by Bella J
I thought back to when all this happened, when I rushed over here to see if she was okay. So much blood was shed, blood that stained the clothes I wore.
The second I rushed through the front door and saw her sitting on the steps, Giovanni standing a few feet away, a bone numbing relief flowed through me. I had never been so relieved in my life. It was a selfish relief, I know. I was relieved that she was okay because the thought of no longer having her scared the shit out of me.
Tatum wasn’t crying. She wasn’t shaking. She was just sitting there staring right in front of her…until she saw me. For a second something bright passed through her sapphire eyes, but as quickly as it came, it vanished. We didn’t talk. I had nothing to say, and neither did she. Bullets, and screams, and dead bodies had spoken plenty already.
I picked her up, carried her to the nearest bedroom and we both showered in silence. It felt like hours that we just stood there, no words, no emotions—just us. After that she started to thaw a little but something was missing inside her, and by God I wanted it back.
The door of the en-suite bathroom opened and Tatum walked out with a towel wrapped around her body. Drops of water were still running down the inside of her thighs and legs, her blonde hair darkened, hanging in a disarray of perfection. I stared at her, and cursed the raging hard on that pressed painfully against my zipper. I haven’t touched her since we arrived here. No matter how fucking twisted it was between us, I couldn’t touch her while I knew she was grieving—while I was grieving. But as I stared at her now, I knew it had been too fucking long, and my body demanded that I claim her, the beast clawing and pacing behind its cage to feed on the warped delight that was her body.
She dropped the towel and glanced over her shoulder. “You’re allowed to touch me.”
I sauntered toward her, and heard her suck in a breath as I slowly traced my finger down her spine. “Where is my little mouse?”
“She’s here.”
“No she’s not.”
Tatum turned to face me. “If you thought that after what happened I would still be the same woman I was, you’re the one who’s naïve.”
“I just—”
She grabbed my hand and placed it against her chest. “My heart no longer beats right. I heard all the lies, and I watched my father die. Your family thought I took everything from them, when in fact they took everything from me. From the start Carlo had planned on taking from me. So tell me, Castello, how do I remain the same person when I now carry all the ugly truths inside me?”
My heart shattered for her, my chest ached for her, but my body also burned for her.
“I’m sorry, bella.”
She smiled. “You were right.”
“About what?”
“Ignorance is bliss. I would do anything, anything to get rid of the knowledge that’s tearing me apart inside. And you know what? I now empathize with your dead mother. Now I understand the need she had for revenge…because that same need is killing me slowly from the inside. And I’ve been fighting that need for the last few days, constantly trying to dig deep enough to find the person I was, because I do not want to be like your mother. I do not want to turn into a person obsessed with revenge and retaliation.”
She guided my hand over her breast, pushing her hard nipple against my palm. I squeezed her breast, grabbed her hip and pulled her harder against me, my gaze pinned on hers.
“You don’t have to worry about that, little mouse. Because you are only one thing”—I grabbed a fist full of her hair and jerked her neck back, my lips softly finding her skin—“you are mine, and to me that’s all you ever will be…mine.”
Her breathing got heavy, and my body was humming, my cock demanding to be inside her. I lowered my hand and cupped her between her legs, earning a needy gasp from her lips. “This is how I know you are mine, whether you want to be or not.” I slipped a finger inside her. “Your body wants me, it drips for me, and only me.”
I reached for my zipper, pulled it down and freed my cock, guiding it against her, pressing the head against her clit. She stumbled back and grabbed ahold of the dressing cabinet behind her.
This was me, this was her, this was us. These moments where we consumed each other, these were the dark moments that defined us both. It’s in these moments we escaped, embracing our inner demons, our depravities, and forgetting about the world that so eagerly judged and destroyed.
I lifted her thigh and guided it around my waist, my cock ready at her entrance. “I know what’s been bothering you, little mouse.” I gave her just the tip of me, and she moaned, her greedy hips trying to force me in. “Ever since you came here there has been one question haunting you.” I pulled the head of my cock away, leaving her needy and whimpering. “Ask me that question, little mouse.”
I grabbed her cheeks between my fingers and squeezed as I forced her to look at me. “Ask me.”
Crystal blue eyes beamed with newly ignited desire and I caught sight of the woman I’ve desired for the last four days. Knowing that my touch was strong enough to bring her back—even for just a few moments, was fucking euphoric. That alone confirmed that I fucking owned her.
She sucked in her bottom lip leaving it glistening with traces of temptation, igniting a goddamn inferno in my loins.
I pushed the head of my cock inside her, giving her just enough to make her crazy for more, and she moaned, her nails clawing into the skin of my shoulders.
“Now ask me, Tatum!”
“Am I free to leave?” Her voice broke, quivered—whether it was from fear or lust I didn’t know. Her gaze was etched on mine, my cock holding strong between her legs.
“Am I free to leave if I wanted to…sir?”
I hated the question. But I hated the answer even more. I pressed my mouth against hers, forcing her to open for me so that my tongue could taste her, savor her. With greedy lips and covetous tongues, we devoured each other. Lost in one another, yet found in the wicked desires we shared, we kissed like it would mean death if we didn’t. Just as I started to retreat, I bit down, my teeth nipping her lips. The metallic tang of blood coated my tongue, and it fueled the sordid hunger deep inside my core.
Her tongue flicked over the wound on her lip, and I caught a glimpse of crimson before she closed her mouth. Even her goddamn blood was mine.
I placed my thumb on her bottom lip, wanting to see my mark, and I could feel her body trembling with white hot desire.
“My answer, little mouse…is no.”
With a hard thrust I pushed my cock inside her completely. She cried out in pleasure, the sound slamming against the roof. Buried to the hilt inside the heaven between her legs, I stilled, cupping her cheeks between my palms making sure she looked at me, that she saw the resolve in my eyes.
“You should know that I’m never letting you go, Tatum.” I reared back and pushed back in, her eyes closing momentarily, then opening again. “I’m about to fight a war, and I’m going to fight it with you by my side as my queen.”
A soft gasp rolled over her parted lips, her ice blue eyes darkening before she leaned her head back, her face covered with the look of sheer ecstasy. Yes, she was my queen, and she fucking knew it.
Again, I pulled out before slamming back inside her, her tits bouncing from the force. “You belong with me, and you know it. Your body knows it.” I continued to pump in and out of her, and started to feel how her body gripped me tight in pursuit of a release, a climax only I could give her.
“Your body can’t lie to me.” One more thrust and she screamed, her pleasure taking control of her trembling body.
“Who owns you, little mouse?”
Her greedy hips continued to move forcing me deeper and harder into her. I palmed one of her breasts, gripping it tight in the palm of my hand. “Tell me who the fuck owns you.” And then I gripped her nipple between my fingers, twisting and tugging hard.
She cried out. “You. You own me.”
“Fuck me.” Her words sent a powerful wave of raptur
e down my spine, forcing me to thrust hard, drive deeper. My cock slammed against her core until finally my release exploded inside her. She was mine, and I would mark her as mine every goddamn chance I got.
Her arms wrapped around my neck when we both came down from our high. Her breath was warm, her heart pounding against my chest, and our bodies melted together. We were like two pieces of a brazen world, fit together as one perfect imperfection.
Her lips brushed against my ear, her soft breath coating my skin with allure.
“Ask me,” she whispered. “Ask me the question that’s been haunting you ever since we got here.”
My body went rigid, my heart now beating more wildly than hers.
She weaved her fingers through the hair at the back of my head, her mouth softly sucking my earlobe. “Ask me, Castello.”
I placed my hand around her neck, my thumb leisurely stroking up her throat.
They say that knowledge is power…but not today.
“No.”
TO BE CONTINUED AND CONCLUDED IN…
SNEAK PEEK
BLOOD & VOWS
He still owned me.
The matter of my freedom has not yet been addressed, and I won’t demand it in fear that he might give it to me.
I’m no longer an unwilling prisoner, but rather an eager participant. His touch makes me come alive with wicked delight, and I’ve given up fighting it.
My life changed indefinitely. Pleasure and decadent sins of lust invaded both my body and mind. But death and grief also infiltrated my soul, and now the image of my father’s lifeless body haunts me, filling my nights with dreams of revenge and the bitter red of blood.
We can’t change the past, but our future is still undecided. The tables have turned. A strong family now stands divided, and now it’s war.
The war of brothers.
The war of blood.
Castello made it clear that he would fight this war with me as his queen, and that’s what I intended to be. His queen.
I will embrace my new life at his side, play the role that is expected of me, and make sure my king is as strong as he needs to be in order to win this war.
Why? Because I have a secret…and I will do whatever it takes to keep it.
***
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AMAZON US
AMAZON UK
GOODREADS
OTHER NOVELS BY BELLA J
RESPLENDENT RUIN (Resplendence #1)
RESPLENDENT RUSH (Resplendence #2)
RESPLENDENT RAGE (Resplendence #3)
STILETTO SECRETS
MAFIA PRINCESS
UPCOMING RELEASES
REGRET (Shattered Secrets Vol. 1) ~ 04/25/17
TORMENT (Shattered Secrets Vol. 2) ~ 05/30/17
BLOOD & VOWS (A Twisted Duet #2) ~ Release date TBC
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
All the way from Cape Town, South Africa, Bella J lives for the days when she’s able to retreat to her writer’s cave where she can get lost in her little pretend world of romance, love, and insanely hot heroes.
She has a taste for dark, romantic suspense novels with mysterious, brooding bad boys and strong, sassy women who bring them to their knees. Add a little humor and a lot of sexy, and she’s in writer’s Heaven.
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Table of Contents
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
DEDICATION:
Prologue
CASTELLO
1
CASTELLO
2
TATUM
3
CASTELLO
4
TATUM
5
CASTELLO
6
TATUM
7
CASTELLO
TATUM
8
CASTELLO
9
TATUM
10
CASTELLO
11
TATUM
12
CASTELLO
13
TATUM
14
CASTELLO
15
TATUM
16
CASTELLO
17
TATUM
18
CASTELLO
19
TATUM
20
CASTELLO
21
TATUM
22
CASTELLO
23
TATUM
24
CASTELLO
25
TATUM
26
CASTELLO
SNEAK PEEK
OTHER NOVELS BY BELLA J
UPCOMING RELEASES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
