Chapter 18 Sophia
Sophia
Every nerve ending in my body tingles with the thought of Massimo putting his cock inside of my heated center, but I’ll be damned if I cave this early in the game. I may want him, and need to play, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve lost all my faculties and will lie down and give over.
No, he’s going to work hard for every inch he gets. Every time he does something to me, he’s going to pay, he’s going to tell me something I didn’t know, or give me a piece of information that will help me put this fucking puzzle together and lay doubts about my father to rest.
Massimo Roselli caused me to doubt the one man I’ve never doubted in my life.
I know what my father said on the phone, but still, there’s this lingering doubt.
What the Rosellis have accused our family of is either true or it’s not, and either way, I’m going to learn the truth, and he is going to help me, whether he likes it or not.
Because I am nobody’s little plaything. I am the woman who will make you regret treating her like a fucking toy and then heading to the club to get your rocks off with some bimbo who probably shakes her ass for every man in his family and on his payroll, too.
My lips purse with annoyance. I guess he wasn’t lying in his bed, tossing and turning and dreaming of me, just because I couldn’t get the asshole out of my mind.
I don’t care, it’s a business deal, plain and simple, just like any other except I get some pleasurable little time out of it each and every day.
I should consider it my reward for having to deal with Massimo.
I inhale a deep breath. “Not to burst your bubble, but how do you know that I brought the bikini Elsie laid out for me?”
“You’ll wear it.”
“It wasn’t my style. I prefer to bathe on the beach in the nude. That will have to do.”
I try to hide the smile as he inhales a sharp breath and speeds up as we exit the ramp leading to the shore.
He doesn’t say a word until he parks the car in the secluded shore area of the bay.
“Stay where you are. I’ll come around for you.
I’m taking a chance having you out in public, so do what I ask, please,” he says tightly.
Yeah, because out in the open, my family’s soldiers would find this an extremely acceptable place to attack.
This is exactly where my father would have his soldiers put you and your soldiers in the ground.
He would have them mow you down with the expensive tommy guns I’m not supposed to know anything about, watching your whole army get left shredded on the shore.
Except, my father is not coming.
Unless he was lying on the phone, he’s leaving me on my own to navigate being in the lion’s den when the lion is hungry for a good meal, and that meal is me.
But yet, if I hold out, I win. If I let Massimo do what he wants, and accept his touch, and never once murmur his name, I come out victorious.
It should be easy, but even last night with very little alcohol at all, I wanted to wrap my legs around his waist and beg him to sink to the very end of me and scream his name.
I craved for him to be inside of me, hitting that little button over and over again.
Lord, this is not going to be as easy as I thought.
And the way that devil is looking at me, he already knows it too.
I inhale a deep breath and give him my best smile. “Gorgeous day for some sunbathing and a couple of drinks on the water.”
He smirks. The devil has a playful side, and he wants to play with me. He places a hand under my elbow, leading me across the sand and across the dock to the ramp of his yacht.
Massimo is being a gentleman. This could be far worse an experience than he’s making it to be.
I would do well to remember that and keep things in perspective.
Not because he’s so handsome but because no matter the darkness in those eyes when he’s speaking with someone else, or on the phone, or reading a note, when he looks at me, it’s different.
No matter our circumstance, this connection, no matter how forbidden by our families or what I want to deny, is real.
“This yacht is impressive. I’ve seen pictures of it in the entertainment mags, but it’s much nicer up close.”
“I’m glad you like it.” Massimo gives a gentleman in jeans, a navy-colored jacket, and boat shoes a handshake. “Thanks for coming out on such short notice. Sounds like the weather is going to hold out for the majority of the day before the rain hits us.”
Massimo glances to the horizon, miles away in the distance.
“Take a spin out to the island and back. I’ll take her below to drop her things and then we’re going to enjoy the day and maybe have a few drinks,” he says before grasping my waist and guiding me over the ramp and then gesturing for me to go first down the stairs into the salon.
The white blinds are drawn to the side, allowing a perfect view outside from the wrap around windows that extend from just beyond the galley area to the bow.
I walk through, taking in the luxury appliances and curved tan leather couch that faces both the back of the boat and the humongous television monitor over the fireplace. “Do you ever use the fireplace?”
He walks behind the bar that expands the length of the interior wall and returns with two bottles of water. “I haven’t in a while, but sometimes I come here just to get work done and light her up. You can leave your stuff here,” he says, gesturing toward the couch. “I’ll give you the grand tour.”
I follow him through the space that leads to a wide set of French style doors overlooking the deck. “Wow, quite impressive. It doesn’t look all masculine and stuffy like I pictured.”
His eyebrows knit as he tips the bottle and takes a long drink of water. “I thought you saw the boat in the mags.”
I grin. “I did, but the article I was referring to had you leaning over up top, and they took a shot of you against the backdrop of the water. It didn’t really showcase the boat.
I’m pretty sure the photographer had her eye on you and you alone, no matter the slinky blonde that was hanging on your arm.
No decorations, chairs like the ones out here now, or this—” I gesture to the affinity pool that we walk around to get to the table towards the front of the bow— “didn’t see it at all. ”
He grins. “So, you only saw me and the blonde? Such a pity. The boat was a far better article. I had it customized with the pool, but the decorating was done by my sister and one of her friends just getting in the business.”
I pretend to gasp as he holds a white chair with a thick floral cushion out for me. “You left your yacht décor to a novice, and didn’t have a renowned decorator from New York or overseas flown in?”
Massimo points to a massive home sitting right on the point high above the shore.
“That’s my real escape. The estate right outside the city limits is really just for show.
Don’t get me wrong, I do spend time there, more than I like most often, but that house, now that’s relaxing.
That’s the place I really call home. My sister and one of her friends decorated it too. ”
He peels his grey cable knit sweater off, exposing his muscular and very defined arms, encased in a T-shirt that fits his body like a glove.
Massimo folds himself into the seat across from me, while I do everything in my power to avert my eyes from the rippling six pack evident underneath that scant thickness of material he calls a shirt and the elaborate trails of tattoos detailed across his chest before hidden beneath the fabric.
“The view is nice.” I almost choke on my water as the words come out of my mouth.
His full-throated laughter draws my narrowed eyes to the devil.
“I meant the water, the horizon, the view across the water. You may be able to tempt all those blondes who decorate your arms and that you go to for solace at the bars, but it doesn’t work with me, Massimo Roselli. ”
The yacht begins to move out of the dock, and a small gathering of people along the shore watch as the skillful captain heads out over the Atlantic. “I can’t believe you chose such a small community to live in by the sea.”
His eyebrows knit. “Why?”
I give him wide eyes. “Maybe because of what you do. I mean, your estate right outside the city limits, surrounded by miles of acreage and perimeter fences, guard stations high in the sky so you can see what’s coming.
That, it’s what we have. It makes sense.
But that home, right above the shore, with no perimeters, anyone, I mean anyone, including my very pissed off father could attack with very little effort. ”
His dark gaze penetrates my bravery. It would do me well not to push the buttons of the lion who hasn’t really decided if he wants me for a toy or a meal, but if that look is any indication, it’s probably both.
“The community here at the shore, it’s a very close-knit group.
I’ve lived here for over ten years, they’ve had no trouble, only benefited from my being here in many ways.
It’s not like I traipse my soldiers around with guns on the beach.
” He gestures with a finger to the long stretch of open coastline along the sea.
“These days, drones and other methods can be used to secure the area without being as obvious as the intentional wall of men you meet when you enter my estate outside of the city.”
I nod. “I like it better here. It’s peaceful. The water has always had a calming effect on me, no matter where I am. Maybe I was a dolphin in a previous life.”
“I have no doubt you were a siren, a mermaid calling to the men, saving them from the perils of the ocean while wrapping them around your heart forever. No doubt, not one of them could rid you from their mind.”
I try not to smile, but it’s impossible. “You like folklore?”
Massimo shrugs. “Perhaps, but if you ever told anyone, I’d have to take you to my castle and put you in the highest of towers, prisoner forever until you used your hair to climb down.”
“Now you’re teasing. How can you be so sinister yet so nice to me?”
His eyebrow raises, and his dark eyes pin me with their gaze. “I told you, because you’re going to be my wife.”