Chapter Thirty-One
Lily
When we get out of the building where the gala is being held, our limousine is already waiting.
My feelings are a confused mess of trepidation, dread and exhilaration.
Damiano has my arm in his iron grip and is steering me to the waiting car.
He helps me inside and closes the door. Hazily, I wonder if I should make a run for it but I am in a funk, and when he comes in through the other door, the opportunity is gone.
I watch him from the corner of my eye from the far end of the seat, heart hammering.
He doesn’t speak. He removes his jacket slowly, methodically, folding it neatly before tossing it onto the seat.
Then his fingers move to his bowtie. He unknots it with a patience that feels more dangerous than rage.
The partition slides up with a soft whir, cutting us off from the driver.
We are completely alone. My pulse spikes. My mouth goes dry.
Then, with terrifying speed and determination, he grabs me, wrapping one powerful arm around my waist, capturing my wrists with the other as he hauls me across his lap.
I gasp, stunned. My wrists are deftly bound with his silk bowtie before I can find my breath again.
I twist, more in instinct than resistance, but his grip tightens.
“Did you think I wouldn’t catch you?” His voice is low and dangerous, lips brushing the shell of my ear. “Did you think you could run from me again and there wouldn’t be consequences?”
I tremble, my body taut with a strange mix of indignation and heat. “I wasn’t—”
He cuts me off with a sharp swat to my backside. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough to shock. The sound of it echoes in the silence of the car, and I freeze. Outrage flares in me. “You did not just—”
Another swat, firmer this time. My gasp morphs into something breathless, my hips shifting involuntarily. My skin burns beneath the silk of my dress, heat blooming across me like wildfire.
“You don’t get to lie to me, little flower,” he seethes, another slap falling, sharp and precise, and I cry out from the sting. “You ran. Again. And now I’m reminding you who you belong to.”
“You are insane,” I hiss, but my voice cracks at the edges when more slaps rain on my ass, amplifying the sting into heat, like molten lava coursing through my veins.
“Maybe,” he murmurs, his tone dropping into something darker.
He slides his palm over the curve of my backside, bunching the dress up to soothe the sting with a slow caress of his hand.
“But you make me this way. Your defiance. Your impossible little mouth.” He trails kisses down my neck, his breath hot against my skin.
My anger is tangled with lust now, my thighs pressing together helplessly.
I hate how much I need him in this moment.
Hate how every strike seemed to stoke the fire inside me, not snuff it out.
“Say it,” he demands against my throat, his fingers tightening around my bound wrists. “Say you’re mine.”
I don’t want to. I do. My pride is bruised, but my body is melting. “You’re such a bastard,” I breathe, shuddering.
He chuckles darkly. “And yet, here you are. Soaked through your dress. Writhing on my lap.”
Then, without a word, he shifts me, lifting me like I weigh nothing and settling me upright in his lap, my knees straddling his thighs, my bound wrists resting against his chest. He fists his hands in my hair and angles my head so my throat is bared to him.
I can barely breathe. His eyes are molten, locked on mine with a hunger that’s no longer about control alone. It’s raw, intense need.
“You drive me insane,” he says, voice rough. “You make me reckless. You make me weak.” His eyes are blazing with unconcealed lust as they lock with mine. “My purpose, my obsession. You are mine,” he rasps against my lips.
His grip on my hair tightens and I whimper from the pain shooting through my scalp.
His mouth crashes against mine, his tongue sweeps in and he viciously kisses me, all tongue and teeth conquering and ripping my last shred of sanity away.
When he pulls my head back, his eyes are wild, his breathing ragged.
“On your knees. Now.” He voices his command in a low growl and my body immediately obeys. Before my mind can catch up, I am kneeling between his parted legs on the car floor.
“Show me what a good girl you are and I will let you come.”
With shaking fingers, hands still bound, I undo his belt and unzip his pants.
Then I pull his already hard cock out and moan on seeing him hard and big in my hands.
I look up at him and desire slams into me, leaving me breathless.
His extended arms are resting on top of the backrest on each side of him, his eyes smoldering down at me like I am his last meal on earth.
I look back at his cock and see a drop of precum at the tip.
I lap it up and hear his sharp hiss. Empowered, I take the head into my mouth and swirl my tongue around it.
“That’s it, sweetheart. Just like this.” His deep rumble is sending shivers into my belly. I take him slowly into my mouth as deep as I can.
“Ahh yes, such a good girl,” he grits out as if he were in pain.
When I feel him at the back of my throat, I try to relax to take him even deeper, then I move up and back down again in a slow, sensuous rhythm.
When I look up, his eyes are still on me, hungry and feral.
His hands are gripping the backrests so hard his knuckles are white.
I wrap my tongue around his cock, stroking and licking along the ridges and thick veins.
My arousal is driving me into a crazed state.
I snake my bound hands down between my thighs and start to touch myself through my panties.
“Ah-uh, sweetheart,” his harsh voice orders.
“You get to come when I say so, not before. Hands on me.” I whimper but I obey, awkwardly gripping the base of his cock with one hand and massaging his balls with the other.
I bob my head up and down on his cock, sucking more forcefully, as if I could punish him for depriving me.
His groan is one of agony, and I feel somewhat avenged.
Suddenly he clamps his hands around my head.
“Stop, I can’t last longer. I want to come deep in your pussy.
” He pulls my hands up and unties my wrists, kissing and licking the faint red marks.
Then he hauls me up, and in one movement he has ripped my dress and my panties off of me before sitting me on his lap so that I am straddling him again, his cock mere inches from my pulsing core.
I want to slam down on him, impale myself, but he holds me up by my waist while he rips my bra down with his teeth, baring my breasts to him.
His mouth descends on my nipple and he sucks and circles it with his tongue.
I throw my head back in ecstasy and hold onto his broad shoulders, dimly hearing my unrestrained moans filling the small space.
“Dark.” I’m not above begging anymore. “Please…”
“Please what, sweetheart? Say it.”
“Please fuck me. Let me come,” I whine.
“Are you going to be a good girl for me?”
“Yes, yes!” I sob.
He slams me down on his cock with a loud groan and I cry from the sudden but delicious intrusion. His cock is stretching me, filling me completely. I am so far gone I almost come on the spot. I rock on him and circle my hips to get the friction just right.
“Oh God, yes!” I cry out. When he pinches my nipple hard, I am delirious with lust. My hands are tangled in his hair and I pull his mouth to me for a kiss that has our teeth and tongues clashing.
His growls are now wild, his hips thrusting upward hard.
His cock begins to pulse. He breaks the kiss and buries his face in the crook of my neck to bite down. I am so close.
“Come for me, right fucking now!”
I come with a cry, my pussy convulsing around him. His cock swells then jerks as his hot cum fills me in pulsating jets. Our hoarse cries fill the car as we shatter together.
When our orgasms recede we are left panting, with him still inside me.
I rest my head on his shoulder, trying to recover my breath.
He has his hand splayed on my back, massaging it in circles.
Then he picks up his jacket and wraps it around me.
The car is not moving anymore. Mortified, I climb from Damiano’s lap and pull the lapels of the jacket around me.
My dress and underwear are in shreds and I am left in nothing else than my heels.
Damiano rights himself then pulls me out of the car after he gets out.
I see that we are in his underground garage.
He picks me up and carries me bridal style to the elevator.
He puts me down on my feet to tap in the code and we ride up in silence.
I’m still dazed by the mind-blowing sex.
When the elevator arrives at the penthouse, Damiano picks me up again and walks to the door to put his palm on the detector as if I weigh nothing.
Then he carries me inside and takes us to the shower stall of the suite.
He sits me on the sink and removes his clothes.
I watch him, enthralled by his movements, which make his muscles ripple.
The ink on his body seems to come to life and I want to trace every swirl with my finger.
He stalks to me to grip the jacket I still have on, and my eyes catch a design on his chest.
“Dark.” My breath hitches. I put my fingertips on the delicate flower and trace the petals of the single white lily resting over the spot where his heart is. He catches my hand in his and I look up into his eyes, searching for an answer. He nods once, his gaze serious.
“Wh-when did you get this?” I’m baffled, my mind free falling.
He looks away, his jaw clenched. “When you were on the run.”
He’s had it all this time? “But…why?” I can’t wrap my head around this information.
“I had to have you close or I was going to lose my mind. Come now, little flower. Let’s shower.”
With these words, he unstraps my heels and pushes the jacket from my shoulders, then he carries me to the shower to put me down in the stall.
He turns on the shower and proceeds to wash us with single-minded intent.
I’m too stunned to offer any help or resistance.
All I can do is stare at the flower etched permanently on his skin.
It blends in beautifully with all the other darker tattoos, but it also stands out as the single luminous detail.
Something warm coils in my belly. I am engraved on his skin, as if I left my mark on him and he was now mine.
Is that what I want? To have him for myself?
I am still pondering my feelings when we are showered and he wraps me in a soft towel. He takes my jaw in his hand and tilts my head back so our eyes lock.
“Make no mistake, you are mine. Whether you want to be or not.” His gaze is intense and my heart rate picks up. This man is wreaking havoc in my mind, in my heart, and there is nothing I can do to shield myself. So I do the only thing I can do. I move closer to him and stand on tiptoes to kiss him.
He immediately deepens the kiss and wraps his arms around me, pulling me flush against him, and kisses me senseless.
My mind dazedly registers that the backs of my legs are now pressed against the bed.
I didn’t even notice moving out of the bathroom.
Our lips are still locked, but along the way I’ve lost the towel and our naked bodies are tightly pressed together.
He gently pushes me down on the bed and settles himself on top of me with infinite care, kissing and nipping my lips.
Then he is trailing kisses along my jaw and descending to suck my nipples.
Soon fire engulfs me and I surrender myself to him and his hot kisses.
He moves back up and positions himself at my opening, pushing himself inside so slowly that I feel him fill me inch by agonizing inch. I whimper and urge him to go deeper.
He holds himself up on his forearms, then cages my head between his hands, angling my face so that our eyes are locked.
His pupils are so blown his eyes are black and I am drowning in their depths.
He rocks his pelvis slowly….so slowly, I think I will go insane.
I want more of him. His gaze holds mine while he draws out and drives back in, picking up speed at last. Then his mouth descends on mine in a slow kiss so sensuous that my body combusts.
I dig my nails into his back, pulling him closer to me, deeper inside me.
Our breaths are ragged pants. He releases my head to grip my thigh with one hand and angles my leg up to go even deeper and I am delirious with lust. His thrusts become more forceful and my pussy pulses around him.
I am going to come. His eyes are still on me, intent and unwavering.
Suddenly I shatter. My orgasm slams into me and I let out a hoarse cry. He rides my orgasm with me, then his movements become less controlled, until he throws his head back and comes with a loud groan.
I wrap him in my arms when he lets himself sag down, holding himself up on his forearms so he doesn’t crush me, and buries his face in my neck, inhaling deeply.
We stay like this for an eternity, our breathing and heartbeats as one.
I am not sure what happened, but it has left me raw.
Tears begin to gather in the corners of my eyes and I cannot fathom what exactly triggered them.
I let out a small sniff and Damiano moves on his side, pulling me against him so my face is resting against his chest. I feel warm and secure and soon my eyes flutter closed.
I have this nagging feeling that things have shifted, but I can’t put my finger on what exactly has changed.
Then it hits me from the recesses of my exhausted brain.
He did not restrain my wrists once, or pound into me from behind.
He was not forceful or controlling, and our eyes were locked all the time.
Did we just make love?
When sleep pulls me under, my last conscious thought is that I have fallen in love with Damiano.
Hard.