She’d been playing a game for a long time, and today she lost that game. Her plan to stay unmarried failed spectacularly.
She called me her jailer. Her captor. She wants to make me pay for making her lose. And I just spent the entire day showing her exactly what I want for my prize. Is it really a surprise she would deny me what I want?
I brush my thumb over my lip. It comes away coated with my blood. She glares at me, impossibly beautiful, stubbornly fierce.
If I want her, I’m going to have to seduce her.
No woman has ever made me work for it. My position and looks ensured a steady stream of women in and out of my bed whenever I had time for it. Cleo is different. She’s going to hold out on me for as long as she can. But I am a patient man, and there’s nothing more I love than a good challenge.
Especially when the reward is her.
She shouldn’t have shown me her perfect, untouched body if she didn’t want me motivated to conquer her.
I rip the stained sheet off the bed, roll it up, and tuck it under my arm. “You’ll get the pleasure of seeing my family deceived tomorrow, but I don’t mind being the only one who’ll see your virgin blood. I’ve never liked to share.”
Her cheeks turn pink with anger. “The only way you’ll see it is if you force me, and it looks like you don’t have the stomach for that.”
I take a backward step toward the door. “We’ll see about that.”
I feel her gaze on me as I leave the room and close the door behind me. Then I press my back against it. We’re playing a new game now, and she just won the first round. But she’s shown me something today that I will use against her. There’s a fire between us. She might not like it, but it’s there. And I’m going to do everything I can to make sure it burns brighter and brighter.
Until the day it melts her resolve.
CHAPTER 12
RAFAELE
The sheets are presented in front of my capos, soldiers, and a smattering of family and friends at just past ten a.m. in one of the rooms on the ground floor of the hotel. My sisters and my mother are missing, but Nonna is there, as well as a few other old crones who feel it is their duty to ensure the traditions of our family continue to be respected.
Nero comes up beside me. “Should we remove it before Cleo comes out? If someone jokes about it, she’ll probably try to claw their eyes out.”
Unlikely, given it’s my blood everyone is whistling at.
I turn to him. “We’ll take it down in ten minutes.”
“What the fuck happened to your lip?”
Fuck.
I didn’t think the swelling was that obvious when I checked this morning in the mirror.
“We need to have a word. Let’s go talk in the library.”
Nero gives me a curious look. “You all right?”
“Not here.”
He follows me inside. I close the door behind him and lock it for good measure. I don’t want anyone interrupting us. Nero takes one of the leather armchairs, but I don’t feel like sitting. I walk over to the large window facing the back garden and link my hands behind my back.
I didn’t sleep much after I left Cleo in our wedding suite. Thankfully, we rented the entire hotel, so there were more than a few empty suites available. I grabbed the closest one and spent the rest of the night trying to come up with a plan to seduce my wife.
I didn’t get very far.
I’m good at many things, but understanding the psychology of women isn’t one of them. Good thing it’s something my consigliere excels in.
Nero clears his throat. “So…？”
I turn around.
Whatever he sees in my expression makes him laugh. “Seriously, what the fuck happened?
When I stay silent, the amusement in his expression melts away. “Did it go okay?”
“No, it didn’t go okay.”
He frowns. “Is she…hurt?”
I walk over to the bar cart and splash a bit of whiskey into a glass. “I didn’t fuck her. Barely even touched her.”
Nero shakes his head, confused. “Whose blood was that then?”
“Mine.”
Nero stares at me for a split second before he bursts out laughing. “What did I tell you? Did she bite the whole thing off or just give it a nibble?”
“She didn’t get close enough to my cock to even breathe on it.” I point at my face. “She bit my lip.” I take a swig of the whiskey, and it burns the shallow wound inside my mouth. “She sucked my blood and spit it on the sheets.”
“Holy shit.” He’s taken aback. He didn’t expect her to pull something like that. “So what happened after?”