Chapter 34 Grace
GRACE
Iquicken my strides, hoping to reach the hotel faster.
Maybe this wasn’t a great idea. This part of Paris felt very safe, but maybe things are different after midnight.
The hairs on the back of my neck rise. Every cell inside me is alert. I fight the urge to turn around and make eye contact with whoever is behind me.
I pass by closing restaurants and crowds of people. The feeling of being watched fades a little.
Maybe it was just in my head.
My intuition is screaming at me to speak with Dante, but I don't want to be the first one to break this silence. It's been so long since he said anything that my ego has gotten in the way now. I don't want to be the one to initiate anything.
But I still feel betrayed.
He made me think that he felt the same way about me. It was the way he looked at me. It's his fault that I fell for him.
Tears spring to my eyes. Just as I'm about to wipe them away, a hand clasps over my mouth.
"Do what I say, and you won't be hurt," a man growls from behind me.
I can barely see anything through the haze of my tears. Everything is a blur as I'm dragged toward a dark alley. There are no lights here. It's just shadows and sin.
He pushes me against a wall and brings a knife to my throat. Moonlight reflects off the metal as my heart starts pounding in my chest.
Fear seizes me, turning me immobile.
I'm frozen as he flicks the knife down my torso, ripping the material of my shirt all the way down to my belly button. He turns impatient, throwing the knife to the ground and ripping the rest of the material with his hands. The tattered shirt falls to the ground.
I try to make out his face, but he's wearing a balaclava. All I can see are his dark eyes. They gleam with a predatory kind of hunger.
"Please," I whimper.
"Don't fight it," he growls. "You're not going anywhere until I have my fill of you."
His eyes are fixated on my lips as he takes off one of his gloves.
"So fucking pretty," he mutters under his breath. "Take your little skirt off."
I glance over at the street. There’s not a single person in sight.
"Nobody's coming to save you, pretty girl," he says, brushing his knuckles down my neck and over the slope of my breasts.
Goose bumps rise on my arms as he cups my breast in his calloused hand. He gives it a rough squeeze before pinching my nipple.
"I asked you to do something," he says. "Don't make me repeat myself."
I part my lips to respond, but I can't say a word. He's crowding me harder against the wall, making sure I can feel the way his big cock pulses against my stomach.
When I don't move, he spins me around and presses my face against the wall. He holds me still as he pushes my skirt up until it bunches around my waist. And then his fingers are over my pussy, making me turn wet and pliant.
"Wet," he accuses. "I knew I smelled a sweet pussy. I knew you'd like it."
His breathing turns heavier as he takes his cock in his hand and pushes it between my ass cheeks. He slides it over my slit, getting his tip wet against my folds.
"Now be a good girl and take it," he says, pushing against my entrance before thrusting all the way inside. I rise on my tiptoes at the rough intrusion.
I try to scream, but his hand is back over my mouth. He fucks me with crude thrusts of his hips, his larger body holding me in place as he takes what he wants from me.
I try to move, but he wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me flush against his body.
He leans down to whisper in my ear. "You can struggle, but just know that it makes me even harder."
His hand brushes against my clit, moving in lazy circles until I lose sense of myself. I can feel his cock getting even bigger inside me, stretching out my walls until all I can feel is him.
I give in.
I let him use me for his pleasure.
He turns me around and lifts his mask. I look into Dante's whiskey eyes before he crushes his mouth against mine. It's a hungry kiss, the kind between two lovers who haven’t seen each other in years.
"Mine," he growls, wrapping his hand back around my neck. He lifts me until my thighs are wrapped around him and then slams his hard cock back inside me. "Mine. Mine. Mine."
He punctuates each word with violent thrusts.
"My sweet girl," he says, watching the jiggle of my tits as he fucks me. "I tried to hide my obsession. I really did. But then you were away, and I lost my mind. I couldn't even think straight."
I can feel him unraveling as he unleashes the power of his body on me. My nails dig into his muscular back as he bounces me on his cock over and over again.
"I can handle a little bit of obsession," I whisper.
"It's in my blood now, piccola," he says. "I couldn't hide it even if I wanted to. I couldn't take a proper breath until I saw you again."
One of his arms is around my waist, keeping my back from scraping against the wall. He buries his face in the crook of my neck and inhales deeply. At the same time, he buries himself inside me to the hilt.
I can feel him everywhere now.
"Look what you made me do, little girl," he says, his mouth opening against my neck and making everything inside me flutter. "You took an honest man, and you turned him into a monster. Daddy can't go a single day without your sweet pussy now."
My heels dig into his back. His hungry mouth moves down my body, leaving love bites all the way down to my breasts.
"And it's not my fault you're so eager to open these thighs for me," he says. "It's not my fault these nipples pout every time I walk into a room. They're begging to be sucked and spat on.”
He's bottoming out inside me with every thrust. He’s all I feel now.
"I thought I would have to hold you down, princess," he says. "I thought I would have to tie you up just so I could have my way with you. That's how deep this obsession runs. But you're such a sweet girl for Daddy. You know how to make me feel like the luckiest man on earth.”
My walls clench around him, making him curse.
"Do you want Daddy's come inside you, princess?" he asks.
I nod, filled with so much desire that I can't even think straight.
"Then beg for it," he says, wrapping his hand around my neck. "Beg me to breed your little pussy."
"Breed me, Daddy," I gasp. "I need your come inside me. I don't feel complete without it.”
Just when I thought I had experienced it all, he fucks me harder than ever before. The angle of his thrusts, combined with the force behind them, makes me see white.
Everything is glowing.
There’s magic in the air.
"Come on Daddy's cock, little girl," he says. "I want you soaking wet before I fill you with my seed."
My release slams into me so hard that it feels like an out-of-body experience. Euphoria floods my brain as I chant his name over and over again. My walls flex around him, enticing him to spill inside me.
He fucks me hard as I shatter for him.
"If anyone walked in on us right now, they'd think I was assaulting you,” he says.
"Little do they know that this is how you like it.
You like being thrown around like a whore before I reward you with my come.
Fuck, you're so fucking tight for me. It's no wonder I can't seem to stop coming inside you. "
I wrap my thighs tighter around him.
"Please, Daddy," I say. “Fill me up. I need it.”
He grabs my hips and slams me down on his cock, impaling me on his length. And then he fills me with rough, shallow thrusts that have me seeing stars.
"It has to be a secret, little girl," he says. "Nobody can find out that I whisk you down dark alleys just to fill you with my come."
"Okay," I whisper. "I'll be your secret."
"That's my good girl," he says, squeezing his eyes shut as he loses himself inside me.
He's masculine perfection. From the ridge of his Adam's apple to the high cut of his cheekbones, everything about him drives me wild. I love the way his stubble feels against my skin. I love the way his eyes look at me like he never wants to look at anything else ever again.
I love every little thing about him.
I love him.
The words reverberate inside my very bones.
I wrap my arms around him and hold him tighter as he comes inside me. Another wave of pleasure rocks through me, but it's duller than before.
I have a lot more on my mind now.
He presses a long kiss to my neck, then kisses me on my lips. A myriad of emotions sweeps me away, and I don't know what to make of any of them. He pulls back when he feels the shift in my energy.
"What's on your mind?" he asks.
"Do you mean the things you say?" I ask. "Or do you just say them in the heat of the moment?"
My eyes burn. My throat burns. My heart burns.
It's hard to have this conversation, but I don't want to live in a state of delusion.
"What is this about, Grace?" he asks.
"You haven't said a word to me all day. Do you have any idea how that made me feel?" I say.
He looks into my eyes.
He's still buried deep inside me. But I feel him inside me even when we're apart. I have it so bad, and I want him to say that he feels the same way about me.
"I missed you today," I say. "And you made it seem like you didn't care."
His eyes flare. "I already told you, Grace. I'm enraptured by you. So much so that it feels like a sickness. It's an affliction that's going to be a part of me until the day I die.”
I look into his eyes as he speaks.
I see devotion in them.
He said a lot of nice things. I can't help but notice that he didn't say anything about loving me back. I wait for him to say the words, but he doesn’t.
"I thought I scared you off after what I said to my sisters," I say. "I know you heard me."
He looks at me like he doesn't know what I'm talking about.
I guess I'll have to swallow my pride.
"I said that I loved you, Dante," I say.
I've never felt more vulnerable in my life. His eyes soften, but something in them tells me I won't like what he's about to say next.
"This world isn't made for love," he whispers. "There can be affection, desire, and marriage. But not love. Never love."
"You think it's a weakness to love?" I ask.
I see everything I need to see in his eyes. In them, I see everything his mouth refuses to say.
And this is how I find out that my love for this man is unconditional. Because it doesn't even matter that he won't say those three words back to me. I love him nonetheless.
"We signed a contract, Grace," he says. "And even if some things have changed since then—"
"Don't," I snap. "It's fine if you don't want to admit the truth to yourself. But please don't start lying to me now."
He looks conflicted.
I see it all so clearly in his eyes, but he refuses to say it out loud.
I've never been in love before, but I know exactly what this is. I don't know how he did it or when it happened, but somewhere along the way, this man carved out a space inside my heart. And he'll stay there for the rest of my life, even if we go our separate ways.
The very thought of being apart from him makes my heart squeeze.
I don't know if I'll survive it.
He's quiet as he pulls out of me. I cover my breasts with my arm.
For the first time, this feels like something dirty.
My shirt is in tatters on the ground. The evidence of his desire is all over my skin.
The evidence of his affection is all over his face, but it stings that he doesn't want to call it love.
He helps me into his suit jacket and buttons it up for me.
Instead of stepping away from me, he brushes his thumb over my cheek and tilts my head up. When he kisses me this time, it takes everything in me not to cry.
I wish my ego could get in the way of my feelings.
But the worst part is that I understand where he's coming from.
He takes my hand in his as we walk back to the hotel. The easiness from before is gone. I want to say something to lighten the mood, but I don't trust myself not to break down.
When we enter the penthouse, I notice that all of the lights are turned off.
But we're not alone inside the room.
Someone has been waiting for our return.