But it didn’t.
“Oh really?” he spat.
I nodded mutely, begging him with my eyes.
Alessio stopped inches from my body as he cornered me against the wall.
“Really,” I mumbled.
“I thought you said you weren’t going to take too long,” he hissed in my ears. My heart thumped faster at his words, and I placed a trembling hand over his chest, trying to push him away from me.
Bad move. It only pissed him off more.
His finger wrapped around my wrist and squeezed in warning. “Don’t test me, Ayla,” he growled low.
“You hurt me, and I needed time,” I suddenly snapped.
Another bad move. This time he was furious.
Alessio cocked his head to the side and stared at me, his eyes sizing me up.
He stepped forward until his body was plastered against mine. His hands wrapped around my waist, his fingers digging into my hips. “This was so much easier when you were scared of me,” he snapped back.
My eyes widened, and I gasped. Struggling against his hold, I saw his blue eyes crackling with fierce intensity.
Alessio pulled me away from the wall, and I saw the corner of his lips lift up in a small smirk. That should have been warning enough.
“We are doing this my way now, kitten,” he said gruffly, his voice deep and low.
But I didn’t have time to think.
Within a second, I found myself over his shoulders, dangling upside down.
“Alessio, let go of me,” I demanded, struggling against his hold. Alessio didn’t listen. Instead, he stalked out of the room and walked down the hall that led to the staircase.
“Alessio! Stop it!” I snapped. “Let me down.”
When I felt a slap over my butt, my eyes widened, and my mouth snapped shut. Did he just spank me?
From my position on Alessio’s shoulder, I saw Viktor, Nikolay, Maddie, and Lena standing in the living room, staring at us with big smiles on their faces.
Well, Nikolay wasn’t smiling big. His lips were just turned up in a tiny barely there smile. Viktor was smirking while Maddie and Lena both had big smiles on their faces. Maddie looked extremely proud of herself, and she wiggled her eyebrows at me.
I couldn’t believe they were seeing this.
I pinched Alessio’s butt in return, and that earned me another slap on the ass. The spot he slapped burned a little, although it didn’t hurt. I twitched and struggled against his hold.
That earned me another spank. And another. Four actually. Two on each butt cheek. They came down hard and fast and rendered me speechless.
“Wiggling that pretty ass of yours in my face isn’t helping your case, kitten. So I suggest you stop moving. Or not. You can keep struggling. It’s making me really hard at this moment.”
Feeling completely mortified and shocked that he would say that in front of everyone, I closed my eyes and stopped moving, lying limply on Alessio’s shoulders.
I was dangling upside down a lot longer than I wanted, and my head started feeling heavy while he walked up the stairs. He made his way to our room and walked inside, kicking the door closed behind him and stalking to our bed.
He threw me on it, and I bounced on the mattress. Opening my eyes, I gaped in shock when Alessio climbed on top of me. With his knees on either side of my hips, he held me immobile.
My heart stuttered to a stop for a second before thumping faster again.
“Alessio—listen—”
“Shut up.”
His lips found mine, successfully shutting me up. He took my lips possessively and kissed me breathlessly.
Oh yeah, he definitely shut me up. He knew exactly how to shut me up.
As he pulled away, I tried to move my hands and realized they were trapped. While kissing me, Alessio had brought my arms up above my head, and now he was holding me captive.
I was completely immobile and at Alessio’s mercy under his body.
His lips were only inches apart from mine when he spoke the next time.
“This time I’ll be doing the talking and you will listen. Not a word, kitten. Not until I’m done talking.”
Chapter 16
Alessio had left me breathless and completely in a daze with his kiss, and now his words made my heart jump. My body melted under his, and I stared up into his furious yet painful eyes. I should have been scared, but I wasn’t. Not of Alessio.
He might have been angry with me, but he was still gentle. Even as he gazed down furiously, his fingers were gently and softly caressing my cheek. Alessio was doing it almost unknowingly, as if he needed to touch me, feel me.
We stared at each other for a few seconds, Alessio looking suddenly lost for words. Slowly the rage in his eyes disappeared until they were soft with unspoken emotions. Still holding my hands captive above my head and my body under his, he slowly bent down until our foreheads were softly touching.