“An extension of you?”
“Si,” he answered slowly, drawing out the word. “Not me as your husband, but me as your protector. My turn. How did marrying D'Ardenzi come about?”
I froze and gulped at the serious look on his face. Licking my lips, I tried to keep my answer brief and factual.
“He’s been interested in me for a while. My father wanted me to date someone who could take care of me, and then… you happened. Callum proposed marriage as a way to keep me safe from you, because, apparently, Buccini men never mess with married women.”
I glanced up at him when he hadn’t responded, and tingles shot between my legs at the intensity in his eyes.
“It wouldn’t have stopped me,” he said, his voice low, gravelly, and hot. I instinctively pulled at the hem of the T-shirt, feeling too exposed. “Even if you’d married him.”
We held each other’s gaze, and I felt myself falling into that black abyss of temptation again. I shook my head slightly and broke eye contact.
“Ask me something else,” I said, changing the topic. He hooked his foot around my chair leg and dragged it towards him. I squealed, then sucked in a breath as his knees bracketed mine and his hands trailed up my thighs, his fingers teasing beneath the hem. I stared into his eyes, forgetting everything as he inched closer, his breath ghosting across my lips.
“Do you want me to kiss you, wife?” he whispered, his lips so close to mine I could almost feel them.
My whole body set alight with need, and I tried to focus on breathing normally rather than falling further under his spell.
“No,” I said, sounding utterly unconvinced.
We stared. The magnetism grew.
“Okay,” he replied, then stood up as if nothing had happened, placing his hands on his hips and practically forcing me to be eye-level with his delicious abs.I touched them before I could stop myself, running fingers across the hard ridges that made my mouth water.Damn.Our eyes met as I yanked my hand away, wanting to chop it off for being so traitorous.
“Just checking you’re not contouring those things.”
“All natural, baby. Any other parts of me you want to check?”
“No. I’m good.”
He chuckled. “I need to make a few calls. I’ll be in my office if you need me. Why don’t you take a warm bath and get familiar with the place?”
My gaze slid down his rippling back muscles and firm ass as he walked away. I groaned, slapping both hands against my face repeatedly to get my head back in the game.
Time to become the most annoying wife possible.
I Should Have Made More Rules
“We need a plan, Sani,” Alessio said over the phone as I rocked in my leather desk chair. “I’ve managed to pacify the Americans by rerouting their shipment to Naples for now, but Frankie isn’t happy. He wants Rome back, and so do I. We’re losing too much business without that port. Silvie has just pulled out of the new Colombian negotiations I’d worked tirelessly to secure after hearing rumours that we have the Feds on our backs. If we lose that deal to the Russians or the Irish, we're fucked. I need this shit dealt with.”
“I know,” I sighed, rubbing my forehead. I could hear the disappointment in his voice, and I hated it. “I’ll get our access to the port back.”
“How?” he growled. “Mayor Caruso and the Commissioner have blocked every route out of the docks for us. You need to make this investigation disappear.”
“I’ve got Nero digging into Piero and D'Ardenzi to find—”
“Fuck D'Ardenzi. He’s clean. Your personal vendetta about him trying to marry the girl can’t come into play here, Sani. You need to screw your head back on. You find a way to make Caruso back off, or you get rid of him. Understand?”
I clenched my jaw and inhaled deeply. “He’s her father. I can’t—”
“Not my problem. You should have thought about that before you married her, no?” he said, his eerie calm revealing just how furious he was. The man never shouted, which only made him more unnerving.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Being on the receiving end of Alessio’s lividness was never pleasant. Sometimes, because he treated me like a brother, it was easy to forget he was downright ruthless when he had to be. He was the king of our empire, after all, and he’d worked too hard to watch me fuck it up. I knew that.
“I’ll sort it.”
“You have until the end of the week to force Caruso to drop the investigationinto the port and reopen our channels. Or I’ll deal with it myself, and no one wants that.”
