Page 23

Chapter 23

Massimo

Nova is slumped against my chest, her head tucked under my chin, as I rub her back until she calms.

I can't imagine the mental gymnastics she's had to go through to get through this meal—something the rest of us don't even think about. Not having the brutal, harsh psychological abuse and control that her father had over her.

"You did it, princess," I murmur into her hair, and she burrows her face into my chest. "No one ordered you to eat, and you did it. Thank you for letting me help you and feed you until you felt ready to physically do it yourself."

She sniffs and hiccups, and I chuckle.

"Don't laugh at me," she mumbles into my shirt.

My chest squeezes. Her words… They're an order of her own; something I know she would've never dared utter in her own home. And they're relaxed and joking.

"I'm not laughing at you, princess. Your little hiccups are adorable as fuck." I gather her hair and pull it back to reveal her beautiful face. "Have you eaten enough?"

She nods. "You only ate half a piece of toast."

"I ate earlier. I've been up for a while." Reaching forward, I grab the cooled herbal tea and bring it to her lips. After she's finished drinking, I set it down and shift her so she can look at me better—and so she's not sitting directly on my hard dick.

I'm envisioning her on my lap, naked, while I feed her. With my cock buried deep inside her, but not moving or fucking—she's just sitting, impaled on me while I take care of her.

Cockwarming… Apparently, I'm finding all sorts of new kinks about myself with her.

Her eyes fall to my neck. I inwardly grin about the mark she gave me, and that she bit me hard enough to break the skin.

"Your fire and fight is the hottest thing I've ever experienced," I admit, making her eyes widen in shock, and a dark blush moves over her cheeks. I run my thumbs over those blushing cheekbones. "No more meek and mild, no more docile and obedient."

"I'm the Mancini Princess."

She starts to lower her chin, and I catch it to keep her looking at me. "No. You're Nova. You're my princess."

She shakes her head, trying to dislodge my touch. "Don't do that."

"What?"

"Don't lie to me. Or trick me." Her voice cracks, and her eyes fill with vulnerable pain. "Don't make me learn another horrible lesson."

"No more lessons, Nova. Ever. Do you understand? And no lies, no tricks—not with me, princess." I press my forehead to hers, and she squeezes her eyes shut.

She's not ready to believe me, and I'm not foolish to think it would be that easy—not after our tumultuous start or after the years of abusive conditioning she's endured. But I won't give up.

"Can you tell me what it was about Damien that triggered you so badly?" She stiffens against me, and I see her panic, warning her that I'll use the knowledge against her. "I want to fix this, Nova. I want to remove whatever it was that triggered you."

If it's the guards themselves, I can work with that. She'll always be protected, but I'd ensure she wouldn't see them.

She huffs a deprecating laugh. "It's because they look like soldiers, not made men. It's stupid…"

"It's not stupid," I reassure her. "Thank you for telling me. So if the guards were in suits, their weapons concealed, that would be better? Less triggering? "

She nods against my chest.

"We can work with that, princess." I swallow hard before asking my next question. "Will you tell me what happened?"

She's silent for so long, I don't think she'll tell me. But then her voice is soft as she answers, "Do you know how my mother died?"

"A car accident caused by the Czech mafia when they were trying to attack your father," I repeat the explanation that circulated in the criminal underworld.

"My mother never made it out of the house alive," she whispers. "When I was ten…" I wrap her tight to me, letting her continue when she's ready. "My mother loved my father, even though he's horrendous and vile. But when I was ten, something changed, and she tried to run with me. Father's men caught us—" Her voice breaks, and I feel her tears land on my wrist.

Kissing her head, I hold her closer.

"My father beat her first, then his guards continued. He made me watch." Her words are choked. "They dragged her by her hair into the next room and continued. My father made me listen until he felt I'd learned the lesson.

"Don't fight the monsters, princess. Because the monsters always win," she whispers. "That was my lesson before I was taken to my room."

My rage is the blackest black. But I don't show that to Nova because I know I'd scare her and destroy all the timid trust she is starting to give me.

But I can't keep the emotion entirely out of my voice, nor do I want to. "You can fight your monsters, princess. Because this monster…" I lift her so she straddles me in the chair, and I grip either side of her face, probably harder than I should, but no fear leaps into her eyes. "Because your monster will fucking destroy Silvestro Mancini. Not only for what he's guilty of against my family, but to avenge you, princess. I. Will. Decimate. Him."

Her chest heaves, her breaths ragged.

Then she grips my head and slams her mouth to mine.

White heat explodes inside me—at the feel of her and the realization that she is giving me this. Giving me her.

I need to take it slow. Not only because she's a virgin, but because she's vulnerable right now and not thinking clearly. Neither am I, but I need to keep control here. I'm the one with experience.

I can tell from the way she kisses me that she isn't experienced. But I don't give a shit about that. In fact, it fills me with a primal, greedy satisfaction to think I might be her first kiss. And I'm determined to be her first—to claim that cherished virginity myself—because I'm her monster. And I'm determined to be her one and only.

I growl, pushing my tongue into her mouth, and she startles. I'm not ready for this to be over though, and I'm a morally gray man, so I don't ease up.

Gripping her hips, I hold her in place, swirling my tongue and she starts to move her tongue around mine. Timidly at first, then with more confidence.

Sweet fucking hell, I think I am her first kiss.

I'll be her first everything .

It's a heady, potent feeling. The drunkest drunk, the highest high.

When she sinks down on me, her jean-clad pussy over my iron dick tenting my suit pants, I almost blow my load as she moans into my mouth.

"Take what you need, what you want, princess," I say against her mouth. Her hips move, making me groan and buck up into her. Her breath stutters, and her eyes fly open.

The brown of her irises is nearly gone as she stares down at me.

"Do you want to come again, my greedy little princess?"

She bites her lip before her hips move again, feeling every inch of my thick length. "I want your skin…on my mine." Her breath hitches. "Touch me. Please."

I need no further encouragement. My hands slip under her shirt and roam over her back and her silky skin as she rubs us together and chases her pleasure.

My mouth moves over her neck, nipping, biting, sucking, and kissing every inch as she tilts her head to give me more access.

"More," she pants. "More." This time is more of a whimper .

"What do you need, Nova?" I lick up her neck to her ear and suck the lobe into my mouth.

"You to touch me."

"I am touching you, princess."

She shakes her head, and I smile.

"You want me to palm your beautiful tit and suck the other equally beautiful tit into my mouth? You want me to sink a finger into that soaked pussy," her breathing snags, and she gasps at my words, " finger-fucking you until you come all over my hand?"

"Oh god." She rubs against me faster. "It all. Want it all. Please."

I push her T-shirt up. The hair tie that she used to knot it pops off, and I slide the shirt over her head, tossing it to the floor.

Clarity and reason must rush in, making Nova stiffen as she looks around.

"Jerome shut the outer door so we could have privacy," I reassure her. "The window glass has a coating so no one can see inside."

I'll fucking gouge out the eyes of any man who ever sees her naked.

"You have cameras in the house," she guesses correctly.

"Other than me, Gabe is the only one with access, and he only watches them if I give him permission."

The heat and insanity of our lust have dimmed with the clarity and reason pushing in. I wait for her to decide if we stop or continue.

Her small, perfect breasts swell over the cups of her bra, bobbing up and down as she catches her breath and stares at me. Her porcelain skin is flushed.

"I've never done this. Anything," she admits, looking so innocent and vulnerable.

My suspicions are confirmed, but rather than jump for fucking joy that I'll be the first one ever to touch her, I keep still.

"The decision is yours, Nova," I say softly. "Earlier, I told you I hadn't earned the right for your first orgasm from a man to be on my fingers, tongue, or cock. And if you decide we continue, then it's also your decision of its my fingers or tongue that make you come."

My cock isn't an option at this point as she's not ready for that yet .

Her teeth rake over her lip, and her eyes dart between mine. "It was my first orgasm."

I open my mouth to respond, then snap it shut as her words register.

"Ever?" I choke.

"I've never touched myself, Massimo."

"Sweet fucking hell." I groan, tilting my head back as the knowledge that I'm the first ever to touch her makes me on the verge of coming right in my pants like I'm thirteen years old.

Doubt adds to the confusion on her beautiful face.

"Do you know how utterly perfect you are, princess? How goddamn precious you are." I let her see everything, tossing my guarded, reserved mask aside.

"You're in control, Nova. With me, you'll always have control. So tell me, princess: do we stop, or do we continue?"