Chapter 5
DANTE
I’ve never had a problem figuring out when a woman wants me. And Raquel Bianchi definitely does. She’s practically ripping off my clothes and wants me to do the same to her.
If I wanted to fuck her, all I’d need to do would be push her just enough to make her beg for it. She seems a little shy, and that makes me want her even more. I bet underneath all that, she’s fucking wild. I enjoyed toying with her about the cameras a little too much.
If she was on them, I’d watch those videos on repeat.
But I have to be careful with what I say. I might know her more than she realizes, but I’m only a stranger to her. A hot stranger, apparently. It was damn adorable the way she blushed when she said that.
“I have to go to work in a bit,” I tell her as we continue to enjoy breakfast. “Feel free to go to the pool or roam around. Eat anything from the fridge. My house is your house.” My hand combs through my hair. “Oh, and in a few hours, my cook will be stopping by.”
“You have a cook?” Her mouth drops open just a little.
“Of course.” I cut into my pancake. “I might know how to make a meal, but I don’t have the time to do it. You’ll love Janet.”
“I don’t mind cooking for us.” She shuffles in her seat while I eat, looking at her empty plate before I catch her eyes again.
“Really?” I lower my voice, gazing at her.
Her cheeks brighten into a deeper shade of pink the more I drink her in.
“Do you cook naked? Because that’s the only way I’d want you cooking for me.”
I can’t stop teasing her, pulling her beyond the comfort level she’s used to. I want those cheeks to blush again.
“Not usually.” She bursts into a nervous laugh, her lower lip trapped between her teeth…and yep, there are those pink cheeks again. “I much prefer to cook with clothes on.”
I don’t stop staring at her as she talks. I don’t think I could if I wanted to. The way those heart-shaped lips move…goddamn, she’s stunning.
“How do you know if you’ve never given it a shot?”
She shakes her head, the smile still on her face. “It’s one of those things. When you know, you know.” She pulls herself closer to the plate, looking questioningly at me. “Is that a requirement of our arrangement? Because if so, we have a lot of negotiating to do.”
“Really? Like what?” I place my fork down and sit back, palms on the top of my thighs.
“For instance, I’m never kissing you.” She raises a single brow. “Ever. No matter how hot I already said you are, to my utter humiliation.”
“Don’t forget unobjectively, insanely gorgeous.” My mouth bends with a smirk.
She half scowls, half suppresses a grin. “Oh, believe me, I haven’t.”
“Don’t be embarrassed for having good taste.” I pick up my fresh cup of coffee and take a long sip, my playful gaze stuck to the narrowing of her eyes.
Raquel can throw in whatever terms she wants at me. Whatever’s written in our contract won’t matter. It won’t be real. Unlike our marriage.
She’ll be mine. She just has no idea.
Yet.
“I’m also not fucking you.” She goes all serious.
“Damn, did I just like hearing you say that word. Can you say it again, but lower this time?”
My cock grows heavy, hard, while her eyes turn to humorously glaring slits. Her arms cross over her small chest that’s just enough for my palms. My hands tingle to touch her there. To touch her in every place she hides.
“Anything else?” I ask, unable to keep that smirk off my face.
“I’m not touching you either.”
“That’s so broad. Is there any wiggle room on that one? I was kind of hoping to snuggle.”
“Absolutely no snuggling.” She barely stifles a laugh.
“What if we watch a movie, you in my arms, and we end up falling asleep together?”
She sits up straighter. “Why would I even be in your arms to begin with?”
“Maybe you were cold? Maybe you were lonely?” My voice deepens, my gaze boring into hers. “Maybe you just liked how my body felt next to yours?”
Her cheeks flush as she bites the corner of her lower lip, and my dick jerks, wanting to be there instead.
“That…uh, that’ll never happen.” But there’s too much uncertainty on her features.
“Never is too strong of a word,” I add. “Let’s wait to see what happens.”
“Nothing will happen.” Her words are sharp, edging, like a sword. One I’ll have too much fun melting until it’s no longer a threat.
“Whatever you say, wife.”
“Don’t say it like that!”
“Hey!” I lift up my hands in defeat. “I’m agreeing with you.”
“Uh-huh, but your voice isn’t.”
“I can’t control what my voice thinks. It’s got a mind of its own, like some of my other body parts.”
She skims a shaky hand down the side of her neck, calling for my palm to wrap around it, to squeeze as I’m buried deep inside her with my mouth on those luscious lips. It’s like every layer of her skin is calling out to me, baiting me.
She looks around the room, clearly wanting out of this conversation. I can only guess it’s because no matter how much she denies her hunger, I know deep down she wants to light our fire and feel it burn.
Sometimes when you’ve met a complete stranger, there’s this invisible string pulling you to them. Like gravity shifting and creating something new. You don’t understand it—hell, you might not even want it—but it happens on its own. That’s how it is between us.
This attraction is undeniable. She can try to pretend she doesn’t feel it, but it’ll continue to grow until we’re both consumed.
“I can’t believe how big this place is,” Raquel tosses out.
“It’s yours now.”
“For three months,” she retorts, the glint in her eyes shining bright, reminding me of my darkness.
“However long you want.”
“I won’t be staying past three months.”
“Great.” My lips turn up. “You’re probably annoying, anyway.”
“Only after midnight.” She breathes out an easy laugh.
“Remind me to stay the hell away once the clock strikes twelve.” A genuine chuckle breaks from my chest.
I don’t remember the last time I laughed or smiled this much with a woman. Sure, I’ve done it out of politeness, but it never felt authentic. It’s different with her. It’s like we’ve been friends for a while.
Her shoulders drop with a sigh, her expression growing somber.
“Thank you. For saving me.” She gazes at me with too much emotion, her lips set to a frown. “Because that’s what you did.”
But I didn’t, I want to say. I lied.
My jaw clenches with unexplained feelings.
Is it pity? Shame? I don’t know.
She’s too beautiful to be caught in the middle of our war. Too good to become a mere pawn on our chessboard. But every war has its casualties, and she’s about to be mine.
I might not be able to love the daughter of my enemy, but I’ll treat her with every ounce of respect she deserves, which is a lot more than her father did for my family. And on those cold and lonely nights, we’ll keep each other’s bodies warm, even when our hearts are nothing but ice.
I can’t believe Carlito thought he’d ever have her.
I’d move heaven and earth to keep her away from that asshole.
Neither of us loves her, but I won’t be cruel.
Not like he’ll be. Marrying her is simply a way to advance himself in the family.
He’s nothing but a foot soldier now, but marrying the advisor’s daughter is a hell of a step up.
Too bad I just put a kink in his plans. His fiancée is about to become my wife, and I’ll do what I can to keep him as far away from her as possible. If he won’t stay away, there’s always a bullet with his name on it.
Once she learns of my plans and the lies I told to bring her here, she’ll hate me. But it’s better for her to hate me here, where I can keep her away from what would’ve been her life.
Ever since my brothers and I set our revenge for the Bianchis in motion and I saw her photos from our initial surveillance, I told Dom she was mine.
There was something there beneath her beauty.
Something broken and bruised. It spoke to me.
Once I learned of the marriage her parents planned, I realized we were more alike than I thought.
Both of us are fighting for a way out of the life we never asked for.
Everything changed when my father and brother died. My world disappeared, its color gone as though the earth had faded into darkness. The pain only grew over the years, holding steady and weighing me down.
I don’t want it. I want a life free from the ugliness in my heart.
I don’t want to be known as a brutal killer, but I am what I am now.
There’s no future, no happiness, for me when all I’ve ever known is vengeance.
My heart is too black, my hands too bloody, to ever give a piece of myself to someone else. Who’d want it, anyway?
Love was not meant to be mine. My heart is soaked in the blood of my enemies, and nothing and no one will make it beat again.
I’ll never tell Dom that I sometimes wonder about being with someone. He, out of all of us, took the deaths the hardest. Who can blame him? Who knows what would have happened to me if I’d had to watch my father and brother die like he did?
If he hadn’t gone out looking for our dad that day, if he hadn’t stepped foot in that warehouse, he’d never have seen them get shot to death before his eyes. He was never the same. He grew cold, distant. That probably also had to do with knowing he lost Chiara, his best friend.
He has her now. Well, not exactly. She has no damn clue that the man who kidnapped her last night is her long-lost friend.
Somewhere in that messed-up heart of his, I know he still cares about her. Maybe he can be the one to move on from the past. Maybe they can have something together, something stronger than our need for revenge. And maybe if they can, I can have it too.
Or maybe I’m being an idiot.
Raquel plays with her pancakes, absently slicing off small pieces with the fork, barely eating now.
“I have some good news and bad news,” I say, hoping to bring the radiating smile back to her face.
I hate seeing women upset. That shit wrecks me. But with her, it does something worse. I don’t fucking know why, and I don’t want to know.
Her focus stills on me. “Let’s start with the bad news.”
“You don’t have any clothes here.”
She laughs. “Is that the good news or bad news?”
“We’ll call it a draw, baby girl.”
Her not having anything to wear is definitely a plus…for me.
“So, what’s the good news?”
“I have Colleen stopping by in less than an hour. She’s my personal shopper, and now yours. She’s going to bring a ton of clothes and crap for you to sift through. Go crazy. Buy whatever you want. She has my info.”
Her head whips back. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. I mean unless you plan to walk around here naked, which I’m fully on board with, by the way. On second thought…” I reach into my pocket and take out my cell. “I’m going to cancel that appointment.”
“What?!” She jumps off the seat with a giggle, grabbing my forearm over the kitchen island. “No, don’t do that.”
Her touch forces my lungs to grow heavy. I tighten my jaw, steadying the desire to tell her to keep that hand just where it is.
“Are you sure?” I ask. “Did I mention I sleep naked? I really don’t mind if you do too.”
“Um…” Her eyes widen, her palm falling away. “I hope you’re joking.”
“Maybe.” I grin, standing up and washing my plate before putting it in the cabinet.
“Are you ever serious?” Her face lights up with a smile.
I slowly walk around to her, stepping closer until my front is to her back. My hands fall around the edge of the island, trapping her.
“Only when I’m making love.”
She doesn’t move as I lean my mouth to the edge of her ear, my breaths fanning down her neck. She gasps, her inhales sharp, louder than the blood pulsing through my veins.
I’ve been around so many women, but no one comes close. No one makes me want this much.
Leaning my lips down to the back of her head, I kiss her hair, inhaling the scent of jasmine and wanting those long strands laced around my fingers with our bodies skin to skin.
“Bye, beautiful,” I whisper, sliding my mouth down to the curve of her ear. “I’ll see you later today when I bring over the marriage paperwork. Have fun shopping.”
As I stroll away, her loud and hurried exhales make me wish I didn’t have to go.