The Scorsolini Marriage Bargain

She didn’t have an answer…at least not one she was prepared to discuss right now when the pleasure was on the verge of letting her forget everything. So, instead of saying something that might mess that up, she kissed him.

He kissed her back, his mouth quickly taking control and then claiming her lips as if intent on punishment. Only she didn’t feel punished. She responded with ferocity of her own and increased the pace of their lovemaking until she felt the pleasure spiral tight inside her and she went through the stratosphere, all rational thought flying from her mind as her body convulsed with the ultimate satisfaction.

He grabbed her hips and thrust upward, once, twice…three times and sent her into a second climax, so close to the first that her lungs seized along with everything else.

He shouted and she felt his warmth inside of her as she took a long shuddering breath into her oxygen-starved lungs before collapsing on top of him.

She kissed his chest. “That was wonderful.”

“Yes,” he said, his breathing still heavy. “It always is.”

“Yes.”

“So, why—”

She put her hand over his mouth. “No talking. Just enjoy. Okay?”

He frowned.

“Please,” she pleaded.

He nodded, one quick jerk of his head.

She smiled and let her head settle against his chest again. “I wish we could stay like this forever.”

“You said no talking.”

“So I did.” She kissed him again because she couldn’t help herself and then relaxed there.

His hands moved from her hips to her back and she cuddled in the circle of his arms, their bodies still connected in the most intimate way possible.

Eventually he carried her to the oversize glass shower stall and they made love again under the cascading spray before washing and then going to bed where she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

She woke up alone and buried her face in his pillow, wallowing in Claudio’s lingering scent.

The night before had been incredible. He’d woken her sometime in the early hours of the morning and made love to her with such tender gentleness, she had cried when she climaxed. He’d held her afterward, rubbing her back and whispering how much he enjoyed her body and how beautiful she was in Italian.

But after three years, she realized being beautiful to him was not enough. It was not love and could not last forever because outer beauty did not last forever. And outstanding sexual satisfaction could not make up for her inability to give him the one thing he expected from her.

Heirs for the Scorsolini throne.

It was time to tell him the truth.

But when she went downstairs, it was to discover he’d flown out for a meeting in New York. She’d forgotten all about his trip and didn’t know if she could wait the three days until his return to settle things between them.

She didn’t miss the fact that he’d left without bothering to wake her and kiss her goodbye, either. Somehow, that made everything worse. Maybe because it was a huge indication of the lack of true intimacy in their relationship and any real reliance he had on her.

There wasn’t any. They were married, but she was no more necessary to his life than any of his other many employees. If it wasn’t for the sex, their relationship would not be any more personal than it was with any of the others, either. And when the sex wasn’t on, neither was their relationship. How many business trips had he scheduled during her monthly? Had he ever once asked her to accompany him? No.

She was a convenience to him and she might as well admit it.

But damn it, it hurt.

She needed to be more to him. The only hope for their future was for her to mean something more to him. Which meant there was no hope at all.

Her mobile phone chirped and she scooted up in bed to answer it. When she saw that it was Claudio, her breath caught. She flipped it open. “Hello?”

“Good morning, bella.”

For some reason that endearment hurt this morning. Wasn’t she more than a face and a body to him? Was her value truly determined by her outer looks and her poise as her mother had always insisted it was?

“Good morning, Claudio.” She waited expectantly for him to get to the purpose of his phone call.

“I’m on my way to my hotel and wishing you were with me.”

Her heart stopped. “Are you really?”

“Sì. I do not like when our schedules separate us.”

“Then why didn’t you ask me to come with you?” she asked, hope uncurling like a slow bud inside her heart.

“You have your obligations. I have mine.”

“And do the obligations always come first?”

“They must. It is our duty.”

“They don’t always for Tomasso and Maggie or Marcello and Danette.” But then his brothers were in love with their wives.