Chapter Eleven
Gabriella
I was spent. Two days of nonstop sex had made me delightfully pliable in both body and mind. So much so that I almost missed his instructions.
“Make sure you dress appropriately for the trip home.”
I was lost in La La Land, reliving our last session in the pool before coming upstairs to get cleaned up and begin preparing for the trip back to the city.
“I thought you were taking me to the safe house. Why would I need to dress for that?”
Tano straightened, his hands planted on his hips. “You haven’t been listening, have you? I said, we are going to the estate in the city and will stay there until after the wedding. Tonight, the immediate family is gathering for dinner to welcome you.”
Shit! That sounded like some serious pressure.
I didn’t come from a small family, but with my mother’s being MIA, and most of my father’s back in Italy, big family dinners were just the five of us and a few of the cousins who had migrated to Toronto to work for my father.
“How many are immediate?” I asked cautiously.
“It depends on if my mother’s sisters and their husbands are coming. She didn’t say, but if it is just the siblings, my mother and Nonna, and us, then twelve. But if the rest come, then add an additional twelve.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. This was the reality coming faster than I’d anticipated. I glanced down at the glittering stone on my finger. “I wasn’t planning on anything formal. I’m not sure anything I packed is appropriate.”
His eyes narrowed. “Did I tell you to pack a cocktail dress?”
Crap! He had, but I totally forgot. “Uh. Yes, but…”
“But what, Gaby?”
“I forgot. I’m so sorry, Tano.”
His eyes could have burned two holes right through me with the way his gaze was sizzling.
“If we had more time, I would plug and spank your bottom and put you in the corner. But that can wait until after dinner. When I tell you something, it’s for a reason.” His wintry expression suddenly shifted, his smile sunshine and rainbows, giving me whiplash again.
“Come, I will help you choose something.”
“Fine,” I grumbled.
We emptied my suitcase and found a cute little dress meant more for a day on a patio than a family dinner, but once paired with heels and my hair was up, I looked ready for anything.
I exited the bathroom. “How’s this?”
Tano spun his finger in the air for me to turn. I huffed before obeying him and turning a slow circle so he could see me from all angles.
“Something’s not right.” He frowned, his eyes narrowing. “Lift your skirt,” he demanded.
I was about to tell him to shove it where the sun doesn’t shine, but remembered I was already in trouble. Even if I couldn’t get out of my due punishment after dinner, I didn’t want to make it any worse. Or did I?
That excited me and I squeezed my thighs together as I slid the mid-thigh skirt of my dress up and over my hips.
“Ah, that’s the problem.” Tano reached out and pulled my panties up, making sure the fabric was taut against my clit, then ripped them along both sides and pulled them off. As before, he took a deep, savoring sniff and then tucked them into his pocket, ignoring my gasp of surprise.
“New rule. No underpants unless I say so,” he said with a smirk.
Son of a—what happened to Mr. Romantic from yesterday? He almost had me, but the newly found twinkle in his eye told me he was playing a game. Did all the Vitale men keep their women off balance?
“That sounds perfect. Hopefully, you’ll make me so hot that a wet spot will appear on my dress and then your entire family will know I’m not wearing panties. Maybe even wonder what that looks like.” Two people could play that game.
The darkening of his eyes and the compression of his lips told me this was no longer a game. At least not one he was enjoying.
Tano reached out and tugged me to him so fast, I tripped over my own feet and would have fallen if not for his grip. Held tight to his chest, the beating of his heart didn’t show the excitement that mine did. Tipping his head down, he claimed my lips so completely I became putty in his arms.
It wasn’t a saving grace, however. His hand gripped my hair as he tore his lips away.
His dark gaze bore into me with an intensity that belied the calm beat of his heart.
“You are mine, Gabriella. No one sees what is mine. And no one—I mean, no one—touches what belongs to me.” His hand came down on my naked backside.
The sound ricocheted around the room. “Understand that you are off limits to anyone. Your suggestive games are for me alone. Do you really want to be responsible for my family losing their eyes?”
His hand came down again with a loud crack.
The pressure had me pressed so tightly to his body, he had to lean back to chuck my chin and gaze into my eyes once more.
“You think me mean, but you grew up with too much leniency and you don’t realize that obeying an order from me could save your life.
I need you to tap into your submissive soul and allow that to lead you when I give you orders, Gabriella, especially when we are around my family. ”
The memory of the war room from my first visit to the Vitale estate flashed through my mind. There was no way I wanted a repeat of that.
“In our short time, you have wormed your way into my heart and I’m adamant about keeping you safe. Do you understand?”
Well, since he put it that way, I was more than happy to comply. “Yes, Tano, I understand.”
“Good girl. Do you want to freshen up?”
“Yes.” As I wobbled away toward the bathroom, I received another stinging swat and yelped.
I spun on my heel, almost falling over. “What was that for?”
“You didn’t say, ‘yes, sir.’”
Hmpf.
“Yes, Sir.”
“That’s my girl,” he responded.
I continued to the bathroom, closing and locking the door. Standing on the edge of the tub, I slid my dress up to look at my ass in the mirror. It had two bright red handprints. I ran my fingers gently over warm skin. My nipples pebbled inside my bra, begging to be tugged.
He wouldn’t know, would he? I stepped back from the floor-length mirror, and turned on the water in the sink. Then I pulled my dress back up and leaned against the cool tile. I bit my lip to keep from moaning aloud as I slid a finger between my slick folds, and with the other gripped my nipple.
For a few precious minutes I wasn't a pawn, a daughter, or a future wife. I was simply Gabriella. I quickened my pace, took my pleasure, and allowed myself to fly free. When my racing thoughts finally settled, I straightened and stared at my reflection.
Who was I becoming?
A nurse.
A wife.
A member of the Vitale family.
The thought should have excited me. Parts of it did.
But another part remembered exactly what it felt like to belong to a powerful family.
For so long, every decision in my life had been made by someone else. My parents. The family. Tradition. Expectations.
Now there was Tano.
The difference was that he cared what I thought.
At least, I believed he did.
Still, caring and understanding weren't always the same thing. Would there be room for my own dreams in the life he imagined for us?
For school?
For a career?
For the parts of myself I was still discovering?
I didn't have the answers.
What I did know was that I couldn't lose myself again. I'd fought too hard for the chance to choose my own future.
When my breathing finally steadied, I grabbed a washcloth, cleaned up, and gathered my toiletry bag.
Fifteen minutes later I emerged from the bathroom feeling far more composed. Tano eyed me suspiciously, his gaze lingering a moment longer than necessary, but he didn't say a word.
The ride back was a lot different than the ride there.
Engaged, and thoroughly screwed, I should have been the happiest girl in the world, but two things bothered me.
The most immediate was his family. Would they like me, or would they be judging me based on this very sudden engagement and even faster wedding?
The other was the obedience thing. It would be in the vows, I had no doubt.
Tano, Dr. Vitale, demanded that very thing in the workplace and the staff willingly gave it as he was considered one of the top ten surgeons in all of the United States and of course was the head of the hospital.
Also, he paid the staff better than any other hospital and they loved him for it.
What happened after the drama was over and we were married? Would he let me go to school and finally finish my degree? Or was I being too optimistic?
School had always been the plan. Even when my parents expected me to marry well and represent the family, I’d secretly imagined something more. A degree. A career. A life built from my own choices instead of family expectations.
Running away hadn’t changed that dream.
If anything, it had strengthened it.
I wanted to finish what I started.
I wanted my name on a diploma.
I wanted to walk into a room and have people see Gabriella Calabretta, not somebody’s daughter, somebody’s wife, or somebody’s bargaining chip. The thought made me glance at the ring glittering on my finger.
Gaetano had never asked me to give up my dreams. But then again, neither of us had discussed what came after the Russians, after the wedding, after all the chaos surrounding us settled.
Would he expect me to stay home? Would he support my education? Would he still look at me the same way if I insisted on having ambitions beyond being his wife? The questions lingered, unanswered and uncomfortable.
The closer we came to the city and Tano’s home, the more I was haunted by questions without answers.
“You’re quiet, piccina. What is troubling you?”
Before I could formulate my response, Tano’s phone beeped with an incoming call. His call screen said it was Romeo. Even seeing that name made me shrink in my seat, remembering the scary man and his large enforcer.
“We’re on our way.” Tano answered irritably.