Chapter Sixteen LEO
Chiara’s breathing still shook beneath me. Her blonde hair spread wildly across the black silk sheets while candlelight flickered over her ruined wedding lingerie and trembling thighs. Beautiful. Completely wrecked. And still hiding something from me.
The realization sharpened beneath my ribs. I watched her carefully as I loosened my grip on her wrists. Most women would have melted after that. Clung to me. Begged for more. Chiara only looked away. That told me everything.
I sat back slowly on my heels between her legs. “Tell me what happened. What made you change your mind about me.”
Her eyes snapped toward mine. Defensive. Panicked. “I already told you. Nothing.”
Lie. I could hear it in the thinness of her voice. See it in the way her pulse fluttered violently at her throat. My jaw tightened.
“Chiara,” I said calmly. “I know when someone’s afraid of me. I also know when someone’s hurting for a different reason entirely.”
Silence. She shifted against the sheets, trying to close her thighs. I spread them apart again with one hand.
“Don’t,” I warned softly. “Don’t you dare hide yourself from me.”
Her lips parted shakily. “Why do you care?”
Because the thought of someone else touching what belonged to me made something murderous wake up inside my chest. But I didn’t say that. Instead, I leaned forward slowly, dragging my knuckles along the inside of her thigh. Her body reacted, hips twitching despite herself.
“Because I own you now. And I know,” I murmured. “How much you’re still wanting me after all that. And what it’s doing to that pretty little head of yours.”
Color flooded her cheeks.
“I hate you,” she whispered weakly. “I’ll always hate you for how you took me away. Lied. Locked me up. Forced me into this.”
“Your mind hates me.” My fingers slid higher. “And yet your body keeps choosing me anyway.”
A soft sound escaped her before she could stop it.
I watched humiliation crash over her expression again.
Interesting. Not just fear. Shame. Something had happened before she walked down that aisle tonight.
Something bad enough to hollow her out from the inside.
And whoever caused it was going to regret breathing.
I curled my hand around her throat lightly. Not enough to hurt. Enough to force her attention back to me. “Tell me the truth, baby.”
Her eyes flashed stubbornly. “No.”
The single word hit me harder than it should have. I stared at her for several long seconds before I smiled slowly. Coldly. “Then you don’t get my cock.”
Chiara blinked at me like she hadn’t heard correctly. “What?”
“You heard me.” I leaned back again, completely calm now. “You want me inside you so badly you can barely think straight. But until you tell me what’s wrong…” My gaze dragged deliberately over her trembling body. “You don’t get it.”
Shock crossed her face first. Then outrage. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I’m very serious.” I watched her trembling body, still doing things to me even when she was fighting back so fervently.
“You’re unbelievable,” she snapped. “You torment me all night, make me…” Her face burned hotter. “Make me do that, and now you’re refusing me?”
“Listen to my innocent little wife,” I murmured. “Demanding my cock like she owns it.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Maybe I’ll find someone else’s.”
The room went completely still. Dangerously still. I tilted my head slowly. “What did you just say?”
She realized her mistake. I saw it in the way her breath caught. But Chiara was too proud to back down now.
“Maybe,” she said again, forcing the words out, “I’ll find someone who isn’t a psychotic liar.”
The smile disappeared from my face. In one movement, I caught her ankle and dragged her sharply down the bed toward me. She gasped as her body slid across the silk sheets.
“Leo!” she yelped.
“You want to act like a brat?” I asked softly. “Fine.”
Her pulse visibly jumped. I reached behind me for the silk restraint cord decorating the bedposts. Chiara noticed, and her eyes widened. “What are you doing?”
“Correcting your behavior.” She tried scrambling backward, but I caught her wrists easily. “You want to be a brat? See what fucking happens.”
“You don’t scare me,” she lied breathlessly.
“No?” I wrapped the silk around one wrist slowly. Tight enough to hold. Loose enough not to hurt. “That’s adorable.”
“Let me go,” she spit out. “Now!”
“Fuck no.” The second restraint clicked into place above her head.
Chiara pulled experimentally once. Then glared at me. “You’re insane.”
“And you’re spoiled.” I dragged my hand down the center of her body slowly, watching her shiver despite herself. “Threatening your husband on your wedding night. What exactly did you think would happen?”
“You’re only my husband because I didn’t have a choice,” she hissed.
Wrong answer. I flipped her over in one swift movement. Chiara gasped sharply as I pulled her hips onto my lap. The ribbons of destroyed lace barely covered her ass now.
“Leo!” Real panic finally slipped into her voice. “Don’t you dare.”
My palm cracked sharply against her ass. She jerked violently against me with a startled cry. Not hard enough to truly hurt. Hard enough to shock her.
“That,” I said calmly, rubbing the reddened skin afterward, “is for threatening me.”
Her breathing turned ragged. Interesting. Very interesting.
“I hate you so fucking much, Leo Moretti,” she whispered again.
I spanked her a second time. Harder. “Keep hating me, Signora Moretti. It only makes my cock harder.”
Chiara cried out into the sheets, body arching helplessly against my lap. Heat rushed beneath my skin watching it happen. Watching her fight between outrage and the pleasure she clearly didn’t understand yet.
“You hate me,” I repeated softly. “And yet you’re soaking my thigh again.”
“No I’m not,” she snapped. “I don’t want you. Never did.”
I slid my hand between her legs. Wet. Completely soaked. A dark laugh left my throat.
“You poor thing,” I murmured near her ear. “You don’t even know your own body yet. But I do.”
Her entire body shuddered.
“Stop talking-” she said, but I interrupted quickly. Another sharp smack. This time the sound that escaped her barely resembled anger anymore. My grip tightened on her hip.
“Look at you,” I said quietly. “That sweet little wife hiding underneath all the claws.”
“I’m not sweet,” she whispered. “I’ll kill you.”
“No,” I smiled, dragging my fingers teasingly along the inside of her thigh while she trembled over my lap. “You’ll die trying, clearly.”
Another spank. Chiara moaned before she could stop herself. The sound hit me like gasoline poured over fire. I went still for one dangerous second. Then I leaned down beside her ear. “You’re going to come from this, aren’t you?”
Silence. Then her thighs clenched helplessly around my hand. I smiled slowly against her skin.
“God,” I murmured. “You really are a perfect prize.”
Chiara went completely still across my lap after that.
Not physically. Her body still trembled every time my hand brushed her bare skin.
But emotionally. Like she hated herself for reacting to me at all.
The realization settled heavily in my chest. I loosened my grip on her hip slowly, running my palm over the reddened skin instead of striking her again.
Her breathing hitched at the softer touch.
“That’s enough,” I said quietly.
Her head lifted sharply from the sheets. “What?”
“We’re done.”
Confusion flickered across her flushed face first. Then disbelief. “You’re joking.”
“Nope.”
I untied the silk restraints from her wrists carefully. Chiara pulled her arms back against herself, rubbing at the marks the fabric left behind while glaring at me with watery eyes.
“You can’t just stop,” she snapped.
I almost smiled at that. My spoiled little wife looked genuinely offended I wasn’t taking her apart further. “Watch me, baby.”
Her mouth fell open slightly. Then anger rushed back in full force, probably because it was easier than admitting disappointment. “You’re a bastard.”
“And you hate me?” I smirked.
“You can’t just…” She stopped abruptly, clearly realizing where the sentence was heading.
Can’t just leave me wanting you.
Interesting. I leaned back against the headboard, watching her carefully while she sat there wrapped in ruined lace and humiliation. “Come here.”
“No.”
“Chiara.” Something in my tone made her hesitate. Then, reluctantly, she moved toward me across the black silk sheets. Still glaring. Still pretending she wasn’t aching for me. Cute.
I caught her wrist gently and pulled her against my chest. She stiffened beneath me. “What are you doing?”
“Sleeping next to my wife.”
Her entire body froze. “That’s it?”
I looked down at her slowly. The disappointment in her expression hit me like a punch to the throat. My chest tightened with vicious satisfaction.
“You were threatening to find another man ten minutes ago,” I murmured. “Now you’re upset I’m not burying myself inside you?”
Color flooded her face. “I am not upset.”
“Liar, liar,” I teased.
“I just…” She stopped herself hard enough I felt the tension ripple through her body. “I thought…”
“That I’d lose control?” I asked softly. Her silence answered for her. I tilted her chin upward slowly until those blue eyes met mine again. “Not tonight.”
Something fragile cracked across her expression before she could hide it. Then, horrifyingly, tears welled in her eyes. My entire body went still.
Chiara turned her face away, furious with herself for it. “Don’t look at me.”
“Why are you crying, baby?” I asked.
“I’m not.” She hid her face in the pillow. Another lie. I watched her shoulders shake once. Tiny. Almost imperceptible. Fuck. The sight hit somewhere ugly inside my chest.
I wrapped an arm tighter around her waist automatically, pulling her fully against me. She resisted for all of two seconds before exhaustion won.
“You’re cruel,” she whispered shakily. “Making me want things. Taking them away.”
“I know, baby,” I muttered, kissing her head.