When he slammed two fingers inside me, I lost it, moaning his name, writhing, begging. He made me come so hard that my entire body tingled and black spots dotted my vision.
When I could no longer hold myself upright, I collapsed back on the desk, hissing when pain lanced through my shoulder. It wasn’t enough to cut through my post-orgasm bliss, though.
Gio pushed to his feet, towering over me. I bit my lip, waiting for him to strip out of the civilized suit and show me the savage beneath. My savage.
Instead, he reached for me, pulling me into a sitting position with gentle hands. “Are you hurt? Did you rip the stitches?”
“No.” I reached for his belt.
His fingers wrapped around both my wrists, imprisoning them in one hand. “No sex. You’re injured.”
“But you just—”
“I needed to taste you, piccola.”
Oh God, I couldn’t think when he said things like that. “What if I need you to fuck me?”
With a smirk, he brought his lips to my ear. “I will make you come over and over, princess. My tongue, my fingers, in your pussy and ass… But we both know I can’t be gentle once I get my cock inside you.” He kissed and nipped down my neck, bringing my already-simmering blood to a boil. “I won’t hurt you.”
How could the man sanction cutting off someone’s limbs one moment and be so damn moral the next?
“What if I tie you to this chair?” I reached for his belt again, whispering kisses over his tense jaw. “Get on my knees.” The belt clinked as I unfastened it. “And taste you.”
He let out a groan. “I’ve created a monster.”
I smiled. Yes, yes, he had.
26
EMILIA
The warm brush of Gio’s lips moved over my shoulder, drawing me from sleep. “Happy birthday, piccola.”
I groaned and rolled over, pulling the comforter over my head, and Gio laughed. “It’s not my birthday,” I grumbled.
“Well, then Renzo was wrong.”
Wait. Ren would never get my birthday wrong. I threw the comforter back and squinted at Gio’s annoyingly perfect morning face. “What date is it?”
“November twentieth.”
My eyes widened. “What? How?” Where had the time gone? That meant I’d been with him….three months? More…
He flashed a smile. “Well, you see, the Earth rotates around the sun, and as it does, it spins on its own axis—”
“Shut up.” I tossed a pillow at him.
“And so, I think you’ll find it is your birthday, my lovely wife.” He kissed me, barely brushing his lips over mine. Just enough to tease. “I have work to do today—”
“Have you found Sergio yet?” I knew exactly what kind of work he was doing since Matteo had told them where Sergio was. Of course, it couldn’t be quite that easy, but they were close.
“Don’t worry about it today. This evening everyone is coming for dinner.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“Because it’s your birthday,” he said slowly, like I was stupid.
The last thing I wanted was everyone making a fuss, though. “It’s unnecessary. We don’t really celebrate birthdays in my family.”
He lightly gripped my throat, cutting off my words as his lips brushed mine. “Well, in our family, we do.”
I swallowed around a sudden lump in my throat. We didn’t do anything for our birthdays. No dinners or days out. Father was too busy, and anything out of the house was considered dangerous and required a security detail.
“Renzo and Luca will be there,” he said quietly. Gio wanted to give me time. He wanted to give me family. He wanted to give me everything I hadn’t had before. Time and time again, he showed me how much he cared.
“I love you,” I said before kissing him.
His thumb stroked over my pulse as he groaned into my mouth. “I love it when you say that.”
I swept my tongue over his lip, and he growled.
“Emilia.” He adjusted himself, and I smiled, thoroughly pleased that he was struggling, considering he was the one who wouldn’t fuck me.
“We could just celebrate right now.”
“No.”
“It’s just my shoulder, Gio—”
“Just…” He touched his forehead to mine. “You were nearly taken from me, piccola.” His voice trembled slightly, and though, of course, I knew he was enraged by Matteo’s attack, I hadn’t quite realized how much it had shaken him. “Sometimes it feels like you’re my fucking heart living outside my body.” He pulled back and met my gaze. “So please, just let me look after you.” His words were so heartfelt, his eyes pleading with me.
“Okay,” I whispered.
Just as I was adjusting to being loved by him, he was adjusting to loving me. Neither of us knew what we were doing, but I could give him this much.
He rolled on top of me fully, and it was so hard to focus on anything but the press of his hard body between my legs, the warm, smooth skin of his chest over solid muscle... “I promise you, princess, when I have you wrapped around me again, I’ll make you come on my cock so many times, you’ll be begging me to stop.” And then he had to say things like that…