CHAPTER 9 - RED
CHAPTER
Red
“ D O YOU HAVE A fascination with gaining information, or are you just so fucking nosy you can’t control yourself?” I lean against the bedroom wall, taking my amusement as Arianna spins around at the sound of my voice.
“What? No... I...”
With shock and embarrassment, her lips move as if to say something further, but nothing comes out.
Instead, she stares at me as if I’m a hologram.
I walk casually across the room before I become transfixed with staring at her.
She cannot have control in any way, shape or form. It will be me holding that card.
It always has to be me.
“Didn’t you expect me to walk in? What were you searching for this time?” I ask, enjoying her frustration. I know she’s battling against making snotty remarks, but she needn’t. I like that she stands up to me. People rarely do.
But she’ll realize soon enough that neither route will get her anywhere.
Arianna instinctively steps away as I approach, and a snort of derision escapes me as I brush past. Standing in front of the wardrobe, I lean in to retrieve a clean shirt.
After inspecting it, I hook the hanger over the other wardrobe door.
“You don’t have to be jumpy. Like I explained last night, your virtue is safe with me.
I have no wish to go down that road with you. ”
Except that’s a downright lie.
I’d have to be blind not to find this woman attractive. I also get the distinct impression there’s something about me that she finds equally fascinating, so I’ll pass the time she remains here by playing her .
Turning, I spend a moment studying her. She’s silent, a tinge of contempt in her blue-violet eyes.
Despite the clothes she wore last night being creased, her hair tousled like she’s been tossing and turning all night and the previous day’s makeup still on her face, including a black smudge on her right cheek, she retains that awe-inspiring beauty as well as the spiky attitude which sends blood rushing straight to my groin.
Considering this unwanted effect, it will be difficult turning up the heat to tease her, but providing I don’t lose sight of the endgame, it will be amusing making her uncomfortable.
“Okay, so let’s give you the benefit of the doubt and therefore presume you’re wondering why this room is full of my things?
” I rub my thumb across her cheek to remove the smudge of mascara.
She stiffens but doesn’t move away. “I’ll tell you, shall I?
It’s because I spend more time here than I do in my own house. ”
Her lips part a tiny bit - enough to send electric to the base of my cock.
I remove my hand from her face and maintain my composure before I suck her lips into my mouth and bite them. I smile, but my eyes remain cold, reminding myself this woman is a purebred Galvatore. Plus she cuts men’s cocks off...
“I’ve arranged for a selection of clothes to be delivered for you. Arianna Bristoni cannot wear my clothes, nor will I have a woman under my roof who smells like a tramp!” I flick my hand dismissively. “Choose whatever you wish, but pick a decent selection otherwise I’ll choose for you.”
Arianna frowns, a small line between her shaped eyebrows creasing delightfully. “Do you make a habit of keeping women here?”
My eyes flash with anger. She’s clearly heard the story on the grapevine, which I let run about Lorna.
That’s all she’ll ever know about it because that subject will not be discussed.
No woman will get inside my head or leave me with guilt again.
“My personal affairs are nothing to do with you, so I suggest you remember that.” My voice is calm, but if I can hear the warning edge, so can she.
She should take heed. I only have so much patience.
Arianna’s lips purse as she contemplates another retort but sensibly thinks better of it.
“Once you’ve picked your selection, you’ll have something clean to wear and won’t smell like a bag-lady!
” My eyes dance with amusement at her expression, and the throbbing of my cock intensifies.
Too many years of being treated like a princess, this one!
She’ll quickly learn there are no airs and graces here. How I will enjoy taking her down.
“How long exactly am I expected to remain here?”
As Arianna looks around the room - my room - I don’t like the hint of contempt on her face that is just asking to be slapped away. “You’ll stay for however long I fucking decide!”
“But what d...”
Stopping her mid-sentence, I gesture for her to sit and watch as she walks over to the bed to perch uncomfortably on the edge.
She has a firm, tight ass that I’d love to slap and then fuck.
How I’d love to push her backwards, rip her underwear off with my teeth and taste her.
Instead, I’ll torture myself with something that can only happen in my head until this ridiculous lust runs its course and is extinguished, along with all my other demons.
So as not to prolong my aggravation, as well as to hide my full arousal, I pull out a chair from underneath the dressing table and sit down, crossing one leg over my other knee.
I give Arianna credit for keeping restraint.
Most women would be squawking, demanding to know the ins and outs, how long this, how long that; their voices making my ears bleed.
But then, I forget, and I shouldn’t, that this woman is a Galvatore.
Like all the women in those families, they are instilled with obedience from conception until their dying day.
Except she’s too defensive, stubborn and trappy to pass the test. I wonder how her dear daddy fared with that?
It’s something else to pump my blood with intrigue: Arianna is a conundrum - part of her is a classic acquiescent mafia wife; the other part, the opposite.
She’s turned the tables on her own husband, cut the fucker’s cock off and run off into the night asking for protection from her family’s nemesis in order to save them.
But now I must concentrate on relaying my decision and informing her about what happens next.
My eyes drill into hers until the power of mental thought alone forces her to look at me.
“Last night you asked me to help you, and I said I’d think about it.
I’ve now thought about it and have decided to use you as leverage against your own family as well as the Bristonis.
I need to act quickly, but I’ll shortly settle on a plan that works well for both of us.
Something to deal with your ‘issues’, whilst ticking my own overdue boxes where your family and the Bristonis are concerned. ”
“What overdue issues?” she snaps, accusation in those gorgeous eyes. “ Are you saying there’s something else as well as your long-standing ridiculous feud?”
“Ridiculous?” I sneer as she squares up to me. “That shows how little you know.” This woman won’t get any details about my suspicions over her bastard father’s involvement with Lorna either.
Not yet.
But when I do have proof, I’ll enjoy bursting her pathetic rose-tinted bubble about her fucking family.
Lurching from my seat, I grab her wrist and pull her towards me. She’s so close, I can see the flawless velvet of her skin. “Now I’ve made myself clear, do you want what I’m offering or not?”
Arianna stares at my hand on her wrist and then slowly raises her face to mine. “Yes, I do. Thank you,” she mutters, a hint of relief in her eyes, despite her sass. “But I do need to know how long I’ll need to remain here. My family will worry. I also insist that you don’t cause them problems.”
I laugh - genuinely laugh. She’s issuing me demands?
“What’s funny?” Pulling out of my grip, Arianna’s bottom lip juts out petulantly, making me want to pull it with my teeth.
“What’s your problem? It’s not unreasonable to ask how long I need to stay for!
How long will it take for your ‘plan’ to work?
Surely you know? Regardless of this ‘secret’ grudge you harbor.
..” She makes quote marks with her fingers, “there’s no reason to involve my family!
You know this is to do with Roberto and the Bristonis, not my family. ”
Sighing with annoyance, she glares at me. “Anything involving my father was donkey’s years ago and was with your father , not you. Can you not tell the difference? Isn’t it time to catch up with the modern era? In fact, are you even going to bother telling me what you’re going to do?”
The corner of my mouth curls at one side only.
She knows fuck all about anything. It didn’t take long for her snark to return either.
I suspected her slight acquiesce just then wouldn’t last, but she’d better get acquainted with the phenomenon because I do not have the time nor patience to put up with girlish tantrums.
My eyes narrow. “Sweetheart, I decide what’s reasonable, not you. I also judge what’s relevant, however many years have passed. Lastly, I don’t have to divulge any information about my ‘plans’ to you.”
Even if I knew what they were, which I don’t, I wouldn’t tell this privileged, demanding diva fuck all! “And, lady, if you think there’s no need for me to involve your family, then you’ve got silicone where your brains should be! ”
I see the shock on her face, and I’m glad about that - spoiled little cow that she is.
She’s riled me enough, so I’ll throw something at her to fill that stupid head of hers with and give her something real to think about.
“You actually believe your father didn’t sell you up the river to your husband?
You know, the one you killed and then dumped the aftermath on me?
You genuinely think your dear daddy didn’t know exactly what Roberto was like? ”
Grabbing Arianna by the shoulders, I jerk her forward so she’s pressed against me.
Bad idea for what is stirring in my pants again despite my irritation. I know I’m snarling, but I don’t care. “Listen up, princess, and listen well. No one gets special treatment! Not you, nor your father. I’ll do what I need to do.”