Page 50 of My Solemn Vow (The Mafia Arrangement #1)

ANTONELLA

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

I’m starting to think Valor will give me high blood pressure and is trying to worry me to death.

Something stressful happens, we get a day or two off, and then another incident occurs.

Saturday, we torture Marc, then in true biblical fashion, we have Sunday as a day of rest. Monday, we have Kerrianne sick at school, a drive-by, and my husband is a wolf.

Then Tuesday and Wednesday were fine..

. I’m literally waiting for the other shoe to drop all the way up until I get home, and when nothing bad happens, I don’t know what to do with myself.

One thing is for damn fuckin’ sure. I need relief . The lack of privacy is getting to me. Valor and I get up at about the same time in the morning, and we go to bed at the same time at night. A woman has needs, and I’m close to my boiling point.

“Okay.” I psych myself up in the mirror.

“We’ve literally tortured someone together.

There really isn’t anything more intimate than that.

It’s sex. He showed you he’s a massive wolf sometimes.

You’ve had sex with him once already. You’re sleeping in his bed.

It’s not like you’re asking him to take you on a murder spree. Fucking ask him, you wuss. ”

My reflection doesn’t seem to have any more faith in me than the voice in my head does.

Valor clears his throat from the bathroom door.

Like the fraidy-cat I am, I jump, holding my hand to my chest while looking at him. How the fuck did he sneak in like that? My cheeks heat with embarrassment.

“Sorry.” Valor hangs his head.

“How much of that did you hear?” I murmur, trying to become invisible like the kids in my class by closing my eyes and barely breathing.

“We have already had sex. And if you really do want to kill someone with me, I have a few hits that I could use a hand with.” I open one eye to see him rub at a spot on the back of his hand, looking at me like he could probably devour me.

“I came up to tell you that we’ve been invited to my parents’ house for dinner tomorrow night and ask if you wanted to attend or if it would be me and Kerrianne.

Clearly, uhm... we have more to talk about than dinner with my parents. ”

“Yes.” I nod and realize there wasn’t actually a question with that.

“Yes, we need to talk, or yes you want to go to dinner with my parents tomorrow night?” Valor clarifies.

“Yes, for dinner tomorrow.” I turn away from him and back to the sink, where I run the tap with only cold water.

“Antonella.” Valor doesn’t leave the doorframe.

But even with his panty-melting tone, there is exactly a zero percent chance I’ll turn to face him, so I acknowledge him simply. “Yes?”

God damn it, how many times can a woman say yes without it being suspiciously weird?

Valor moves, and the bathroom is enormous, so there’s no mistaking it as an accidental touch when he presses his hand against my hip.

I try to sidestep, but his hands have closed me in, and in the mirror, it’s clear he’s not trying to move me.

We lock eyes in the reflection. His front is pressed against my back, and with long arms, he reaches forward and turns off the tap.

The press of his body against mine isn’t crushing by any means, but it doesn’t help at all with my feelings of lust.

“Antonella.” He says my name again, but this time he doesn’t wait for me. “I’ve been a neglectful husband. Please forgive me.”

My mouth goes dry. I’m burning up. His heat against me, my embarrassment, and those words, stick a fork in me. I’m done. Fuck me. Literally and metaphorically.

Valor leans forward and noses my head to the side to kiss down my neck.

He drags his tongue along my skin with each movement, and then he whispers.

“Every time you get extra sassy with me, I think about how much I want to see you on your knees in front of me. I want you to show me what else that mouth does.”

A shiver racks my body, and I try to move away from him, but there’s nowhere to go. My pussy clenches, and the ache I felt from our ‘wedding night’ feels like it was forever ago.

He circles his left hand from my hip around to the front of my body.

“I keep wondering if you’re a good girl or a brat because I know you’re looking for praise.

Is that fiery nature of yours because you’re looking for me to set limits and enforce them, or do you want me to prove myself as someone strong enough to handle you before you’ll submit to me? ”

My mind is blank, but then it whirs to life, trying to process. I understand in part, but what is he truly asking? What difference does this make? And why, even though I’m not sure I understand, am I getting aroused?

“I think I can hear your brain operating on overdrive.” Valor lets out a chuckle as he runs his hand down and across my stomach. He expertly pulls up the hem of my shirt before playing with the waistband of my yoga pants I had changed into after school. “Do you want this?”

Yes? No? Yes? No? My brain cycles through the options. If we do this, what will it do? How will it change us? I want to know what he’s talking about. I want to understand why he makes me feel this way so easily.

I search his eyes in the mirror, and he keeps his gaze on mine. I nod, afraid to speak and ruin the moment.

Without wasting any time, Valor runs his hand between my skin and the fabric of my yoga pants. Forgoing underwear for the ridiculous purpose of not having panty lines haunts me.

“Oh, fuck.” He bites his bottom lip. “No panties. Had I known, I might not have waited so patiently. The only thing sexier than a woman in matching lingerie is one who usually wears underwear but opts out.”

At an almost tortuous pace, he slides his fingers between my folds, and the pressure of his index finger on my clit sends sparks through my body.

But it’s not enough. I adjust by rising on my toes before rolling my ass out toward his hips. The movement has his fingers, which are curled upward, grinding against my clit.

“So needy, taking what I’m not ready to give.” Valor clicks his tongue. “I know you want my praise. You light up every time I give you the littlest bit of attention. But how would you like a punishment? Would you take that like a good girl?”

My eyes had felt heavy, but I force them wide open, examining Valor’s face in the mirror. He’s serious. His stoic neutrality gives nothing away to the interiority of his brain.

He slides his hand out of my pants. “Kerrianne is on her tablet for the next twenty minutes. I’ll give you a little punishment for being so needy and denying us both. And then, I’ll fuck your mouth while I make you come all over my fingers.”

I . . . What? Fuck.

I grip the edge of the counter to steady myself because his words almost make my knees buckle. I’m warm all over, and when I catch a glance at my reflection, my pink cheeks are giving me away .

Valor bites at the side of my neck, and then his hands are back on my waist. He pushes me over the counter, away from the sink.

My body is pliant under his touch, moving easily.

Once my chest is pressed against the surface, he tells me to stay put in that commanding voice he uses so sternly. It’s so fucking hot, and I listen.

Except then he grabs my waistband and starts to tug.

“Valor.” I object, trying to push myself up.

“No.” He grabs my wrists, pinning them behind my back with one hand while he works my pants down with the other.

Once around the curve of my ass and past the lip of the countertop, they fall to the floor, puddling around my feet.

“I was going to give you thirteen for every day I’ve been denied this beautiful body because you didn’t communicate that you wanted more.

Two for trying to fuck my fingers without permission.

So now you’ll get a nice round fifteen for disobeying me.

” He almost reverently rubs his hand across my ass as he speaks.

I’m lost to the attention of his hands until his words register in my brain.

“You’re spanking me?” I ask to clarify.

I’ve never been spanked a day in my life. My parents never laid a hand on me. And well, Gregorio is too much of a coward to hit me.

“Yes, princess.” I can hear the smugness in his voice but can’t lock eyes with him in the mirror anymore. “I’m going to spank you. I’ll be gentle... this time.”

The first comes without warning with a sting to my ass, and I yelp in shock.

“Count them. I want you to count and thank me.” He prompts me.

I’m quiet. The disbelief in what’s happening takes over.

“Don’t test me, Antonella. You’re already up to fifteen. Should we make it twenty? Too many and I won’t have time to make you come until we go to bed tonight.”

I can feel my arousal even without the fabric of my pants against my core. What the hell is wrong with me? But, dammit, I need an orgasm. Defeat and embarrassment send a cool chill down my spine as they settle like rocks in my stomach.

I whisper, “One. Thank you.”

The next smack comes as I finish saying ‘thank you.’ I wince. It’s a bit harder on the same cheek.

“Two. Thank you.”

Valor switches sides, then gives me two smacks, waiting each time for me to tell him thank you between.

We’re at eight and my ass is on fire. My eyes are scrunched closed, and I’m barely breathing enough to get the words out.

“You could have been almost done,” Valor says, squeezing my ass cheeks. “But you had to disobey me.”

The pain from the next one is worse. He hits me harder, and the skin is already tender.

“Nine, thank you.”

By eleven, tears are welling in my eyes. He’s started switching them one at a time on each side.

“Twelve,” I sob, forcing it out. “Thank you.”

But it’s not shame. It’s guilt. It’s sickening guilt that I disappointed him. I didn’t realize how much I had been working to be perfect for him. It wasn’t self-preservation but something deep inside, wanting to prove that I could be everything, but instead I’ve proven nothing.