“Bullshit. I would stroke myself so hard, it was a wonder I even had a cock left. Hearing those little whimpers, the way you would moan when you came…” I groaned at the memory, thrusting into her a little deeper. “But when you would get frustrated because you couldn’t get off, it took every ounce of willpower I possessed not to climb through your window and lick your pussy until you came all over my face.”
“I wish you had.”
“You’ll never have to suffer the pain of being unable to get off again,” I promised. “I’ll always be here to make you come.”
“Make me come now,” she begged.
I touched my lips to her forehead. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t. Please. I need you, Gian.”
I thrust fully into her, seating myself balls deep. I felt her tense as I broke her barrier, but it only lasted a few seconds before she was begging me to give it to her harder. Unable to deny her anything, I began to rock in and out of her until she was clawing at my back.
I strummed my thumb over her clit, making her walls clutch me even harder until I was seeing stars. Gritting my teeth, I staved off my own release, needing to feel her come around my shaft before I emptied inside her.
I knew this was a dangerous game. Coming in her as many times as I planned to without protection was begging to get her pregnant. But I wanted to put a baby inside her. To have one more reason for her to never leave me. She would always be tied to me, no matter what her family did. No matter if she came to hate me one day. We would always be connected through the life I wanted to create with her.
“Gian!” she shouted. “Gian, you feel so good. Please, I want more. I want… Fuck. I love you.”
Those three words were my undoing. Unable to control myself a second longer, I pounded into her until I was coming so hard, I heard a ringing in my ears.
Breathing like I’d just run a marathon, I fell onto my side so I didn’t crush her, my cock still hard as stone inside her pulsing pussy. She stroked her fingers down my sweat-coated back, gasping for breath after I’d just ridden her until she was screaming from her own release.
“I love you,” she murmured in that soft voice that calmed me every damn time.
I kissed the top of her head, unable to repeat the words that were already on the tip of my tongue. I wanted to tell her how much she meant to me every time she said she loved me, but I couldn’t make the words leave my mouth. If I said them aloud, if someone heard me telling her how much I loved her, they would take her away from me.
It was better—safer—to keep the words to myself and just show her how I felt.
Once we could both breathe again, I lifted my head, kissing her long and deep before getting to my feet. “I’m starving. Let’s go eat.”
She sat up, unashamedly naked, her eyes roaming over me appreciatively. “You do look as if you’ve lost some weight since I saw you in New York. Haven’t you been eating?”
“Food wasn’t on my mind the last few days,” I said with a shrug, fastening my pants.
“Gian,” she scolded, but I saw her chin tremble slightly. “Promise me, no matter what, you won’t skip meals from now on. I can’t stand the thought of you being hungry.”
Leaning down, I brushed my lips softly over hers. “I wasn’t hungry. My focus was on finding you, and food held no appeal while I was worrying about getting to you.” She opened her mouth to argue, and I kissed it closed again. “But I promise not to skip meals. For you, precious.”
Chapter 7
Monroe
The legal drinking age in Italy was eighteen, but unlike my sister, who could drink the hard stuff and still be able to function, if I had one glass of wine, I was tipsy as hell.
Yet when we sat down for dinner, the first thing Gian ordered was a bottle of wine. He ordered it in Italian, and even though I wasn’t exactly fluent in the language, I still got the gist of what the waiter said when he told him how much the wine cost.
Over two thousand dollars.
I’d been in the process of taking a drink from my water glass, and it took everything in me to keep from spitting it out in surprise. As if he knew my struggle, Gian shot me a smirk before schooling his features and telling the man to bring the wine.
As the waiter walked away, I replaced my water glass and leaned forward to hiss at Gian, “I won’t drink more than a few sips. Why are you spending so much on a bottle of wine?”
“They don’t sell it by the glass,” he said with a casual shrug of his shoulders. The expensive material of his shirt stretched at the movement, distracting me momentarily. Not surprising. The man breathed heavily and I got distracted. Everything he did made me take a second and third look, entranced by his every move.
“But—”
With a look, he cut off my argument.
“Only the best for you,” was all he said before picking up his menu and skimming over the contents.
Blowing out an annoyed huff, I started to do the same, but the beauty of the sky over the Colosseum at sunset caught and held my attention. Lifting my phone, I snapped a quick picture and then texted it to Mila and Maverick. But before they could text back, I switched off my phone’s ringer and returned it to my purse.
When I lifted my gaze, it was to find Gian’s eyes glued to me. “What?” I asked with a shy laugh when he just kept staring.
“You are so damn beautiful,” he murmured. Reaching across the table, he gently skimmed his knuckles down my cheek before tucking a few locks of hair behind my ear.
I started to lean into his touch, but he quickly dropped his hand and sat back. He didn’t move his head, but his eyes glanced around rapidly, checking to make sure no one was watching us.
He’d been doing that all day as we’d explored the city together. Touching me as if he would die if he didn’t, and then moving away from me as if I were contagious or something. It stung that he didn’t want to be seen touching me in public, and I couldn’t hide how much it hurt.
With a muttered curse, he caught my chin between his thumb and forefinger and leaned in to kiss me, stealing my breath.
A long moment later, when he lifted his head, his eyes were full of need. “I don’t know if my enemies’ eyes are on us or not, precious. Once they find out who you are to me, they will try to use you.”
The stab of pain evaporated, and I wrapped my fingers around his wrist. When I felt his rapid pulse under my fingertips, my heart melted a little. “They’re going to find out eventually. I say just get it over with, and you won’t have to fight with yourself to hold back when we aren’t behind closed doors.”
“If I didn’t fight myself to hold back, you would be sitting in my lap right now. I want to feel your body against mine every moment of the day.” Releasing my chin, he caught my hand and intertwined our fingers, leaving them on the table between us. “I’m sorry I hurt you today by making you think I don’t want to touch you in public. It won’t happen again, I promise.”
“I know it won’t,” I told him confidently. “That’s just one of the many reasons I love you.”
His nostrils flared, and I watched as his eyes dilated with pleasure and heat. “I need to feed you,” he said. But I thought maybe he was talking more to himself, especially when he muttered, “And then I can take you back to the room.”
I had to squeeze my thighs together, trying to alleviate the sudden throb between my legs caused by simply thinking about what would happen once we got back to the hotel. The night before, after returning from dinner, he’d spent the entire night learning what gave me pleasure and finally let me explore his delicious body in return. But I’d been tender that morning, which was why he’d insisted on spending the day sight-seeing rather than in bed as I really wanted to.
I didn’t feel as tender now, and I was aching for a repeat of the night before.
“I’m not all that hungry,” I murmured, looking at him through my lashes, hoping it was sexy, but secretly scared it made me look anything but.
&
“Fine,” I said with a playful pout and saw his lips twitch, fighting a grin.
I loved that I’d made him smile so much all day long. He’d been doing it more and more as the day progressed, and it made his eyes shine whenever he gave in and let himself truly grin.
The waiter returned with our wine, and once Gian tasted and approved it, the guy asked if we were ready to order. I’d been so lost in the beauty of the sky and then Gian, I had barely glimpsed the menu.
Gian ordered for both of us, and I realized just how much he must have paid attention over the years when he ordered my favorite pasta. Happiness so intense goose bumps popped up along my arms came over me, and I couldn’t stop smiling as we ate our meal.
“What’s made you smile like that, precious?” Gian asked as we walked out of the outdoor restaurant. One of his hands was at the small of my back, guiding me toward his waiting car, where one man in a suit stood outside the back door and another sat behind the wheel. I felt the way his thumb was rubbing circles on the skin under my shirt, making me shiver and wish we were already back at the hotel.
“You,” I told him honestly. “Just being with you, sharing a meal together, it makes me happier than I can ever remember being.”
His other hand came around my front as he stopped walking feet away from our ride and turned me to face him. Right there on a busy Rome sidewalk for everyone to see, Gian lowered his head and kissed me breathless. When he finally lifted his head, he was breathing raggedly, his eyes on fire with need. “Let’s go,” he growled in that deep, sexy voice I loved so much.
Giggling, I put my hand in his and took off running the last few feet to the car. The quicker we got back to the hotel, the better. I heard him let out a puff of laughter as he scooped me up.
His man opened the back door for him, and Gian got in with me still in his arms, careful not to let my head bump the top of the vehicle. Once inside, he arranged me on his lap and buried his face in my neck.
I loved the way he was kissing me, but we had an avid audience. When I glanced at the two men in the front of the car, the driver’s eyes were glued to me, his brow puckered in a deep frown.
“Eyes to yourself,” Gian barked in Italian without even lifting his head. The driver jerked as if he’d been stabbed and hastily turned his gaze forward. “You’re not good enough to look at her.”
“Be nice,” I gently scolded him, even though I was thankful he’d gotten the man’s eyes off me.
Gian nipped at my flesh before raising his head and cupping one side of my cheek. “No one is good enough to look at you, my beautiful Monroe. I’m just the lucky bastard your heart chose to love.”
My eyes filled with tears, my love spilling over for him, but I silently begged him to say the words I ached to hear.
That he loved me.
As if he could read my mind but, for once, couldn’t give me what I wanted the most, he tangled his hand in my hair and pulled my head down for a long, deep kiss that effortlessly stole all the thoughts from my head.
Chapter 8
Monroe
I was fairly sure whomever my parents had watching me wasn’t actually doing their job. If they were, Mom would have already called and demanded to know all about the guy I’d been exploring Rome with for the past six weeks. But so far, neither she nor Daddy had mentioned Gian.
I was glad, because I wasn’t ready to share him with them. Telling them who he was and what he meant to me wasn’t something I wanted to explain over the phone. I needed to be in front of them, make them see he was a great guy who would always protect and love me. That was all Daddy had ever wanted for me, at least, that was what he said over the years as Mila and I were growing up.
They wouldn’t hold the sins of Enzo Fontana against his son. I wouldn’t let them.
Because I wasn’t blowing smoke when I told Gian I would always choose him. I didn’t want to live without anyone I loved, but I knew in my heart that if it came down to it, I would walk away from my family without a backward glance.
My soul would wither and die if I lost him.
“Are you hungry?” Gian asked as we walked toward the hotel, having spent the morning sight-seeing without his men driving us around for once.
The day he had arrived, he’d wanted to take me to his home outside the city, or the one in Milan, or even Tuscany, where he owned a vineyard left to him by his adoptive father. As much as I wanted to see them all, I figured at least someone on the hotel staff was being paid to make sure I came back every night, even if the person who was assigned to have eyes on me wasn’t watching me as closely as they were supposed to.
I had a feeling it was the same receptionist who had woken me up when Mom couldn’t reach me after I first arrived. She’d been paying closer attention to me than anyone else as far as I could tell.
Gian understood my reasons for staying at the hotel, but he didn’t like them. He slept with me every night, however, not bothering to go to his house without me.
Next time, I silently promised us both.
Next time, we would stay in his house instead of a hotel, and we would spend more than a few weeks. I was already looking forward to the next time, not only because I loved Rome and wanted to see other parts of Italy, but because I wanted to be with Gian in his homes and enjoy every minute just being beside him.
“Not really,” I answered distractedly as we walked through the growing crowd of tourists.
He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. With his hand in mine, I was forced to stop too, and I gazed up at him curiously. “Are you feeling unwell?” He touched his palm to my forehead, a frown pulling his brows together with concern. “You look pale, precious.”
“I’m fine,” I assured him, wrapping my arms around his waist. “Just not hungry.”
I couldn’t see his eyes behind his sunglasses, but I knew they were dark with need. His erection flexed against my belly, making me want to climb him like a tree right there and kiss him until neither of us knew our own names.
“Tell me what’s wrong,” he urged, lowering his head until his lips barely skimmed over mine. The soft touch had my breath catching. He didn’t play fair because he knew what those barely there kisses did to me.
“Nothing’s wrong. I promise.” Pushing up onto my tiptoes, I kissed him quickly. “Come on. If you’re asking if I’m hungry, then I know you must be. Let’s order room service and take a long bath. My feet are killing me from all the walking we’ve been doing.”
“Why didn’t you say so?” he grumbled unhappily, scooping me up into his arms. “I would have carried you.”
Laughing, I wrapped my arms around his neck. I knew he wouldn’t drop me, but I loved holding on to him. “Um, because I’m not a toddler, and I can walk all on my own?” He glared down at me, and I couldn’t help giggling. Kissing his jaw, I wiggled in his arms. “I love you, G, but you have to let me walk every once in a while.”
“Not if your feet hurt,” he said with a grunt. When a group of people didn’t get out of his way fast enough, he glared at them, sending two of the guys in the group stumbling back a few steps to let him pass from whatever they saw on his face.
Gian had a body made for sin. Thick muscles, hard abs, thighs so toned I felt like a freak for how turned on I got just looking at them. But while I loved his handsome face, scar and all, he could be intimidating as hell to everyone else. Especially when he got all grumpy and territorial. It was cute, and I felt all kinds of soft and feminine when he got growly, but I was sure he scared the hell out of other people.
I thought it was sexy that other people were scared of my man. I’d grown up surrounded by alpha men, more cavemen than anything, so it was only natural I would pick the most alpha of them all.
Gian carried me into the hotel and straight to the elevators. An older couple was already stepping into one, and the woman blushed a bright pink when she saw the way Gian was holding me. Her husband shot him an approving nod, and Gian winked down at me before brushing a soft kiss over my lips again.
“Tomorrow, I’ll take you shopping for better shoes to walk around in,” he informed me. “Or we will take the car.”
“I’m leaving tomorrow,” I reminded him, feeling my stomach bottom out just thinking about not being with him every minute of the day.
“No,” he said with a simple shake of his head. “We will stay a little longer.”
“I really want to, but I promised my parents I would get everything finalized so I can start the fall term at Trinity.” I stroked my fingers down his jaw, loving the slight scruff there. “We made a deal, G. I go to Rome for six weeks, and now I stay at home for school.”
“Where did you plan on going to school if not Trinity?” he asked, his eyes narrowing on me, and I nearly groaned.
We hadn’t talked about my college plans, and I’d been thankful to avoid that conversation. Something told me he would have been just as upset as my dad had been if I’d gone through with my decision to attend Princeton in the fall. But then again, if I was being honest, that was what I had been going for.
Piss him off. Drive him crazy—just a little. Make him chase me. Admit he couldn’t live without me just as I couldn’t live without him.
He’d done all of that—and more. And every day we’d been together, I’d fallen for him more and more. I had even gotten over him not telling me he loved me back—for the most part. I would have paid any price in the world to hear him say those three words, just once. But for whatever reason, he never uttered them. I wasn’t going to get hung up on it, though. He showed me over and over how much he cared about me.
I would eventually learn to live without hearing the words I craved the most.
“Monroe.” There was a warning in his tone, telling me he wanted an answer.
I glanced at the older couple, both of them watching us attentively, like we were a reality show they couldn’t look away from. While those were my guilty pleasure shows to watch on television, I wasn’t a fan of being the object of live entertainment.
-->