“Angelo,” I gasped out his name, as the sweet ecstasy overtook me and I went over the edge. My body writhed against the sheets, my free hand kneading my breasts as I kept the image of the cocky bastard in my fantasy.
When I came back to earth, I felt strangely unsatisfied and greedy for more … an almost ravenous need to be filled ... by him.
Chapter 9
Sienna
I woke up with the same damn need.
When my hands automatically moved between my legs, I stopped myself. What was I doing? This was not me. Masturbating day and night like some insatiable nymphomaniac. To start with, I felt irritated and antsy with myself for wanting such a brute. And to add insult to injury, the insolent way he had treated me made it clear, this was nothing more than unrequited lust on my part.
With a frustrated sigh, I rose to my feet and headed towards the bathroom. I needed a cold shower. Freezing cold water, yeah, it pushed all thoughts of him out of my mind and got rid of the need, but it was too much torture, so I turned it back to warm.
By the time I returned from my shower and sat down on the stool of my dresser mirror to dry my hair, my thoughts were back to what Fabio said last night. It had to have been his sick idea of a joke. A carry-on from the days he thought putting snakes in my bed was funny. Or he just wanted to rile me up.
Get on my nerves because I did not immediately not recognize him.
Yes, he was an egoistic kid. I must have hurt his pride. Satisfied that I had found the reason for his crazy idea of our family’s intention for us to get married, I finished drying my hair. I brought the brush down the silky strands and found a hair tie in the top drawer. I pulled it through my hair when a knock sounded on my door.
“Come in,” I called, watching the mirror to see who my visitor was.
The door pushed open and my father appeared.
A strange sense of foreboding filled my belly. My hand dropped into my lap. I didn’t want to believe it, but suddenly, I knew. Fabio was not lying. “Papa,” I greeted softly.
He came over to stand behind me, a rare smile on his face. He placed a hand on my shoulder.
I watched him in the mirror. “What’s going on?” I asked.
“Do you have any plans today?”
I wanted to say I did, but avoiding the difficult was truly not my style. I would rather know, so I could do something about it than bury my head in the sand. “I don’t. What do you have in mind?”
“Good. I was thinking about a trip to Rosedale. How would you like that?” he asked, his eyes cold, but his smile benevolent.
This was the moment when I realized I didn’t trust my father. I never did. From the time I was a child, I had never felt truly comfortable with him. I didn’t move. “With who?” I whispered.
His hand dropped away from my shoulder. “With Fabio.”
I swallowed hard. “Papa, I … I—”
“Sienna, you know that after I am gone someone will need to handle the company, right?”
My spirit began to sink. “You’re not going anywhere anytime soon, so let’s not dwell on that.”
“I could die at any time, Sienna,” he corrected me. “That is the nature of the world I operate in.”
I only had the courage to hold his gaze for a moment before lowering mine. I did know exactly what he meant. Even though most of his businesses were legitimate, there were some that stayed in the darkness and boosted those in the light. And I hated that. It was one of the reasons I wanted to be free and earn my own money.
“I’m very glad you have returned. From now on, I can begin to guide and instruct you on all that you need to know about this business. I’d like to involve you in the part that is not dangerous."
I nodded vaguely. Maybe he didn’t intend to marry me off to Fabio. Maybe he just wanted me to help him run his business. In my mind, I saw myself helping him and running my own little shoe enterprise, handmade, small and exclusive. It wasn’t a disagreeable image. “I understand, Papa. I promise to work hard and do my very best for the business.”
“Good,” he approved, “but that is not everything I want from you.”
My hands clenched into fists.
In the mirror, our eyes clashed.
“I want you to get married. To someone who is good at business but not cunning enough to cut you out. Someone who will have the best interests of the family, and ensure that things continue to run as smoothly as they should. You will be at the helm of all decisions, while he’ll be the hand that you use to take care of things as needed, and as you deem fit.”