by Tina Folsom
“Everything is fine. I’m sure nothing happened.” And if it had, she wouldn’t tell him. She wouldn’t be trapped. Now more than ever it was important that she found the treasure, so she could leave and deal with whatever cards she’d been dealt.
Lorenzo smiled at her. “So—” He placed a soft kiss on her lips. “—where were we?”
Chapter Twelve
Lorenzo peeled himself out of Bianca’s arms, careful not to wake her. His sensitive hearing had picked up a sound from the door downstairs. It was an hour before sunrise, but despite the fact that Bianca had only entered his life three nights earlier, Lorenzo’s sleeping pattern had been turned upside down. Over the last two days, he’d barely left his bed no matter the time. He was more than comfortable having Bianca sleep in his arms and wake her whenever the need to fuck her became too big—which was often.
Not that he would always wake her. The last time, she’d been so tired and exhausted that he’d not even woken her, but driven his aching cock into her while she was still asleep. Only when he’d started rutting on her, had she opened her eyes and moaned out her pleasure and smiled as if she always wanted to awake in the same fashion. And Lorenzo had promised her that he would oblige her only too willingly.
But right now, he needed to let her sleep and allow her tired body to rest while he investigated the sounds coming from outside his front door.
Without making a sound, Lorenzo slipped into his dressing gown and tied the belt around his waist, stepped into his slippers and left the bedchamber. He didn’t bother with finding a candle and descended the stairs in the dark. Another knock on the door indicated that his visitor was getting impatient.
Lorenzo stopped in front of the heavy door, already aware of who was on the other side of it. He turned the key and opened the door.
“About time. Are you deaf?” Nico asked and pushed inside.
Lorenzo closed the door and turned back to his friend, who looked him up and down as if he was looking at a ghost.
“Evening, Nico.”
“Were you sleeping? In the middle of the night?”
For a vampire, that was certainly unusual. It was tantamount to a healthy human male suddenly taking an afternoon nap. “Of course, not!” Lorenzo denied.
“Fucking then, I suppose.”
He ignored the comment and motioned to the parlor, not wanting to wake Bianca with their conversation. “What brings you so close to sunrise? I’m assuming it’s important.”
Nico entered the parlor, then let himself fall into the sofa. “I would have come earlier, but I had to track down Signore Mancini in one of the hells upon his return to the city. It appears he has a little weekend place on the mainland. Anyway, after my chat with him, one thing led to another, and I got distracted.” His friend paused. “If you know what I mean.”
Since Nico could never enter a hell without partaking in some of the offerings himself, Lorenzo didn’t even bother to feign surprise and ignored the comment. “You found Mancini then. What did he tell you? Is he sending the money for Bianca here?”
Nico held up both arms. “One question at a time. Sit down. This may take a while.”
Reluctantly, Lorenzo sank into his armchair. “I’m sitting.”
“Interesting man, Signore Mancini. Lucky for us that he’s just as interested in gossip as a common washerwoman.”
“My friend, I know you like drama, but would you please spare me this time. As you so rightly guessed, I have something to get back to, and if I may add, the lady is quite anxious for another helping.” The lie rolled off his lips as smoothly as the water flowed under the many bridges of Venice. It wasn’t the lady who was anxious for more, but Lorenzo himself—even if it was merely to hold her in his arms and cradle her as she slept.
Nico’s mouth twisted. “If we’re talking about the same person—and I’m assuming it is still Bianca Greco who apparently now resides in your bed—then we’re not talking about a lady.”
Lorenzo shot up from his chair and lunged toward Nico, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. “I advise you to watch your words. She’s a lady despite the fact that she succumbed to my advances. It wasn’t her fault. I practically attacked her.” Why he felt the need to defend her honor, he didn’t want to examine.
“Ah, be that as it may, however, I stand by my opinion.” He paused for a second. “As does Signore Mancini.”
At the mention of the solicitor’s name, Lorenzo loosened his grip and released his friend. “Talk!”
Nico adjusted his cravat and smoothed back his waistcoat. “Are you going to sit down again?”
Lorenzo grunted and sat back in his armchair.
“It appears that Bianca ran away from her father when he planned to marry her off to some rich old aristocrat. Headstrong young woman. Wouldn’t give into her father’s demands.”
Headstrong certainly sounded like Bianca. He’d been at the receiving end of it himself. “I assume she had a beau already and eloped with him?”
Nico shook his head. “Not at all. She left on her own. And your sweet Bianca has never been married.”
If she hadn’t been married, then some cad had first taken his pleasure with her, and then left her. Why else wouldn’t she have been a virgin? “Her lover left her?”
“Which one?”
Confusion spread in Lorenzo. “What do mean by which one?”
“What I’m trying to tell you, my dear Lorenzo, is that the woman currently waiting in your bed is quite at home at what she does there.”
A sense of dread filled him at Nico’s words, but the full implication of them hadn’t sunk in yet. “What are you implying?” Only when the words were out, Lorenzo noticed how his voice had risen in anger.
“I’m not implying anything. I’m telling you that Bianco Greco has spent the last few years as a highly-priced courtesan in Florence. She’s no lady and certainly no innocent.”
Shock made Lorenzo jump up from his chair. Instantly, all their interactions rushed back to him: how she’d responded to him in her sleep, the way she’d demanded he’d satisfy her, and then the way she’d squeezed his cock that had given him so much pleasure. Of course, now it all made sense. She was an experienced woman. And not better than a common whore.
“As for the money,” Nico continued undeterred, “she collected it from Mancini the day the deed was recorded.”
Lorenzo felt as if he’d been staked. She’d lied to him about everything from the very first moment. “She’s playing me.”
Nico nodded, his expression grave now. “I’m afraid so. Now, we’ll just need to find out what her plan is.”
“Her plan?” The wound in Lorenzo’s chest widened as the realization of her betrayal sank in deeper and buried itself in his vulnerable flesh. “Isn’t that obvious? She wants the house back even if that means she has to service my carnal needs.”
“It’s simple then. Just show her the door.” Nico brushed a dust particle off his immaculate breeches, flicking his wrist in a nonchalant gesture.
“I can’t do that.”
“Of course you can. Tell her to get dressed and shove her out the door.”
“Nico, you don’t understand: I made her my mistress.”
Nico’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Well, that’s unexpected coming from you. But I’ll let you in on a little secret.” He edged forward on his seat. “Men dismiss their mistresses at will. Now do it. You certainly don’t need a gold digger in your home. Besides, she might get in the way of what we’re trying to accomplish. I’m sure neither Raphael nor Dante would be pleased to have a human woman among our midst, who might turn out to be a spy.”
Lorenzo dismissed the idea instantly. Bianca was no spy. She was a greedy woman, who was after his wealth. After realizing that her father had left her nothing, she’d seen her chance and taken it. Unfortunately, he hadn’t seen it coming, and now there was something else that made it impossible for him to send her away.
“I can’t dismiss her. I’ve compromised
her.”
Nico stood up, agitated now. “She was already compromised. You didn’t fuck a virgin!”
“I knew that already. But you don’t understand: I took no precautions, and neither did she.”
Nico frowned. “Precautions?”
Lorenzo rounded his chair and gripped its backrest, suddenly in need of support. “To prevent conception. She could already be carrying my child.”
His friend let out an exasperated breath. “I don’t believe this. You? You of all people?” Nico’s look was scolding. “You’ve been had!”
Lorenzo cursed. “I know that. Don’t you think I know that?” He hit his fist against the backrest of his armchair. “She’s planned this down to the last detail: seduced me with her innocent demeanor, lulled me in. And what did I do? I complied. Now she’s going to use a child to get what she wants.”
Worst of all, if she turned out to be enceinte, he would have to make an important decision: have her bear a human child or make her give him a half-vampire child. His actions during her pregnancy would determine the outcome. If Bianca fed from him while the child was in her womb, the child would draw from his blood and receive its vampire traits. But if she never took any of his blood into her, her child would be perfectly human. The choice was his.
“What are you thinking?” Nico cut through his thoughts.
“Nothing.”
“Oh, no, you’d better not be thinking what I think you are.”
Lorenzo cut him an annoyed glare. “Stay out of this. It’s none of your business.”
“You’re not dismissing me that easily. If you’re thinking about whether to make her child half-vampire, I urge you to reconsider. You don’t know this woman. In fact, you know that she’s devious and scheming.”
Despite everything he’d heard about Bianca, he couldn’t believe that there was nothing good in her. In his arms, she’d felt better than good. She’d felt like a treasure to him.
“You have no idea how far she will go!”
Something in Nico’s words made him listen up. “What did you say?”
“You don’t know what she’ll do!”
As an idea formed in his mind, Lorenzo’s lips curled up in a smile. “I suppose, I’ll have to push her to her limits then.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Nico replied, his voice filled with doubt.
Lorenzo looked toward the door, imagining himself walking into his bedchamber. “Oh, but it’s going to be extremely pleasurable to find out how far my soiled dove will take it before she gives up and runs as far as her feet will carry her.” Even though secretly he hoped that despite what he was planning to confront her with, she’d stay. It was a crazy thought, yet he couldn’t stop it from taking residence in his mind.
Chapter Thirteen
Lorenzo eased the door to his bedchamber shut, not wanting to make any noise to wake his sleeping vixen. He approached his dressing room which only held a minimal amount of his clothes at this point. His valet had delivered one trunk the night before, wanting to arrange his master’s closet at the same time, but Lorenzo had sent him on his way and asked him to take a few days off, wanting to be alone with Bianca. Just as well. He needed no audience or interruptions to what he had in mind now.
He opened the trunk, rummaging through its contents until he felt silk caress his fingers. He pulled on the material, freeing a scarf from the stack. A silk necktie followed. Perusing the two items in his hand, he contemplated adding two more, but dismissed the idea. Two would be sufficient for what he needed.
Lorenzo was about to lower the trunk’s lid when his eyes fell onto a small rectangular box. He closed his palm around it, well aware of its contents: French letters. His valet made sure that he always had an ample and ready supply of the pesky skins. For a moment, he contemplated availing himself of one, but quickly dismissed the idea. He’d been fucking Bianca for three days and nights straight without taking any precautions. And while it was possible that she hadn’t conceived during those times, and all could still be saved if he used his French letters now, he was in the mood to tempt fate even more.
Maybe it was to punish her for her deception, or maybe it was simply because his gut told him that the deed had already been done and there’d be no use in taking any further precautions—precautions, which frankly would impede his pleasure. The thought of filling her with his seed once more ignited him to the point of unbearable lust, his cock already tenting his robe, eager to comply.
He released the box that contained the French letters and palmed the one next to it instead. It was larger and heavier.
As he strode back into his chamber and approached the bed, his senses filled with everything that was Bianca: her scent, the soft rustle she made on every exhale, and the way her face looked so peaceful while she was sleeping. There was something about this woman that spoke to him, that told him that she wasn’t all calculating and cold. But the things Nico had found out about her spoke against that. Therefore, he had to push her to the brink, so she’d break and confess what her motives were.
And if Lorenzo was good at one thing, it was how to lay secrets bare. With Bianca, he’d use his favorite method.
Placing the box on the nightstand, he bent over Bianca. He reached for one of her arms, easing it from underneath the tangled sheets and bound her wrist tightly with the scarf, then pulled her arm up over her head and looped the other end of the scarf through the sturdy wood carving of the headboard, attaching it firmly. Lorenzo tugged on it, making sure it was secured.
Then he proceeded in the same fashion with Bianca’s second arm and stepped back to look at the enticing tableau she now represented. By pulling her arms over her head, the sheet covering her breasts had slid down, revealing her naked beauty. Her tits had pulled up, the firm peaks proudly pointing up, moving slightly with every breath she took.
Lorenzo snagged the sheet between his thumb and forefinger and pulled it down to her feet, exposing her nude form to his hungry gaze. Hell, would he ever get enough of that sight? A light sheen of sweat covered her creamy skin, and dew still glistened on her mound. One leg was angled to the side, giving him a full view of the pink flesh between her thighs he’d licked and sucked and fucked relentlessly. And still, he wanted more.
Lorenzo divested himself of his robe and carelessly dropped it to the floor before he slid onto the bed beside Bianca. It was time to wake her and show her what he expected from his mistress.
With his hand, he lightly brushed over her nipples, the globes they topped moving in the process. So responsive, yet she didn’t wake, her body clearly too exhausted. It didn’t stop him from enjoying a quick lick against her flesh, then a soft tug together with a grazing of his teeth against her breast. But playtime was over.
Lorenzo swung his leg over her, mounting her, his buttocks resting on her upper thighs, so he still had a view of her neatly trimmed triangle of curls. Bianca’s breathing changed as he sank part of his weight onto her, her legs behind him trying to find a more comfortable position. He reached for her face and bent down to her, pressing his lips to hers. With his tongue he nudged her lips open and slid inside.
Her gasp told him that she was aware of him, so he eased off and pulled back an inch. Her face lifted from the pillow to follow his lips, and a moment later, she jerked her arms as if trying to reach for him. But she was rudely pulled back by her restraints.
Bianca’s eyes flew open, her head instantly twisting, her eyes searching for the unknown resistance. Her eyes spotted the bindings that held her trapped, and she snapped her gaze back to him, staring at him in shock. “What? Lorenzo?” The hint of panic in her voice pleased him. He wanted her off kilter.
“Yes, my sweet Bianca?” he asked innocently.
“What are you doing?” There was annoyance in her tone now. She tugged at the ties but couldn’t loosen them. “Take these off me!”
Lorenzo smiled down at her and trailed his hand over her breast until he reached her nipple. “I can’t do that.”<
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“Untie me!”
He ignored her demand and took her responsive peak between thumb and forefinger, pinching it. A startled gasp was her response. “It’s time for you to learn what I expect my mistress to do. And you’re my mistress now, aren’t you?”
“Lorenzo, please.” Even though she was pleading now, her lips pouting like a debutante’s, it wouldn’t change anything.
“If you remember, we agreed on this when I let you stay here. I warned you about the things you would have to do for me if you wanted to warm my bed. Or have you already forgotten about it?”
Her eyes blinked as her jaw dropped. Yes, she remembered what he’d told her that first night when she’d begged him to let her stay. He would make good on it now.
“I see, you remember.”
“But I thought you simply tried to shock me, so I’d leave,” she protested in vain.
Lorenzo kept the chuckle that was building inside him where it belonged: hidden from view. The devious vixen was trying to talk her way out of it. Maybe her previous protectors had been so gullible, but it wouldn’t work with him.
He tsked before he lifted himself off her thighs. Her relieved smile died an instant death when he merely scooted up her body so his inner thighs were touching her breasts and his heavy cock nudged toward the valley between them.
“I think I should warn you that in my house my word is law. Whatever order I issue will be followed. And right now, I’m going to have you suck me.”
***
Bianca tugged on the restraints once more, but they were holding, not quite biting into her wrists, but nevertheless firm enough to prevent her from escaping them. What had gotten into Lorenzo? During the last days and nights, he’d been the most passionate, yet considerate lover, and she’d almost forgotten why she was with him in the first place: to find the treasure. Only during those hours when he’d slept deeply had she snuck out of bed to continue her search.
But now as she looked at him looming over her, his body as beautiful as ever, and his cock just as hard and tempting as the many times before, there was a different glint in his eyes. As if a predator lurked in its depths.
