Bound by the Past (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles 7)

Her eyes narrowed, and fuck, I wanted to sink my cock into her right in the middle of the hallway.

“That’s your fault.”

“This marriage has always been for practical reasons. I told you that.”

“But that doesn’t mean we can’t try to make it a real marriage. There are no logical reasons why we shouldn’t sleep with each other. You slept with prostitutes, so why can’t you sleep with me?”

Her eyes swam with confusion and hurt. Valentina was young and in some regards naïve, even if she often put up a sophisticated front. “Because I was angry and I wanted to fuck someone. I wanted it rough and hard. I wasn’t looking for closeness or tenderness or whatever it is you want. I took whatever pleasure I wanted, and then I left. What you’re looking for, I can’t give you. The part that was capable of it died with my wife, and it won’t come back.”

Valentina shifted closer. “You don’t know what I want. Maybe we want the same thing.”

“I can see in your eyes that’s not true. You want to make love, but I can’t give you that. I do want to possess you, want to own every part of you, but not for the reasons you want me to. I’m a heartless bastard, Valentina. Don’t try to see anything else in me. The business suit and emotionless face is the thin layer covering up the fucking abyss that’s my soul and heart. Don’t try to glimpse beneath it—you won’t like what you find.”

I released her and stalked back into my office.Getting work done was out of the question after our argument. All I could think about was Valentina.

When a knock sounded around dinnertime, I expected Valentina to ask if I would eat with her. The moment I opened the door, I knew that wasn’t the reason why she was here. Beneath the silky material of her bathrobe she was naked.

“Can I come in?”

I stepped back and walked over to the desk, away from my wife, even as my insides screamed for me to rip away the last piece of clothing.

Steeling my expression, I asked, “What’s going on?”

“I made up my mind.”

“About what?”

Valentina parted her bathrobe, revealing a body straight out of my darkest fantasies. Valentina was tall and slim with enticingly swung hips. A small patch of dark hair covered her sex. “About us. About sex.”

My groin tightened but I forced my eyes away. “You should leave.”

“Don’t turn your back on me. Look at me. I think I deserve at least that small decency, Dante.”

She didn’t know anything.

“Am I your wife?”

“Of course, you are.” Which was part of the problem. If she were any woman, I’d have fucked her already.

“Then claim your rights, Dante. Make me yours.”

My gaze traced her nipples, imagining tasting them, sucking them while I slammed into her.

“I have needs too. Would you prefer if I found a lover who relieved you of the burden to touch me?”

Raw jealousy shot through me. “No,” I growled, moving closer to Val. The need to possess her filled me, almost impossible to suppress.

Valentina pressed her naked body against mine. I grabbed her, touching the heated skin of her back. The desire in her eyes was a trickling creek in comparison to the raging Tsunami of my hunger for her. Valentina pushed up to kiss me but I didn’t lower my head.

Hurt, she stumbled away and fled my office.She didn’t deserve this. I glanced down at my white-knuckled fist then at the bulge in my pants. Who the fuck was I kidding? I wasn’t a good man. I could take whatever I wanted, why did I deprive myself when Valentina was willing? I wanted her, and Valentina wanted me. I’d always prided myself on my control, so why was I so scared of losing it around her?

Without thinking it through, I went in search of my wife. I still wasn’t sure what I’d do once I saw her, if I’d finally listen to the roaring voice in my body demanding I claim her.

I opened the bedroom door and found Valentina on the bed. Her bathrobe wide open, her legs slightly parted and her elegant, long fingers stroking her pussy. She let out a moan I felt in every damn fiber of my body and I sucked in a breath, knowing the battle I’d fought these last few weeks was lost.

There was no use trying to stop the unstoppable. Tonight I’d make her mine.

Valentina’s eyes opened in shock. She wrenched her hand back, closed her bathrobe and tried to get off the bed.

I moved without thinking, barring her way. She looked up at me in shock, her fingers still pressing her robe together, depriving me of her gorgeous body. “No,” I got out, past the pulsating desire in my body.

I bent over her, forcing her back and she yielded, lying down and looking up at me with huge eyes. She smelled delicious and finally her hand let go of the robe, letting it fall open, baring herself to me. I leaned further down. This woman was mine, every inch of her. Soon I’d bury myself in her.