CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER SEVEN
T HE ELEVATOR DINGED on the topmost floor of the hotel, opening into a penthouse suite that would have certainly been big enough for Charlotte to have shared with Enzo. But she had fled from him, from all that he saw. From their attraction. After that kiss, she didn’t know why she had. That kiss was everything she had hoped for and more. That kiss was a factor in why she had run from an arranged marriage. Because how could she be married to a man she couldn’t tolerate when the world held so much passion?
The man beside her held so much passion.
He burned with it, and she wanted to dance in the flame.
Never had Charlotte craved a man so badly. Yes, she’d had her share of boyfriends when she was a teenager and in her early years of studying, but those relationships—while sweet and innocent—couldn’t compare to how she felt now.
How she felt when Enzo let go of her hand and pinned her against the wall with his body. When his lips swooped down on hers and lightning crackled in her veins once more.
His tongue moved with hers, and his body pressed against hers, but it wasn’t enough. There were still too many barriers between them. She wanted him. She wanted to feel his skin on hers. This was what it was like to be overcome with need. To crave someone. It was a new feeling and a dangerous one, because Charlotte didn’t know how she could go back to living as she had before experiencing this. These heaving breaths. Goose bumps running down the length of her body. Her heart thrumming like a hummingbird’s wings. She never wanted to leave this place where pleasure was such a drug.
And she desperately, desperately wanted Enzo to take her. To be her first. To brand her soul in that way.
Acting on instinct, she reached between their bodies and undid his coat, but the need to touch him, feel him, was too urgent to bother pushing it away. Instead, she pulled at his shirt until she could slip her hands beneath, tracing the cut planes of his torso, moaning at the body he kept hidden in those designer suits.
His lips trailed to her ear where he whispered, ‘Tesoro, mi fai impazzire...’
His voice had grown even lower. Strained. She needed to see him.
Charlotte pushed against him, and he stepped back. His jacket was open, shirt creased and hanging out, bow-tie askew. It was the most unravelled she had seen him, and it only made her burn hotter at the fact that it was she that did this to him. Despite her inexperience and despite the fact that she hid, Enzo reached in and pulled her to the surface. And in front of him, she was every part of her true self even if she couldn’t tell him. So she grabbed his hand and led him to the couch, where he sat back with a smirk.
‘What now, tesoro ?’
‘This.’
Through the long slit in her dress, she placed one knee on the cushions, leaned over him and kissed him lightly. Teasingly. And when he tried to follow her lips, she pulled away, making him growl.
‘Would you like me to beg, tesoro ?’
‘I want you to make me yours. I want you to take me, Enzo.’
Bold. That’s what he made her. Because when he was looking at her like that, as if she was the very sun, how could she not be?
Enzo slid his hand down her leg and, with his fingertips just grazing her skin, collected her dress up to her hips, making her shiver. Making those butterflies take flight once more. She straddled his lap and yanked on his bow-tie, tugging it free and tossing it over her shoulder, not caring where it landed. She smiled when Enzo laughed, a deep rich sound she wanted to hear again and again. But now? Now she needed his clothes gone, but it was hard to concentrate on his shirt buttons when his thumbs were rubbing circles on her hips under the fabric of her dress. Feeling a sense of great accomplishment when she undid the final button, she pushed the fabric aside to reveal his golden skin. A sculpted body that surely had to have been bestowed upon him by a Roman god. Except she knew of his discipline, knew how hard he worked to become this singularly spectacular man.
Charlotte ran her fingers over the light dusting of hair on his chest that disappeared, only to reappear in a single line below his belly button trailing downwards until it was hidden by his pants.
Just as her finger was about to follow the line and plunge beneath his belt, Enzo caught her wrist and brought her hand up to his mouth, kissing her palm. Making her melt.
‘I will endure your punishment, tesoro , but know that this is truly torment.’
And she knew then how patient he had been with her. And how little of that patience he had left.
‘Then, do something about it.’
Enzo hooked a hand around her neck and pulled her down, kissing her hard, urgently, biting on her lip and entwining his tongue with hers. And Charlotte couldn’t help it: her hips ground against the bulge in Enzo’s pants, looking for relief from the powerful sensations overcoming her.
Enzo groaned, bucking his hips to meet with hers. ‘Take what you want, tesoro . Take it from me.’
There was only one thing she wanted. The one thing she had never had. And it occurred to her that she could simply let Enzo take her to bed and never tell him that she was a virgin. Her inexperience would be her secret, just like she kept her identity a secret. But a much bigger part of her wanted to reveal this to him, wanted to show him that she trusted him. That she trusted he would take care of her. The thought made her already frantic heart beat so much faster.
‘Enzo, I have to tell you something first,’ she said, with their foreheads touching and their breaths coming in pants.
He pushed her back and looked her in the eye, all pleasure replaced by his utter attention. ‘You can tell me anything.’
Charlotte swallowed hard. ‘I...I haven’t done this before.’ She was sure she was beet red. ‘This will be my—’
‘ Tesoro , are you a virgin?’ he asked, more serious than she had ever seen him. She nodded, and he replied, ‘Dio!’
‘Are you angry? Or disappointed?’
She saw his eyes soften, and he tenderly grasped her chin. ‘Never. I’m just surprised. But thank you for telling me, and now I know this isn’t enough.’
‘What isn’t?’ she asked, afraid of the answer. Was she not enough? Of course she couldn’t be. He was experienced, and while she had kissed others before, it was nothing like being with Enzo. She needed to run. She tried to get off his lap. To pull her dress down around her, cover herself up. But he grabbed her hands in a gentle grip.
‘Don’t hide from me. I don’t like it when you hide,’ he said with an intensity that made it impossible to look away. ‘This,’ he said as he glanced at the couch, ‘isn’t good enough. You deserve better. And I can fix it.’
Her heart gave a lurch as he scooped her up and stood. Carrying her as if she weighed nothing at all, Enzo took her into his bedroom. With the utmost care that made Charlotte’s heart sing, he placed her in the centre of the very large bed. If she wanted to, she could look out of the window at the beauty that was Milan at night, but when Enzo rounded the foot of the bed, the view behind him faded into insignificance. Especially when he was shedding his coat and shirt. He draped them over the armrest of the couch to the side, never taking his green eyes off Charlotte. When he slipped off his pants, Charlotte was certain that she had forgotten how to breathe.
Enzo was undoubtedly the most devastatingly beautiful man she had ever seen. Would ever see again. It made her sad that she would never be able to call him hers. Not when he lived his life in the light and she was forced to the shadows.
She pushed the thought aside, refusing to mourn when there was pleasure on offer. She would savour it and lock it away. Store it somewhere safe to return to in the future and remember what happiness felt like.
‘ Tesoro , I have been craving this.’ He kneeled at the foot of the bed and bunched her sparkling dress up to her hips, then slowly, surely knowing precisely how crazed this was making her, pulled down the scrap of lace she called panties and dropped it behind him.
Charlotte couldn’t describe how glad she was that he called her tesoro because she wouldn’t be able to handle being called Celeste now. She hated it, she realised. She hated the name. She hated who Celeste was. Celeste wouldn’t be this open. Celeste wouldn’t have the honest reaction Charlotte had now, moaning at the kiss Enzo placed on the inside of her thigh.
Higher.
She must have said her thought out loud because Enzo replied with a chuckle. ‘Patience.’
She didn’t have any of that.
‘Please, Enzo.’
Enzo lifted his gaze to meet hers. ‘Don’t beg. You never have to beg with me.’ The words went right to Charlotte’s heart. She had begged her father to reconsider her arranged marriage, but it had got her nowhere. She had begged her sister to tell her how to make their relationship better, and that too had fallen on deaf ears. Now here was Enzo telling her she never had to beg.
‘Kiss me.’ The words were out of her mouth before she had a moment to consider them, and Enzo obeyed. Closing his mouth over her mound, he kissed her deeply. His sinful tongue delved into her core making Charlotte’s back arch off the bed. His arm snapped over her hips, keeping her still as he feasted on her. Her hands sunk into his hair, gripping the long strands as she fell apart under his kiss, feeling utter euphoria. The blood in her veins was replaced by heat. A tightening built in her core, so much more powerful than anything she could make herself feel.
‘Enzo,’ she breathed, and the vibration from his moan pushed her over the edge. She shattered against his mouth, her body writhing, and then he was kissing her, her taste on his lips. On his tongue. It was the single most erotic thing she had ever experienced. He kissed her and kept kissing her until her body settled against his and her eyes finally opened.
Magnificent. That was what Celeste was. She was a drug entirely consuming him. How she had remained a virgin all this time was beyond Enzo. A primitive part of him, which he hadn’t known existed until a few minutes ago, was glad of it. He didn’t like the idea of any other man touching her. It had taken everything in him to remain cordial when he had seen Celeste dancing with Charles Moreau. He’d wanted her in his arms. Now he had exactly that.
‘How do you feel?’ Her kisses drove him crazy, but he couldn’t forget how inexperienced she was.
‘Good. Better than good. I want more.’ Her shining skin flushed, and with her broad smile, he had never seen her look more mesmerising. Had never seen a woman more beautiful.
‘You will get everything you want, tesoro .’
He unzipped the side of her dress and eased it off her. Given the cut of her dress, it wasn’t exactly a surprise to find that she hadn’t been wearing a bra, but actually seeing the evidence still felt like taking a punch.
Celeste would be the death of him. Of this, he was sure.
Dropping her dress off the side of the bed without looking, he took her nipple into his mouth, feeling satisfaction burn through him at her mewl. His fingers trailed down her body, over her belly button, down, down, down, until they teased the bundle of nerves at the junction of her thighs, making her pant his name. Enzo would never tire of hearing that.
‘I need you,’ she breathed.
He kissed her lightly on the lips, then retreated to the couch, fished his wallet out of his pants and pulled out a foil package. He held it in his teeth as he removed his underwear and heard Celeste’s audible gasp.
Smirking at her, he rolled the latex onto his impressive length and crawled over Celeste, kissing up her body as he did. He wanted her. He wanted her in every way, on every surface, in every position. But what he needed was to see her.
He positioned himself at her entrance, feeling a primal urge to plunge into her and claim her as his. Instead, he asked, ‘Are you sure, tesoro ?’
‘Yes,’ she whispered.
He covered her with his body, holding his weight on one elbow as he slowly pushed into her.
‘Open,’ he instructed, with his thumb at her mouth. She obeyed, drawing it in and sucking on it, making him curse out loud. With difficulty, he pulled it free and slipped his hand between their bodies, teasing her with that same thumb, making her relax and moan and writhe.
He pulled out a little and slowly thrust back in.
‘Heaven,’ he panted and saw her response to his praise in her nearly black eyes. Felt it as she began to meet him thrust for thrust.
His name became unintelligible on her lips. His heart was throwing itself against his rib cage. He felt it everywhere—felt her everywhere. As if with every moment, with every slide against each other, she burrowed a little further under his skin.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
His mind shouted it. After this, she would be his. Celeste was in his blood. He was marked. He lowered his head to the crook of her neck, kissing her there. Sucking on the skin. Now she was marked too.
A coiling began at the base of his spine. He would not last much longer. It was beyond any comprehension that she should feel this good, that she would affect him so. But he felt her arch under him, felt her tightening hold around his hardness, and knew she was equally affected.
He held her to his body, his pace becoming rapid. They were soaring together, and they would fall together. It was never something he’d needed before, but this time was different.
‘With me, tesoro .’ He could hear the strain in his own voice. Barely a breath or pant or a growl and yet, somehow, all three.
And then she was right there with him.
His rhythm faltered as she squeezed around him, calling his name as—just like a firework exploding brilliantly and loudly in the night sky—they burst in rapture so intense it had Enzo seeing stars.
In the aftermath, the room was silent save for their breaths. Enzo had lost touch with time, not knowing how long it was before he could gather himself enough to slide out of Celeste and look down at her. She was beaming at him, and he kissed her temple in a tender touch that he didn’t think came naturally to him.
‘We should do that again,’ she said before he could ask how she felt. The real Celeste, never failing to surprise him.
He laughed, eyes crinkling, feeling lighter than he had in an age. ‘I concur.’
‘Smart of you to agree with me,’ she teased.
He kissed her passionately, tugging on her lip with his teeth. As he got out of bed, he knew he wasn’t anywhere close to done. He wanted to keep Celeste in his bed all day, and that was exactly what he was going to do.
Charlotte watched Enzo disappear into the bathroom. She lay back on the pillows, taking in the room for the first time. The giant vase of flowers in the corner, another on the coffee table. Framed artwork hanging on the various walls. It felt wrong that the world around her should seem so unchanged when her own had been changed irrevocably.
Enzo had been so thoughtful with her and yet so powerful. A perfect summation of the man she knew. He had more power than most people could even dream of, was ruthlessly efficient in business. And yet, hadn’t he shown his thoughtfulness in small ways over the years? With his mother and her kitchen, with Charlotte.
‘What are you thinking so hard about?’
Charlotte gave a small start and turned to look at the man himself, leaning casually against the doorframe.
‘We need to put a bell around your neck,’ she said.
He pushed off the wall and stalked to the bed, sliding between the sheets and pulling her close. He took one of her hands in his and placed it on his neck.
‘This space is reserved.’ His light kiss made Charlotte melt into him. ‘But I believe I asked you a question.’
Charlotte thought about lying but found herself wanting to tell him the truth. ‘I was just thinking about you. This... What we did.’
‘Do you regret it?’ Despite the way Enzo held her, caressing her skin, his light touches, she could see caution in his gaze.
‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘Is it always like this?’ She hated that she had to ask at all. That her life hadn’t really been hers to live. That even before Grant, she’d had to maintain a certain amount of caution. It had been a necessary part of being who she was. There was always someone who would want her for her family’s money, so making them wait for her to be ready to share such a physical connection kept her safe. It weeded out those who weren’t worthy. Who she couldn’t trust. Of course, the list of people she could trust had shortened drastically over the years.
But it was different with Enzo. She didn’t mind asking him. She only hoped the answer wouldn’t be something to make her run.
Enzo brushed her hair back away from her face. ‘No, tesoro , it’s never like that.’
It wasn’t just the answer—it was the fact that he answered honestly that settled her.
‘You are incredible,’ he said.
‘Why do I feel like there’s a but coming?’ she joked.
‘I don’t understand why I was your first.’
That was a fair question. She was a twenty-five-year-old woman who was a PA to one of the most powerful men in the world. Academically, she had achieved so much, and in working at De Luca and Co. her business acumen had only grown, but she had stagnated in this one area of her life.
‘Because I was running from it. At first sex was a test to see if someone would stay with me on my terms. Respect me enough to respect my wishes.’
‘I take it there were those who chose to leave,’ Enzo guessed.
‘Yes, but I was happy for them to go. With the type of family I came from, it was important to me that I could trust them.’ Of course, as it turned out, her family—especially her father—were the ones she couldn’t trust. In that moment, Charlotte wanted so badly to tell Enzo everything, tell him what she was running from. But after what she and Enzo had shared, she found another reason why she was afraid to do so. Uncovering this attraction, their physical connection, had made her the happiest she had felt in a long time. The brightest point in her life so far. She didn’t want to see that desire turn to hate. She couldn’t bear it.
‘Unfortunately, it was my family I couldn’t trust.’
‘What happened?’ The low growl in Enzo’s voice comforted her. Protective anger tinted the air, and it made her want to hold him more tightly. Instead, she rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling but saw only the face of Gordon Kim. Her father. Her tormentor.
‘Please! I don’t want to marry him!’
‘I don’t care.’
She shook the memory away and answered Enzo’s question. ‘I was being forced to marry someone I didn’t want to. Someone I detested. So I left.’
She could see Enzo had a great many things he wanted to say. She could see the anger that had fully taken hold in his eyes, and he felt like a protector, but he couldn’t be the protector she needed. Nothing had changed. Enzo was still a businessman with near-celebrity status. People all over the world were fascinated by him and his family’s wealth. Charlotte could only really enjoy this temporary connection behind closed doors.
‘You’re safe with me, Celeste.’ How she’d craved hearing those words. But that damn name! It was tearing her up inside.
The safest thing would be to turn the focus onto Enzo and away from her.
‘Can I ask you something?’
‘Anything, tesoro .’
‘Why don’t you ever have anyone in your life? I’ve been with you for two years, and never once in that time did I see you with anyone or make any reservations.’
Enzo huffed a humourless laugh. ‘You noticed that.’
‘Of course.’
This time it was Enzo’s turn to look away. As he rolled onto his back, Charlotte moved closer, propping her head on her arm so she could look at him while he spoke. Silence stretched between them. Just when she thought he wouldn’t say anything at all, he spoke.
‘I was once in a relationship. Her name was Gia. I met her before I had become conte but was already heading up De Luca. My father had been forced to take a step back for health reasons.’
Enzo spoke so emotionlessly that Charlotte thought this story could only end badly. Part of her regretted asking, but a different part of her was thrilled that Enzo, a man who famously kept his thoughts to himself, was opening up to her. She placed her hand on his sternum. Her heart rejoiced when he covered it with his own.
‘Over that time we grew close, and I asked her to marry me...’
Charlotte was shocked. She had seen multiple old pictures of him with the same woman, but she knew nothing of the engagement. Of course, he would have managed to keep all of it out of the media.
‘Shortly after that, my father died, and I became conte. Gia seemed supportive. She understood what the role meant for me and my family. What it meant to me, and I loved her.’
Jealousy. That was what pounded in Charlotte’s veins now, but it should be ridiculous to feel jealous over the thought of someone from the past meaning something to a man she would never truly have. She tried to force past the feeling, irrational and grating as it was.
‘At least I thought I did.’
‘What happened?’
‘She betrayed me. Emilio came to me and confessed that he and Gia had slept together.’
‘Oh, Enzo!’ Charlotte was horrified. She couldn’t imagine being hurt like that by two people he should have been able to trust. To count on.
‘When I confronted Gia about it, she didn’t deny it. You see, while I trusted her, confided in her, she was lusting after my brother. She wanted the fame, the money, the jewels I showered upon her but not me. Things I had confided in her, she had spread to Emilio.’
No wonder that Enzo was always so guarded. That he so smoothly deflected questions he didn’t want to answer. That it was usually impossible to know what he was thinking. In his place Charlotte would have likely clammed up too. It was so much safer not to trust people.
Except Enzo had trusted her, hadn’t he? Even though it was only a little. He had let her in a small amount, but there was no way Charlotte was going to lie to herself and assume that Enzo would be an open book to her from this point. After all, she wasn’t letting him in completely either. They had been so intimate, were lying in bed together after having the most explosive sex, speaking of things they kept well hidden—and Enzo was still calling her Celeste. The barrier was still up between them. Her whole life was fractured. She was two people, and she hated it more than anything now, but she didn’t know how else to remain safe.
Enzo kept safe in a whole other way, but just like her, he kept people away too.
‘What did you do?’ Charlotte asked, needing to know exactly how Enzo would deal with someone utterly destroying his trust.
Like you will, Charlotte?
‘I made her leave the house. She put up a fight. How else would she get the fame and fortune she wanted? Emilio is a wealthy man, but he didn’t inherit centuries’ worth of legacy. She wanted to keep the ring, so I let her and paid her handsomely to leave.’
‘You said the house. You don’t mean the estate? Right?’
‘The very same.’
It made so much sense now that he hardly ever travelled back to Perlano. In all the time she had been with him, he had gone back once—six months ago, in fact—and had only been there a few days. She remembered because she’d arranged for his flight back on the day of the funeral. At the time she had thought him cold for leaving so soon. What kind of arrogant, cold-hearted man would want to go straight back to work after his mother died? What kind of man would put his business first? One who was hurting more than anyone realised, it turned out.
Charlotte was happy that she had never met Gia. The woman sounded horrible, more horrible than anyone she’d known. Well, almost. Her father came pretty close. Grant Campbell definitely came close. She still remembered Grant telling her that once they were married, she wouldn’t be allowed to work again. She was meant to submit to him.
Stifling the shiver that ran down her spine, Charlotte cuddled in close, placing her head on Enzo’s chest, listening to his heartbeat.
‘It must be really hard for you to go back there,’ she said. Enzo didn’t respond, but Charlotte remembered the pitying look on Isabella’s face when they had arrived in Perlano. How many people knew what had transpired? Did the people of Perlano know? A few pictures of the funeral had emerged in the press. Charlotte remembered seeing not even the slightest hint of emotion on his face. He had just looked strong. Impassive. Immovable. The resilience that performance would have required took her breath away.
It also explained why he had been so different on this trip. Why he was so angry that day in the winery.
‘You said Emilio has a second will. Is it real?’ Enzo seemed to be in a sharing mood, with at least some of his walls down, and Charlotte wanted to make the most of it.
‘My father had gifted the vineyards to my mother many years ago. His condition was that upon her death, she was to bequeath them to me, and she did. However, it turns out she made another will in which she left them to Emilio.’
‘Why did your father give them to her?’
‘Because she loved them. We all knew it. She spent most of her time in Perlano because of it.’
‘But if she already left them to you, why did she change her mind?’ She saw Enzo close his eyes, heaving a small sigh. Clearly, he had asked himself the same question.
‘Can you invalidate the second will?’ she tried instead.
‘I’m trying, but so far it doesn’t seem like it.’
‘So what are you going to do?’
‘What I have to do is prove that the vineyards belong to me. As far as I am concerned, they do. Emilio is not getting his hands on them,’ he said through gritted teeth.
Charlotte was taken aback by his possessiveness. She understood why he would feel that way after everything his brother had put him through, but still...
‘I can’t wait until you’re mine, Charlie.’
Charlotte pushed away Grant’s voice. Enzo was different. He was good and hurt and protective.
But he still held on to things even if the best course of action was to share. To find a way forward with his brother that would have benefited the vineyards and the company.
Charlotte understood what it was to be unable to trust your own sibling, even if her sister hadn’t betrayed her in the same way. To have a sibling steal one’s happiness left a deep wound. Enzo was more than entitled to his anger. However, that didn’t make her uneasiness abate.
‘But that’s not anything for you to worry about, tesoro . I will deal with my brother,’ Enzo said, tilting her face up to his. ‘I have much more pleasurable things in mind for us.’
He kissed her hard. It was a dominant show of his passion, and she knew he was distracting her. Putting up a barrier between them. More than ever she understood why he did it, but she didn’t like it. She wanted to be there for him, to show him that she would always be on his side.
But she could say nothing because she still had her own barrier in place. She wasn’t being honest with him, so she could expect nothing.