014

Caterina.

I barely felt the floor beneath my heels as Luca led me away from the ballroom, his hands still firmly gripping my waist.

The stares, the whispers still came.

Everyone with half a brain could guess what we were about to do.

When we got outside, the air became even cooler, quieter, but my blood still burned.

I wasn't drunk enough to forget the whispers, the way Alessandro’s hand had fit so perfectly against the woman's waist, as though he had never held me.

Never known me.

Okay, this wasn't the time to act like we had been the ideal couple, or I had some sort of feelings for him.

But still... how long had he been cheating on me?

I was going to erase it all. Erase him. And Luca... my stupid and horrible captor was my best option to do that.

Maybe when we were done, and he was totally spent, I could even run away.

He pushed open the door to a smaller room at the end of the hall, the dim lighting casting shadows across the dark leather armchair in the corner, the mahogany desk against the far wall.

This was a private retreat, far from the crowd and the accusations.

Far from everything except him.

The moment the door clicked shut, I turned on him.

"I don't want to talk," I said to him, sounding more breathless and a little wild than I would like. "Not about him or anything else, please."

Luca's beautiful plump lips curved into a slow, knowing smirk. "I didn't ask you to."

Good.

Talking would ruin this.

I didn't need words. I needed his hands, his mouth, his touch... anything to remind me that I was still here, still wanted, and still burning.

Making my movements as deliberate as I could, I placed my hands on his chest and pushed, guiding him toward the armchair until the back of his knees hit the edge and he sank into it.

To say I was surprised that he let me do that was an understatement. But this was a man that kissed and touched women out in the open like some sort of dog... I shouldn't expect something better from him.

He watched me with amusement, dark eyes flashing with something dangerous.

Good.

I could work with that.

Even if he didn't want me. Even if I was some sort of debt payment to him, he didn't show it.

I climbed onto his lap, straddling him, feeling the solid warmth of his body beneath me. My fingers found their way into his hair, threading it, and scraping my nails along his scalp as he tilted his head back.

He gave me the perfect opportunity to capture his lips with mine.

I kissed him. Hard.

"Mmhhhm." Luca groaned against my lips, his hands settling on my thighs, squeezing, before trailing up, tracing the slit of my dress.

He was fast with showing what he wanted.

When he touched me, he did it unhurriedly, teasing even, as my own movements became more desperate.

I wanted him to hold my hands together and turn me around...

"Eager, aren't you?" He murmured, his lips brushing the corner of my mouth.

I didn't bother dignifying that with a response.

Instead, I pressed myself closer, rolling my hips against him, swallowing the sharp inhale he took at the contact.

Was it wrong to do this when I was pretty sure the blond woman was in love with him?

Fuck.

His hands tightened on me, one sliding up to my waist, the other moving lower, fingers skimming bare skin as he pushed the slit aside, revealing the thin fabric of my thong.

That was the only thing he needed to do to remove all thoughts of every other woman he had slept with from my mind.

I didn't care about him.

I just needed him to...

To do what? Fuck me to oblivion? Fuck me till I forget Alessandro? I didn't even care about him.

He found the thong easily, fingers hooking beneath the lace, dragging it out of the way as his other hand roamed over the curve of my ass.

Every touch he gave to me was deliberate, almost lazy in a way, but I could feel the tension in him, the restraint he was barely holding onto.

He wanted me as much as I wanted him.

"Luca." Her voice was almost a whisper, but it carried enough weight to make him still for a moment. "Touch me."

And he did.

His fingers pressed into me, stroking, teasing, coaxing the need in me into something unbearable.

"Fuck." I gasped against his lips, while I gripped his shoulders harder as I rocked into his hand, desperate for more.

From half lidded eyes, I watched him watch me, those dark eyes heavy and filled with something dark and consuming.

"Look at you," he groaned with a voice thick with amusement and hunger. "So desperate to ride my fingers."

Wasn't I supposed to be embarrassed at this? I wasn't.

I didn't care.

I wanted him to do this, wanted him, wanted to drown in this little moment until nothing else existed.

His fingers moved faster, while he used his free hand to cup my breast through the sheer fabric of my dress.

I arched into his touch, biting my lip to keep from crying out.

As much as everyone guessed what we had entered a private room to do, I wasn't ready to make them actually know it.

Luca wasn't making it easy, though.

The pressure, the sensation, it was all too much and not enough.

"Please," I whispered, barely recognizing my own voice.

Luca’s lips curved into a wicked smile. “Please what?”

I clenched my jaw, refusing to play that twisted little game of his, but the asshole just had to curl his fingers inside me, dragging a moan from my throat before I could stop it.

"Say it, Caterina," he murmured against my neck, his breath hot against my skin. "Tell me what you want."

He hadn't called me amorino this time, and for some reason, it was much hotter.

My pride screamed at me to stay silent, to make him work for it, but the need was louder, drowning out everything else.

"Please," I breathed, pressing my forehead against his. "I need you inside me."

Luca stilled for a fraction of a second, and I feared he might have decided it was enough, but a few seconds later, his smirk returned, more dangerous than before.

Luca was a dangerous man, and I had no idea what I was doing anymore.

“Then beg for it.”