REINA
Carter greetedme at the bottom of the stairs and guided me into a massive dining room. At the far end of the table, Santino sat with a newspaper. It was a strangely normal sight that I didn’t expect after everything that had happened earlier. Eying him suspiciously while Carter guided a chair out at his left, I sat.
“How did you sleep?”
“I didn’t,” I said, crossing my arms and surveying the empty plate. As if they read my thoughts, someone appeared, exchanging the empty plate for one laden with a full breakfast. My stomach grumbled at the irresistible smell of bacon and sausages. I glanced at Santino before looking back down at the food again.
“It’s not poisoned,” he said chidingly as I picked up my fork and loaded it with a sausage.
“I suspect if you were going to try and kill me, you’d be a bit more creative than using poison.” I returned his tone as I shoveled half the sausage into my mouth. The grease and juice exploded in my mouth, and I couldn’t resist a moan of delight as I chewed on it.
The next time I made eye contact with Santino, he stared at me with bemusement. “Good then?”
“The way to a woman’s heart is meat.”
“I’ll remember that for future use then.” He smirked back at me in a way that made my entire body heat, pooling at my core. He rose from his chair, standing at my side as he cupped my chin and turned my face to meet his. “I have some meat you could devour, my little hellion.”
Wetness flooded between my legs as I stared at him, forcing myself to bite out the next words, so I didn’t do anything stupid like kissing him and asking him to show me. “That’s disgusting.”
“Is it?” Santino brushed my hair out of my face, tracing his thumb along the curve of my lips. My stomach tightened with need before I forced myself to look away. He was too close, and there was a distinct rise in heat between us all suddenly.
Pushing my chair out, I stood, intending to leave him, but his hand grabbed my wrist tightly, turning me to him as he towered over me, the promise of what he might be able to do to my body lingering in his eyes.
I wanted him for reasons I couldn’t explain with a kind of lust I’d never fathomed before. Logic told me he was so wrong for me, even more so than most men I’d ever been with, but that almost made the desire stronger. He was a complex creature, one minute completely uncontrollable and the next touching me gently as a lover would.
Worse still was his ability to make me forget myself completely around him. I had hundreds of questions and thousands of smart remarks, but they didn’t matter as soon as his body was near mine. Like smoke in the night, they were gone.
My body drew closer to his. The magnetic attraction pooled in the middle of my stomach. His chest was millimeters from mine. Licking my bottom lip, I was working up the courage to pull away when my body had other thoughts.
I leaned in first. What the hell are you doing? My mind warred with my body as my lips collided with his, stealing my breath. He moved his hand into her hair, threading his stiff fingers through the soft strands of my curly dark hair before deepening the kiss with hunger.
We twisted as he turned me toward the table, backing me against it. The dishes scattered across the tabletop as his body pressed into mine, giving away the bulge sitting between his legs. It taunted me with the promise of what I might find if I stripped him right here and now, making my stomach knot. The world around me melted completely as I lost myself in him.
It was too much but not enough at all. My mind screamed to run, but my body was steadfast, clinging to him as my legs wrapped around his hips. My breasts arched upwards, begging for his attention as he leaned into me, caving me in with his body. His rough hand palmed my right breast, teasing the pert nipple under the soft cotton until the pinching pain gave way to a pleasure that made me moan.
If I planned on running, it was too late now. I was trapped. Why had I been scared of him again? I’d completely forgotten. It didn’t matter anymore. His free hand traveled the length of my leg, memorizing the hardened muscles underneath while he ground his cock into the apex of my thighs.
My body melted perfectly against his, like it had been crafted specifically to match his shape. He held me against him as his tongue swept against mine, ingraining the saltiness of his flavor to my mind.
I needed more as my hips arched against his, straining and longing to remove the barriers between us, but he kept his body taut and above mine, denying me the release I craved.
“Reina.” He pulled back, his tone stern enough to snap me out of my lust, and I stared at him, suddenly realizing the magnitude of my lack of control. It only took me a few seconds to react as I pressed my hands to his chest and forced him off me.
He laughed to ease the tension before reaching out and sweeping a collection of hair from my face, holding it tight in his fist. Pain bit at my scalp, and my stomach twisted with desire again, but it didn't show on my face as I glared at him.
“Now, now, my little hellion. We both know how bad you want it.” He cupped my mound, grinding his palm against my clit, making my eyes flutter as I fought the urge to moan again. “Stop resisting, and look forward to tonight.”
“Tonight?” My eyes snapped fully open once more.
“Yes, tonight, after the ceremony, we will consummate this marriage like you want to. Don’t deny it,” he said as I began to open my mouth. “Once we’re husband and wife, I’ll take you, and you’ll beg for me not to stop.”
“Never in your life,” I said, shoving his chest as hard as I could before stomping childishly out of the room. His laughter followed me, and, always needing to have the last word, he spoke.
“Forever is a long life.”