversation we were just having, I nod. He puts pressure on my back, leading me to a lit-up case in the middle of the floor.
I look into it and take in the collection of vibrators and dildos. My eyes are drawn to the gold collection. “Are those really …?”
“Twenty-four karat gold-plated vibrators and dildos?” Massimo says.
I nearly choke out a laugh at him saying the word dildo. “People actually use those?”
“Every day, I’m sure,” he says with a chuckle.
“But why? What could possibly be the benefit of a gold-plated sex toy?”
“I imagine it’s just the aesthetic appeal,” he says.
I study the collection, and admittedly so, it is beautiful. It kind of makes you forget it’s a sex toy and makes you think it’s a piece of art. Weird as it is to say …
“You like it,” Massimo says, and I turn to look at him.
“They’re pretty,” I say with a loose shrug.
He laughs softly. “I’d say that fifteen-thousand-dollar vibrator is a little more than pretty.”
“Fifteen thousand?” I gasp, then quickly look over my shoulder to make sure I didn’t disrupt any of the other customers. Turning back to Massimo, I say, “That is insane.”
“But do you like it?” He quirks a brow at me.
“Not enough for fifteen thousand,” I whisper. “My silicone ones will be just fine.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
I look back and forth between him and the gold-plated collection. “I mean, yes, they’re nice, but—”
“How can I help you two tonight,” says a woman who’s now standing across the glass case from us.
“We’d like to purchase this set here,” Massimo says, pointing to the one we’ve been talking about.
“Ahh, excellent choice. One of our most sought-after collections. You two have exquisite taste.”
“Massimo, we really do not—”
“Consider it a wedding gift.”
I have to hold back the laugh begging to burst from my lips at how insane of a gift this is, but I bite my tongue. I’m pretty sure we won’t be leaving this place without purchasing something, so if he wants to spend his money on a gold-plated collection of sex toys, who am I to argue?
“Have you decided which size dildo you’d like?” the woman asks.
I can’t keep the laugh from crossing my lips. “I’m so sorry,” I say to the woman. “It’s just, this is my first time at a place like this.”
She smiles. “It’s quite alright. This can all be overwhelming for your first time, but we try to make sure it’s as enjoyable as possible.” She points to the set. “This set comes with your choice of a dildo. We have five different sizes. Do you know which one you’d like to go with your set?”
I run my gaze over the different versions ranging dramatically in sizes. “I’ll just take the one in the middle,” I rush out, wanting to get this over and done with.
Massimo lets out a laugh under his breath.
I turn to look at him. “What?”
“You’re going to want bigger,” he says, and the confidence in his tone has my brows shooting to my hairline.
“Excuse me?”
His mouth parts into a boyish smile, and his tongue pokes out to moisten his lips. He looks so … cute, fun, playful like this. He nods to the case. “You should be looking at these as preparation, mia moglie. Try again.”
Rolling my eyes, I turn back to the sales associate and point to the next size up. “That one is fine.”
“Ehh,” Massimo says, and I snap my gaze to him.
“There is no way you’re the—”
“Excuse my wife. She hasn’t had the pleasantry of seeing my—”
“Oh my gosh, the biggest one, please. We’ll just take the biggest one.” I elbow Massimo.
He laughs and leans down to whisper in my ear. “Good choice, even though it’s still not quite the same.” His breath fans my neck, and his words send a shiver down my spine.
I raise a brow at him. “Why am I beginning to not believe you?”
A humorous glint takes over his eyes. “I’m more than happy to prove it to you.”
“That won’t be necessary. Besides, I won’t be needing you with my new toys,” I say with a smirk, then turn back to the sales associate.
“Excellent choice,” she says with a smile. “Is there anything else you’d like to take a look at, or will this be all for you two tonight?”
“We’ll keep looking around, but here’s my card,” Massimo says.
“I’ll get this ready for you both. Please do not hesitate to press the button on your clicker when I can assist you further.”
Once she leaves, I whip my gaze to Massimo’s. “You’re ridiculous, you know that, right?”
A cocky little smile plays out on his face, and he raises his brow at me. “If you’re going to please yourself, the least you could do is make your toys as comparable to the real thing as possible. You’ll thank me later,” he says with a wink.
I open my mouth to speak, but a deep voice from behind us stops me.
“Massimo.”
He turns around and is greeted by a tall man with brown hair and light eyes. I recognize him from the wedding the other night. I’ve only met him a few times, but he’s the one who does IT and security stuff for my family.
“What’s going on, Cassius?”
They shake each other’s hands in greeting.
“I’m here to talk to Caspian, but what brings you newlyweds in? Shopping or playing?”