Page 10 of His Playground (Owning Vegas #2)

Chapter Nine

I know that Antonia doesn’t deserve me snapping at her.

I get that she’s trying to help. I just have hangups about anyone thinking I can’t take care of Jazzy myself.

I want to prove to any doubters that while I never thought I’d be a father, now that I am, I wouldn’t fucking change it for the world.

After dropping Jazzy off to Charlotte, I came back to my penthouse to take Antonia to Marciano’s house.

Louie, Sammie, and I are all skeptical about him wanting to actually form an alliance with us.

I went along with the marriage for personal reasons.

Despite our history, I do actually love the woman and I wasn’t about to watch her marry anyone else.

“You really don’t have to come with me,” she says once we’re closed inside the car. I have security tailing us. I’m not taking risks with her life.

“I want to,” I tell her.

“What is the deal you have with my father?”

“It’s business.” I shrug. She knows better than to ask about business. I’m not going to tell her shit and neither is her father. It’s for her own safety. It’s better if she doesn’t know anything.

“Sure, business,” Antonia huffs.

“How’s school going?” I ask her.

“Really? You want to talk about school?” She turns her head and stares out the window.

“I’d much rather you just let me have it. Get it over with so we can move on,” I tell her.

“I bet you would. You think this is some kind of joke? The last time I saw you, you were naked in bed with someone who very much wasn’t me. You asked me to meet you and I found you with some bimbo. And now, I’m married to you without a choice, and you want to talk about school?”

“You have a choice, Antonia. We all have choices. You just made the smart one by going along with this marriage,” I remind her. “And yes, I want to know how school is going.”

“Fuck you,” she seethes.

“You’re making this harder than it needs to be.” I sigh.

“Harder for whom? Me or you?”

I don’t bother arguing with her anymore.

She’s right. I was an asshole. But I had to do something drastic back then to get her to forget about me.

I knew she would have gone against her father for me.

She loved me. I wasn’t going to let anything happen to her, which was why I made up a scene for her to find, one I knew she’d never forgive.

Unlike her, I really didn’t have a choice, and I also didn’t know I’d marry her one day and need that forgiveness as much as I do now.

“Not everything is black and white in our world, Antonia. Not everything is as it seems either,” I tell her as I pull into her father’s estate.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Think about it,” I say before opening the car door and getting out. I scan the property as I walk around to her side and open her door. She accepts my offered hand, surprising both of us, judging by the look on her face.

“Let’s get this done quick. I don’t want to be here any longer than I need to be.” She walks past me, up the stairs, and into the house.

I follow her into her bedroom and close the door behind us. “Huh.” I look around the space.

“What’s huh ?” she says.

“Of all the times I fantasized about fucking you in your own bedroom, this isn’t what I pictured.”

“Did you picture yourself bleeding out on the carpet? Because that’s a fantasy I will help come true.” She smirks.

“I don’t remember you being so funny before.” I laugh.

“It wasn’t a joke,” she mutters, walking into her closet.

“Aren’t you even the tiniest bit curious about what happened in my fantasies?” I ask while lowering myself onto her bed.

“Nope.”

She walks back out with a suitcase, tossing it beside me. “Get off my bed.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want you on it.”

“Yes, you do. You just don’t want to admit it.

” I reach out, grab hold of her hand, and pull her down onto the mattress before rolling over.

My body covers hers, trapping her beneath me.

“This. This was part of my fantasy.” My lips trail down the side of her neck.

“And this,” I say as my hand runs up under the shirt she’s still wearing.

My shirt. “Your skin is still as smooth as I remember.”

“Get off me,” she huffs. “You said you wouldn’t touch me, Carlo.”

“I said I wouldn’t do anything you didn’t want,” I correct her. Her face is flushed, her nipples hard under the flimsy fabric. She wants this. I know she does.

“I don’t want this.” She shoves against my chest.

“Okay, prove it.” I lift a little of my weight off her.

“If my fingers reach nothing but the dryness of the Mojave Desert, then I’ll stop.

But…” I trace a hand along the inside of her thigh.

“…if I reach your pussy and it’s wetter than the Pacific Ocean, then I’m not stopping until you’re coming all over my hand,” I tell her.

“We both need this, Antonia. No point denying something that feels so fucking good.”

Just as I thought, when my fingers slip under the seam of her panties, she’s drenched. Two fingers easily slide into her opening.

“Liar,” I grunt as I bite down on her neck.

“Please,” she moans. “Don’t do this.”

“Do what? Make you feel good?” I ask her, pumping in and out. Her hips start lifting, moving to the same rhythm as my fingers.

She digs her nails into my skin, breaking the surface. I don’t stop, though. I need to see her come undone under me. I need to remind her just how good we are together. My thumb presses against her clit, rubbing in small circles as I continue to fuck her with my hand.

A minute later, her pussy is clamping around my fingers, and her body seizes up as an orgasm washes over her.

“Fucking beautiful,” I whisper, slowing my movements as she rides out her pleasure.

When she’s done, I sit up, bring my fingers to my lips, and suck them clean. I honestly thought I’d made it up in my head. How good she tasted. I thought I’d inflated the memory of her, because I was torturing myself for not being able to have her. But she’s as delicious as I thought she was.

“I hate you.” She pushes at my chest and scrambles off the bed.

“I know. But your pussy sure doesn’t feel the same way.” I smirk and duck when a vase comes barreling towards my face.

“You’re an asshole!” she yells at me. “And for your information, I’ve had better.”

I’m off the bed and pressing her up against the wall in an instant. “Take it back,” I grunt. Like fuck has she had better. I took her virginity three years ago. I once told her I was going to be her first and her last. There wasn’t supposed to be anyone between.

“No,” she says, holding her ground. “You’re not going to hurt me. Stop pretending like you will.” She shoves at my chest again as she tries to get past me.

My arm snakes around her waist, and I hold her close. “You’re right. I’m not going to hurt you physically. But there are more ways than one to punish someone, Antonia.”

“You can’t possibly hurt me any more than you already have, Carlo.”

There it is. The hurt, the heartbreak I caused. She still feels it, which means she still loves me.

“I didn’t just hurt you, Antonia. I hurt us. And I’m sorry. You will never know how truly sorry I am that I had to do that,” I tell her.

“What?”

“I said I was sorry.” I let go of her.

“No, you said you had to do it . What does that mean?” she asks me.

“Nothing. Come on, let’s get your shit so we can go. I can’t leave Jazzy with Charlotte for too long or she’ll come home with a Southern accent.” I start opening drawers and pulling out clothes absentmindedly, because I’ve said too much.

I can’t tell her what really happened three years ago, or why I had to make her hate me. If I do, I’ll just be breaking her heart all over again.