Page 31 of The Mastermind (Mafia Rivals #1)

MADDELENA

I accepted in that moment that while Cesare possessed a temper that could turn on a dime, somehow he could also command absolute lethal control when it suited him.

My louder scream of protest only made him laugh again. Then he went one better and stood, his cock still deep inside me. His arm still banding my waist, he marched us to the nearest wall, pulled out, ripped off my panties, and spun me around before hoisting me back onto his rigid length.

Then he went completely still, watching me with deadly focus. Focus that said, at last, he had me where he wanted me.

My fingers dug into his back in a silent plea.

It drew a hiss, then a growl. Then a savage kiss, with gentler ones trailed along my jaw to my ear. But still he pulsed hard and deep inside me, without moving.

Waiting. Waiting.

‘Cesare…’ I whimpered.

‘Yeah, baby?’

I gritted my teeth, desperately trying to keep the word at bay. But it built and built and built. Then, ‘Please!’

Dark triumph blazed through his grey eyes, turning them molten silver. ‘That’s a start. More, baby, I want more.’

My back arched off the wall, clawing arousal running rampant, the desire for satisfaction a drug I was being so viciously denied.

‘Please… move!’

‘Move where, cara ?’ he taunted. ‘Move off? Move sideways?’

Thick amusement didn’t disguise his own arousal. Supreme control or not, this was costing him too. A faint tremor shook through him and his nostrils fluttered minutely when I jerked my hips.

That bolstered me enough to shave off a layer of haze. Provide enough clarity to devise a little torture of my own. I blushed at the thought, saw his keen gaze follow the wave of heat sweeping over my cheeks with manic interest.

I didn’t even know if this would work but… I drew my hands from his back, threw one arm over my head as I bowed my back deeper, then, clenching my channel hard, I dropped one hand between our sweaty bodies and… touched myself.

He hissed, a deeply animalistic sound that would’ve terrified me anywhere else but here in his arms, where it seemed I had some power.

‘Maddelena.’ His voice was a growled warning.

But that haze was returning full force, making me reckless. Turning me on so hard and so sharply, I threw caution to the wind. ‘What, Cesare? Your little g-game not going your way… after all?’

He captured the fingers sliding dangerously close to my clit, yanking my hand up to join the one above my head, keeping them both trapped with laughable ease.

Then, eyes narrowed into formidable slits, Cesare moved .

The first tortuous thrust, pressing me into the wall, was sublime. Bliss rippled through me, tailing off with a deep abiding fear. That he was right. That this could turn into an addiction I couldn’t escape.

By his tenth thrust, I was convinced.

Because there was a studied method to Cesare’s fucking. With each thrust he gauged my response like a scientist studied the results of an experiment. He gathered the data, stored it away. Then just when I was ready to blow, he slowed down.

Then proceeded to multiply everything he’d learned, deliver it with filthy diatribe that turned me inside out. ‘There you go. I feel you getting wetter. You love it when I pound your pretty cunt like this, don’t you? You ready to beg some more?’

My head thrashed as he dragged me to the edge one more time. ‘Yes! Please, yes!’

He released his death grip from my hip and plucked one painfully budded nipple, then the other, sending wild zings to the inferno building in my sex. ‘Will you be a good little slut and come on my cock?’

‘God, yes. Just… just don’t stop!’

‘Open your eyes, Maddelena,’ he commanded.

I pried open eyes I didn’t remember squeezing shut. Then almost wished I hadn’t.

If he’d been feral before, he was absolutely manic now. Sweat on his temples, hair falling onto his eyes, the hard, sensual slash of his mouth. But especially the absolute deadly intent in his eyes. He was a wild beast, and I was ready to surrender to his dominance.

‘You get to come, but after we get one small thing out of the way,’ he rumbled.

‘W-what? Now? Y-you’re a fucking monster!’ My body couldn’t stop thrashing against its denied climax. ‘God… please!’

Surprisingly, he lowered his head and kissed me with gentle comfort. ‘Trust me, I’m ready to fucking blow too, but this needs taking care of.’

It physically hurt to be denied what my body desperately craved. But he’d locked me in place and since there was nowhere else on earth I’d rather be right in that moment, I sucked in a ragged breath.

‘First off, no more trigger-happy plans to bail the second things get hairy, understood?’

I blinked. ‘You can… y-you don’t get to dictate that. I have more to lose?—’

‘I can and I will. And we both have something to lose. But this isn’t up for debate.’

That savagery from before flashed across his face.

A feral threat to anything and anyone who stood in the way of what he wanted.

And it seemed, even in the face of danger and the insane risk of a terrifying fallout if our families found out, I was what he wanted.

I was wrapping my giddy mind around that when he continued.

‘Run and I’ll find you. Resist and I’ll make you regret it. Especially since I have evidence right here that you want this as much as I do. Are we clear?’

I swallowed. ‘That sounds suspiciously like a threat, Cesare.’

His eyes darkened. ‘I’d prefer it not come to that. And I’d rather not waste time chasing you over something we both want.’

‘What if I like being chased?’

‘I’d much rather make any chasing required desirable instead of acrimonious.

’ His head dropped and his mouth covered mine in a filthy kiss that ramped up my already heightened senses and reminded me of all the delicious inches buried inside me.

I moaned long and hard like the slut he’d called me. ‘Say yes, Maddelena.’

I didn’t want to. For a thousand different, dangerous reasons.

He was the heir apparent, but for all intents and purposes, he’d already taken control of the Salvatore mafia empire.

While I was a mere cog – sure, an important one because my skills ensured the money rolled in the right way and multiplied – but with my grandfather already making plans to snuff out what little freedom I had, my days as a free woman were numbered.

And those days would disappear completely if he discovered what I was truly doing with his enemy’s heir.

I shook my head. ‘It’s not that easy, Cesare, and you know it.’

His nostrils flared in displeasure. And fraying control. ‘If you haven’t noticed I’m very good at what I do. I’ll take care of the logistics,’ he said.

But what happened after we were done?

Would he throw me to the wolves, make our secret tryst public and leave me at the mercy of my father and grandfather? Blood or not, they would flay me alive.

But look where I was right now. I’d already stepped waaaay over the line. In Bonafacio’s eyes, one sin was as egregious as a dozen. Whichever way I cut it, I was already doomed if he found out.

‘And how do I know you won’t throw me under the bus when this is all over?’ I felt a little horrible asking when he’d surprised me with the plan to thwart Stefano. But Cesare hadn’t lost enemy status despite the occasional bouts of consideration. Even kindness.

His eyes darkened and he looked startled, then offended. Even hurt , and my heart lurched. But for some insane reason, his cock thickened inside me, making me gasp.

‘Because I told you you’re a shit liar.’ His gaze pinned mine with untamed intensity. ‘Do you still claim innocence?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then we don’t have a problem. You can take my word for it or not.

’ He watched me for another short stretch.

‘Now let’s finish our conversation, baby.

This requires very little thought because it’s not even a negotiation.

All it requires is a “Yes, Cesare.” Then this pretty, needy cunt gets to milk my cock to your heart’s desire. ’

Caution scattered to the wind at the throaty promise. For, insanely foolish or not, I believed him that he wouldn’t betray me. ‘Fine. Yes, Cesare. Now get on with it, damn you!’

‘Until this thing ends, you’re mine. Anyone comes sniffing around you, you look at another man for longer than two seconds, and they will be put down like a fucking diseased dog, you get me?’

‘Yes.’ Maybe my response was too quick. Too willing. Whatever. My need reached breaking point five minutes ago. ‘Fuck me! Please, fuck me!’

Perhaps it was my imagination, but even as he let loose another feral smile, Cesare was shattering too. Certainly, the way his neck muscles stood out, his jaw tightly gritted as he started to piston in and out of me like a man possessed, said so.

Incoherent words babbled out of my mouth as I careened back to the precipice. ‘Please… Oh God, yes… right there… just like that!’

Then I jumped off. And sweet heaven, the fall was nothing short of spectacular. I came so hard for so long, my spasms flirted with agony but in the best way.

Above me, Cesare’s thrusts lost their studied rhythm but not their power. He fucked me through my climax, determination still etched into his face.

‘Fuck yeah, strangle me with that tight pussy, baby. Jesus, you feel incredible. I should do this all the time, sì ? Edge you until you’re out of your beautiful mind?’

Then he broke completely. ‘ Fuuuuck! ’

The transition from wall to shower was seamless and conducted in silence.

But the questions circling like vultures in my head wouldn’t be silenced. One slipped free at the tail end of Cesare soaping me up and washing me from head to toe.

‘Why were you so pissed off that night in the warehouse? I mean, I know you hated me, but that seemed… next level.’

He stiffened, then glared molten fire at me. ‘You really want to do this right now? You’re spoiling for a fight that much?’