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14

ALESSANDRO

T he fluffy, fur blanket wrapped around her shoulders contrasts with Isabella’s dark curls. Watching her sleep in my arms does something strange to me, creates a deep longing.

These past two days have been unforgettable.

Isabella is unlike anyone I’ve ever met.

She challenges me, keeps me on my toes, eager to hear whatever she might say next. More than that, she’s as insatiable as I am.

So much so, that my muscles ache, a soreness akin to a brutal workout.

Or in our case, several brutal workouts per day.

The pliability of her body, the vigor of her athletic form; it makes my blood simmer every time I look at her. She’s my match in every way. It’s irresistible.

It doesn’t hurt that we’ve been naked almost the entire time.

There really isn’t much else to do, and neither of us have even begun to tire of exploring each other. Truly a vacation from reality.

We’ve even taken to preparing meals together, like everything else we do. Today is no different.

Isabella tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, chopping fruits and vegetables across from me.

She pops a slice of melon into her mouth, eyeing my chest peeking out from the only piece of clothing either of us wears. My robes are just thick enough to keep us warm in the colder parts of the house.

Her intentions are all too clear.

She wants me again.

And I intend to take her as soon as we finish eating. Maybe right here on the kitchen counter.

“Aless, may I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Your work…your work and your family life. How do you keep those things separate?” It’s an odd question. One of those queries that makes me wonder if she knows more about me than she’s let on.

“I don't. This is honestly the most time to myself that I've had in years. Everything about my work is my family. My family is my job. The most important thing in my life.”

“That’s a lot of responsibility.”

“It is. But better me than some other narcissistic tyrant.”

I see one of her eyebrows rise, a rebuttal on her lips.

“I may be stern, ruthless even, but I’m fair. My uncle taught me that. To value people, give them opportunities to succeed.

“And when they don’t?”

“There are consequences for everything in life.”

I notice her eyes narrow, contemplating. It tickles an itch in the back of my mind I’ve ignored. But as usual, I second-guess the meaning. She’s probably just curious, and I am evasive about my life.

“What about when somebody gets in your way or betrays you?”

“Two very different things.”

“How so?”

“You have to understand, Isabella, getting in my way requires a solution, an equal reaction. It’s as simple as removing the obstacle by whatever means suits the situation. And I always remove the obstacle. There are an infinite number of ways to do that.”

“Such as?”

“Reasoning, or when necessary bribes, coercion. In business, we just call it negotiating. Things don’t always have to resort to violence. Threats work too.”

“And what about betrayal?”

I find my mind wandering back to Dom, to our life leading up to his recent, heinous act. Isa waits patiently for me to answer. “When somebody turns on me, when somebody lies to me, to my face, garners my trust and then throws it in the fucking trash? There's only one solution for that.”

I meet her gaze, hard and cold.

She doesn’t look away, but she swallows hard, visibly.

And I realize that I'm gripping the countertop, my fingers popping as I clench the knife in my hand, gouging the tip into the cutting board. “Sorry. I can get a little carried away.”

“I-I like it,” her voice stutters just a hint, but she means it.

“I don't think you always will.” I snap before I catch myself.

Isabella’s head tilts to the side, concern filling her eyes. “Why do you say that?”

“We all have things that we hide, a version of ourselves that nobody else sees.” I don't want to frighten her more than I already have, but I want her to see me, to fear me and run, or choose to stay.

“And the ‘real’ you, you’re afraid I won’t like who you are?”

“Usually, the people who see that side of me…well, it’s the last thing they see.”

Isabella nods, hugging her arms around herself. “What if I wanted to see it?”

A little huff of disbelief slips through my lips. There's something about the way she gets under my skin. No one's ever seen through me the way she does. And no one's ever been able to take as much as she already has.

But can I trust her?

There are questions that I need answers to. But every time I think about asking them I find myself biting my tongue or biting hers instead, diving back into bed to avoid the discomfort of uncovering a truth I can’t live with.

I suppose Adriano would say that living the way I do, always holding something back makes me paranoid that everyone else is doing the same.

Isabella circles the counter, resting her hand on mine. And, as if she's reading my thoughts she says, “You don't have to hold back with me.”

Does she know what she’s asking?

Maybe I can test the waters. Test her.

Our lunch is abandoned in a heartbeat as I pull her into me, wrapping my arm around her waist. My knuckle grazes just under her chin, then I grip her jaw, softly, with my entire hand, tipping her head back to look into her eyes.

“You might regret saying that,” I whisper but she holds my gaze, unwavering.

“You might regret it if you don't try,” she hums.

Our kiss is impactful, vicious.

We tear the robes from each other’s body, in a frenzy of desire. Fury rises in me like a tidal wave but I subdue it, leash it.

Until Isabella bites my lip, hard and sharp, drawing blood.

This.

The leash snaps.

This is exactly what I need, exactly what I want. Someone who's my equal. Who wants me as badly as I want them and will try anything. And I want to try everything with Isabella.

No halfway, no second-guessing.

All or nothing. I need her to succumb to my control. To put her life on the line for me. Go all in with every fiber of her being.

“Put your hands on the bar and do not move them.”

Her eyebrows rise incredulously. “Or what?”

The words are playful but her tone wavers, goosebumps pebbling across the expanse of her smooth skin.

“Or else you might not like what I do.”

“I think I'll be the judge of that.” She stares, challenging me as I circle around her, but she complies, setting her hands on the edge of the counter and giving me a look, jutting her ass out at me.

Her figure is alabaster perfection, a sculpture that no artist could capture.

She inspires me.

Without warning, I lash out with the back of my hand right across her ass cheek, the smack echoing through the room. Her gasp echoes right after, forcing her to slam her palms down on the bar top.

“That is what happens,” I growl.

A chuckling breath of shock and nervousness escapes her lips.

Without looking back, she slides her hands off the bar top, raising her head in defiance. This time my palm strikes the other cheek, leaving a bright red, searing mark on her butt.

And this time she moans, raspy and needy, forced out through her teeth as she bites her lip. Her hands slide onto the bar top, spreading further, bending her over to spread her ass cheeks. She wiggles her hips, shaking her ass back and forth.

It’s mesmerizing, hypnotizing.

“My hands are on the bar. What do I get as a reward?” She jiggles that ass in my face again, taunting me.

I want to ram into her from behind. Drive my cock as deep as I can.

But I also want to wait, to draw this out. I want to see what she's willing to do. How far she's willing to go.

I want to test her resolve.

I want to let a little of the animal inside me out to gauge her response.

My hand strikes again, harder, firmer, holding tight against the bright red sting. I can practically feel the electricity vibrating up her spine with every smack of my hand against her ass. It’s already hot and swollen under my fingertips.

Next, I slide the head of my cock up between her cheeks, resting against her back as I drag my shaft down slowly. Every movement is gentle, a contrasting tease. I slap her ass again.

When I drag my cock down again, she soaks my tip, her lust and longing glistening, dripping on the kitchen floor.

“Alessandro, I need you?—”

“And I need you ,” I respond before she can finish.

“No. I need you…to hurt me.”

I'm taken aback for a second. Does she understand what she's asking of me?

“How do you want me to hurt you?”

She groans, arching her back, popping her ass out. She’s asking for more.

I slap her ass again harder.

Scraping one hand up into her hair, taking a fistful and tugging back firmly, hard enough to make her yelp in shock, but not hard enough to cause any damage. How far can I take her?

The soft whimper she gives me tells me all I need to know.

I pull her from the bar top, back against my chest. My cock slides easily between her legs,

throbbing with the heat of her wetness.

“And what would you do if I slapped your ass harder, or whipped it?”

“I’d take it,” she moans, gyrating over me, “And love every second of it.”

“Really? You wouldn’t try to pull away, get away from me…?”

“Try me. And if you think I’m lying you could always tie me down.”

A surging rush of blood roars up my spine, into my ears. Like she struck a bell tone in my core.

The thought of it has me sweating, on the verge of coming with pure excitement.

“And what if I blindfolded you?”

“As if I would have a choice, my hands would be tied…”

“And your ankles, too…leaving you helpless. Completely under my control. How does that sound?”

Her chest is heaving.

“How would that be any different than how you have me now? I’m yours…”

She's right. The last few days have been wild.

But I want to dominate her.

“I want to tie you up and worship you so thoroughly that you lose all sense of yourself. I want you to surrender to me.” Snatching the belt from my robe on the counter, I loop it around her wrists behind her back, tying it tight. Pulling back roughly, I force her down over the bar and she struggles, just enough to make me smile. Right before I yank back sharply, painfully.

Isabella growls, thrusting her ass towards me.

And I spank it again, so much harder. Her legs tense, buckling slightly.

She still has too much freedom for my taste. She still has too much leeway. But for now, this will have to do.

It'll be a taste of things to come.

When I slide into her. It's velvet ecstasy.

Just like it is every time, and it never feels quite the same. It’s always new, mind altering.

Like I’ve never felt anything like it.

For a few seconds I stay deep inside, gyrating slowly, feeling every single part of her around me. She tries to thrust back against me but I press down, pulling up on her arms, incapacitating her completely.

She's helpless against me and she knows it. Her legs shake in anticipation, a slight thrill of fear flashing in her eyes as she looks back, her face pressed into the counter.

My first thrust is purposeful, testing.

My second thrust is powerful, slamming her against the countertop.

Her low sultry cry tells me it's exactly what she wants, and I smack her ass again.

I pick up speed and with every second or third thrust, I smack her ass erratically, never the same rhythm. It's swollen, bright red now.

I tug back on her arms, driving myself deeper. Harder.

“Mmm, yessss, more !” she grates out, and I concede, this time. It won’t do to have her giving me orders, though.

Her breath becomes ragged as mine does, our body's flexing tensing. We keep reaching new levels of arousal, of release. And yet, it makes it worse, the need, the longing.

It's like we keep getting wound tighter and tighter with every encounter. Sooner or later we're going to combust, explode.

I can’t wait.

I've kept myself contained for too long.

And the more time I spend with her, talking to her, the more time I spend inside her, the more I discover that I don’t want to keep myself hidden from her any longer.

“Alessandro! Make me…make me…make me…” Her screams bounce through the kitchen, ringing off the pots and pans echoing through the empty house.

The long, drawn-out orgasm that I feel rolling up from my balls is going to be staggering, but I lock my legs and ass cheeks, warding it off, to keep from coming too soon.

I want this to last, and I always want to come with her.

No one has ever met be blow for blow, thrust for thrust.

No one’s ever fucked me like Isabella.

And for the first time in the broken, tortured years of my life, I think I’ve found someone I can show that shadowed, violent side to. My tastes are darker than anyone knows. I love it down here in the dark.

I want to bring Isabella there with me.

As always, she reads me like an open book. “Give it all to me Aless…” she yells, her teeth bared as I hammer into her, slapping her ass raw.

The damn ruptures, collapses, and I throw back my head, screaming my pleasure as I gush into her. Isabella screams with me, her own orgasm spasming her legs as I plunder her depths, her voice ragged, a wild beast unshackled.

I've lost all sense of time. My entire body locked on the edge of giving out.

That rush of slick hot liquid around my cock envelopes me, drowning us, rushing out around my balls down my legs. Sensations rocket up my back muscles, down my legs, shimmering like waves of light around me.

All I know is Isabella.

She’s all I want to know.