AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The drive home felt twice as long under his heavy gaze. My skin burned everywhere he touched with his eyes. When he dragged me out of that reception, I imagined he would maul me in the car. But disappointment mulled low in my belly as he kept a distance of a few feet between us.
I knew he desired me. I wasn’t great at reading people. But today, there had been no doubt. His gaze had followed me everywhere, more so than my own shadow, blazing a trail from top to bottom, leaving me hot, wanting. So what if I had swayed my hips a touch too much, laughed a bit too loud, tossed my hair a bit too much?
This morning, I had terribly missed my parents. My reflection in the mirror echoed a sadness in me, one I was no longer familiar with. Sad knowing my parents weren’t there to witness today, no matter how fake this marriage was. My emptiness made way to something intangible when I saw Antonio lounging at the bottom of the stairs in a soft linen suit in beige with a white shirt, open at the collar, showing off a sprinkle of hair. No black suit. No tie. He followed his own set of rules. More stylish and hot. A mix between a model and a mob boss.
I had wanted to run my hands along his collar. To trail the sprinkle of hair down. Because I was curious about what I would find under his sleek, brown leather belt.
Instead, I had stood silent watching his eyes swirl with lust, reflecting my own. That intangible feeling was desire, I realised. At that moment, I had hoped he would take me tonight.
I hadn’t really known how to let him know that. He made me out to be this person I didn’t recognise. Sometimes, he could get me worked up so much that I would gladly lead an army to his defeat and sometimes… I was silly in his presence, a flutter of confused feelings, missing words, and a lot of aches for something I didn’t even understand.
Throughout the evening, I tried to figure out what to say. I had gone through the evening in a trance. I met his family; some lovely, some so vicious they acted like they killed people for a living. I had completely avoided his mother, turning in the opposite direction every time she came close, but even in the distance, I had caught those daggers flying off her eyes. I could read Mrs Capizzi’s mind, and it read murder.
“Miss Praan…” Remo’s words at the open door pulled me out of my thoughts. How long were we at a standstill while I was lost in my own world? Antonio was getting down on the other side. Embarrassed, I rushed to get out, jerking to a stop when the tail end of my saree wouldn’t budge.
Shit!
It was entangled in the seat belt holder. I twisted and tried tugging at it, but it wouldn’t let loose.
I looked to Remo for help, but he wouldn’t budge from Antonio’s sharp look and whatever he was saying to him in Italian, words spilling out faster than a high-speed train. Just when I thought I might have to tear my saree to get it out, Antonio came to help. Squeezing past, he worked on the fabric stuck in a small piece of metal sticking out between the seats. He was so close I could see his enlarged pupils. His warm breath fell on my face. The air in between tingled. Sandalwood and something woody drifted into my nostrils, intoxicating me. I felt heady. The fabric was released. He stepped out, and the air cleared again. I could breathe again.
I put my back to the black front door and waited while he conversed with two of his men standing outside. The man was a freak when it came to security. Seeing me waiting, he ended the conversation and came up, disarming the alarm to let me in. He had told Armando to stay on at the party, which was nice of him. He was always attentive to his staff, treating them like family. But then again, he had even married one of them.
I was halfway up the stairs when I realised he wasn’t following. I turned to find him moodily watching me, hands in his pockets.
“You are not coming?” I asked bashfully.
“Go ahead.”
I stood still, confused. I had thought he would be on top of me the moment we came in. Had I imagined all of this?
“What’s the matter?” I asked quietly.
He walked closer to me.
“What do you mean?”
I lifted my gaze to his. “Don’t you want to come?”
“Ah, tesoro mio.” He touched my cheeks gently, his thumb rough on my skin. “I do. So much. Preferably inside you, for many, many times. But if I follow you now, it will be over before we begin. Sì? Give this man a few minutes to calm down, and I’ll be up.” He tilted my chin. “Capisti?”
The man and his words. He could light a fire inside me with his foul mouth alone. Heat rose up my throat as I went up. I didn’t have to look to know he was watching me until I disappeared from view.
An intense case of nerves burst in my chest. Butterflies fluttered in my lower belly. After freshening up, I didn’t really know what I should do. Should I undress? His words this evening tainted my mind. I wanted him to. Except that left me with nothing to do. I felt like a virgin, though that was a long time ago, and it had been awkward and uncomfortable. I really hoped I wasn’t going to go down that road again.
I removed my earrings and dropped them on the little jewellery box on the dressing table. He was taking forever. A glance at the clock on the bedside table told me it was only eight minutes ago. I removed the pin holding the saree on my shoulder.
The air shifted in the room like a loose spark in a storm. I felt his presence on the back of my spine and turned to find him filling the doorway with a glass filled with an amber liquid. He’d removed his coat and held it loosely on one shoulder. He took a few steps inside the room and threw it onto the sofa, where it landed like a blanket. His eyes draped on me like a soft cloth of velvet. The air tightened as he moved closer, sucking it out of the room, when he stopped a few breaths from me.
I felt hot and bothered. My stomach pulsed with heat. I wanted to… and I didn’t. I didn’t know what I wanted.
His rough hands found mine and unclenched it to reveal the pearl pin that had been on my shoulder. “So, this was what was holding up your saree the whole time?” he muttered, a whisper of frustration in his warm voice.
I nodded. The way he said saree made my insides clench. Naughty and hot. Like he might say, “fuck you.”
He set the drink on the table and drew me closer in between his legs while he rested his ass on the edge of the table. The heat between his legs pulsed against my core. He coaxed my lips open and invaded my mouth, letting the warm spiced taste of his drink dip into my mouth. Whatever he was drinking was delicious. He was delicious. A sigh fell out of me as I wrapped my hands around his neck. His hands rubbed my waist, his palms rough on my soft skin, sending tingles up my body.
With a muffled groan, he hauled me closer, deepening the kiss, almost hurting me with his ferocity. Nestled between his legs, I could feel that the drink hadn’t helped much. He slid his hands up, past my breasts, past my neck, intertwining them in my hair, removing the band holding my ponytail. Letting my lips go, he watched his hands tracing my hair, a dark fascination in his eyes. He touched the strands and drew them up to my bodice, laying them on top like a cloak on a warm winter night.
