Just One Kiss (The Town of Pearl 8)

She tightened up. He felt it. It was a sore subject, and every time one of them brought it up to her, she began pulling away. Even now he felt her start to move. He gripped her ass, his one hand nearly expanding over all of it, she was so petite and sexy.

She lifted up, her palm against his chest, her breasts wedged up against his chest, and his dick began to harden all over again.

They locked gazes.

“Gabriele, please,” she said then lowered her eyes and started to draw tiny circles over his nipple and chest.

“I want to know more about you. So do my brothers. You can trust us.”

“It’s not that.”

“Then what is it, Lucia?”

She took a deep breath then released it.

She looked at him, and he could see the turmoil, the pain and emotion. He didn’t want to cause her any pain. Not ever.

“I came from a wealthy family. I went to boarding schools and eventually college where I obtained my degree in graphic design. I wanted to be an interior decorator, but my parents felt it was too low-class, besides the fact that they had other plans for me.”

She was tense again. He felt it.

He continued to stroke her ass, then her back, and then back to her ass again.

“What other plans?”

“It’s embarrassing, Gabriele. Please, can’t we talk about something else?”

“Baby, someone hurt you very badly. A man. You trusted my brothers and I enough to let us make love to you and claim you our woman even after you sustained a sexual assault. I think you should trust us enough to let us know the entire story.”

She stared at him. Her big brown eyes showed all the emotion.

“Where do I start? How do I explain and admit to you, a man I’ve fallen in love with, that my own parents never loved me? That I never really even knew what love was until coming here to Pearl and meeting you and your brothers?”

He ran his hands along her back to her arm and caressed it.

“Aw, baby. Are you sure they never loved you?”

She sat up, leaned on her hand and on him.

“They made a contractual agreement for me to marry from another wealthy family so they can cross bloodlines and continue to be filthy rich. I’d say that isn’t exactly a sign of love.”

“What?”

Gabriele was shocked, and so were Lucifer and Salvatore as they walked into the bedroom. They obviously heard her statement.

She went to pull the covers up, but Gabriele lifted her against him so she straddled his waist.

He cupped her face and neck with one hand and used the other to hold her hip in place. She looked so fragile yet beautiful with her long brown hair flowing over her shoulders, half covering her bare breasts.

“Baby, that’s not even legal, never mind acceptable in today’s world,” he told her.

“Tell that to my parents, Gabriele.”

“I fucking will if I ever meet them,” Lucifer exclaimed and joined them by the bed. He ran his hand along her back to her shoulder.

“What exactly did this contract state, and who was part of this?” Lucifer asked.

Salvatore sat on the other side of the bed. She glanced at him then back to Gabriele.