Chapter 16 LUCA #3
She rocks down hard against me while the leather groans beneath us.
"You don't get to finish until I say so.
You stay right here, completely still, while I take what I want.
If you lose control before I give you, I'll leave, fix my dress, walk right back out to that party, and leave you sitting here. Got it?"
"Understood," I choke out, sweat beading along my forehead.
"Good." She drives herself down faster.
She gives a fierce, breathtaking smile and rides me with frantic intensity.
Heat radiates between our bodies. The noises escaping her throat are raw and intimate, completely unlike the composed corporate executive from the ballroom floor.
When her breathing fragments and her hips shudder, her fingernails bite into my jaw again.
"Keep your eyes on me, Luca."
I obey. She climaxes with her eyes locked onto mine, a shattered cry spilling from her parted lips as her inner walls clamp down on me with unbearable force.
I hold my breath, every nerve ending screaming for release.
Nora rides out the tremors with ragged gasps, then gradually slows down, remaining seated on me without giving up control.
Her hands rest flat against my collarbones. "Don't move."
"Nora, please," I groan under the strain.
She brushes damp hair away from my forehead. "Good. You're actually following instructions for once."
"I am on the absolute edge." I fight for composure through ragged breaths.
"Barely is sufficient." She circles her hips in agonizingly slow motions that push me right to the brink. "This is your penalty for not knocking my locked door all week. For staying silent. For letting that creature put her hands on what belongs in my sphere."
"Nora." My voice cracks against the silence of the room. "Let me."
"Not quite yet." She pecks the corner of my mouth with unexpected gentleness. "You endured a whole week standing outside my door in the dark. You can survive two more minutes right here."
I let out a strained, wrecked laugh. "You are an absolute terror."
"I am predictable in my standards." She resumes a slow, punishing grind that obliterates my remaining willpower. "Tell me she will never put a hand on you again."
"She won't," I swear, my head spinning with dizziness.
Her knees dig into my sides. "Use her name."
"I will never allow Sara Bellini to touch me again. Or anyone else you choose to humiliate in front of three hundred people. Is that satisfactory?"
"Almost," she murmurs against my throat.
"Only you," I vow, meaning every single syllable with terrifying clarity.
"Good," she whispers, her gaze softening slightly.
She searches my expression for three agonizing heartbeats before giving a single, decisive nod. "Take it."
The word shatters my restraint entirely.
A low, ragged groan tears out of my chest as I surge upward, spilling into her while she wraps her arms tight around my neck and buries her face in my shoulder.
The intensity knocks the vision from my eyes for several seconds.
Nora holds me through every violent pulse, slowly untangling herself only after the tremors subside, offering a quiet hum of satisfaction.
We rest in the dim room, rumpled and breathing hard. Nora rearranges her silk dress, shakes out her hair, and picks up her discarded heels from the floor.
She inspects her reflection in the wall sconce glass. "My hair is a disaster."
I button my pants back up. "You look lethal."
She slips her heels back on. "The next time a Bellini attempts to touch you, I will not limit my retaliation to conversation."
"I will make a calendar entry for the violence," I answer with a faint, tired smirk.
"Do that," she returns smoothly. "Keep your schedule clear."
She chuckles, the first genuine laugh I have heard from her since the warehouse raid.
In this quiet room, the hostility between us dissolves into something solid and shared.
Beyond the mahogany door, the party continues without us, but Nora has established absolute control over the terrain, and I am entirely willing to follow her lead.
Nora smooths the neckline of her dress. "Are you ready to return to the ballroom and watch Commissioner Ricci hide behind potted ferns?"
"Lead the way," I reply, opening the deadbolt and gesturing toward the corridor.
She steps past me with a faint smirk. "Try to look formidable instead of satisfied."
"I can manage both," I murmur back.
She pauses at the threshold, glancing over her shoulder with an arch look. "And one more detail, Luca. Knock next time. Lurking outside my bedroom door is embarrassing, even for a crime boss."
I step into the bright corridor behind her, tie straightened and pulse still hammering in my ears.
For the first time in seven long days, my mind is not consumed by the dark hallway or the silent gap beneath her closed door.
I am watching the woman who seized control, claimed every inch of me, and walked straight back into a room full of vipers without flinching.