Always bound by them.

I’d be Mrs. Dante Luchese in less than a week and I’d get all of my husband then.

“You know you’ll make love to me, Dante. You’ll whisper sweet nothings in my ear and treat me like I’m made of glass.”

His thumb brushes my clit as I groan, stomach tightening under his touch. Moaning when his tongue swipes at my entrances, licking me with that unabashed desire for me. Showing me how much he wants me with each stroke of his tongue.

My hand knots in his hair as I buck up, eyes on him as I watch him devouring me between my legs, a man who wants to please me.

A king serving his queen.

“I want to watch you make love to me for the first time. I want to see you take me, claim me. I want to look into your eyes as you enter me for the first time and know that I’m yours. And when you’re inside me you’ll finally admit it. What you’ve been keeping from me.”

Dante pulls away, lips wet with my arousal as I send him a pout, my chest rising and falling as his eyes, dark and dangerous look up at me.

“Pray, do tell me, princess what I am keeping from you.”

There is a challenge in his voice and if I wasn’t drunk with arousal maybe I would think with something other than my unhinged sexual need.

But I don’t.

I take his challenge like I take all of his challenges. Grabbing the bull by his horns or in this case I tug his hair, yanking him up as he bares his teeth at me like he wants to snap.

Rapid dog.

“That you’re in love with me.”

Dante’s eyes soften as he looks at me, blinking as if he’s not sure of what to say to this and if I was a weaker woman I would think that I was wrong. That he didn’t love me.

But I am not.

I’m strong enough and comfortable enough to say this to him without fear of it going wrong.

Maybe I should have fear.

Dante does.

I can see it in his eyes that he is worried about it and for a second I think about how I want to run from here. How I made a terrible mistake and I trusted someone and I fell in love with him and-

Well, fuck me.

“Dante.”

His name breaks the trance and he looks at me like he is about to say something that will throw my world off kilter but his phone buzzes and he flinches like he realized that he is the heir to a world where people die if he doesn’t answer his phone.

And yet he lets it keep going, looking at me.

“Should you get that?”

He groans when it buzzes again, the look on his face apologetic as he stands, his cock hard between his legs as he shifts over to the phone, answering it and moving to the other end of the room we’re sharing.

We’re not married yet so we still get to keep secrets from each other.

Secrets about whatever messes we managed to get into and secrets about how both of us are in love with the other person.

This was not the morning I needed and I feel my stomach turn for the first time as I stood up heading into the bathroom without looking back at Dante but making sure I locked the door behind me to give me some sense of space from him.

He has no problem kicking down doors but some part of me hopes that he can give me this.

This morning I’m going to cry in the shower and let myself have a pity party before I get myself together and be the strength for my group of friends before we go and make deals with the Cartel.

Deals that I’m not sure any of us want to make but the sacrifice has already been talked about.

Men all want the same thing.

Control and pussy.

Which is something me and my friends have in abundance.

35ILARIA

Dante has been trying to be a good sport all day but his face was revealing his annoyance as the day went on.

After I came out of the bathroom this morning showered and dressed up in a barely there silk shift dress, the leather jacket with his name over it to complete the look. He had gotten dressed in a knitted polo, black dress pants and loafers, we looked ready to take on the world together.

We shared a breakfast , just the two of us on the balcony, holding hands and exchanging kisses that were soft and chaste after the heat of the morning.

This fear of two children who had grown up following their parents rules and coming so close to breaking them all.

He kept saying he had a bunch of gifts for me and the first one was a pair of teardrop dangling Cartier earrings that made my jaw ache with how it dropped open at the diamonds. But Dante was rubbing his fingers, gently taking out my gold hoops and replacing them with the jewels he bought me.

It was possessive and I loved how he showed his feelings for me by marking me, much like I had done with the watch I gave him.

And then I got greedy.

I knew that we were meeting the Cartel that night and we were going to ditch the boys but some part of me wanted to have Dante today just to myself.

The shopping trip and spa that the girls had planned didn’t work for me and this overwhelming just desire to be with him made me dizzy.

So I asked him if we could spend the day together, just him and I. Something I was sure Becca and Sammie would try to kill me for later since we had a plan and they were the ones with a lot riding on all of this.

But I wanted to be selfish.

I wanted to just have Dante and me be in this bubble.

And he agreed so he must have felt the same sort of mania for me.