On this point, I agreed with my father. In Italy, Ariana was safe. She was protected by the family. On her own in New York, anything could happen to her.
I reached for my cappuccino but didn’t miss the way Natalie’s brow lifted as she glanced at me.
I hadn’t told her I lived in a lavish apartment overlooking Central Park. I hated that apartment as much as I hated my job at Covet, mostly because my lecherous uncle and no-good cousin had lived there before me. But maybe…
Maybe if Natalie were in that apartment with me, it wouldn’t be such an awful place to live.
“It’s fine,” I said, trying not to think too far ahead just yet. First I had to get through the next few days. I also didn’t want to think about Benito and where the hell his depraved ass was at the moment. If I never saw the fucker again, it would be too soon.
Natalie yawned and quickly covered her mouth with her hand. When my father glanced at her, she said, “I’m sorry. I’m still not used to how late Italians dine.”
Thank God.
I saw my out and wasn’t about to ignore it. It was close to eleven o’clock, and this agonizing dinner had stretched almost four hours.
I quickly pushed back from the table and tossed my napkin beside my plate. “I’ll show you to a room.”
Natalie smiled and rose as well. “Thank you for dinner. It was wonderful.”
My father cast her a tight smile. “Tomorrow, you’ll tour the property and sample more of our wine.”
It wasn’t an invitation. It was an order, and the look in Natalie’s eyes told me she caught it loud and clear.
She nodded and laid her napkin on the table. “Thank you.”
My mother smiled up at her. “Sleep well, Natalie.”
Dante—the fuck—watched Natalie as if she were fresh meat as she rounded the table toward me, and it took every ounce of self-control I had not to backhand the dick right there in front of my parents.
“Good night, Natalie,” Ariana called.
I turned for the archway that led to the stairs, willing Natalie to follow. At my back, in Italian, my father called, “North wing, Luciano. And be back down here in ten minutes.”
Sonofabitch. The north wing was empty. The family slept in the south wing. My father was isolating her from me, and by calling me back, he was making the fact he planned to keep us apart even more clear. My anxiety kicked up all over again as I tried to remember which rooms in that wing had locks.
I didn’t speak as I led Natalie up the stairs and into the north wing of the villa, afraid what ears might be lurking and listening, but I felt her disquiet at my back.
Her suitcase was already waiting for us at the top of the stairs, and I reached for it, fighting the urge to reach for her instead. My hand itched to close around hers, my body ached to feel her curves pressed up against me, but I didn’t do either in case we were being followed.
I chose the last suite on the right at the end of the corridor. Turning the knob, I pushed the door open and peeked inside.
The large room was unoccupied, as I expected. Windows looked out over a stone veranda that opened to the courtyard below in the U-shaped villa and the countryside beyond. Pulling her roller bag behind me, I checked the lock as I stepped inside and made room for Natalie. It worked, but I knew my father had a key for it somewhere.
Natalie stepped in after me and gasped. “Wow.” Her gaze shot to the four-poster bed with gauzy red fabric tied at each corner, then to the sitting area across the room with a couch and two plush chairs positioned in front of a dark fireplace. “Each room in this place is even more amazing than the last.”
I didn’t agree. The rooms in the north wing weren’t nearly as nice as the ones in the south wing, and every single one of them turned my stomach, but I didn’t tell her that.
I closed the door and hefted her suitcase to the bench at the end of the bed. “What did my father talk to you about on your tour?”
“Just the history of the castle.”
“Nothing else?”
“No.”
“And what did you tell him about us?”
“Nothing.”
My gaze held on hers. “Nothing?”
She shook her head. “You introduced me as your assistant. I didn’t think you wanted me to tell him anything about us.”
Still gripping the ends of her suitcase, I closed my eyes quickly and drew in a relieved breath. But I only had time for one because my fucking father was waiting for me downstairs, and if I didn’t return right away, his retribution would be swift.
“Lock the door after I go,” I said, turning back for the hall, “and slide the desk in front of it to be safe. Keep your windows locked as well.”
Natalie’s hand closed around my forearm, stopping me. “Hold on. Slide the desk in front of the door? Now you’ve got my attention. Are there vampires or monsters or something in this castle I should be worried about?”
My stomach pitched. I knew she was joking, but I could see no humor in our situation. “No vampires.”
Her eyes searched mine in the low light, growing more worried the longer she stared at me.
I was being cryptic. I knew I was. And I hated that I was confusing her. But I was walking a very fine line between telling her just enough to keep her safe and not too much to make her run where I couldn’t protect her.
“What the hell is going on?” she whispered. “Why are you so on edge? Gio isn’t here. Luc, I know you don’t get along with your father, but your family seems nice enou—”
“You don’t know my family, Natalie. You don’t know what they’re capable of. Monsters come in many different forms, but, believe me, they’re real. They’re real, and they’re in this house. Which is why I need you to listen to me. Lock the doors and windows, slide the desk in front of the door, and don’t let anyone in here but me.”
Her face paled, and regret stabbed deep in my chest because I’d just scared her, but I needed her to be scared. She wasn’t getting it, and I couldn’t—wouldn’t—let anything happen to her.
At the same time, though, I didn’t want her to be terrified. At least not so much it caused her to act differently in front of my family. So I gentled my tone when I reached for her arms and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. “Look, just do as I say, okay? I’ll feel better knowing you’re safe.” I wanted to take her mouth. I wanted to wrap myself around her and never let go. Instead, I forced my fingers to release her. “I’ll come for you in the morning.”
“In the morning?” she said at my back as I turned for the door. “You mean you’re not staying with me tonight?”
“No. My mother is…old-fashioned.”
It wasn’t a lie. My mother was ultrareligious, probably because she hoped hours in the chapel on our property would balance out the sinful things going on around her. I didn’t know her reasons. I didn’t care. I’d never asked.
“Luc, wait.”
Her hand closed around mine just as I reached for the door. Heat seeped into my skin under her soft touch, and I craved the feel of her hands on every other inch of my bare skin, but I didn’t have time for that now. “What?”
Soft blue eyes met mine. Eyes I could get lost in forever if I let myself. Eyes that would get us both killed if I wasn’t careful. “You don’t need to worry about me so much.”
She thought I was worried about her? I nearly snorted. I wasn’t just worried. I was scared out of my fucking mind. But I couldn’t tell her that. All I could do was hope and pray she listened. “Then do as I said, and we’ll both be fine.”
I tugged my hand from her delicate fingertips and opened the door. Pulling it closed behind me, I stopped in the hallway and waited.
My heart raced as seconds ticked by. The lock clicked, then a loud scraping sound echoed around me, telling me she’d listened and slid the heavy, old desk in front of the door.
The pressure in my chest eased—just enough so I could breathe.
Pushing my feet forward, I moved back down the
corridor toward my father and whatever the hell he was summoning me for. Hopefully it was just to shoot the shit with him and Dante and not something else.
Not something I dreaded with every fiber of my being.
8
Luc
I should have stayed away from her, but she called out to me like a singing siren, drawing me to her.
Even when I knew it was safer for both of us to be apart, I couldn’t stay away. My body needed her like it needed air to breathe. I needed her like a meth addict needs his next hit. Every rational thought and plan shattered in my mind, overwhelmed by one thought and purpose and desire.
Her.
I wasn’t stupid, though. I knew the dangers. So I waited.
Thankfully, my father hadn’t called me back down to discuss anything other than operations at Covet. After a brandy on the loggia with him and Dante, I’d said good night to my mother and sister and retreated to my room in the south wing. Then I’d lain on my bed and waited until I heard my parents and siblings retire for the night. I’d waited even longer until I was sure they were all asleep.
The villa was quiet and dark when I finally ventured out around two a.m. I wasn’t as nimble as I’d been as a teenager when I’d last snuck into the north wing, and twice I almost slipped on the trellis and dropped to my death. I could just envision my parents finding my broken body in the morning, knowing exactly what I’d been up to. The forbidden and the risk only heightened my hunger for Natalie.
Her balcony door was unlocked and open when I reached her veranda. Frustration shot through me that she’d disobeyed my order, followed by a wicked burst of heat I knew I shouldn’t feel.
My blood thumped hot and fast as I pushed the balcony door closed behind me and flipped the lock.
The room was quiet and dark. I glanced toward the desk pushed up against the main door, then to the four-poster bed, where the covers were thrown back, the sheets cold and bare. Soft light shone from beneath the closed bathroom door, drawing my attention. When the muffled sound of water splashing met my ears, I envisioned her in the bathtub, wet and soft and naked, and all the blood in my body rushed right into my cock.
As quietly as I could, I crossed the floor and pulled the bathroom door open. Just as I’d pictured, she was reclined in the deep claw-foot tub, her head resting against the rolled edge, her eyes closed.
That silky hair I loved to run my fingers through was pinned up, and damp tendrils brushed the delicate line of her throat and jaw. Water droplets glistened on her delectable skin in the flickering light of the dozen candles she’d lit around the room, and the sweet scents of lavender filled the space.
But all I could focus on was the water splashing gently and rhythmically against the side of the cast-iron tub. Her heavy breaths lifting the tips of her pink nipples out of the water. The soft moans slipping from her lips. And her hand moving beneath the surface as she stroked that sweet, warm spot between her legs that made me absolutely ravenous.
My cock grew instantly hard.
Heart pounding, I moved silently into the room and stepped up behind the end of the tub. She didn’t hear me, and as I drew close, I could see her fingers moving faster between her legs as she flexed her hips forward, rocking into her hand.
Fuck me. I could come right now, just watching her pleasure herself. I hoped like hell she was thinking about me as she flicked her clit.
Kneeling on the tile behind her, I drew in a deep whiff of her insane scent—that grapefruit and honey combination that made my blood hum and my body throb and ache and crave only her. I swiped my suddenly damp palm against the thigh of my jeans, then pressed it over her mouth.
Her eyes shot open, and she gasped. Her sexy body jerked, sending water sloshing over the side of the tub, and her hand flew free of that steamy spot between her legs as her torso jolted forward.
Closing my other arm around her upper body, I palmed her plump breast and pulled her back against the tub. Her muscles flexed, fighting my hold, and her hands rushed to pull mine free, but I didn’t let her go. Instead, I leaned toward her ear and breathed hot over her sensitive skin. Then I whispered, “Oh, you naughty girl. You’re not supposed to do this without me.”
She stilled, and her shallow breaths lifted her delicious breasts higher into my hand. Beneath my palm, I felt her lips move, and her muffled whisper drifted to my ears. Any part of me that was still soft went rock hard when I heard the thirst in that one word.
“Luc.”
“That’s right,” I whispered, loosening my grip on her breast and trailing my fingers down to pinch and roll her nipple between my thumb and finger.
Her hands drifted away from mine, and she pushed her chest forward as she angled her head back until it rested against my shoulder. I released her mouth and slid my other hand to her neglected breast at the edge of the water, pinching and rolling the tip in the same way until it was a hard pebble between my fingers.
“Show me what you were doing, angioletto.”
She moaned, and her hand slid beneath the water and between her legs. My gaze followed, riveted on her fingers as they slipped between her folds and across her sensitive clit.
“Oh, that is naughty,” I breathed against her, watching every stroke. “Does it feel good?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“How good?”
She turned her face into my neck, her breaths hot and fast against my skin as she touched herself. “So good.”
I knew it felt fucking good. I could feel her body undulating forward, searching for release. My cock pulsed in my jeans, desperate to break free. To slide through her wetness. To sink deep into her heat.
I moved one hand down her belly and over the sensitive spot at her groin. She shivered but stroked herself harder. “Tell me what you were thinking about before I caught you, dirty girl.”
She swallowed hard. “You.”
“Me?” I angled forward so my fingers could drift along her inner thigh and up into her wetness. She groaned and lifted into my touch, but I was careful to keep it light, stroking her slowly as she flicked her clit. “What was I doing?”
“Touching me.”
“Where?”
She rocked against my hand. “Here.”
“Say it.”
She breathed hot and hard against my neck. “My sex. You were touching my sex.”
“Uh-uh.” I drew my hand back, not letting her have any of the friction I knew she wanted. “Say it the way I say it. The way I like to hear it. Tell me just what tight, sweet place you were stroking with those naughty fingers.”
She groaned, and her cheeks turned pink.
Even after everything she’d given me, every way she’d let me touch her, I could still make her blush. The knowledge made me abso-fucking-lutely on fire.
Against my hands I felt her whole body tense. “My…pussy,” she whispered. “You were touching my pussy.”
I vibrated with the need to feel that heavenly place closing around me. Trailing my fingers lower, along her opening, I said, “And what else was I doing, angioletto?”
She groaned and flexed her hips forward, desperate to draw me inside. “Taking me.”
“Just taking you?” I pushed the tip of my index finger into her a fraction of an inch, then drew it out. She moaned in frustration and rocked forward again, but I kept my touch shallow, knowing it would heighten her pleasure, knowing it would make her greedy for more. “Tell me what I was really doing. Tell me what I want to hear, and I’ll give you what you need.”
“Ah, Luc… Please.”
She lifted against my hand again, but I kept my pumping finger slow and shallow, not giving her what she craved until she told me what I ached to hear. “Tell me, Natalie.”
She swallowed hard and brushed her nose and lips against my throat, her hot breath scorching my flesh until I felt as if I might spontaneously combust. “You were using me, controlling me, doing every filthy thing you wanted to me.”
“What else?” I pushed in ju
st a tiny bit farther. “Tell me what else I was doing.”
“Oh yes…Luc.” She tightened her slick wet pussy around my finger, trying to draw me in deeper.
“Tell me.”
Her whole body undulated, sending water sloshing against the side of the tub. “You were owning me.”
Heat rushed through my veins, turning my blood to lava. I drew my finger out and thrust deep with two, filling her until she gasped.
“Yes, I do,” I growled in her ear, drawing my fingers back and shoving in hard again while I twisted one perfect, wet nipple with the fingers of my other hand. “I own this pussy. I own every part of you. Just me. Rub your clit faster. Feel me owning your body. This is mine. I say when you can come. Do you want to come, angioletto?”
“Ahh…” Her hand moved with lightning speed as I stroked that special spot deep inside her. “Yes, yes… Please, yes.”
“Then do it. Come hard for me. Come for me now.”
Her whole body tensed, and she clamped down, growing so tight, I growled with the need to fuck her hard and deep so I could feel her pulsing around my aching cock the way she was pulsing around my fingers.
When the orgasm hit her, she jolted, sending water sloshing over the edge of the tub and across my shoulders. Her head jerked back, and a scream was rent from her mouth.
My pulse shot up, and I let go of her nipple and slapped my palm over her lips to muffle the sound. She continued to throb around my fingers as the climax consumed her, then slowly relaxed in the water until she was nothing but a limp, sated, gorgeous naked angel beneath my touch.
“Dio dannato,” I muttered, slowing my strokes and drawing my fingers from her slick, tight grip. “That was so fucking hot. The only thing I love more than hearing you come is making you come.”
She groaned and rolled to her side in the tub. Her head lifted, and then her mouth was on mine, drawing me into a scorching kiss that made my balls tighten and my cock swell to an unbearable size.
I shoved my tongue into her mouth and devoured her. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I pushed to my feet and pulled her from the water.
The Fall (House of Sin Book 2) Page 8
