25. Dante
25
DANTE
From the moment I met Victoria, I should’ve known that nothing would go the way I planned. After heading to the States to be with my brother, getting the teaching job… finding her in my classroom without an invitation…
Leaving Italy has gotten me nothing but trouble.
And she’s trouble with a capital T.
I should’ve gotten on the next flight back to Italy the moment I laid eyes on her.
But Portofino doesn’t feel like anything but a distant memory. Victoria was always unexpected, but she became something precious, and I’ve never been known for my adaptability.
The reality of the situation is that I’m not ready for what comes next.
I have to make sure that Angelo’s mob is truly destroyed, with no hope of some go-getter goon revitalizing the organization in pursuit of vengeance. It’s why Enzo stayed to talk things over with me at the hotel. Why I walked away when it was clear she wouldn’t be opening the bathroom door any time soon. I thought I could leave Victoria unsupervised while my friend and I plotted. But when I didn’t hear her moving around in there once Enzo and I were done hashing out our next steps, I knew something was off.
I kicked the damn door off its hinges to get to her.
Now I have her and I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of her. Victoria is straddling my hips, glowering at me with clear annoyance in her sweet blue eyes, and I’m fucking hooked. Her dark curls frame her face as she prattles on about how she’s not going listen to me. How I can’t boss her around. How I’m throwing her away like a cheap whore, as if she means nothing to me.
She can talk all the shit she wants. None of it matters, not when I have her in my hands and I can practically smell her need for me.
But the moment she mentions my nephew? All bets are off.
Fuck that useless bastard.
Time to set my bratty bride straight.
“Guess I have no choice but to fuck the memory of him right out of you,” I muse.
“You can’t be serious,” she protests. “I don’t want you.”
“No?” I shift my hold of her, slipping one finger through her slick folds until I find the entrance to her cunt. Slowly, I press one finger inside. I feel her muscles tense and I growl, thinking she’s trying to flee my touch. But my growl softens into a satisfied rumble once I realize she’s only shifting to give me better access. To get me right where she wants me, my hand perfectly cupping her wet heat. “That’s a good girl, princess.” I add a second finger, pleased to feel her pussy clamping around me. “Let me make you come.”
Her plush lips part in a tempting pout, but Victoria quickly schools her features. I know my girl, know she’s going to do her best to keep her expression uninterested and her temper at the forefront of her mind.
She’s going to fail.
The attraction between us is too strong for either of us to fight. I may want a better life for her, but I’m not immune to the way she looks at me with a hunger for the pleasure only I can give her and the innocent need to belong to someone.
To belong to me.
I called myself a dumbass more than once as I tracked her fucking phone to find her tonight.
It wasn’t hard.
The woman underestimated me if she truly thought she’d be able to get away. It’s practically insulting. Obviously she had plans of her own and wasn’t thinking clearly.
Neither am I.
“Dante, please…” My name is a breathy whisper on her lips. A plea for mercy, for me to give her what she wants.
I’m not sure, in this moment, whether she wants her orgasm or to be left to pursue life on her own terms more.
Lucky for me, I’m a fucking bastard and I’m more than willing to press my advantage to better understand how to handle the firecracker of a woman in my arms.
“What do you plan on doing, princess?” I ask, genuinely curious. Could it be that she has a few surprises in store, that she has a better plan than the one I’ve made?
“Get a job and—” She exhales, clenching onto my shoulders for dear life as I pump my hand in and out of her in a punishingly slow rhythm. “Get a job and go back to class next semester.”
“School, huh?”
I should be proud of that.
I am.
Her dream has always been to go to Paris with Ellie. Mine is to make sure Angelo’s men don’t cut her life short.
“How many semesters do you have left?”
She presses her lips together and gives a small shake of her head, denying me the answers I want. Her breath hitches when I ease a third finger inside her. Then she moans, the sound so deep and throaty that my cock practically pulses against the zipper of my slacks. I shift my weight in my seat in an effort to relieve the painful ache.
“Th-three,” she sighs, melting until her forehead is resting on my shoulder.
“Then you graduate.” She bobs her head. “Can you get it done any faster?”
“Oh my God, I don’t know,” she moans into my chest, rocking her hips forward. The movement presses my fingers even deeper, and I’m pleased to see her shoulders shudder. “Maybe. If I j-just focus on…on one degree.”
My thumb slides to her clit and I start strumming small circles around the swollen nub. “Could you finish in Paris?”
“Dante,” she warns huskily. “I’m not letting you drop me off in Paris.”
“What if you had Ellie with you?” Her head lifts, her eyes locking on mine, and I can feel myself drowning in the azure depths. “I’ll pay for everything. I just need you to leave.”
“Why?” she urges. “Why is it so important to you that I’m gone?”
It’s not that I want her gone. It’s that offing a mafia boss isn’t ever the end of the story. And I’m having a hell of a time making her see that.
“Because when someone like Angelo dies, it creates a power vacuum,” I reply. “There’s probably already someone trying to take charge of the Lombardi crew right now. Working to come after us as we speak.” Even as I explain the nasty realities of mob politics, I keep stroking inside her, reveling in the wet sounds of her pussy sucking at my fingers.
“Th-they… don’t know… anything.” Victoria is panting, gasping for air between words, but my stubborn wife is determined to say her piece.
“We can’t be sure of that. The politician that bought you could be spreading all kinds of rumors about who was last seen with Angelo, who might have had the means and the motivation to kill him. The man is out more than three million dollars with nothing to show for it.”
Victoria’s fingers clutch at the fabric of my shirt. “H-how…much… trouble are we in?”
“With the cops, none. There’s no one who can do a clean-up job like Enzo. But I don’t want to stick around to find out who else might come after us.” I lean forward, helpless to resist the fluttering pulse point in her neck, and nip at her skin before soothing the bite with a swipe of my tongue. She groans and I can’t help but buck my hips in response. My cock is dripping, desperate to be inside her. Not yet. “Too many people saw us, princess, and I can’t be sure that we killed them all.”
She nods. I hope she understands that I’m not doing any of this to punish her. Rather, I couldn’t live with myself if something were to happen to this incredible woman.
“Twenty-four hours, princess,” I state firmly. “After you’ve come all over my hand, you’re going to hop this perfect little ass into the front seat so I can drive you back to say goodbye to Ellie. Then we’re getting on that plane, together. I’ll make sure you’re settled before I leave.” Her eyebrows pinch together, her nose wrinkling in distaste, but I press on. “Do you understand me?”
“Yes, I under—” I start fucking her harder, slamming my fingers deeper, faster, determined to banish any thought of disobedience from her mind. She tenses and I can feel her body battling with itself between whether to soften in surrender or maintain its rigid resistance.
Her stubborn will loses out.
I knew it would.
Victoria and I are two fires burning bright. It’s inevitable that one of us get burned, but I’ll be happy to take the hit.
“That’s my good girl,” I praise, tapping her clit, determined to give her everything she needs. Her hips grind into me, although she’s so close she can’t maintain a steady rhythm. I slide my free hand to her waist to guide her movements in sync with the thrusts of my fingers. “I promise I won’t leave until you’re comfortable. But I have to come back to deal with this mess.”
Her hips still and she presses back to look at me accusingly. “Dante… You don’t get it, do you?”
“I get it, sweetheart,” I croon, falling into those clear blue eyes. I have no idea if I’m doing the right thing. How exactly will this end?
Will things change?
Will she want someone new and leave me heartbroken? I have given her everything I can. I’ve fallen for this woman, but I’ll admit I haven’t truly let my guard down. I still carry the emotional scars from Gabriella and all the bullshit that bitch put me through.
Now that I’m on the other side—now that I’m the husband—I know I’d kill any motherfucker who dared touch her.
But I know she’d never betray me, never leave me if she had a choice.
Then why aren’t you jumping at the opportunity to keep her?
“What did I do wrong?” she asks and my heart plummets at her haunted expression, as if I really told her she was a mistake of epic proportions. “Why don’t you?—”
“I love you, Victoria. Let me handle this shit, please . I can’t chase my wife around and deal with this fucking shitshow.”
Her eyes widen in shock, and she rapidly blinks back tears as she processes my confession.
I can’t say I didn’t surprise myself either.
“Did you…”
I roll my eyes. Yes, I told her I loved her. “I’m not going to repeat myself.” The words are as much for me as for her. I’m not interested in making a fool of myself, but I’m not taking them back, either.
Victoria’s hands drop to my pants and she starts fumbling with the button.
“What are you doing?” She doesn’t answer in words, but after she frees my cock she slides her thumb from the swollen head down to my balls and her tongue darts out to swipe at her lips. Groaning, I lean forward and bite at her lower lip, pinching it sharply. She licks at my mouth before centering my length at her entrance.
I can already feel the heat of her pussy and my balls clench in anticipation. The thought of her riding me convinces me to remove my fingers. I wouldn’t fight her on this, not for anything in the world. There’s nothing that could keep me from sinking inside her and feeling her come on my cock. Nothing that could keep me from allowing this dark-haired beauty to claim sole possession of me . I’m hers. She owns every twisted part of me.
When she sinks onto my length, I groan in equal parts agony and pleasure. I fight to keep myself from pumping deeper into her. Holding still is a talent I haven’t developed or conquered yet, but I fight my base urges, for her. This is her moment. This is what she needs.
Still, what I need is to pound deep until I’ve found my release, until I’ve filled her with my seed.
Years in prison will beat the hope right out of you. After I got out, I never thought my life had room for anything beautiful in it. I never could have imagined finding myself a slave to someone so fucking beautiful as to be a near impossibility.
“Say it again,” she breathes, rising up and lowering back down at a torturously slow pace. “Don’t deny me, husband.”
That title on her lips… hearing it calls out to my long-forgotten sense of honor and to the primal side of myself that is determined to stamp the mark of my ownership on her soul.
Victoria deserves someone that will go to battle for her. That would move heaven and earth to give her what she needs. That would die for her.
It’s what she deserves.
I’ve been that person for her.
The thought is so fucking powerful that I snap my hips up, finding a new depth to her that my cock is all too eager to claim. She writhes in response, sinking so low that she grinds her clit over the base of my cock and we both moan at the sensation.
I can’t deny her a thing because I’m hers.
Anything she needs, whatever she wants, is already done. It’s hers.
“I said I love you, princess,” I growl, grabbing her ass and kneading the flesh there. “You ensnared me, enslaved me, and now I’m having a hard time freeing myself from your spell.”
Victoria cups the back of my head. Her full tits are practically in my face as she twists at my hair, forcing me to meet her gaze. “You’re loved here. This is where you’re meant to be. This is what is meant to be. Us, together, starting a new life without stupid debts and crazy arrangements.”
“Our marriage was a crazy arrangement.”
“It was your crazy arrangement. I didn’t suggest it.”
I tsk and thrust upward, filling her with my cock and pushing us to a faster rhythm. “You would’ve married me anyway, princess. You can’t deny that I’m deliciously handsome.”
“Devilish, maybe. Your attitude could use some work.”
My lips curl. Her sass will always be irresistible, even when it makes me want to turn her over my knee and spank her. “Maybe. But you like assholes. You’re the kind of princess that needs a villain to keep her in line.”
“I was doing just fine.”
“You lived a boring life.”
“Does this mean…” She pauses, hesitating to ask the question I know she wants an answer to.
Am I staying?
“A week,” I reply, a true asshole through and through. “You might find some hot baguette boy that tickles your fancy.”
Her nose wrinkles in disgust. “A baguette boy?”
“I’m sure there are plenty of pretty French bastards willing to flirt and show you around.”
Victoria scoffs. “That’s like trading a Ferrari in for a Honda Civic. I’d rather have a tall, dark, and handsome man willing to rip my panties off and slam me up against a wall to have his way with me.”
The idea of anyone but me treating her so roughly sends visions of violence dancing through my mind. Even though she’s describing me.
“Make sure you wait until I’m gone, princess. I might kill him if I see him do anything like that.”
“So jealous considering you’re the one who wants to leave.”
I drive into her, punishing her for her taunting tone. “I never said that, princess. Keep up. I’d hold onto you forever if I thought that’s what you really wanted.”
“I’ve already told you,” she groans, lacing her fingers through my hair and taking every bit of my rough treatment without complaint. If anything, it’s making her even wetter. “I want you. I don’t want anyone else.”
“Then let’s live together for real. See how you like how anal and bossy I am.”
She quirks a brow. “We’re doing anal now?”
Fuck. Me.
I inhale harshly. She’s going to kill me.
An array of lascivious thoughts fills my brain, the images flashing in and out like lightning. My balls tighten, and I’m on the edge of spilling deep inside her, on the edge of claiming her forever.
“Do you want kids?” The question escapes my lips before my brain can freeze my tongue and Victoria chuckles. I’ve never really imagined having my own kids. The responsibility never appealed to me. But I’d never deny Victoria the honor of becoming a mother. And, let’s face it, I’d never allow someone else the privilege of being the father of her children.
“With you? Or the baguette boy?”
Smart ass.
“Me.”
“I’ll tell you after a week.”
“I’m not keeping my come back for a week while you decide,” I retort. “I know you’re on the pill, but I plan on fucking you every second I have you, princess. No barriers.”
“Then you better pull out. Because until you tell me you’re fully committed to me, that you’re in this a hundred percent, I’m not giving you a damn thing, Dante Moretti.”
“You’d really deny me, Mrs. Mor?—”
Fuck.
“You didn’t take my last name.”
How the hell am I just noticing this now?
Victoria rolls her hips and I clench my teeth. She’s working me into a stupor and has nearly secured the win in this back-and-forth game.
I can’t lie to myself. I know I’m not going to win.
She can snap her fingers and I’d drop everything to give her whatever she asks for.
“I’m not taking it,” she whispers, leaning closer to my lips and laying the words directly over my mouth. “Not until I’m sure.”
“What do you want from me?” I practically beg. “For me to swear I’ll stay in your life forever, as your husband?”
She flicks my nose with one finger. “Bingo! There you go.”
Brat.
“You’re sure you know what you’re asking for?”
“Sure as it gets.”
“I won’t ever let you go.”
“That’s all I’ve ever wanted, Moretti.”
I slam my mouth into hers, tasting her sweet sunshine taste on my tongue. If she wants me so bad, Victoria can have me.
All of me.
I’ll show her what life with me would really be like and she can decide if she wants to keep me or not.
One week.
After that, she’s stuck with me forever.
Then she’s taking my last name.
“Alright, princess. You get a week. I’ll give you the full Dante Moretti experience,” I vow. “Then we’ll decide what our future looks like.”
“Sounds good.” She lays a sweet kiss at the corner of my mouth. It isn’t enough, not for me, and I chase her lips like a horny teenager when she pulls away. “I hope your dick doesn’t fall off in the meantime. I plan on being celibate until that’s settled.”
Motherfuck—
I slam her down onto my cock over and over again, punishing her for thinking she’ll be denying us our mutual pleasure. The car fills with her sweet cries and my deep moans.
I’m a man on a mission, determined to satisfy us both and make her so crazed with lust that that stupid little idea falls right out of her head.
It’s not just stupid.
It’s cruel.
And I bet my plan is the one that works.
“Fuck, Dante,” she mewls. “I’m going to come.”
“All over my cock, sweetheart,” I urge. “There’s no way in hell you’re keeping this pretty little pussy from me for a week. It’s mine .”
She hums, in indifference or agreement, I’m not sure. If I have to seduce her, I will happily do so. There’s no possible way my own wife is going to cockblock me.
And I did tell her I would show her everything that life with me entails…
I will fuck my wife every chance I get, every minute of the day if I can, and she’ll be calling my name each time she comes. There will be no denying that she belongs to me and only me.
Victoria screams as her orgasm racks her body, triggering mine, and I spasm and grind into her as her pussy milks my cock dry.
Her weight collapses onto me and I find myself pulling her closer, stroking my hands soothingly up and down the sharp points of her spine as she trembles in my arms. Each passing second is filled with a sense of belonging and love that I’ve truly never felt. The emotions are enough to choke me and I can’t help but feel that I’m drowning in everything Victoria is to me.
I knew my life would change after moving to the States.
I just didn’t know I’d find myself falling in love with a wife I never wanted.
Now I want to spend the remainder of my life holding her close, treasuring her, and pleasuring her.
I am well and truly fucked.