Chapter Ten CHIARA #3
Another kiss. His hands all over me. His mouth lower on my body. I wanted him to stop holding back.
“Leo,” I whispered shakily. “Don’t stop now.”
His eyes shut briefly like hearing his name from my mouth physically hurt him now. “Stop.”
The word came out rough. A dark warning. But I was too far gone to care anymore.
I slid my hands slowly up his tattooed arms again, feeling hard muscle flex beneath warm skin while moonlight poured silver across black ink and sharp lines.
Leo inhaled sharply through his nose the second my nails grazed lightly over his shoulders.
That tiny reaction made heat spiral lower in my stomach.
“You were just talking about putting a baby in me,” I whispered. “And now you’re saying no?”
A rough curse left him in Italian before he spoke my name, his voice breaking. “Chiara…”
“You started this,” I accused him.
“No.” His eyes opened again slowly, dark and dangerous. “You started this when you begged me to kiss you.”
Heat flooded my cheeks. But not enough to stop me. Because the terrifying truth was I wanted him even more now after kissing him. One kiss from Leo Moretti felt like a drug. Addictive and ruinous. Not enough. Never enough.
I shifted slightly beneath him, and the hard length of him pressed hotter against my thigh through the sheets. Leo groaned quietly. My pulse fluttered violently.
“Please,” I whispered again. “Please, do what you want with me. Please.”
His jaw tightened hard. “That word is becoming a fucking problem.”
“Then touch me so I stop begging,” I said.
A dark laugh escaped him, low and strained. “Baby, touching you is exactly why you won’t stop saying it.”
The room felt unbearably hot now. Thick with tension and the smell of him surrounding me completely.
My entire body buzzed with frustration and want while Leo stared down at me like he was seconds away from snapping apart completely.
And maybe he was. Because his restraint looked painful now.
Every breath heavier. Every movement tighter.
Like he was physically fighting himself not to drag my legs apart beneath him and give us both exactly what we wanted. I reached up slowly and brushed my fingers along his jaw. The rough scrape of stubble against my skin made another shiver roll through me.
“You need to stop touching me,” he said firmly.
“No.” I swallowed. “I don’t want to. I want you.”
The words came out embarrassingly desperate this time. Leo froze. Heat flooded my face, but I couldn’t stop now. Not when my body still burned from his kisses. Not when he’d whispered filthy things against my mouth that were still replaying through my head over and over again.
My child. Full of my seed.
God. I felt ruined already.
“I want you to breed me,” I whispered shakily. Leo made a low sound that almost didn’t sound human. His forehead dropped heavily against mine while his entire body tensed above me.
“Shut up, Chiara,” he said firmly.
My hands slid into his dark hair helplessly. “Please… Please, Leo.”
His breathing turned rougher. “Do you have any idea what hearing you beg for that does to me?”
“Yes,” I whispered honestly. “I think I do.”
“No, baby.” His voice dropped lower. “You really fucking don’t.”
Then he pushed himself off me. Cold air rushed across my skin. I stared up at him in shock while he swung his legs off the bed and stood abruptly, one hand dragging hard through messy black hair.
The sight nearly destroyed me all over again.
His tattooed back was disappearing into shadows while moonlight slid across hard muscle.
Beautiful in the most dangerous possible way.
Leo stood there breathing hard for several seconds before turning back toward me slowly. His expression looked wrecked.
“You need to control yourself,” he said firmly. “You can’t do this to me.”
“I can’t stop,” I managed. That dangerous look flickered across his face again.
“Chiara.” His voice carried a warning I chose to ignore.
“I mean it.” My voice cracked softly. “Please come back here.”
His jaw flexed violently. “No.”
The rejection nearly brought tears to my eyes. Not because I felt embarrassed. Because I wanted him so badly it physically hurt. A rough curse escaped him under his breath before he stalked toward the bedroom door like he was running from me.
Panic hit my chest. “Leo, don’t go.”
He stopped. Didn’t turn around. I pushed myself up on shaking arms while black silk sheets tangled around my legs. “Please don’t leave me like this.”
The silence that followed felt unbearable. Then finally he laughed once. Dark and painful. “You think I’m leaving because I want to?”
He turned slightly then, enough for me to see the brutal restraint carved across his face.
“You are one fucking second away from getting exactly what you’re begging for,” he said roughly.
“And if that happens tonight, I’m not stopping until you’re crying my name and begging me to put a baby in you with my cock buried so deep it splits you in half.
I’ll fuck you so hard your pussy won’t recover for days.
I’ll make that tiny little cunt remember me with every thrust. Etch my name into your womb with my cock. ”
Heat crashed through me so violently it almost hurt. My thighs pressed together helplessly beneath the sheets. His eyes shut briefly.
Then he walked out of the room. The bedroom door slammed shut behind him. A second later I heard the lock click. I stared at the door breathing hard, shock slowly mixing with frustration hot enough to burn through my entire body.
“Leo!” I cried out. No answer. I climbed out of bed, nearly tripping over tangled sheets before rushing toward the door barefoot. “Leo!”
Still nothing. I hit the door with my palm once. Then again. “You can’t just leave me like this!”
His voice finally came through the heavy wood. Low. Controlled again somehow.
“Yes,” he said calmly. “I absolutely can.”
I wanted to scream. “You were talking about breeding me two minutes ago!”
A rough laugh echoed faintly from the other side. “And that’s exactly why this door is locked.”
Heat flooded my entire face. I pressed both hands against the wood. “Come back.”
“Shut up, Chiara.” The way he said my name through the door made my stomach twist. “You’re not ready for me yet.”
“I am ready!” I felt hot tears running down my cheeks. My pride was forgotten. Freaking non-existent.
“No,” he said quietly. “You’re just horny.”
I nearly choked. “That’s your fault!”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “It is. But that’s enough for night. You… in my bed… that was a mistake. I should have known better.”
The realization only made frustration burn hotter through me. I leaned my forehead against the door breathing shakily while the memory of his mouth on mine replayed over and over in my head.
God. I could still feel him. Still taste him. Still hear the things he whispered against my lips.
“You can’t just lock me up again,” I whispered.
His voice softened slightly. “The wedding is in one week.”
My pulse fluttered harder. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Because if I touch you again before our wedding night,” he said roughly, “You’re going to be walking down that aisle with a baby inside your belly. And I want to give you a proper marriage. Not a shotgun wedding.”
Heat exploded through me again. My grip tightened helplessly against the door. “Leo…”
“You wanted honesty tonight, baby?” His voice lowered dangerously. “Here it is.”
I stopped breathing.
“The second I’m inside you, I’m going to want to keep you pregnant,” he said through the wood. “You’ll never know what it’s like to be like this again. Innocent. Do you fucking understand that?”
The words wrecked me, and my knees nearly gave out beneath me. I pressed harder against the door. “Please.”
No answer this time. Only silence.
“Leo?”
Nothing. Panic flickered briefly through me before turning into frustration all over again.
“Leo!” I hit the door harder this time. Then again. “You can’t just say things like that and leave!”
Silence. My chest heaved harder while heat and humiliation and desperate want tangled painfully together inside me. “Leo!”
Nothing. Slowly, horribly, realization sank in. He was gone.
And I was left standing there alone in his bedroom, lips swollen from kissing him, body aching for him, and desperate enough to want to cry. I barely recognized myself anymore.