I shook my head.
“You’re really asking for it, little kitten.”
“I’m not little, and I’m not a kitten. How old are you anyway?”
“Forty-four. That’s twenty-three years between you and me, and you’ll learn how to respect your man, little kitten.”
I gave a mocking laugh. “Myman?”
“Yes.” His voice took a harsh turn all of a sudden. “Whether you like it or not.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means if you’re not gonna play nice, neither am I. My patience has its limits, and you’re pushing really hard. You have a very little time to come to me willingly, little kitten.”
I snorted. “And if I don’t?”
“You’ll see.”
CHAPTER 10
Nicky
I went to sleep in the nursery with Nick, Leo nowhere to be found yet. I couldn’t sleep a wink, though. If I saw that bastard I’d kill him myself.
Surprisingly, he wasn’t the only bastard taking away my sleep. I caught myself thinking about Domenico—and his body— more than I liked. More than I should have.
Yes, I’d sworn off men for all eternity. Yes, I didn’t—couldn’t—fantasize about a guy unless he was fictional or a celebrity I had no chance to ever meet in person. But with Domenico…things were different.
He wasn’t the first man that tried to hit on me, and I might have reacted with Domenico the same way I had with each one of them. Scared them away. But my body hadn’t reacted as it always had, as I hoped it would have when it came to someone like Domenico.
The cringe, the bile that filled my chest, the sting in the heart, the tears that pricked my eyes and the urge to hide them. To hide my fear, to hide my pain that wrapped around me like a blackout curtain, blinding yet shielding me from having any more. To make them see what they only needed to see. I was hurt, but I wasn’t broken. Thislittle kittenhad claws of steel, and she wasn’t afraid to use them. You’d better stay away because she wouldn’t be messed with ever again.
It was all there with Domenico but not as strong or as urgent as it always had been. Not to mention how my body loosened up in all the wrong—or rather right— places under his insolent touch. It infuriated and baffled me at the same time. Why, in the presence of a vicious mobster, would I feel a little bit safer, a little bit…free?
Talk about fucked up…
Tossing and turning, I tried to convince myself my new twisted realization wasn’t a realization at all. There was nothing real about it. It was only the effect of staying here too long, surrounded by all these Mafiosi and the women who loved them…and the idea my little sister had put my head…and how offensively sexy Domenico Lanza was.
Fuck, he was so goddamn hot I started considering Lina’s ridiculous plan.
Ugh, what the fuck was wrong with me? Between me and my sister, I’d always been the sound of reason, the one who kept her in check, not the one who yielded to unrealistic dreams and dangerous temptations. I really needed to get out of here.
The throbs and moisture between my legs were far from unrealistic, though. Back when I was sitting with him—on him—at the pool, and right now when my hand snuck inside my pajama pants to…
No. Nope.
Not to Domenico Lanza. Never to Domenico Lanza.
My fingers slid in the gathering wetness nonetheless as the smell of his cologne hit my nostrils, as if he were there in the room with me. In the quiet darkness that had kept my secrets.
Go ahead. It’ll help you sleep.No one has to know.Even the nanny cam in the giant teddy bear across from the crib doesn’t catch this side of the bed. No one will find out.
I would.
Won’t be the first time you touch yourself to someone you hate. Maybe this time you won’t have to cry yourself to sleep after.
My eyes squeezed, a tear threatening to escape. Quickly, I distracted myself with the images of Domenico, the way he licked his plump lip, the hungry gaze he always gave me, how good his body looked in a tux.
