Page 18 of Caruso (Vegas Mafia #3)

Chapter Eighteen

Matteo

I have never been a selfish lover. I pride myself on giving more than receiving, but somehow with Taylor my needs are the furthest from my mind.

It’s all about her. Her experience. I want to make it the perfect beginning for her—for us. I don’t take her virginity lightly. She has protected it well over the years despite the horrors placed in her way.

I owe it to her to appreciate her gift, and that was her first orgasm of many tonight.

She shivers against me as my arms wrap around her and hold her tight. Nuzzling my face against her neck, breathing in the scent of a woman who I never really expected to find.

She’s dangerous to me and my brothers because if we want her, she will never leave.

“Come.” I kiss her hair and whisper huskily, “You must be hungry. ”

Her soft laugh makes me smile as she whispers, “Not for food, it seems.”

“You think that now, but you’ll soon realize that sex makes you ravenous, and as I haven’t finished with you yet, you will need all the help you can get.”

I take her hand and lead her over to the table, and hold out the seat for her to sit.

She hesitates, her huge doleful eyes finding mine as she whispers nervously, “I don’t want to mark your seats.”

As she bites her lip, a protective surge surprises me as I take her meaning and, grasping the napkin from the table, I wipe it between her thighs, cleaning up her orgasm as she blushes adorably. As I hold the cloth to my nose, I inhale her scent with pleasure.

“Fuck.” Her low gasp causes me to chuckle.

“You are now my favorite scent in the world, baby girl.”

“You don’t mean that.”

She laughs with embarrassment, and I pin her into silence with a furious glare. “I’m stating fact.”

She swallows hard and drops on to the seat, and as I take the one opposite, I face her with a hard expression, causing her to shift nervously.

“Firstly… ” I reach for the bottle of wine nestling in the ice bucket. “I don’t give a shit about the fabric on the seat. If anything, I welcome the stain.”

“Oh, God.” Her face is on fire as I smirk, splashing the wine into her glass, knowing she will hate having to drink anything but water.

“And secondly, there is no part of you, inside or out, that doesn’t belong here. This is your home now, so get used to it.”

“My home?” Her eyes widen and I nod, pointing to the glass as I hold mine toward her. As she raises it, I smile as the glasses clash together. “Welcome to your new life, Taylor. Try not to set this one ablaze.”

Her shoulders relax, and a smile dances across her luscious lips as she chuckles. “I can’t promise anything.”

“I wouldn’t want you to.”

I take a sip of the expensive wine and disguise my smile as she screws her face up in disgust as she samples the demon drink.

“You’ll get used to it.”

“Why is that necessary when water is better for you and free?”

“Because I want you to have the best, baby girl, and water has its place in that, but the finest wines, spirits and champagne are an acquired taste that you will learn to love.”

“Like you, I’m guessing.”

She raises her eyes, and my hand stills in midair.

“What do you mean by that?”

She shrugs. “If this is my home, Matteo, I’m guessing you have come to a decision. Am I to be your prisoner—your sex slave if you like, or your equal?”

“Interesting question.”

I take a sip of wine and note she follows my lead, and I could stare at her lips all night long as they drag against the crystal glass.

“Do you want to be our equal, Taylor? ”

“Of course. I already am.”

“And how do you conclude that?”

“Because we are both human. That is enough.”

“So your stepfather, do you consider him your equal?”

She shivers with revulsion.

“He never earned that right.”

“But you have earned the right to be our equal?”

“Haven’t I?”

I picture the way she stood defiantly in front of her stepfather as she sent him to hell.

The way she faced off against my brothers, manipulating them with her words, rather than playing the usual seductive temptress we meet.

I love how she killed a man for attempting to take something from her she valued and the way she kneeled at my feet with the declaration it was everything she wanted.

“No, Taylor, you are not our equal.”

The light dims in her eyes, and I reach out and pinch her chin between my fingers, forcing her to look at me as I whisper, “We are not yours. It is up to us to prove our worth now.”

I’m surprised when tears mist her eyes and her lower lip trembles. A lone tear escapes that I wipe away with my thumb and whisper, “Why are you sad?”

“I’m not.” She sniffs and smiles shyly. “I’m grateful, Matteo. For your help, your kindness and your guidance. I appreciate you, and I just want you to know that.”

My heart is pounding and my senses heightened as I drown in a world I never expected to find. Taylor has the mind and body of a siren, and I am hooked. A beautiful mirage of all that is good and bad with the world, trapped in a sinful body that will be the ruin of my family.

I drop my fingers from her face and point to the smoked salmon rolls on her plate.

“Take in some food. There is more to your education than sex tonight.”

She picks up her fork, and I shake my head.

“Use your fingers tonight.”

“Why?”

“Because we are stripping it back to basics.”

“That explains why I am naked.”

Her laugh is soft and yet light, happy even, and it thumps me in the gut so hard I almost choke.

More to distract myself than anything else, I lift one of the salmon rolls and hold it out to her lips, and as she holds my gaze, her mouth opens, and as she pulls the food inside, her eyes close as she groans with satisfaction.

My cock is almost knocking on the table to get out, and it’s taking a superhuman effort not to throw her on her back and fuck her mercilessly right now.

But I can’t. This night must be special, and my intention is that I get all her nights from now on.

Fuck Giorgio. He can have her days while I attend to business, and if Tommaso removes his head from his ass, he may be entitled to her mornings.

But I get her nights because the thought of her soft body pressed against mine as I sleep holding her in my arms is a fantasy I have never wanted before—until her.