Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Tonight, he found out that his mother’s found love in the arms of another man. His father’s body lies somewhere, lifeless, but I suspect his heart was empty and vacant before tonight. I wonder if they’ll give him a proper burial, if they’ll ask Father Richard to come.
I hear the water pounding in the shower, but Romeo’s quieter now. Some might call him a ruthless monster, and I’d understand that. He’s capable of unspeakable things. But I see the man behind the mask, the tortured soul with the weight of the world on his shoulders. And I’m here to help him carry that.
The shower turns off, and a flutter of excitement ripples through me. It’s our marriage night, and my husband’s coming to join me.
The door to the bathroom opens, and Romeo steps in wearing nothing but a towel. “My God,” I whisper. I bite my lip. “It was worth it.”
“What was?” he asks. Though he looks weary, there’s a new confidence in the way he holds himself, a sturdiness in his step when he walks to me.
“All that brought me here, to you. I mean… well, look at you.”
He looks down at himself, and I wonder if he sees what I see. He wears a towel slung low around his waist, concealing almost nothing. I let my gaze travel over his large, broad shoulders, the muscles that ripple beneath scars, and ink that travels from his neck to his arms and abdomen. Words with a message. Ink meant to brand.
He moves his powerful, well-muscled body with surprising grace, but his movements are swift and virile. His long, sturdy legs carry him with an air of command that comes naturally to him and an air of authority he’s earned. I look at his powerful, broad chest and sturdy, masculine physique, and my fingers graze my lips.
“What is it, bella?”
“Checking for drool,” I mutter. He grins, actually grins, and his whole beautiful face lights up. I sigh.
“You like what you see, Vittoria?” He bows his head with a touch of modesty. “I’m glad.”
He kneels beside me on the bed. “You’re mine now. You’ll do exactly what I tell you, won’t you?”
I shake my head and bite my lip. “Of course not.”
A quick look of surprise crosses his features before his gaze darkens. “So that’s how it will be.”
I nod, my heart thundering in my chest. My pulse races in anticipation of prodding him now that he has nothing at all to stop him from doing whatever he wants to me, whenever he wants to. I’ve married him. I’ve stepped foot into the lion’s lair, and now he very well may eat me alive, but I’ve realized something along this journey. I’d rather die his victim than live a colorless life.
I will not consent to blind obedience. It’s not who I am. But I willingly took my place as the wife of the Don, and over time, I’ll learn what that means.
“I’ll have to teach you, you know.”
I nod. “I know.”
He gives me a warning look. “My word is law, woman.”
I nod again. “I know that, too.”
“And if you disobey me…”
I drag my fingers to the robe and untie it. The snow-white terry cloth falls to the bed, revealing my naked skin. “You’ll punish me,” I say in a seductive purr as my fingers graze my nipples.
“You think I won’t?” he says in a whisper.
“I’d be disappointed if you didn’t,” I whisper back.
And then he’s on me, my wrists pinned beneath his hands, his hard, heavy body pressed on top of mine. “You’ve never been whipped,” he rasps in my ear. My thighs clench together.
“That sounds scary,” I whisper.
“You ought to be terrified.”
My eyes flutter closed when he bites my neck then laps the pain away before he suckles. I want it, all of it. I want him to unleash himself on me.
I trust him.
“I can take it,” I promise.
“We’ll see about that.” His cock’s hard, pressed between my legs with insistence. My legs part. “Tonight, I want to fuck you. I want to own that pussy. You’ll do what I say and I’ll let you come.”
“Oh my God. You’d punish me with deprivation?”
“I’d punish you in any way I want.”
Gah. I swallow hard, my pulse thundering.
“You’re mine, Vittoria. Mine.” There’s an almost angry insistence to his tone that ratchets my pulse even higher.
I nod, even as I know I don’t fully understand what that means, what the implications are. “Any man that touches you loses his fingers. Looks at you with anything but chastity loses his eyes. Do you hear me, woman? Any man that disrespects you loses his tongue. If I find another man’s come near you…”
“You’ll kill him,” I breathe.
“Painfully. Slowly.”
I nod again, swallowing as he kisses his way along my jaw. “My brothers will defer to you and treat you with respect. You don’t leave my side unless you’ve got an army of bodyguards in my stead and every living person that comes near you knows you’re the queen of this Castle.”