Julia didn't know what to say. "I—I couldn't. It's too much."
"Fine, then." He let out an exaggerated sigh. "I'll let you take the couch, if you insist."
"No, you're being too nice. I couldn't impose like that. It's your space, not mine."
"On the contrary, it's not my space at all. I'm never there, except on special occasions. The GP, some holidays…It would be better to have someone there to keep an eye on things, rather than leaving it empty."
"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to put you out at all."
"You wouldn't be putting me out at all. In fact, you'd be doing me a favor. Call it housesitting."
"Well…" Julia took a deep breath. "I'd need to get my stuff, of course."
"I could come with you, if you'd like. Two people can make it in half the trips, and of course, we could take my car."
The offer was too good to be true. No, more than that. It was suspicious, even. Why was he being so nice to her? She wasn't sure of much, but she knew that whatever she said to him, she wasn't going to get a straight answer. That would be too much to hope for. The only question now was whether she'd see where it all went, or turn him down. The same risk as earlier that morning.
The trip to work had been one thing, of course. She'd seen beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was right about that. That he'd been trustworthy. Furthermore, he had said, if not shown, that he understood and agreed with her assessment. Did that mean he was trustworthy? Julia frowned.
"I'll come look at it, sleep on the couch tonight, and if I'm feeling good about it after work tomorrow, then we can get it taken care of." Julia's voice lightened up. "But only if you take me in your car."
"Of course, my dear. I wouldn't have it any other way." And then he was pulling on a coat, and holding open the door. It wasn't cold, Julia thought—but then again, she was used to weather in the States, in Michigan—it seemed like it was cold most of the time, there, unless it was too hot. Monaco was never either, from what she'd experienced so far. Just rainy.
"I apologize, it's a little bit of a walk, but I hope you won't mind too terribly. It's just down the street."
"Oh, no, that's fine," Julia said.
The truth was she wasn't really listening to what he said. She was too distracted by the way he dressed, the way he acted. The way he got along well with the team, with the customers, even though he was obviously woefully inexperienced at running or working in a restaurant. Something about him just seemed…right.
"Honestly, you could walk from here to the apartment, but it's a bit more fun to drive, don't you think? I keep a couple of cars in the garage for just such a purpose. You might not be comfortable driving the Lamborghini, of course—she can be a little, shall we say, testy—but if you need a car to get around, I could leave the keys out for the BMW."
"What?" Julia stopped, blinking. "No, I'm sure that won't be necessary. I mean, are you serious?"
"Well of course I'm serious. It's the most comfortable drive in the garage, and the one I'm least worried about someone who's not always behind the wheel losing control of, to boot."
"But… it's your car. I can't possibly ask you to let me drive your cars while you're away, while I stay in your house—"
"Rent free, of course—" Claudio cut in.
"That's absurd! Why would you do that?" She half-shouted, without realizing that they were still on the street, and it was nearly ten o'clock.
"Because I can, darling, of course. Why does anyone do anything?"
"I can't. No. I refuse." Julia planted her feet, and Claudio kept walking a few steps before turning to look at her.
"Would it make you feel better if I told you that I have plenty more cars at my garage in Milan? And that I don't really like the BMW?"
"What? No! That's—what on earth is wrong with you?"
"Julia Sommers, I know that you're just a student, and I know that you're a waitress. I pay your salary, I know what it is. I'm sure that for you, money is…" he made a big motion with his hands. "But to me, it's just something that I have. The things I own, too—just things. I guess I could give it all away, and live like a pauper, or an American student. But I don't want to."
He started walking back towards her, Julia watching him silently.
"I like to have things. I like to live a comfortable life, and I can afford that—even if most people cannot. But neither am I a child about it. When I can help someone right in front of me, at no cost to myself, of course I would do it."
Julia went quiet for the rest of the walk. The tall, powerful-looking Italian told her to wait by the entrance to the parking facility while he went to get the car. She knew it was his by the way it growled, loud as can be, when he got close. In spite of herself, she smiled. "Very you," she noted as she slid into the car.
It was so low to the ground that she practically had to fall in, but once she was seated, she never wanted to get back up again. The seat cradled her just right, as comfortable as she could imagine. And then the car started moving, roaring out a throaty wail as Claudio put his foot down on the gas.
The trip wasn't as long as either of them would have liked, but neither said so. Julia smiled at him as they pulled in, limiting herself to a single "Wow!"
Claudio flashed a toothy grin that showed off his pointed canines. It gave him a predatory look. At first Julia thought it didn't suit him—and then she thought that it must have suited him far too well. Men don't make the kind of money that he made in his career without being wolves. Was she a sheep to him?
The thought made her shiver. What was wrong with her? She had been afraid of him before. Understood it, knew why should should be afraid. But every time that she thought about him, she couldn't help but want him. She pushed the thought away.
She didn't have time to be thinking about her physical needs. Not only was he off-limits, not only was he her boss, but they had no future together. He was going to be in Italy, she was going to be in Monaco—at least, as long as she could be. Then it would be back to Grand Rapids, for cold winters and hot summers.
Julia had come to expect theatrics from Claudio. So when he asked her to close her eyes in the elevator, she obliged without a fuss. When she felt his tie wrapping around her eyes, though, she protested.
"Hey! I had them closed!"
"You might have been unable to resist, you know." She could hear the teasing in Claudio's voice. "I know you Americans, often have the impulse problems."
"No fair," she muttered. "Anyone could see me looking like a fool, if they get into the elevator with us, and you should've trusted me."
"You didn't trust me, either, you know. It's only fair. Tat for tit."
Julia didn't respond to that, but the mistake went straight to her head. What if, she wondered. What if he hadn't been mistaken, but had meant that the payback would be with her body? What did she have to do to make that happen? The thought came unbidden, and her cheeks immediately flushed in embarrassment, as if her host could have heard in her mind.
As they rose higher and higher, Julia realized, he had been right. The temptation was greater and greater the more time passed. When she heard the elevator doors open with a quiet ding, she wanted to see so desperately that she couldn't help herself.
"You want to see it, don't you?" His voice was soft, gentle. She almost thought, for a moment, that he was tender. But then she felt his hand resting softly on her back, and she knew. Whether he was tender or not, he must have known what he was doing to her. And she knew, as much as he did, that she didn't want him to stop.
"So sure of yourself, aren't you?" Julia forced her voice to come out steady. She hoped that he would believe the front she put forward.
"I am." His voice was soft and growled in her ear. She could feel the warmth of his closeness on her skin.
"What were you going to show me?"
"No, it's not important. You don't want to see it. If you don't want to see, we can go back. Paris is only, what, 950 kilometers? 8 hours, maybe 9? I could get you t
here in 4. 3, if I want to take risks."
Something in his voice told Julia that was exactly what he wanted. Another shiver ran down her spine. She wanted to push him, wanted nothing more than to see how far he could be pushed. She gulped and opened her mouth. Something in her mind held her back from speaking. An irresistible impulse for self-preservation.
"No," she finally admitted. "That's not what I want."
"What do you want, then?" His voice was teasing, but she could hear something under it. A promise of what he would do to her, would do for her, if she just asked.
"You know what I want," she whispered. She couldn't say more than that, not with him. She saw, now, what he shared with the billionaires who slummed down to go into the little restaurant where she worked.
He was a wolf, and she was a rabbit. Whether she wanted it or not, she knew, he was going to take what he wanted from her, and she was going to give it to him. The knowledge made her want to give him whatever he wanted. Sent a shiver down her spine.
She felt his hand on her back again, guiding her forward. She was intensely conscious of how easy it would be for him to move his hand, just a few inches, and cup her ass. When he didn't, it was like a deliberate action. One that she wasn't sure was intended to comfort her, or to show her that he would do things at his pace, not hers.
"Okay, close your eyes. I don't want to blind you when I take this off."
She tried to shut her eyes, as best she could with the blindfold tied around her eyes. Then she felt it fall away, and opened her eyes again, and looked around.
The room was massive, and she could see it led off to at least four others that she could see. A large, glass window showed a ladder up to a second floor that overlooked the central room. The suite, she realized, was larger than her parents' house.
Another shiver went down her spine, and she started speaking automatically. "I can't take this. I'm sorry, I didn't realize... I can't stay here. Are you crazy?"
"You're a very pretty woman, Julia. You deserve nice things."
What did he say? Did he think that was an answer to her worries? Because it sure as hell wasn't. "No, this suite must cost...tens of thousands of euros. No, I can't let you have me stay here."
"Good. I'm not asking you to let me. I'm telling you that you're going to stay and that's that."
"What, so you're in charge of my private life, now?"
"Yes."
The word came out so simple and easy that Julia had trouble believing her ears. "I'm sorry, come again?"
"I said yes. I'm in charge, now. You're in my place, and don't try to pretend that you're not interested in me, in what I have to offer for you. No, you want everything I have to give you and more. Not just money, or things. You want me."
She wanted to tell him she didn't, that he was wrong. But as she tried to say the words, the same self-preservation instinct kicked in. Like she was going to slam into a wall at a hundred and ninety miles an hour if she lied, even though it would be as easy as speaking the words. He wouldn't even have to know it was a lie.
But, she thought, he would know. Somehow he would know. Julia shivered again. Tightened her jaw. "Show me."
"I wouldn't have it any other way, my dear."
His arms wrapped around her body. "You know, you don't need to work at that restaurant, not if you don't want to. You could stay here. I could easily afford your expenses, and perhaps if you are good you could earn a little bit of spending money by keeping me... amused."
Every cell in Julia's body rebelled. She'd always been independent. Had always believed that independence was strength, and that strength was what she needed to get by in the world. But the offer of having all of her expenses paid for, of having all her problems go away, in the snap of this man's fingers was tempting.
"Amuse you how?" She tried to sound strong, but her voice trembled. She was afraid, she realized. Afraid of how he would respond to her.
"I'm pretty sure you can think of something. You're a smart girl. I'm a man, you're a woman." He let the last comment hang in the air, with all of the implications clear to both of them.
Julia swallowed, looked up at his face. He was gorgeous, she thought. Absurdly so, even. She wanted nothing more than to spend her life looking into those eyes.
"And if I say no?"
"Nothing changes, of course. You can keep working at my restaurant. I can offer you a little stipend, in exchange for watching the house. But I won't ask you again, and from the way you're reacting, I don't think you want that, do you?"
Julia felt her jaw clench and unclench. She had been letting herself believe she was only being forced to feel the things she was feeling. That he was going to take everything he wanted from her, and if she let him, it was only her own realization of his power. But as the bonds came away, and he put it to her as a choice, the knowledge that whatever she chose was hers to choose hit her in the gut.
His hands drifted up and down her body as she stood, immobilized, in the middle of the large common room. She could feel his hands on her breasts, her nipples on fire underneath his touch. Julia let out a ragged breath.
"Okay." She had to drag the word out of herself, and the effort was more than she could have imagined it would be.
"I'm not interested in your 'okay.' If you're not interested, just say so. If you are, then tell me you are."
"Fuck you." Julia was shaking now, with rage and arousal. She couldn't say it. He couldn't make her say it.
"Don't lie to me, Julia. We both know what you want. You just have to tell me, and I'll give it to you."
"I want..." Julia's tongue felt as if it filled her mouth completely, choking her from breath. "I want you to knock me up."
The noise Claudio made was somewhere between a laugh and a growl, and she could feel him stiffen against her. The hardness pressed between them told her what the answer was, even if he didn't give it.
His hands resumed their exploration, joined now by a mouth that kissed her neck, first gently, and then deeper, until she felt his teeth sinking into her flesh.
Julia let out a gasp and let her hands drift back to where her lover stood behind her, digging her fingers into his trousers.
"Don't stop." The whisper came out of her lips unbidden, and she couldn't help but feel as if her desires were somehow slipping out, even against her will.
"I won't," Claudio growled. "Not even if you ask me to."
They both knew that she wasn't going to. She was too far gone to lie to him about her need. She was his, now, and though she had tried to fight it, she had lost that fight with herself long ago.
She felt his hands come to the hem of her shirt, working their way up the buttons. She was going to get a hickey, the way that he kept on with her neck, but somehow it felt right. He was marking her as his, and if she went out then anyone who saw would know. She's not available, she's not in the market. She is his, and whatever he chooses to do with her--to her--was his choice.
Her shirt opened, revealing her bra-covered breasts, and Claudio pushed the offending fabric out of the way roughly.
"I know they're small."
He turned her around to face towards him, and pulled one between his lips. The electric shock that went through her body made her tingle, the memory of the feeling remaining even as he pulled away. "You're perfect."
Julia looked away. His eyes, his face, they were too intense. She couldn't manage with him looking at her like that. She couldn't imagine a life without him looking at her like that. The way that a man looks at a woman, at his woman.
She reached between them and tried to grab something, anything, that would help her to gain some control in the situation. What she found was his cock, and she pressed her palm against it, feeling him push back against her.
Julia smiled and slid her hand into his trousers. The flesh of his hardness was soft and slid easily under her hand as she started to rub him. Even though she had felt before so strongly as if Claudio was impossibly in control, she suddenly felt very pow
erful. The man who had been so in control, so collected and calm, reading her every thought, now brought low by the power she had over him, as well.
"Don't," he whispered, finally. Julia pulled away, reluctantly. "I want to experience you, first."
He took her by the arm and guided her across the room. She could see a bedroom, several bedrooms, through the doors leading off of the central room, but he didn't move towards any of them. Instead, he took her up the steps to the loft. A large sliding door came open easily and silently, and he guided her onto a large, open balcony.
Julia looked down. Big mistake. They must have been thirty stories up, she thought dimly. The height was dizzying, and she couldn't think. Too high up, too terrifying to think clearly. She looked up higher. The view was unobstructed, but there were more than one buildings nearly as high not far away.
"Can they see us?" The words came out shaky and afraid, so unlike her normal voice, she thought.
"I can't see why not," Claudio purred into her ear. He hooked a thumb through the sides of her pants and panties and pulled them both down together. Julia shivered, though she couldn't say whether it was the cold or the heights or the feeling of arousal that doing something so obviously wrong caused.
His fingers moved down between them, testing and probing her depths as she leaned on the balcony railing. Julia tried to step away, but her lover put a hand gently on her back. "No, stay there. Just like that."
She felt vulnerable, just as vulnerable as she had with the blindfold on, or how she felt whenever she looked into Claudio's eyes. More than that, because he was still there with her, watching her, and then... tasting her.
Julia let out a gasp. What was he doing? She blanked and stared out at the city, hoping desperately that nobody was looking, searching to try to comfort herself.
"You taste good." Julia's vision blurred as he probed her depths with his soft fingers and teased her clit with his tongue at the same time, her focus slipping. The only thing that she was experiencing now was what Claudio did to her. If someone saw, then... Julia sighed in pleasure.
"Don't stop, baby." The words came unbidden, Julia surprised to hear her own voice. He didn't stop. Julia could feel her knees beginning to wobble, and her vision going blurrier still. The world spun around her, but she wanted nothing more than for him to continue what he was doing. The heights weren't bothering her any more; she'd forgotten where she was, how she'd gotten here, what her own name was. The only thing that mattered was-- "Claudio!"
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