Page 21

The puckered tips of my nipples scrape against his chest as I start riding his thigh-—

Noooo!

We're suddenly apart, and I barely manage to swallow back an instinctive cry of protest. Cesare's body is rigid, his arousal still bulgingly visible under the tight confines of his jeans. He obviously wants me still, so why did we have to stop?

"Don't look at me like that,tesoro."

I'm tempted to lie and pretend I have no idea what he's talking about, but if we really are going to marry each other, and spend the rest of our lives together, for better or for worse—-

"Why are we stopping?"

A strained smile touches his lips. "I do not want to stop either, believe me. But we have an early day tomorrow, and you need to rest. What I can promise you though is that tonight will be the last night you'll sleep a virgin—-"

Oh no.

"The last fucking night that you won't know what it's like to have my big, hard cock driving into your pussy and filling it up with cum—-"

That pretty much does it.

I throw myself back into his arms, whimpering and begging without shame. "One last kiss—-"

Cesare groans and laughs, but his hands are also cupping my cheeks, andaaaaah.

His mouth plunders mine in a kiss so savage and deep it makes every trembling part of my body ache so, so badly for his possession.

Oh, if only this could go on forever.

If only.

But the kiss eventually comes to an end, and all I can do is swallow back my cry of protest as Cesare pulls away.

"Tomorrow," he rasps out. "Tomorrow, I will make you mine. And you want that, too, don't you,tesoro?"

All I can do is nod.

"I am a very possessive man," he warns. "So make no mistake about this: I will kill anyone who's stupid enough to get in the way of that."

It's my first time to hear him speak with such ominous softness, and my first time to truly taste terror in his presence.

"I own you, Penelope."

The look in his eyes is unmistakable, and it's that look which finally gives me the tiniest inkling as to why everyone speaks of Cesare Marchetti like he's the devil incarnate.

"Every fucking inch of you ismine...just as all of me isyours."

There's still the tiniest part of me that thinks I'm insane to entrust myself to my kidnapper's grandson, but...

The rest of me also knows there's no going back.

One kiss from him, and my world has completely changed. I can't be apart from him, and when I try to imagine how it would feel, if it's some other woman he'll marry and claim him as hers—-

"Sì..."

As soon as I whisper 'yes', he sweeps me back up in his arms, and I find myself stupidly struggling not to cry as he tucks me in bed like I really am his most precious treasure.

Cesare straightens up, and my fingers curl back into a fist under the covers. The thought of him leaving suddenly has me anxious, and it's all I can do not to beg him to stay.

"Do you need anything else before I go?"