Fragile Longing

Anna hid a smile behind her glass.

I swallowed a snappy comment. Danilo and I had been married for seven months and people were already asking about children all the time. Danilo and I had never really discussed children. He knew I took the pill and had never asked me to stop taking it. I assumed we both needed more time. I definitely did. “We want to wait a bit.”

Anna got me off the hook after that by steering the conversation toward a bad nose-job the wife of the Cincinnati Underboss had gotten.

I relaxed and sipped at my champagne, zoning out of the conversation.

“Busy with work again, your husband. He’s such a workaholic. I never see him without his phone,” Anna muttered in my ear.

I followed her gaze to Danilo who stood with Dad, Dante, and Samuel but he was typing on his phone. Goosebumps erupted on my skin and my core tightened in anticipation. Danilo sought my gaze before he jabbed his finger down on his phone.

A soft vibration spread in my core. My muscles clenched involuntarily around the small remote-controlled bullet vibrator buried deep inside of me. The stimulation was at the lowest level, a sweet taste of what was to come. The first time Danilo had asked me to put a sex toy inside of me while we were at a social function, I’d been terrified of anyone finding out, but soon I’d discovered the perks of our little secret. The vibrator was so quiet that nobody would ever notice it at a noisy party, and even if they heard the sound, they’d never think the sophisticated wife of an Underboss had a vibrator in her pussy that her poised husband was controlling to drive her to the brink.

Anna gave me a questioning look. “You look like you’ve just had an epiphany.”

I giggled and clenched when the vibration got more intense. “My brain’s starting to zone out.”

“Maybe we should head for the dancefloor to escape.”

Danilo was talking to Dante, seemingly oblivious to what I was doing, but one of his hands was casually stuffed into his pants, controlling my vibrator, my lust, and with it my whole body.

“Danilo’s busy.”

“Then dance with someone else. Just because you’re married doesn’t mean you can’t dance with others.”

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to dance with another man while small bolts of pleasure spread through my core.

I excused myself and headed for Danilo, despite Anna’s rolled eyes. I grabbed Danilo’s arm and gave my uncle a smile. “Hello, Uncle Dante.”

“Sofia.”

Danilo touched my bare back and the minimal contact of skin on skin intensified the sensations in my body.

“Are you quite all right? You look flushed,” Dante said.

Danilo’s lips twitched, and as if on cue he upped the vibration. I swallowed, my belly clenching. Wetness pooled between my legs and my clit ached for attention.

I smiled. “It’s a little warm in here. How about we take a stroll in the gardens, Danilo?”

“Would you excuse us?” he asked.

Dante nodded and returned to Valentina. Instead of leading me outside, we headed for the dance floor.

“Danilo,” I whispered. “I really want to be alone with you.”

“A dance first,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to my ear.

I huffed but let him pull me against his body.

We swayed to the music. I loved dancing with Danilo, loved the feel of his strong body against mine, but most of all, I loved the look in his eyes, as if he wanted to devour me. His desire burned brightly and would have ignited both of us if we weren’t surrounded by people. I’d never imagined I’d experience this kind of pleasure, this almost boundless lust. I’d hoped for love and tenderness, but I’d never taken this into consideration.

Maybe because Danilo hadn’t seemed like a passionate man. He’d seemed controlled and only prone to angry outbursts. But not passion.

“You look distracted,” he murmured.

His controlled mask rarely cracked in public. Over the years, but especially in recent months, I had also perfected the mask of an unattainable ice princess. People considered us both to be cold and in control, character traits our families were famous for. In the past, holding up that appearance had been strenuous, as if I had to become someone else in public, an invisible prison, but Danilo had taught me to see it as a game of hide-and-seek. A masquerade where only he and I knew what was really going on behind the mask. We carved out our small chunks of freedom, undetected by anyone.

“You know exactly what’s distracting me.”

“You mean . . .” he murmured in a low, sexy voice and turned the vibrations up another notch. “This?”

I gripped his arm and shoulder, gasping softly at the rise in pleasure. Luckily, I usually couldn’t come without my clit being stimulated, which spared me an embarrassing orgasm on the dancefloor.