Chapter Thirty-Two
Lily
I feel warm and safe. I smile and snuggle into the warmth, not wanting to open my eyes just yet. Were the pillows as comfortable yesterday?
Wait, this is not a pillow. I open my eyes and blink. My face is pressed against a chest. A very broad and nice-looking chest.
Damiano.
He slept with me in the bed. My breath catches in my throat. Our legs are tangled, his arm is wrapped around my waist and I don’t move, afraid to wake him.
Instead, I take in his tattoos by daylight. The designs are beautifully done, the patterns seamlessly melting into each other. And there is the lily. I didn’t dream it up last night.
I want to touch it, caress his hard chest and feel his warm skin under my fingers. How would he taste if I followed the patterns with my tongue?
“Like what you see?” His husky voice makes me jump and utter a very undignified squeak. I look up at his face and find him smiling, eyes still closed. He opens them slowly and I am mesmerized by the amber ring around his pupils. I come to my senses when he chuckles and kisses me on the nose.
Mortified to be caught ogling him, I quickly turn away to flee but his arm tightens around my waist and I am pulled with my back flush against his chest. He is hard against my buttocks.
He buries his face in my neck with a gravelly groan and nuzzles me while he pushes his hips against my ass.
My body immediately responds and I feel myself getting wet. What is he doing to me?
He lets his hand wander down to my pussy and he rumbles.
“So wet already. Fuck, I love how you are so responsive.” He nibbles on the shell of my ear while his fingers caress my folds, and I let out a needy whimper.
Then he inserts two fingers inside me while his palm massages my pussy and I let out a moan. “What is it, love?”
“Please, Dark.”
“Say it,” he orders while stroking me slowly.
“I…I need you.”
“Mmhh, what do you need me for?” he teases while he starts pinching my pebbled nipples with his other hand.
Gah! That infuriating man.
“Please, I need you to fuck me.”
His satisfied rumble travels straight to my core. “Then I shall comply.” He hikes my leg up and spreads my thighs. Then he pushes into me from behind, still caressing my clit, and I almost come from the onslaught of sensations.
“So hot, so tight. It feels so good to be inside your perfect pussy.” His hands grip my hips and he thrusts forward in long, hard strokes.
He moves his hand up and puts my fingers on my lips.
“Taste yourself, love. Taste how delicious your arousal is.” I open my mouth and take his fingers in my mouth, licking and sucking, aroused by his almost feral growls. “Fuck, what you do to me.”
His grip on my hip intensifies and his thrusts become harder.
I feel my impending orgasm and push back against his thrusts, chasing after my pleasure.
Then my climax hits me and I convulse around him with a cry.
He shouts, then pulses inside. We slump against each other and stay like this for an eternity, waiting to recover our breaths.
* * * *
I exit the shower to the smell of coffee and the sound of his low voice speaking on the phone in the kitchen. By the time I pad out to find him, he’s dressed in a crisp shirt and slacks, his hair damp from a shower, looking too good for a man who wrecked me less than an hour ago.
“I have to leave for a few days,” he says once he hangs up, tone quiet but regretful. “Business.”
Something tugs at my heart, a heaviness I hadn’t expected. I try to mask it with a smile. “Okay.”
He watches me carefully, like he can sense I’m about to ask for something. And he is right.
“I’d like to go to my sister’s while you’re away. Only the women are there. Father is out of town, and I…I miss her.” He frowns. “You promised me I could spend time with her.” I hate how desperate I sound.
His brows lift slightly, thoughtful. “Only if you agree to around-the-clock protection.”
I blink. “You mean like…bodyguards?”
“Yes. Two of them. At all times.”
I want to argue, but I don’t. “Fine. Deal.”
His shoulders relax a fraction, then he crosses the room to me. He cups my face, thumbs brushing my cheeks, and I lean into his touch before I can stop myself. “I’ll be back soon,” he murmurs.
“You better be,” I say, trying to keep it light, even though my chest is aching. He hands me a cup of coffee and seats me on his lap for breakfast, making me aware how much of a habit it has become for me to be near him.
* * * *
Shortly before noon, he stops the car at my father’s driveway.
Another car stops behind ours. My two bodyguards file out and take position on the front porch.
Damiano rounds the car to open the passenger door and holds his hand out to me to help me get out.
I take his hand and he tugs me toward him so hard I crash against his chest. He grips my hair at the back of my head to angle my face up and sinks his gaze into mine.
The air is charged with sexual tension even though we were satiated mere hours ago.
“Be a good girl and behave,” he murmurs against my lips. As if he’s flipped a switch, my throat is dry and my panties wet. God, this man makes my body react like no other. I lick my lips and his gaze snaps down to follow the movement. The growl he utters holds nothing human.
He tugs me against him and buries his face in my neck, keeping me flush against him for several beats. . Long enough to make my breath hitch. “I’ll call,” he promises.
“Okay.”
“I’ll miss you.”
I don’t trust myself to speak. I can only nod.
And when he kisses me, slow, deep and full of everything he’s not saying, I kiss him back like it’s the last time.
He pulls away and stares at me for one long heartbeat.
Then he turns and goes into the car to drive away.
I watch him go, already counting the days until he comes back.
* * * *
A few hours later, I am sitting with Chiara and Daria in the living room.
The sun filters through the tall windows, bathing the pale rose walls in a soft golden glow.
The gilded tea table is laid out with delicate porcelain cups, tiny fruit tarts and a crystal dish of clotted cream that looks almost too perfect to touch.
Chiara is seated beside me on the loveseat, her arm brushing mine now and then as she laughs at one of her own stories.
Across from us, Daria perches like a bird, poised in one of the antique chairs, her spine straight, her hands folded over a linen napkin.
She’s smiling. Sweetly. That seems a bit odd, but I’m too relaxed, too happy to care.
“It’s lovely to see you looking so well, Lily,” Daria says, her voice smooth like dripping honey.
“Damiano’s clearly been taking very good care of you.
” There’s something in the way she says it that could be a barb, but the words are too pleasant, her expression too polished.
Still, it makes my skin prickle faintly. I shrug and sip my tea.
“I’m…lucky, I suppose.”
Daria smiles again and reaches to pour another cup for Chiara. “Luck has very little to do with it, darling. Some women just know how to secure a powerful man.”
Chiara makes a face behind her teacup, and I try not to laugh.
“Mama.” She sighs. “Please don’t start.”
Daria waves a hand as if to dismiss her own comment. “I’m simply complimenting her. Honestly, Chiara, you’re always so quick to bristle.”
But Chiara isn’t paying attention anymore. She is watching me now, eyes narrowing slightly.
“Lily? Are you okay?” I blink. My cup trembles a little in my hand.
“Yeah, I just… I suddenly feel…weird.”
Chiara is already shifting closer. “You look pale.” I try to sit up straighter, but my limbs feel oddly heavy, like someone’s slipped weights into my veins. The room tilts slightly. A soft ringing starts in my ears.
“I think…I need to lie down,” I murmur, placing the teacup back onto the saucer with shaking fingers. It clinks too loudly.
“Lily?” Chiara’s voice sharpens. Daria stands but doesn’t move toward me.
She merely watches. The ringing in my ears grows louder.
Then, like someone’s pulled a curtain over my mind, the edges of the world begin to blur.
My muscles give out. I slump sideways into Chiara’s arms as my vision starts to go black.
The scent of roses and tea becomes too strong, cloying.
“Lily! Lily!” Chiara’s voice is panicked now, cutting through the dark. Her hands are cupping my face, shaking me gently.
“Lily, stay with me!”
But I can’t. The last thing I hear is her voice breaking on my name before everything goes silent.