Salvatore’s throat worked as he swallowed. Without a word, he stepped toward me, held my gaze, and wrapped the towel around me. His hungry eyes held mine, meeting my challenge, posing his own as he dried me, his handling of me rough, the soft towel now scratching at my breasts, my sex. Once he finished, he stepped back, letting the towel drop to the floor.
“Now I can have a proper look.”
He did, gaze pausing at breasts and belly, hovering at my naked sex. Again, he swallowed, then met my eyes once more.
I stood still, watching him. Watching his eyes. They burned, the blue darker now, sparkling like blackest onyx. Something raged behind them, inside them. Something that screamed for release even while it reduced me to flesh alone, to a thing, an object possessed.
Was this some sort of contest, some game? If it was, I lost, because I blinked first, looking away, unable to maintain the contact.
“Go to bed.” He turned to leave the bathroom but stopped at the door.
I swooped down to grab the discarded towel and held it against myself, shielding my body from his view.
“And Lucia,” he said, turning to look at me and taking a step back inside, back toward me. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
He rubbed his hand across his mouth, that rage behind his eyes burning now.
“I will punish you if you betray me.”
He turned on his heel and walked out the door.
I sat down on the edge of the tub, trembling.4SalvatoreMy cock throbbed. I’d had to force myself to leave her room. Fuck, she was so beautiful. Her anger, her hate, it only made her all the more appealing. I wanted her. Wanted to take her. Have her.
The monster inside me screamed to possess her.
My cell phone rang. I tugged it from my pocket and checked the screen. It was Dominic.
Prick. I rejected the call, almost running Rainey over in the hallway on my way to the study.
“Mr. Benedetti! I’m sorry,” she apologized, although I was the one not paying attention.
“No, it’s fine. It was my fault.”
I raked a hand through my hair. What the hell was that upstairs? Why had I gone in there when I’d seen her in the tub? I should have walked away.
“Would you like to eat dinner, sir? Miss…Lucia…wasn’t hungry, but—”
It’s dangerous to fall asleep in the tub? Christ, what did I think she was, a kid? No. Not with that body. She was certainly no kid.
“No, it’s fine. I’m…” I walked into the study, looked around, then walked back out. “You know what, I’m tired. I’m just going to go to bed.”
“Oh. All right.”
I went back up to my room. It connected to Lucia’s, but I doubted she knew that. Once inside, I stripped, headed into the bathroom and turned on the shower.
I didn’t understand Lucia. Hell, I didn’t understand myself around her. The meeting earlier, it had been last minute and required both myself and my father to be present. Dominic had been pissed to be left out, but that was too bad. I knew what Dominic wanted: anything I had. Including becoming our father’s successor. But it didn’t work that way. It would have been Sergio, firstborn, as the successor, but he’d been killed, so I was next in line. As little as I wanted to be the boss of the Benedetti family, Dominic taking on the role I wanted even less. My little brother had a mean streak, a violence inside him that when unleashed was terrifying to witness. Some days, I wasn’t sure I knew him at all, wasn’t sure I wanted to know the depths of his darkness.
I stepped into the shower, the water so hot, it scalded me. I turned it down.
My father, Roman, and I had been the only three of the Benedetti’s at today’s meeting. There was talk about a new group forming. Luke DeMarco was a problem. Or he could become one. Was it vengeance that fueled him or a lust for power? I’d bet the latter. Given that one DeMarco daughter wanted nothing to do with the family business and the other belonged to the enemy, Luke stood to gain a whole lot if he were able to gather enough support and rouse them to war. Which was exactly what he was attempting to do. And he’d come farther than any of us had expected. He’d gained supporters from the Pagani family, our fiercest opponent of the two Sicilian families.
Was Lucia in any way involved? I’d seen the look exchanged between Luke and Lucia at the church, but that had fueled a different sort of burn. One of jealousy. Why did I feel so possessive of her? Why did I care? I could have any woman I wanted, as many as I wanted. Our contract bound her to me with no restrictions on me. My father had orchestrated it, enjoying the idea of having a living trophy under his thumb he could torture as he pleased.