26. Corruption #2
I flopped back on the bed, scowling at the feeling of his cum still in my underwear. “Hurry up, please. I need to shower too!”
“It’s a two-person shower, Ribelle. Join me.”
“I don’t think that’s wise.”
“I’ve just given you an orgasm, and you still worry you won’t be able to keep your hands off me?”
I shook my head, but in horror realised I hadn’t stopped smiling. “I have enough of you on me. I want to wash you off, not add more.”
The shower turned off, and he stepped out, naked. He grabbed a towel and started drying his face and hair, leaving his body dripping wet and fully exposed. Cristo, this man had zero inhibitions.
“Fuck, the image you just created in my head,” he groaned, and my eyes bulged as his dick hardened again, half-mast. His gaze travelled over me, making me feel like the naked one. “I’d love to paint every inch of you in my cum one day. What a fucking sight that would be.”
God, he was filthy. I jumped out of bed, ignoring the throb in my still-sensitive clit, and pushed past him into the bathroom. I shoved him out, shutting the door behind him so I could take an ice-cold shower.
“When do you need to go back to work?” Santino asked his first breakfast question while digging into his eggs.
Technically, I had a week of annual leave left, which I’d taken for my possible honeymoon with Callum, but I didn’t think telling Santino that was a good plan.
It would only give him ideas, and I’d probably wake up tomorrow in a different country, not just a different bed.
Plus, I needed to keep a little normality in my life, or I might go insane for real.
“I’ll see if they need me back tomorrow night.”
“Do you always work night shifts?”
“Sí,” I answered. “Better pay, and it’s not as busy.”
He looked pensive as he watched me eat, sunbeams casting across his striking face. We were eating breakfast on the terrace today—his idea. I could see why. It was a beautiful way to start the day with a view of Roman rooftops under the soft glow of orange.
“I don’t like that you work night shifts. You should switch to days.”
Instant rage came to the surface. “No. I can’t. And I like working night shifts. You can’t tell me how to do my job, Santino. Do you even realise how controlling you sound?”
“I’m not trying to control you. I’m trying to protect you. A lot of things can come up for me at night, and I need to deal with them. Which means I won’t always be around.”
“Of course, criminal activities thrive after dark.” I rolled my eyes, folding my arms over the table.
“I’ll be in the safety of a hospital full of security; I don’t need you or your men there.
I don’t even understand what you are trying to protect me from.
So how about this: you leave me to do my job, and I’ll leave you to do yours. ”
He placed his coffee mug down, cocking his head with a narrowed glare. “Look how easy it was for me to get into that hospital full of security and corner you in rooms and lifts, Aria. It would be even easier for someone you know.”
I frowned. “Someone I know? What do you mean?”
He clicked his tongue and exhaled. “D'Ardenzi. I don’t trust him. Especially with you.”
“Callum?” I scoffed. “I don’t need protection from Callum. Wait. Is that why you want your men to follow me everywhere? Because you’re jealous and you want to make sure I don’t see him?”
He leaned forward, his expression turning lethal, the mask of a ruthless tyrant firmly in place, and I gulped. “Is there any reason I should be jealous of Callum, Ribelle?”
Oh shit, I'd walked straight into that one. He looked murderous.
“Is there something you’re not telling me? Did something happen between the two of you? Do you have feelings for him?”
My heart was racing. My hands shook under the table. I opened my mouth to say something so the situation wouldn’t escalate.
“Don’t you dare lie to me. Did he touch you? Did you let him?”
I closed my mouth and swallowed. Santino shot to his feet, knocking his chair backward. I jolted, eyes wide. Fuck, this was the side of him I hadn’t seen before but knew was there lurking beneath the surface. His darkness.
“It was just a kiss,” I blurted, hoping it would calm him down from thinking the worst. He froze. Then slowly turned to look at me over his shoulder, and I knew from the burning black pits of his eyes that it was the worst thing I could have said.
“It didn’t mean anything. I don’t have feelings for him. In fact, the kiss confirmed that.” Why was I panicking? Why did the hurt and anger in his eyes feel like a dagger twisting in my chest? Why did I feel guilty? I didn’t do anything wrong. I was single. I could kiss whoever I liked.
“When? Before the wedding?”
“Yes.”
“Before the gala?”
“N-no.”
“When, Aria?”
“Does it matter?”
His nostrils flared, and he looked away, staring out across the city with his fists clenched. His voice was low, cold, and ruthless as he growled, “I’ll kill him.”
I jumped out of my chair and reached for his arm, digging my nails into his bicep. “That’s insane! You can’t kill a man for kissing me before we were married! We weren’t together, Santino! And you promised you wouldn’t hurt him!”
His hand suddenly wrapped around my throat, and he hauled me in front of him, pressing my lower back into the railing as his face loomed over mine.
The hellfire in his eyes was terrifying, and with his hand so easily positioned to squeeze the life out of me, I knew I should have been scared.
But I wasn’t. Scared for Callum, yes. But desire for this ruthless man was overriding any true fear I should have felt.
Was I seriously so messed up that knowing he wanted to kill a man for kissing me actually turned me on?
“Act as if you care about him one more time, Ribelle, and I will make sure he suffers the most agonising and brutal death. Understand? His days are numbered.” He pressed himself into me, forcing my back to arch over the railing unnaturally, and my breathing sped up.
The ache between my legs throbbed as he pushed his thigh between them, keeping me captive.
“But—”