Chapter Six
Penelope
'SILLY' IS THE FIRST thing that comes to mind when I feel my eyes actually flutter open at the touch of Cesare's hands on my knees. I can't remember my eyes ever doing that before, but since I've also never had a man make me cum until now...
Maybe... this is all part of my sexual awakening? Or is it something worse ...like me being head-over-heels infatuated with a mafia boss who's too handsome for his own good?
The thought of resisting doesn't cross my mind even as Cesare gently parts my legs open. But then I see him reach for a damp washcloth as he crouches back down on one knee—-
Oh...no, no, no, you don't!
I've read enough steamy romances to know what he plans on doing next, but Cesare only clucks his tongue when I try - and fail - to snap my legs back close. "Disobeying me on this will only earn you a punishment, tesoro. And you wouldn't want that, would you?"
"I just don't want you to, um, bother with unimportant stuff—-"
"On the contrary—-cleaning you up is one of my most important responsibilities as your owner.
But if it means to you that much—-" He looks at me gravely, and I know right away whatever he has to say is guaranteed to either kill me—-
"You have my permission to suck my cock clean the next time."
—-or embarrass and piss me off all at the same time, and yeeeaaargh , I'm totally right, and that's why I'm still red-faced and choking as Cesare guides my hands to the hem of my dress and orders me to hold it up.
"Now be a good girl and sit still while I clean you up."
His every stroke is gentle and thorough. He's treating me as a doctor would, really; it's just totally my bad that his touch makes me feel anything but a patient, and it's getting harder and harder not to squirm or make the slightest sound as he takes his sweet, sweeeeet damn time—-
"You're starting to get wet again—-"
Aaaargh.
Cesare only chuckles as I shove him away, and he rises gracefully to his towering height while I jump out of the chair like a toddler who's just starting to learn how to walk.
"Mm..." Cesare manages to run his knuckles down my cheek before I'm able to slap his hand away. "Your face feels very hot, tesoro. "
"Because I'm...I'm mad, not embarrassed!" It's a lie, of course, but I just want to save some face for once. "So don't you flatter yourself—-" I break off with a squeak of surprise when he suddenly scoops me off my feet and carries me out of the room.
"Let me down!"
"Relax," he says soothingly. "I'm only taking you to your room."
"I said let me go!"
I continue to struggle even as we make it to the stairs, but I'm unfortunately no Allah to make mountains move.
"I am only doing this to make it up to you, my Penelope. It was not my intention to make you mad." His tone is soft and cajoling, and every word he utters weakens my defenses.
Oh no.
Here we go again—-
" Mi può perdonare, tesoro? Will you forgive me?"
My mind wants to continue resisting him, but the rest of me has already given up. My senses are once again tingling at the lovely and now-familiar scent of his aftershave, and instead of beating his chest and doing my best to wriggle out of his hold, my arms have tightened around his neck while my breasts start to swell and ache.
Oh boy.
Maybe it's time to just throw in the towel and admit the painful truth: I'm putty in this man's hands, and as if I didn't have enough proof of that as it is—-
Ugh.
We've finally reached the second floor, and I actually feel abandoned instead of liberated when Cesare gently lowers me to my feet at the end of the hallway.
"Your room, tesoro... "
He opens the door for me, but before I can take a look at it, he's pushed me up against the wall, and a shudder rocks my body as it comes into contact with the erotic hardness of his length.
Magnetic dark eyes glitter down at me, and the urge to pull his head down for another kiss is so, so tempting...I end up curling my fingers tightly into fists against my sides.
"You haven't given me an answer yet," he chides softly.
"You're forgiven," I say hastily, "so can you please let me—-"
"One last question."
I look at him warily. "What?"
"Will you dream of me tonight?"
Yes. For sure. Duh.
But since I do have some pride left, I lift my chin up and lie without a single ounce of hesitation. "Nope."
"Then you lied about forgiving me. Does that mean you are still mad?"
"What if I say I am?"
A cocky smirk flirts with his lips ever so briefly, but the ephemeral sight is still enough to make my womanly parts throb achingly to life.
You're so freaking hopeless, dude.
"What if I say I won't do it again—-" He gently traces my lips as he speaks, and it's pure torture not to open my mouth so I can start sucking on his finger.
"Now that I know how truly furious it makes you—-" His fingers trail down the side of my neck, and I can barely hear his words over the thunderous pounding of my heartbeat.
"When I accidentally turn you on with how hot I am?"
He begins tweaking my nipple as his seductive voice weaves around me like a web, and I have trouble concentrating on his words.
What did he say again?
Cesare pinches my nipple hard, and a moan spirals out of my throat...just as the mortifying reality of what he's said finally sinks in.
Aaaargh!
I really do try kneeing him in the groin this time, but his reflexes are criminally quicker than mine as always, and a dark, infuriating chuckle only slips past his lips as he catches my wrists and pin them over my head.
" Buona notte, Penelope."
His words taunt and seduce; I'm dying to snarl out something smartass-y, but the moment his mouth crashes down on mine, it's all over for me.
Outrage melts into lust, and all I can do is desperately hang on to the massive breadth of his shoulders as he starts sucking on my tongue.
Heat burns deep in my belly, and my body feels so, so achingly restless...that I start rubbing myself against the violently pulsing length of his arousal.
Yes, Cesare, yes...
I'm crying the words out in my mind just as one muscular thigh wedges itself between my legs, and aaaaah...
I just can't help it.
The puckered tips of my nipples scrape against his chest as I start riding his thigh-—
Noooo!
We're suddenly apart, and I barely manage to swallow back an instinctive cry of protest. Cesare's body is rigid, his arousal still bulgingly visible under the tight confines of his jeans. He obviously wants me still, so why did we have to stop?
"Don't look at me like that, tesoro ."
I'm tempted to lie and pretend I have no idea what he's talking about, but if we really are going to marry each other, and spend the rest of our lives together, for better or for worse—-
"Why are we stopping?"
A strained smile touches his lips. "I do not want to stop either, believe me. But we have an early day tomorrow, and you need to rest. What I can promise you though is that tonight will be the last night you'll sleep a virgin—-"
Oh no.
"The last fucking night that you won't know what it's like to have my big, hard cock driving into your pussy and filling it up with cum—-"
That pretty much does it.
I throw myself back into his arms, whimpering and begging without shame. "One last kiss—-"
Cesare groans and laughs, but his hands are also cupping my cheeks, and aaaaah.
His mouth plunders mine in a kiss so savage and deep it makes every trembling part of my body ache so, so badly for his possession.
Oh, if only this could go on forever.
If only.
But the kiss eventually comes to an end, and all I can do is swallow back my cry of protest as Cesare pulls away.
"Tomorrow," he rasps out. "Tomorrow, I will make you mine. And you want that, too, don't you, tesoro ?"
All I can do is nod.
"I am a very possessive man," he warns. "So make no mistake about this: I will kill anyone who's stupid enough to get in the way of that."
It's my first time to hear him speak with such ominous softness, and my first time to truly taste terror in his presence.
"I own you, Penelope."
The look in his eyes is unmistakable, and it's that look which finally gives me the tiniest inkling as to why everyone speaks of Cesare Marchetti like he's the devil incarnate.
"Every fucking inch of you is mine ...just as all of me is yours ."
There's still the tiniest part of me that thinks I'm insane to entrust myself to my kidnapper's grandson, but...
The rest of me also knows there's no going back.
One kiss from him, and my world has completely changed. I can't be apart from him, and when I try to imagine how it would feel, if it's some other woman he'll marry and claim him as hers—-
"Sì..."
As soon as I whisper 'yes', he sweeps me back up in his arms, and I find myself stupidly struggling not to cry as he tucks me in bed like I really am his most precious treasure.
Cesare straightens up, and my fingers curl back into a fist under the covers. The thought of him leaving suddenly has me anxious, and it's all I can do not to beg him to stay.
"Do you need anything else before I go?"
You, I almost blurt out.
But because that's just too disgustingly pathetic—-
"Where are you going to sleep?"
A moment passes, and just as my anxiety threatens to erupt into full-blown panic—-
"My room is right across yours, tesoro. "
"Good to know," I mutter just before faking a yawn and flipping to my side.
"Anything else?"
I fake another yawn. "Nope, nothing. G'night."
His lips touch my forehead just as I close my eyes, and I'm once again fighting back tears as I hear my bedroom door close behind him.
I'm no longer alone.
After everything I've lost, and everything I've gone through—-this is more than enough. I'll work hard to be the best wife to Cesare Marchetti, and I swear to myself that I won't ever be so greedy as to wish for him to love me...the way I've already begun to fall in love with him.
Cesare
He stood outside the room, silent and motionless, and over half an hour had gone by before he finally heard her breathing settle down.
Penelope was finally asleep, and it was only at this moment Cesare finally allowed himself to turn away.
Tension still gripped his body even as he walked back into his old bedroom. It was indeed right across hers, just as he had said. But what was a complete lie was the way he had made her believe he meant to sleep here all along.
What the fuck was happening to him?
He had never been this soft with another woman outside his family. All of them had been expendable, and he couldn't even recall sparing a few seconds to consider their feelings. The moment he tired of a woman, he would not waste time getting rid of her. The moment a former lover would displease him, he would just as swiftly replace her with someone else.
But Penelope was different, and it was not just because his duty to famiglia required him to marry her.
Maybe it was guilt, Cesare thought broodingly.
She had suffered a lot, and more than she fucking deserved, and all because of his negligence.
He owed her, and that was why he was soft.
Just that.
Memories of Penelope started playing back in his mind, and Cesare bit back a groan when he suddenly found himself reliving the alluring feel of her body against his.
FUCK.
He ended up jerking himself off in the shower, which was something he had not done since he first discovered sex at the tender age of ten.
Cesare headed down to the library afterwards to pour himself a drink, but he soon found himself disconcerted to find the place already occupied, and with his grandmother nursing what looked like a glass of wine in her hand.
The older woman motioned for him to join her, and he obligingly walked forward.
Her grandson's hair was still lightly wet from the shower, and Potenziana smiled in satisfaction upon seeing this.
Cesare was not unaware of the way his grandmother was watching his every move as he poured himself a shot of whisky. "You have something to say, Nonna ?"
"I'm only curious...you are spending the night here, I take it?"
"You already know the answer to that," Cesare said dryly.
Potenziana's expression turned crafty. "But you also know what I'm really asking is... why ."
His broad shoulders moved in a dismissive shrug. "She seemed to take comfort in knowing that I'll be nearby."
"She's started to trust you then?"
"I believe so."
"And you? Have you started to trust her?"
"We've come to an agreement."
The words didn't disturb her as much as the smoothness of his tone did, and her gaze narrowed. "What kind of agreement?"
"Something that will remain between the two of us."
Potenziana thought of how one's past shaped one's decisions in the present, and her mood turned somber. "She's a good girl, Cesare. It's no surprise if at this early a stage you've come to care—-"
"I do not care for her." Cesare's words came out sharper than he intended, but the way his grandmother visibly took no offense to this only made him feel worse. Disrespect to one's elders was almost akin to blasphemy in famiglia, and a grimace of apology twisted over his lips as he looked at the woman who had been more like a parent to him than both his own father and mother.
"Perdonami, Nonna."
Potenziana only waved a hand. "There is no need to ask for forgiveness, bambino. I know I am being meddlesome—-"
"You have every right to be meddlesome, Nonna. But I also ask, if only for Penelope's sake—-" His voice turned gentle but firm. "Refrain from filling her head with nonsense, per favore. I am not and will never be the type to fall in love, and to say anything to her that would make my fidanzata believe otherwise would only lead me to breaking her heart."