Page 5

CHAPTER 4

M atteo

Steepling my fingers, I watch Giulia cross the table at the restaurant I brought her to. Despite my initial reluctance, I enjoyed our whirlwind tour of the Uffizi Gallery and allowed Giulia to talk me into going to the Pitti Palace as well. We stopped for a quick coffee, but haven’t eaten since breakfast, so I wanted to bring her to a place where she could get the authentic Tuscan cuisine she said she wanted to try.

As she scans the menu, I can’t help thinking how different she is. It’s not just her hair. Her clothes are new. She’s wearing eye-catching purple cropped pants that match her hair and a gauzy white blouse, a departure from the grays and blacks she used to camouflage her incredible body with. Her demeanor has also changed. She’s less self-conscious. Giulia was always fun to be around, but shyness held her back. She’s definitely more confident than before. I have to admit I find her boldness alluring.

“I’ve wanted to see Botticelli’s paintings since I was a kid.” Giulia sets down the leather-bound menu. “But they paled in comparison with that Titian.”

“Uh-huh.” I actually have no idea which painting she’s talking about. There were dozens of masterpieces in the gallery, but I noticed few of them. My attention was focused on the woman in front of me. I always recognized Giulia’s beauty, but never imagined wanting to fuck her. Our relationship started when we were too young to know about physical attraction, but when I developed an awareness of sex, I marked her as off limits. Unwilling to risk our close bond for what might be only fleeting pleasure, I convinced myself friendship was all I wanted from her.

Then one stupid remark changed things. Not seeing her for the last few months has created enough of a distance between us for me to see Giulia differently. Her turning up in Tuscany has thrown me completely off balance. I want her more than I’ve ever wanted a woman.

“Thanks for playing tourists with me.” Giulia reaches for the bottle of San Pellegrino on the table, but I grab it first and pour her a glass. Now that all thoughts of getting rid of her have left my mind, I can be chivalrous. “I know it’s not your thing.”

She nods in thanks as I slide the glass of water to her.

“I can appreciate beauty, Giulia.”

As she meets my eye, she smiles wryly. “I’m glad you found something to admire.”

“I found it a long time ago. I was just too blind to see it.”

Shit. Even to my own ears, that sounded cheesy. There’s an awkward silence as Giulia looks at anything but me. This restaurant has an amazing view of the Ponte Vecchio and the River Arno that flows beneath it, but I refuse to believe she’s so mesmerized she can’t even blink. Her whole body has gone stiff. Fortunately, the waiter arrives at the table and breaks the tension.

“What can I get for you, Signore Volante?” he asks.

“I’ll take the veal saltimbocca with a side of steamed broccoli and the lady will have…”

“The same, but could I have it with French fries instead of broccoli?” She grimaces as if she expects the waiter to pass judgment on her for the culinary faux pas. He does look snooty with his long straight nose and downturned lips, but I’ve been here before and Alberto’s a good guy.

“Of course, signorina .”

“And bring us a bottle of the Valpolicella.” It comes from a vineyard my cousin Lorenzo owns near Verona. He’s Damiano’s younger brother and second in command. There’s another brother, Gabriele, who controls their operations in Rome. I haven’t seen him at all during this trip. Apparently, he’s become something of a recluse since he was attacked and left with severe scarring on his face.

“ Si, signore .” Alberto bows low, then turns and walks away.

“Do you think I’m a dumbass for ordering fries?” She worries her bottom lip with her teeth.

“Nah, sweetheart. I know how much you love them.”

She nods, but scans the room in case people are openly judging her. It’s then she seems to realize we’re the only patrons this evening. A crease appears at the bridge of her nose as if she’s puzzled. “Do people eat later here?”

I glance at my cellphone, which is sitting on the table. Four-thirty. We rarely eat at this time ourselves. “It is early, but that’s not why it’s quiet.”

Giulia’s eyes widen in realization. “You booked out the whole restaurant?”

I shake my head. “It doesn’t usually open on a Wednesday. Damiano had them open up for us.”

Rather than being impressed by the gesture, Giulia seems pissed. Her lips thin, and her eyes narrow. “I wanted an authentic Italian dining experience.”

“That’s why I brought you here. The food is incredible.”

Giulia’s scowl deepens. “It’s not just about the food. I want to soak up the atmosphere too.”

“What’s stopping you? This place is amazing. Look at the murals on the wall. Listen to that Italian folk music. Enjoy the fucking view of the Arno. You’ve got everything you need.”

Her lips push out in a spoiled pout. “Everything except people.”

My jaw clenches. Despite not wanting her here in the first place, I’ve gone out of my way to ensure we had a pleasant day. I took her where she wanted to go. I arranged for us to have exclusive use of the finest restaurant in Florence, if not the whole of Tuscany. Still, she has the nerve to complain.

“That was kind of the point, Giulia. I want you to myself.”

She purses her lips, then rises from her seat. “Cancel our order.”

Hell, no. She did not just use that demanding tone with me. “What?”

“Cancel it. I wanted to get a flavor of Tuscan dining, not sit alone in an empty room with your spoiled ass.”

“Authentic Tuscan dining? You ordered French fries with your veal, sweetheart.”

It doesn’t seem possible, but Giulia’s glower becomes fiercer. She jabs a finger in my direction. “You’re an asshole.”

Madder than I’ve ever seen her, she turns on her heel and storms off. She is not getting away with that. Pushing back my chair, I follow her across the room. As she’s about to open the door, I grab her arm and swing her around to face me.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I demand. “I tried to do something nice for you and you’re acting like an ungrateful brat.”

She huffs out a breath. “I hate you, Matteo. Do you know that? I really fucking hate you.”

“You hate me?” I don’t know where the vitriol she’s spewing at me has come from. I honestly thought we were on the way back to being good with each other again. “You sure about that, sweetheart?”

“I’m positive.”

Stung by her attitude, I smile tightly. “In that case, I have nothing to lose.”

Gripping her arm firmly, I walk her across the empty restaurant. Alberto comes into the room with the bottle of wine I ordered. He spots us and halts. “ Signore? ”

“Leave the bottle on the table, unopened. Make sure nobody disturbs us.”

Alberto nods in acknowledgement of my instructions. I pull Giulia through the door leading to the office and drag her down the corridor. She tries to break free, but with my mind set on spanking the attitude out of her, she doesn’t stand a chance.

“Behave yourself, sweetheart, or you’ll make this worse for yourself.”

I push open the door to the office the restaurant manager uses, and lead Giulia inside. Whirling around, I shove her back against the wall. Her eyes widen as I bend to growl in her ear. “Lower your pants, then turn and face the wall.”

“Matteo!”

“Not a word, Giulia. You’ve had things your way, now it’s my turn.”

Her forehead creases. “What do you mean, I’ve had things my way? None of this is what I want.”

My jaw clenches. “Didn’t I tell you to keep your mouth shut? Now, do as you’re told or I’ll take you back out there and whip you with my belt in front of the entire staff.”

For a minute, I think she’s going to call my bluff. It is just a pretense. There is no way in hell I will let another man enjoy the pleasure of seeing me turning her pretty ass red.

Giulia stares at me, chin raised and lips pouting defiantly. I can almost see the thoughts flying through her head as her eyes widen slightly and then narrow again. Her shoulders sag. She unzips her pants and lowers them, along with her panties, to mid-thigh. I didn’t ask her to bare her ass, but I’m not going to say no to seeing my palm prints on her peachy skin.

“Now, turn and brace yourself. This is going to hurt.”

She draws in a deep breath and turns. Her hands shake as she raises her palms and slaps them against the wall. Without me having to ask, she moves her feet apart as wide as she can manage with her pants wrapped around her legs. Then she shoves her ass toward me.

“Good girl.”

At that, she growls, no doubt taking my compliment as an affront to her strength and independence, both qualities I admire in her. Not wanting to draw this out, I deliver three harsh spanks to her ass. Her flesh wobbles and her skin turns pink. Giulia gasps and glances over her shoulder at me. Her eyes are glassy, like she’s about to cry. I know it’s not because I’ve hurt her.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” I demand.

She shakes her head and turns away from me. “Get on with it, Matteo.”

Infuriated by the disdain in her voice and her refusal to answer me, I unbuckle my belt and draw it through the loops of my pants. Giulia spins around. Panic flares in her eyes as she watches me folding my belt in two.

“What are you doing with that?”

“Teaching you to think carefully about disrespecting me.”

“Disrespecting you? Because you’ve earned my respect, right?”

Most people respect me because of my family name and the reputation that precedes me, but Giulia knows the person I am behind the public facade and she won’t show me deference if she doesn’t feel it’s due.

“Maybe not, but I certainly haven’t earned your hatred.”

She pulls her shoulders back, squaring up for a fight. “Well, tough shit, because you have it.”

Her words sting even though I know she doesn’t mean what she’s saying. She might be pissed at me right now, but hate is an extreme emotion. “You don’t hate me, Giulia.”

“Don’t I? Perhaps the last few months have given me time to reevaluate my feelings. Perhaps I realized I hated you even before you and Marissa fucking Locatelli made fun of me.”

There’s no ignoring the note of bitterness in her voice when she mentions Marissa. Is she jealous of that skank? I know better than to ask. Giulia’s obviously upset right now, and I’m not about to provoke her further.

“You don’t hate me,” I repeat, firm in my belief that she’s just being dramatic.

“Yes, I do.” She draws in a shuddering breath. “I hate you for making me put my life on hold to sort your sorry ass out.”

I snort in disbelief. “I didn’t ask you to come.”

“No, you didn’t, but if you weren’t refusing to go home, your brother wouldn’t have had to come and threaten everything that matters to me, so I’d do his bidding and bring you back.”

Her voice drips with disdain. Clearly she thinks my desire to spend a bit more time in Italy is down to some spoiled tantrum I’m throwing. It’s not. I just wanted to stay here to sort my head out. The last thing I expected was for my brother to bring Giulia into the situation.

“What did Antonio say to you?”

“It doesn’t matter.” The petulant jut of her chin suggests the reverse is true. “It’s your fucking fault I’m here. Everything’s your fucking fault.”

“What’s my fault?” I reach out to touch her face and she shrinks back against the wall. I tilt my head to the side and try to soften my expression. “Giulia?”

“It’s your fault everyone in our circle is mocking me. It’s your fault I had to marry a man older than my father.” She takes a deep breath. “You didn’t even try to save me.”

My eyes narrow as a red haze dulls my vision. “What did that bastard to do you?”

If he hurt her, I’ll dig up his bloated corpse and cut his fucking heart out.

“Nothing.” Giulia shakes her head as if she can’t quite believe what she’s telling me. “Johnny didn’t do a thing, but that’s not the point. Everyone expected him to be an asshole to me. You expected him to be an asshole to me, but you did nothing to save me from having to marry him.”

“What was I supposed to do?”

Giulia knows how things work in our world. Her father made the arrangement with Lombardi. They went to Antonio and got his approval for the match. There was nothing I could have done to change things. If anyone deserves to be the focus of Giulia’s anger, it’s her father. He’s the one who was willing to sell his only daughter off to a notorious pig of a man. But clearly, she thinks I hold some of the blame.

“You hoped I’d ask my brother not to give his consent to the marriage?”

“ His consent?” Giulia lets out an inelegant snort. “What a fucked-up world.”

I reach out and wipe away the stray tear running down her cheek. “It’s the world we live in, sweetheart.”

“Yeah, I know.” She leans back against the wall. “I wish it wasn’t.”

“If it’s any consolation, when I heard you and Johnny were to marry, I warned him I’d be watching his every move. I told him I’d kill him if he hurt you.”

“You did?”

How can she sound so surprised by that? “Of course I did.”

As she looks up at me with so much emotion in her pretty brown eyes, a wave of protectiveness sweeps over me. Any desire to punish her disappears, to be replaced by an overwhelming urge to claim this woman. I need to bind her to me and make sure our world never hurts her again.

Curving a hand around her cheek, I dip my head and kiss her. Immediately, Giulia’s hands come up to my chest. She tries to push me away, but I don’t let her. I grab her wrists and pin her hands over her head. A gasp parts her lips and I take advantage, slipping my tongue into her mouth to taste her sweetness.

At first, Giulia doesn’t respond. I might as well be kissing a blow-up doll. Then she softens, her body sagging against mine. She kisses me back, pouring as much desire into it as I am. This feels incredibly right. Lust fires through my veins and all sense of reason flees.

Now that I have her participation, I release her hands. Giulia winds an arm around my neck, holding me close as my hand slips between her legs. She presses herself eagerly against my palm. Finding her soaked with arousal brings me to my knees. Literally. I drop to the floor and tug her panties down around her ankles. Then I bury my face between her legs. Her scent is intoxicating.

I lick along the full length of her pussy before giving special attention to her clit. The tiny bud pulses as I wrap my lips around it and suck gently.

“Matty!” Last night when Giulia called me by that familiar name, it was as if she’d doused me in ice water. Now, it’s more like she’s poured oil on the flames. Something inside me breaks and I struggle for control as I lap at her gloriously wet pink flesh. Her whimpers and moans spur me on. I nip her clit gently with my teeth.

“Too much!” Giulia’s fingers grab at my hair, and she tries to pull me away.

Too much? It’s nowhere near enough. I shove two fingers into her tight channel and slowly draw them back and forth.

“Matty!” Giulia shrieks as her body shakes. Fuck, that was fast. I barely had to work for that orgasm. She’s incredibly responsive.

Still trembling, she kicks off her shoes and shimmies out of her pants. As I get to my feet, she grabs my hand and leads me across the room to the long leather sofa that sits adjacent to the desk. Her assertiveness as she lies back on the sofa, pulling me down between her spread legs, is both startling and thrilling at the same time.

“Fuck me, Matteo!”

There’s a note of command in her voice that makes me want to flip her over and hold her down while I show her who’s boss, but I can’t just shove my cock into her. I don’t know how experienced Giulia is, if she’s still a virgin.

As far as I know, she was untouched when she married Johnny, but a lot may have happened between then and now. Once she gained her freedom, she might have fucked a dozen men. I hope that’s not the case. Am I an asshole for wanting to be her first?

“Stop thinking!” She fumbles with the fastening of my pants. As my cock springs free, she wraps her hand around it and pumps up and down twice. Her movement is controlled, deliberate. “I want you inside me.”

She confidently guides my cock to her entrance. Perhaps she has done this before. I push an inch inside her before common sense pokes a hole in the sexual fog enveloping us, and I pause. Does she really know what she’s doing? As much as I want to fuck her, I can’t risk her regretting this later. “Giulia?”

“Now, Matty, please. I want this.”

I shove my cock all the way into her, meeting some resistance. It’s not enough to make me think this is her first time. Giulia exhales sharply as I pump my hips.

“Fuck, Giulia, you’re so tight.”

She wriggles her hips impatiently and I give her what she needs. Propping myself up on my palms, I claim her body with long, slow thrusts. Giulia gazes at me, her eyes glazed with desire.

“You like my fat cock in you.” It’s not a question. It’s evident from the flush of her cheeks, the parting of her rosy lips as soft moans fall from them, that she’s enjoying this.

“I’ll like it better when you stop talking.”

Giulia grabs my shoulders, sinking her nails in. The pain shakes loose the last remnants of my control. Pulling out, I drag her down onto the floor, positioning her on all fours before impaling her on my cock once more. Grabbing her waist, I fuck her hard and fast, yanking her back to meet my cock with every forward thrust. Giulia moans ecstatically. I know already I will never tire of hearing those sounds.

As her pussy clenches, squeezing my cock like a vise, my climax grips me. My hips jerk and I come, groaning as the most intense pleasure washes over me. “Oh, fuck, Giulia!”

I carefully pull out of her and sit back on my heels. Before I’ve fully recovered, Giulia is on her feet. She glances down and grimaces. I follow her line of sight to where my cum is glistening on her inner thighs. There’s a crimson smear on her skin. That can’t be what I think it is. I check my cock and see the bloody evidence of her innocence there, too. Shit. I should have made her tell me she was a virgin. Fucking her like that was selfish.

“Giulia.” My tone is tinged with regret. That was too fast. I didn’t take time to explore her gorgeous body, to let her get to know mine. I showed her less consideration than I would a complete stranger.

“No need for guilt,” she says primly as she wipes herself clean with her panties and then drops them into the waste bin by the desk. “I wanted this.”

Zipping up her pants, she offers me a tight smile, turns and walks away. Fucking her the way I did makes me the biggest asshole on the planet. I’ve not got much experience with virgins, but this cannot be what she wanted for her first time. I’ll make it up to her. When I take her again, it will be the way she deserves.