11. Matteo
CHAPTER 11
MATTEO
I knock on the door of the office.
“Come in.”
Heaven is leaning against the desk in the center of the room, arms folded over her chest. I can see the bruises more clearly in the overhead light. She’s still dressed in the same gray T-shirt and jeans, still wearing the baseball cap pulled down low over her eyes.
I don’t need to see those green beauties to feel the heat they emit. And it’s not the good kind, either.
It’s of the deadly variety.
One thing I’ve learned through my limited interactions with this woman is that her spark is always ready to ignite, and the flames singeing my ass will be the least of my concerns. It riles my baser instincts. Turns me on. And I almost smile.
“How long has this arrangement been a thing?” she asks with a sharp edge to her voice.
I cross the room and pull the cap from her head, fanning the soft, long red hair of her ponytail with my fingers. She doesn’t flinch. Just raises her chin, face impassive. Only the emerald fire in her eyes blazes with the fury that runs livewire hot through her.
“Does it matter, amore mio ?” I’m not sure why I keep calling her my love, but I like the way it throws her off her game. She might not know what the words are, but she understands the meaning.
“Do not call me that.”
“I’ll call you whatever I fucking please, la mia bella ragazza .”
She licks her lips and my gaze falls to the small movement that makes my cock twitch. “It matters, asshole.”
“I prefer Matteo.”
“And I prefer not to see you again, but here we are.”
I smile, sliding my hand to her shoulder and up along her throat, the heat and silk of her beneath my fingertips almost an aphrodisiac.
“How long?” she asks again.
“Long enough.”
Her eyes narrow. “This is what the business meeting has always been about.”
“What do you think, Heaven?”
“That you’re a cocksucker.”
“Never tried, actually. Not my thing. Your pussy, on the other hand…”
She stiffens but doesn’t make a move, even as a muscle in her jaw tics. “There are other ways.”
“This suits my purposes. You suit my purposes.”
“And what happened today? Was that you?”
I don’t change my expression. “Why would I want to harm my bride-to-be?”
“To make me marry you.”
I lean in, placing my mouth to her ear. “I can think of more…pleasurable ways, Heaven, than having you beaten up.”
And it’s true. I didn’t want anyone harming her.
“Do you know what it’s like to have your life signed over to a fucking stranger?” Heaven suddenly launches at me, shoving me hard in the chest.
I could grab her and stop her easily. I could shove her back. But I don’t do either. “Your family fucked up. Your brother fucked up, and to keep everyone safe, you’re going to marry me.”
“Do you want a medal?” She shoves me again and I deliberately go backward, letting her advance.
“Your father knows what he stands to lose if you and your family are vulnerable and exposed. This morning was just a warning to let you know they’re coming in hot. And they will destroy everything, Heaven. Unless someone can ward them off. I’m that someone, like it or not.”
“And just like that, my father trusted you? He basically handed me over on a silver platter with no guarantee that you’d be able to deliver on your ‘job requirements’?”
“He’s a smart man. He knows the risks to his empire if he tries to battle the cartel on his own. They have large armies, not just here in Manhattan, but all over New York City and up and down the Eastern Seaboard. They will incinerate your livelihood. A bloody and terrible war will begin, and you’ll be lost in all of it.”
“Are you trying to scare me?”
My back hits the wall and she’s there, right there, up close and in front of me. And I look at her, considering my next words. “You should be.”
“Unless I marry you? Because it’s the only way?” Her sarcasm radiates alongside her anger. “Because I’m not afraid. I’m capable of defending myself.”
I trace a fingertip over the side of her bruised face. “Yeah, I can see that.”
She smacks away my hand. “Take your hand the fuck off of me!”
“But not against Dominguez,” I say as I take hold of her and turn us, so her back is against the wall and her wrists tight in both my hands.
I press against her, sliding a thigh between hers.
Her breath is fast and uneven as she looks up at me, and the heat of her radiates out, infiltrating me. Her body, flush against mine, is soft and perfect, her tits…
I meet her gaze. “And not against me, amore mio .”
“There are other ways to do this than marry me. And don’t think I don’t know that.”
“Maybe I can’t resist your abundant charms.”
“Or maybe you can’t resist the opportunity to get your hands on the power we hold, the position our family has in this world.”
She’s definitely the smart one, and I lean into her, my face skimming the line of her throat, lips whispering against her skin. I lift my head, our faces so close, and her mouth parts a little, almost like an involuntary invitation.
“It really doesn’t matter, Heaven. Fact is, I have you, and to protect your family you’re going to put my ring on and play the part of dutiful wife.”
Her green eyes turn hard, even as she struggles to control the fires within. “On paper. In public. But?—”
“In every fucking way possible,” I say, smiling slow. “Emphasis on fucking.”
“Christ, you’re a disgusting asshole.”
“That’s not what you thought last night when you didn’t know who it was between those lovely thighs of yours.”
I want to kiss her, I realize. I want to lay claim to what’s mine, to mark her, brand her. And even as she fights it, the dilation of her pupils, the high heat that stains her cheeks with color, the uneven rise and fall of her tits, and the slight rub of her pussy against my thigh—so slight I doubt she knows she’s doing it—tell me she wants that, too.
I let her go and make her wait. The longer I play, the more malleable she’ll become.
Easier for me to control.
I step away from her.
“Asshole.”
“Today would never have happened if we were already together.”
“Why? Because they’re afraid of you?” she asks, crossing her arms over her beautiful tits.
I lift an eyebrow. “That’s exactly why. Same reason why your father came to me.”
“My father isn’t afraid of you!”
“He’s afraid of what will happen if he isn’t aligned with me. Right now, I’m in the shadows. I operate for a price and I’m ruthless. By aligning with your family, with the power of Sicily behind me, I’m making a statement, taking your family off the table. Dominguez will start a bloodbath when he discovers who killed his second, yes. But not if that family is under my protection. Unlike you, he knows how the game is played.”
“I won’t sleep with you.”
I smile. “Oh, but you will. And you’ll beg for my cock. Just like you did last night.”
“You and your freaky, twisted sex shit? Never.”
“You loved my freaky, twisted sex shit,” I say, moving in once again and blocking her path around me. “Don’t try to deny it. You may have come looking for dirt on me , but you found out you liked it even more smeared all over yourself.” She tries to hit me, but I capture her wrist in my hand. “Don’t,” I whisper. “Not unless you want me to punish you.”
“Oh, you’d hit me?” she asks, pushing against me. “You’d beat on your fiancée, Matteo? Is that how your kind deals with their women?”
“Punish,” I say, gently cupping her chin in my hand and raising her face to me. Her green eyes glitter with arousal and fury. “And we both know after last night just how much you’ll enjoy it. But I can make it wait. I can withhold your orgasms or force them upon you until either way you scream for mercy.”
“Torture?”
I move her back into the door again and press against her, not releasing her chin as I let her feel my arousal. A soft sound escapes her bruised lips, like she’s drowning, yearning, fighting a losing battle. Like she’s lost in a way she doesn’t understand.
“Of the exquisite kind, Heaven. The kind where you come back and beg for more. Like last night.”
A bright red flush creeps into her cheeks. “It was just new to me. I’d never?—”
“You fucking loved it,” I say, “and that was a mere taste, a hint, of the pleasures I can bring you, of the pleasure and passion I can tease from you.”
“I—”
“There are two ways to do this. Choose the one that will bring you pleasure, Heaven. The kind you can’t even dream of. The kind you glimpsed…and loved.”
Her eyes flutter shut at my low tones, and she sways in. I let her go, even though my body throbs with needs I want to unleash on her and have her fulfill. Her on her knees, my cock in her mouth. Her bent over the sofa and me pounding into her. Stripping her slowly and bringing every inch of her to life until she begs me to shatter her.
But instead, I step back and wait. Her eyes snap open and she glares at me, taking in the stillness. “Or I can straight up punish you by walking the fuck away and letting the cartel drink your family’s blood. Every single one, even your lovely aunt, will be tortured and die.”
I pull the small box from my pocket and hold it out on the palm of my hand.
“Easy, hard, or not at all. It’s up to you. Blood on your hands or people kept safe.” I’m partially lying. They’ll be kept safe. Right up until I get everything I want from her and her family.
Once I win Heaven over, once I own her body and soul and heart, she’ll willingly sign over everything to me, and when the carnage clears and the bodies are gone, this pivotal stronghold will belong to me.
Just like New York.
“And they’ll be safe?” she asks.
“Yes.”
“You’ll take a woman who doesn’t want you for money?”
“I’ll take a woman I want.” My hand’s still out, still steady. “I don’t need your money. I have money. I have plenty of everything. And now, I have you.”
She swallows, gaze going to the box, then back to me. “Why would you want someone who doesn’t want you?”
“You want me, Heaven. Lie all you want with that mouth of yours. But actions don’t lie. Your body doesn’t lie. And me wanting you, you wanting me, that’s a perk. Solid family ties are more lucrative than a wad of cash in your bank account. Leverage gives me power. Having you by my side gives me and you power.”
“I won’t give up on my plans for the future,” she says, sticking her hands on her hips. “Don’t think I’m going to be a good little wifey to you. I have goals and being married to you won’t stop me from reaching them.”
“I sure as hell hope not. I’m counting on you fighting to achieve everything you deserve. In fact,” I say with a smile. “I’m going to do everything in my power to help you.”
I flip open the top of the box in my palm.
Heaven gasps, and her eyes glimmer like the large rock staring back at her. She doesn’t make a move. “Am I supposed to wear this?”
“It’s customary. Take it. Put it on.” Our gazes meet. “Now.”
She reaches out to graze it, quickly retracting her finger as if she’s touched a hot coal instead of a diamond.
“I can do it for you.”
“No.” Her eyes narrow and she snatches it, shoving it on her finger. It fits perfectly.
“It suits you.”
“It’s like a prison uniform,” she snaps. “Let’s go.”
Most women would melt over such a large, perfect rock. Not Heaven. And for some reason I prefer this reaction to one of melting, simpering oohs and aahs over a piece of expensive jewelry.
“Oh.” She looks at me, her hand on the doorknob. “Don’t think you’re getting laid any time soon. Unless of course, you’re into rape.”
I smile. “Is that a challenge?”
“A statement.”
“As I said, you’ll be begging. Maybe not tonight, but soon.”
Heaven laughs as she pulls the door open and the music and noise from the bar rushes in.
“Soon? I don’t think so. I hope your hands don’t cramp up,” she says, stepping into the hall. “Because they’re gonna be working really hard for a long time.”
“Heaven?”
She stops but doesn’t look at me.
“We’re not finished tonight. Not by a long shot.”
And then she walks away, leaving me staring after her.
For the first time, I wonder what the fuck I’ve gotten myself into with her.
Whatever it is, for as long as it lasts, I realize I’m looking forward to it.
Pity she won’t make it through alive.