Why should I evenwantto risk trusting her, when it would be so much easier not to? If I did not trust her, I could justify keeping her close without having to examine the reasons why.
But instead of doing as I asked, she tugged her hand from my grasp.
‘No, Vito,’ she said, the mutinous expression familiar. ‘I’m not going to let you treat me like a prisoner here. I thought I made that clear.’
I pressed my hand to her stomach, the spurt of panic returning which had propelled me down those steps in the first place.
‘If you are telling me the truth—and you are aware you must remain here—then you also know you are mine to protect…’ I said. ‘And I did not hear you complaining a moment ago when you were full of my cock.’
She stepped back, but what I saw in her eyes—not just temper and embarrassment, but disappointment—had the hollow ache pulsing in my chest again.Damn her.
‘Stop trying to use sex as a weapon, Vito.’ She glanced at my thrusting cock. ‘We both wanted it. We both came.’
I swore as desire surged through me again. Aware that somehow she had got the upper hand. Because she was right. I wanted her just as much, and my hunger for her was impossible to hide.
‘I’ll move into your rooms, but you have to let me call Evie,’ she said. ‘And I refuse to be a prisoner here. You kidnapped me without clothes, so I would like to return to Naples and buy some more.’ Her voice sounded firm, but I could see the wariness in her eyes—as well as the determination. And somehow, it gave me pause.
‘Now who is trying to use sex as a weapon,bella,’ I replied.
No way was she going anywhere near Naples. It was too dangerous, with Dante’s exact whereabouts unknown. But my desire to control her didn’t seem to matter as much anymore as the desire to take the disappointment out of her eyes.
Which made no damn sense whatsoever. Since when had I ever cared what a woman thought of me? Not since I was a boy, and my mother had begged me to protect her.
And I had failed.
I brushed the brutal recollection to one side, because it had no place in this negotiation.
The blush charged up her neck to incinerate her cheeks, giving me some satisfaction. She was no more in control of the desire which had just crucified us both than I was…
‘It’s… It’s not the same thing. I didn’t kidnap you,’ she murmured.
There it was again, the defeated tone which made the hollow ache return. The hollow ache I couldn’t destroy.
I cupped her cheek, pulled her gaze to mine and gave in to the desire to give her something. ‘I will let you contact your sister, but I must witness the exchange.’
I could not trust her, not that much. Some things were non-negotiable.
‘And you will not leave the island,’ I added.
She clasped my hand to pull it down from her face, but the tremble of emotion in her face seemed to eat into my soul. ‘I can’t be a prisoner here, Vito. I won’t.’
My temper spiked at her reaction. What more did she expect of me?
‘I will not compromise your safety, or my own. Naples is too dangerous right now,’ I said, not even sure why I was bargaining with her.
Why should I care if she was disappointed in me? What mattered was that I prevented her from doing something foolish. But the plea in her eyes made the hollow ache unbearable when she replied.
‘Then let me go somewhere else so I know I’m not a prisoner here.’
I swore in Italian, frustrated beyond belief. ‘Fine, you may go to Milan…’ Because I owned several properties there and had influence, while Dante had none. ‘ButIwill accompany you…’
This too was non-negotiable.
Instead of arguing further, though, tears shimmered in her eyes. Tears of gratitude, I realised when she murmured, ‘Thank you, Vito.’
Confusion assailed me, and emotions I had never experienced before. Emotions I did not like.
I had lost control of the situation with these concessions. But I would get it back.
