Greta hadn’t been able to say if the Ferraros had anything to do with his death, but she had slipped them an offer of money, a very generous one. A few days before the man’s death, she received a text to transfer the money to an account. She had done so immediately. No one had ever contacted her again. The account hadn’t been traceable; at least she hadn’t thought it was. She had waited five years before she confessed to Giuseppi because she’d known he would be furious with her for not telling him. The story had been repeated more than once, within their household only, and Valentino had watched the Ferraros. Dario had as well. At first, they’d bought into the playboy image, but after a while, that hadn’t made much sense to them—especially not Stefano. He was a killer. Just looking into his eyes, one could see that. It took one to recognize one.
“Why would Stefano allow you to become an assassin?”
“That’s what we do. Who we are. That’s our family business, just as you have yours. You train from the time you’re a child; so do we.” Emmanuelle rolled away from him to sit on the edge of the bed.
Elusive. She slipped off the bed and padded on bare feet, naked, to the windows. Graceful, her body feminine. Flowing across the large room until she stopped, and then she was completely still again.
“You didn’t come here alone, did you, Val? Dario is somewhere close sharpening his knives or cleaning his guns, right?”
“What are you worried about? Do you see something?”
She shook her head. With their wild lovemaking, her hair had come loose from her braid, and part of it tumbled down her back, snaking in waves to her bottom like a dark, sensuous waterfall.
“No, I’m just uneasy all of a sudden. And I wish you’d take your bodyguards with you.”
“Dario has always been my bodyguard.”
“You need more than one now.”
He didn’t answer her.
She wrapped her arms around herself and rubbed up and down on her forearms as if she was cold. “Tell me the downside of the Saldi myth. What you haven’t told me. The upside would be the two of us together, our children better protected, but how is it I couldn’t leave if I wanted? What is the downside you don’t want to talk about, Val? How you can control me, keep me imprisoned?”
He sat up and shoved both hands through his hair. His body hurt like a son of a bitch, reminding him he’d taken a couple of bullets. The wounds hadn’t been that bad, but the bullets had penetrated and they still didn’t feel that good and he’d exerted himself quite a bit.
“Baby, do we really have to do this? It’s a damn story. I already have enough sins, don’t I? You were a fucking teenager when I took advantage of your shadow. I still use sex to control you—in fact, come over here now. I’d like to take advantage of your hot little mouth. My dick feels like it’s going to shatter any minute.”
She turned toward him. “I think you’re insatiable. I want you to tell me, Val. All of it. Stop stalling.”
“Then do what I tell you. You love sucking my cock. You always have. I loved teaching you. There’s something about your eyes looking up at me, Princess, and your perfect lips wrapped around me, stretched to the limit, your mouth working hard to take me down. I love watching that. Come here, baby.”
He slid off the bed and stood, feet planted wide, fist circling the base of his thick, needy cock. His balls hurt they were so tight. He’d always been big, but his dick felt like a monster, a steel rod, throbbing, the blood pounding through it with such urgency it felt like a fire raged. He’d gone that fast into a storm of need just at the idea of having her mouth on him.
It was this way every time. He wanted to be gentle. He wanted to be loving. She deserved both. He felt both emotions for her, deep inside. Then his body took over and he couldn’t think straight. He became some primitive caveman claiming his woman.
He never seemed to intimidate Emmanuelle the way he should have, not when it came to anything sexual. The fire only blazed hotter in her. She matched him flame for flame, desire for desire, in the bedroom. She made her own demands. If he made her wait, drawing out her pleasure, she allowed it and then turned the tables on him. Emme liked sex and was a willing partner, no matter what he wanted to try.
“You look very tempting, but you aren’t saying the things I want to hear. Tell me about the ropes on the shadows and I’ll make you very, very happy.”