He was twice her size and, struggle though she might, Inca couldn’t get free from him. He slammed her down onto the desk and held her down as he unzipped his pants. Inca kicked out at him, got lucky, catching his groin with her heel, and he buckled. She rolled from the desk, sobbing, but he grabbed her ankle and pulled her down.
“No, you don’t, you little whore. I’m going to take what I’m owed, and afterwards, I’ll decide whether or not I’ll let you live another minute.”
Inca struggled with all her might as he tried to enter her, twisting and shutting her thighs, but when Edger raised his fist and punched her in the stomach, the pain was incredible and all the breath left her body.
She felt him watching her and struggled to stand up—pain racked her body and, as she looked at him, she was horrified to see lust in his eyes. He’s enjoying my pain, she realized, he’s turned on by it. Adrenaline kicked in then and she managed to stand up straight. The searing pain in her stomach dulled.
“Please, don’t …”
But he didn’t listen. For Inca, the next few minutes were worse than hell. Edgar groped her sex, grinning triumphantly, nastily. Inca was sobbing, her arms flailing around for anything, anything to help her, when her fingers felt steel. Scissors, that had fallen from the desk during the struggle. She gripped them as best she could and drove the point into Edgar’s shoulder. He roared in pain and jerked back.
“Fucking bitch!” He screamed for his guard, who ran in.
“Hold her down,” he ordered as he ripped the scissors from Inca’s hand. “I’m going to gut this little bitch.”
Inca went cold, but she screamed and fought with her captors. As Edgar raised the scissors, a shot rang out and plaster from the ceiling rained down on them. Edgar stopped.
Tommaso, his face contorted with rage, leveled the gun at his father. “Let her go. Now.”
Edgar gave a nod and Inca was released, still sobbing. She ran to Tommaso, who put his free arm around her, pressing his lips to her temple. “It’s okay now, bella. You’re safe.”
Edgar smirked, and Tommaso’s eyes narrowed. He leveled the gun at his father’s head. “Give me one more reason, Father. Just one.”
His father’s guard edged forward but, from behind them, Inca heard Raffaelo enter the room.
“Don’t,” he said to the guard, who balked.
“Raff, take Inca outside and help her. Me and Daddy Dearest are going to have a little chat.”
Raffaelo and Inca exchanged worried glances. Tommaso, without looking away from his father, half-smiled. “It’s okay, both of you. Leave us.”
Whatever had passed between Tommaso and his father, he never told them, but when he came to join them, to tell them that Edgar had left the house, he seemed different. Stronger. He and Raffaelo hugged for a long moment, then Tommaso asked if he could speak with Inca alone.
“Of course, brother.” Raffaelo smiled at them both, then left the room, closing it quietly behind him.
Tommaso sat down next to Inca, his fingers sweeping the hair back from her face, briefly touching her split lip. “Are you okay, Principessa?”
She nodded, leaning against him. Her eyes searched his face. “Are you?”
He considered the smiled. “Yes, actually. More than okay. I said everything I had ever wanted to him. I doubt we’ll see him again. It’s no loss. I’m so sorry for what he did to you; I knew he was vicious, I never realized he would go that far.”
“It’s okay.”
“He was going to kill you, Inca; it’s not okay.” He closed his eyes briefly, as if imagining it, and shivered. Inca nudged him.
“Hey … I’m here. I’m okay. At this point, I’m probably immortal.”
Tommaso chuckled and kissed her forehead. “It wouldn’t surprise me.” He sighed. “I hope I turn out to be a better human being than my father.”
Pain passed across his face and she touched his arm. “Tommaso, you are already a million, trillion times the man he could ever be. You are not your father.” Her voice hardened at the mention of Edgar Winter.
He studied her. “Thank you. And you,” he hesitated. “You are not your mother. You will never be your mother.”
“Thank you, Tommaso.” She pressed her lips to his and he returned the kiss but then pulled away, his eyes serious.
“Inca, Raffaelo told me what happened between you and him—that he asked you to marry him.”
Inca flushed and started to stand, but he made her sit. “Inca, I know exactly what you’re thinking. I know you. I can tell you feel guilty, but let me ask you this. Did it feel right? Be honest.”
She chewed her lip. “I don’t know.” She sighed, her shoulders slumping. “Yes. I suppose so.”
He leaned in, a small smile on his lips. “I’m happy for you, Inca, for you and Raffaelo. Both you and I know … you are meant for each other. I have been selfish, not wanting to give you up, indulging my … fantasies. But you and Raff … it is a love for the ages. We all know that. I have to let you go, Inca, and you have to do the same for me.”
Inca smiled gratefully at him. “I wish I knew myself as well as you seem to know me.”
He shrugged. “You do. You just won’t let yourself believe it.”
Inca leaned her forehead against his, knowing that this was goodbye—at least as far as their love affair went. “I do love you, Tommaso; don’t ever think I don’t.”
“I know, bella, and I will always love you. Just … in the right way now. As my sister. My very best friend.”
She couldn’t help the tears that dropped down her cheek then. “Tommaso …”
He wrapped his arms around her. “Ssh, it’s okay, Principessa. It’s okay. I promise—we will all be happy.”
They flew back to Washington a week later. On the plane, they discussed how to explain the fact that the ring on Inca’s left hand wasn’t from the Winter twin people expected. Inca studied it as Raffaelo—her fiancé, she thought, laughing to herself—and Tommaso talked about what they had planned for the Winter mansion.
After she and Tommaso had talked, a few nights later, Raffaelo had taken her out to dinner and proposed again. Tears of happiness flowed from both of them as Inca had said yes, and he’d swept her up into his arms and kissed her, clearly over the moon.
“I’m going to marry Raffaelo Winter,” she kept repeating to herself. She hadn’t wanted a big gaudy ring; instead, she and Raffaelo went to choose one. He rolled his eyes when she picked the cheapest one in the store, but she genuinely loved the simple design, the single diamond.
Tommaso had congratulated them both, and Inca could see no sadness in his eyes when he hugged her.
It was strange to think she would never kiss him or make love with him again. He’d rented an apartment in the city and moved there to give them privacy.
Now, she smiled at her family—they were her family—as they enjoyed the luxury of the Winters’ private jet. “Tyler said he’d be with us by the weekend. I can’t wait to see him.”
She’d already told Tyler about her and Raffaelo’s engagement and, after he’d asked her if she had chosen the one she really wanted, if she was sure, then he had congratulated her warmly. “As long as you are happy, Bubba.”
Now they were on their way to Washington and Inca felt optimistic about the future in a way she hadn’t for a long time. The Winter twins had legally separated their lives and businesses from their father, and they hadn’t heard from him since that terrible day.
There are monsters everywhere, Inca thought to herself now, but also angels. These two men with her now … they had changed her life completely.
Washington was freezing cold and snowing. Tommaso grumbled—to Raffaelo’s and Inca’s amusement. “Does it ever get warm in this godforsaken place?”
They went straight to the mansion, which seemed like a place from another time for all of them. Inca was smiling until she saw the bloodstains on the stone steps … Luna’s blood. Someone had obviously tried to clean it, but when it had
frozen, the blood had leached into the porous stone and stained it.
Raffaelo put his arm around her. “We won’t have to see it much longer.”
They had decided to sell the mansion and move everything back to Italy. Inca was glad. Although she had always loved her home state and her own country, she didn’t feel like she belonged anymore. She didn’t belong anymore.
Raffaelo touched her cheek. “Let’s get warmed up. Then we can talk about what our plans are.”
Olly saw the limousine snake up the hill to the Winter mansion and felt his body tremble. She was back. Inca had called him, somewhat nervously, to tell him she was coming to visit, to settle Nancy’s matters, and to say goodbye. She was really leaving for good. Olly couldn’t quite get a handle on it. He’d expressed his sadness, and Inca had cried a little.
“It’s not like you don’t have a passport,” she had said eventually, a little annoyed, and he’d laughed then.
“That’s better; now you sound like you.”
He heard her chuckle. “I miss you, Olly.”
“I miss you too, Inks.”
Now she was home, and he was strangely nervous about seeing her. They’d agreed to meet the next day and talk; then, later in the week, Inca asked if they could go and lay some flowers on Luna’s grave.
“Of course we can,” Olly said softly, letting Inca know he didn’t blame her for what had happened.
He drove back to the police station and pulled off his coat. He felt as if this visit—Inca’s last visit home, probably—would be one where they would hash out everything. Olly had never forgiven himself for how he’d behaved when she’d met the Winters—his jealousy, he knew now, had made him go crazy for a while, buying the Sakura apartment and not telling Inca, and buying that hideous house in the woods—what the hell had he been thinking?
Since Luna’s suicide, Olly had been seeing a psychiatrist and taking medication. Both he and Luna had been diagnosed with a personality disorder but had left it untreated all their adult lives. He was sure now that that was why he had dumped Inca in the first place. If they’d both been treated, maybe Luna—and Scarlett—would be alive now.
God, the things we do to each other …
“Hey again.” Her voice broke through his reverie and he realized he had been daydreaming. Belinda stood in front of him.
“Would you like to come to the new coffee shop?”
He was silent for a moment, then smiled coolly. “No, thank you. Actually, I need to run some errands, so …’” He got up. Belinda looked surprised.
“Oh … okay, then …Hey, come over for dinner later, to the house, I mean. It’s just an Irish stew, but there’ll be plenty to go around.”
He inclined his head and smiled. “Thank you, but not tonight. I’ll be seeing you. Belinda.”
He left quickly, aware he had surprised her, possibly even hurt her feelings. He climbed into his car and sat for a while, watching her walk down the street. Maybe he had been too dismissive.
“Belinda?” He got out of the car as she turned. “I’m sorry. I was rude. I can’t make dinner, but yes, shall we grab a coffee now?”
He was surprised how grateful she looked and felt better. There was no need for any unpleasantness. After all, he needed all the friends he could around here.
Tommaso excused himself at ten p.m., and Inca and Raffaelo walked slowly up to their room. A good meal, two bottles of a superb red, and Inca was feeling very chilled out. Raffaelo grinned at her.
“You are drunk, Ms. Sardee …”
She giggled and wound her arms around him before, suddenly, her face dropped. Frowning, Raffaelo looked in her eyes.
“What is it?”
“Oh God …”
“What?”
“My name will be … Inca Winter.”
Raffaelo burst out laughing, half with relief. “God, you scared me. I thought something was really wrong.”
“It is! My name will be Inca Winter!’ she moaned, but, seeing her lover collapsed with laughter, she started giggling too. “Stop laughing, you with your sexy sexy name. Think of your wife’s humiliation.”
He pulled her down on top of him, rolling her onto her back on the bed. “If it bothers you that much, keep your name. Or I’ll take your name.”
She stopped, looking in amazement at him. “You would do that?”
Raffaelo nodded. “Of course. I would be happy to give up the last thing that my father gave me. How does Raffaelo Sardee sound?”
She grinned. “Italian … and sexy as all hell.”
“Then it’s decided.” He kissed her, his lips moving against hers slowly. “Now we just have to decide when to get married.”
“Hmm, let’s talk about that, but not now … not while I can’t concentrate on anything else but your face, or your eyes, or …”
Raffaelo grinned, his hands already pushing her dress up. “I need to taste you, mio caro; it’s been too many hours.” He moved down the bed and buried his face in her sex, his tongue lashing around her clit then plunging deep inside her.
“God, Raff … yes … yes …”
Inca let herself relax into the heady sensation of his mouth on her. Then, as her arousal grew, she smiled down at him. “Baby, let me taste you while you’re … busy …”
Soon they were both naked, and Inca took his cock into her mouth as he continued to lick and taste her swollen, quivering cunt.
Her fingernails dug deep into his buttocks as she brought him to a climax, then swallowed his seed as he came in her mouth. Her own orgasm ripped through her, then Raffaelo moved and his cock ploughed into her, hard, pushing her legs apart further and further to sink deeper into her. Inca loved it when he got all riled up like this, fucking her hard, dominating her body, his hands pinning hers above her head, his mouth rough on hers.
His teeth nipped at her lower lip; he growled her name again and again; and then, when he came, he came so hard that the bed shook with the force of it.
“My God. My God,” Inca breathed, her body vibrating with pleasure as they panted for air. “It just gets better and better with you. Were you holding back before? I mean when we were with …”
Raffaelo nodded. “A little, I admit. Some of Tommaso’s kinkier things … like when he used to watch us, I didn’t mind him doing so. I even found it weirdly erotic, but I didn’t feel as if I could ever fully really let myself go. Even that time we were alone at the villa—I felt his presence in our bedroom. That’s not true anymore.”
Inca stroked his face. “What a strange beginning we had. But I wouldn’t change a thing.”
He brushed his lips against hers. “Me neither, my love.” He traced a line from her throat down to her navel. “God, you’re beautiful … I’m going to keep telling you that every day.”
She grinned through tear-filled eyes. “Raffaelo Winter, you are the love of my life.”
And they began again where they had left off.
She was back. In the States, in Washington, in Willowbrook, and this time, he would make sure she would never leave again. Not alive. God, it was so close now; he could taste it, taste her, smell the blood she would shed for him. But first … a little ‘welcome home’ present …
He grinned to himself. Before Inca died, she would suffer another devastating loss.
Inca was surprisingly edgy as Raffaelo dropped her off in front of the restaurant. “This is silly,” she said. “Olly’s my oldest friend, my ex-boyfriend. Why am I so nervous?”
“Think of everything you’ve been through—of course it’s natural to feel like that. Look, if it gets difficult, I’m a phone call away.”
Inca walked into the restaurant and saw Olly already sitting at a table. He stood to kiss her cheek, then they both laughed and hugged each other, hard.
“God, I’ve missed you.” Her voice was muffled as her face was buried in his shoulder, and when she looked at him, there were tears in her eyes. He captured one that escaped down her cheek with his finger.
“And
I’ve missed you, Inks. Come on. Let’s sit and get some food going. That’s a guaranteed way to break the ice.”
She chuckled, shrugging out of her coat. “You know me so well.”
They chatted easily for a time, then Inca put down her fork. “Olly … I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am about Luna. I don’t understand why she was so angry with me, but I wish I did know, had known, so that I could have found a way to …”
“Inca … Luna was ill. You knew about the breakdown she had, but what you didn’t know was that she was much sicker than we thought.” He sighed and looked down. “We both were. When we were teenagers, we were both diagnosed with a personality disorder. We were on medication, but by the time we were in our twenties, neither of us took it seriously.”
He took her hand. “Inca … if we had, Luna would still be here. Scarlett would still be here. None of it was your fault. And I need to apologize for scaring you that time in the woods, with that dumb house. And for wrecking your plans with the Sakura apartment. I really don’t know what I was thinking.”
Inca was crying quietly as he spoke. Then, when he finished, she got up and came around the table to wrap her arms around him. “I’m sorry, Olly, I’m so sorry.”
They held each other for a while, ignoring the stares of the other diners. Later, over coffee, she told him about her engagement.
“Raffaelo, hey?”
She nodded, giving him a curious smile. “You don’t sound surprised.”
Olly met her gaze and grinned, and she reddened. “Oh my God. Does everyone know?”
Olly chuckled at her embarrassment. “No, of course not. Don’t worry. I found out by, um, accident. During a crazy moment.”
Inca put her burning face in her hands. “We really need to invest in drapes.”
Olly laughed. “That might be a good idea.”
“Well,” she said, sighing, “it’s irrelevant now. I’m marrying Raffaelo.”
Dr. Orgasm (A Holiday Romance Collection Book 2) Page 36
