Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 43928 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43928 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
I've never asked for anything, and I've never wanted anyone, but I want this man. God help me, but I do.
"Cara mia," he breathes, his thumb brushing along my lower lip as if he senses exactly how I feel. As if he feels the same way.
I whimper, trembling against him, caught in some painful tangle of emotions I don't know how to explain. I've never dated. I've never known what it's like to be touched by a man or even kissed by one. My whole life has been spent in the shadows of this man's world, not part of it, but not separate either.
Now, I'm in the thick of it, and it's nothing like I imagined it would be. In his arms, it doesn't feel dark and violent and overwhelming. I feel…painfully alive for the first time ever. It hurts and doesn't hurt enough.
What's happening to me?
"Mattia."
"Fuck," he mutters as if he understands exactly what I feel. Maybe he does. His eyes are dark and predatory, hungry. "Give us ten minutes."
I think he's talking to me, but before I can even process the way his lips shape the words, he's storming up the steps with me in his arms, past Abernathy, and into the house. He moves with grace, carrying me past the living room and down a dark hall.
Furniture slips by in blurs. But all I see is the clench of Mattia's jaw and the intensity in his eyes.
He storms into an office, slamming the door behind us.
"You shouldn't look at me that way, cara mia," he growls, tipping my chin up until my eyes meet his.
"W-what way?"
"Like I'm your savior."
"What are you then, Mattia?" I ask, desperate to understand something about this man, anything at all.
"In ten minutes, I'll be your husband." His eyes eat me alive. So gray. So beautiful. "You'll belong to me in every way."
"W-will you belong to me too?"
"Dio."
"Will you?"
"Are you asking if my cock will belong to you, Aurelia?" He brushes his thumb along my bottom lip. "My body?"
I moan.
"Do you want to hear me say that you'll be the only one who touches me, cara mia?" He dips his head, his lips a mere breath from mine. "That I'll kill anyone who tries to come between us?"
"Mattia."
"That I'll keep you so full of cock and cum that no one else could ever possibly hope to compete?" His hand sinks into my hair. "What is it you want to hear, topolina?"
"Please," I plead, burning up with a fever I've never felt before now. "Please, Mattia."
"Ah," he breathes, those gray eyes flickering across my face. "You don't want to hear it at all, do you, little mouse? You want this."
His mouth crashes down on mine, consuming and demanding. His tongue sweeps inside, flirting and fighting with mine in a dance that leaves me reeling. I moan into the brutal kiss. He swallows the sound like a starving man.
"Mattia," I breathe against his lips. My hands move of their own accord, sliding over his broad shoulders and down his rock-hard back. The feel of him under my fingertips is intoxicating. He's pure power wrapped in skin and muscle. "Please."
His response is immediate and maddening. He shoves me up against the wall, pinning my hands above my head. There's no room to breathe, no space for thoughts or words or anything but him.
"You're mine," he growls against my throat, nipping at the sensitive skin there. "Say it."
A shiver tears through me at the ruthless command in his voice. It's a terrifying confirmation of what I think may have been true since he stepped into my room tonight—I've been his since the moment he laid eyes on me.
A swift knock on the door jars us apart, but his grip on me doesn't loosen an inch.
"Time's up," Coda calls from outside. "Abernathy is getting antsy."
"Say it, Aurelia."
"Y-yours," I whisper.
Mattia takes a step back. His steely eyes run over me, his expression hot and wild as he reaches out to touch my cheek. "You'll have my loyalty, cara mia. I'll belong only to you."
He means it. If I marry him, I'll have his loyalty. But how loyal can he be when his loyalty is to my brothers, first and foremost? I may be able to trust him not to cheat on me, but can I trust him with the truth?
"I…"
Coda knocks again.
Mattia mutters a curse. "Give us a minute, Coda! We're on the way out."
"Will do, Boss."
Mattia glances back at me. "Did you have something to say, topolina?"
I quickly shake my head, remaining silent. For now, it's the best option. Because whether he knows it or not, my life is in danger right now. Once Rafe knows what Brio sent me here to do, he'll kill me. But if I'm Mattia's wife…maybe that'll change things. Maybe it'll spare me.
Or, at the very least, maybe it'll give me time to find a way out of this. One that doesn't end with me losing everything that matters.