Page 39 of The Prices We Pay (Vittori Enterprises #1)

Sebastian

“ O kay, I’m with D. What the actual fuck is going on?”

I hear Enzo, but my eyes remain locked on Josephine’s. “Joe?”

“Yeah.” Her voice cracks. “Umm, I’m just gonna go shower. I’ll—I’ll be right back.”

“Amore Mia, wait—” But before Dante can finish his sentence, she’s sprinting back up the stairs and into Luca’s bedroom.

Suddenly, I realize my friends are all staring at me. “What?”

Luca’s deep brown eyes, the ones I’ve grown to love with my entire being, stare into mine. “Go. Help her.”

“We will get dinner sorted, and when you come down, we’ll come up with something,” Enzo adds, and Dante nods in agreement.

I quickly refocus on Luca, wanting to make sure he’s one thousand percent okay with this. “Are you sure about this, Baby?”

Leaning forward in his seat, he drops his forehead against mine and says, “She needs you. She needs what you can give her. Go.” Luca kisses me deeply, and as much as I sink into it, we both know I need to get to her, so we make it quick.

“I love you,” I say softly against his lips.

“And I love you, Mio Re.”

In the blink of an eye, I am up on my feet and jogging across our apartment, up the stairs, and into Luca’s bedroom.

One I spend just as much time in as my own.

I’m across the room when I hear her sob for the first time, and it almost sends me to my fucking knees.

Quickly, I take off my clothes, leaving them scattered throughout the room as I make my way to the bathroom.

Once I’m left in only my briefs, I slowly open the bathroom door, not wanting to startle her.

But she doesn’t even see me. She’s sitting against the wall of the shower; her arms are wrapped around her legs, pulling them tight to her chest, and her face is buried in her limbs as her body shakes with heavy sobs.

My sweet girl.

Again, I pull the door to the shower open slowly. “Josephine.” Either she doesn’t hear me or she ignores me, so I squat down next to her. Desperate to touch her, I rub my hand down her naked back, letting the feel of her sobs seep into my bones. “Josephine, Love. Please look at me.”

She turns her head slightly, her pink and puffy cheek resting on her forearm, and as her eyes lock with mine, another violent sob bursts from her lips.

“Come here.” Tucking one arm under her knees and wrapping the other around her back, I lift her off the shower floor. Joe wraps her arms around my neck and buries her face into my chest as I turn off the shower and move her into the bedroom .

I try to set her on the bed, but her hold on me tightens. “No. Please don’t let me go.”

“Okay,” I hush. “I won’t let you go.”

And I think that’s the truest statement I’ve ever made in my life. Because she’s mine, and I’m not letting her go.

Not now. Not ever.

Since she’s still clinging to me, I use the arm I have wrapped around her back to pull back Luca’s duvet. I sit against the headboard and rest her in my lap before maneuvering the blanket back and wrapping her up in it as best I can.

“Shhh. You’re okay.” My lips brush against the crown of her head, and my hand caresses the back of her head. “You’re okay, Love. I’m here. We’re here. Nothing is going to happen to you.”

Involuntarily, I begin rocking her body in my hold as I keep peppering her with kisses and soothing her with gentle promises.

Minutes go by, and her sobs turn into soft cries, which eventually turn into the occasional hiccups.

Finally, her puffy steel-blue eyes look up at me, and even in this moment, I’ve never seen anything more beautiful. “Love… ”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. Everything came crashing into me, and I couldn’t stop it. I don’t cry. I’m not a crier. But it just—”

“You don’t ever have to apologize to me for your feelings, Joe. Ever. You’re allowed to feel whatever you want, whenever you want. I’m just here to help you with them.”

“Is that what you do for Luca?”

“Yeah. It is.”

“How?”

“When Luca’s with me, it allows him to let go of everything. To sink into a headspace where all he has to do is listen and feel. There are no decisions he has to make, no people he needs to impress, and no worlds he has to conquer. It’s just me and him.”

“What do you get out of it?”

My answer is simple, “Him.”

While I won’t lie and say I don’t crave a dominant role in a sexual relationship, I know I’d willingly give him whatever he needed from me. It’s why I was more than okay with him exploring his feelings for her. I just… “I just want him to be happy. ”

Her fingers fiddle with the chain around my neck for a moment, and she exhales a shaky breath. “That’s all I want. To be able to let go of it all and just be happy.”

“We can give that to you, Joe.”

Her hand wraps around the back of my neck. Threading her fingers through my hair, she asks, “How do you know that?”

“Did you know that the day Enzo met you in the lobby, he walked around all day, telling everyone he was in love?”

She snorts out a laugh, and it’s like music to my ears. “No, but I’m not even the slightest bit surprised.”

“He did. We couldn’t tell you how many times that man has said he was in love with someone.

He’s a real-life Pepe Le Pew. So, all of us thought he was being his usual self.

But when I saw you walk into that conference room that day, I knew it.

I knew how, after one look, you turned his life upside-down.

Because you did it to Luca, you did it to Dante, and you’ve done it to me, Joe.

I have never met a woman who’s so capable.

So strong. So self-sufficient. You are intelligent, funny, and so goddamn beautiful that it literally makes my eyes hurt.

And if that’s not the type of woman I should be willing to do anything to ensure she has the life she deserves, then I don’t know who is. ”

A small tear rolls down the apple of her rosy cheeks, and instead of swiping it away with my thumb, I tilt my head forward and plant a soft kiss over it, letting the salty taste coat my lips. “So that’s how I know, Love.”

Her glossy eyes search mine, and I feel her breath still in her chest as she garners up the courage to ask me what I know she wants.

I don’t know much about sexual desires, but I can bet any amount of money she’s not one to shy away from asking for what she wants in bed.

And as for what else I don’t know, I’m bound and determined to find out.

I just want to hear her say the words first.

Since I’ve been with Luca, I’ve learned what he needs without him having to ask for it.

I can tell his desires from a simple expression, but it took a while to get to that place.

In order to have the dynamic that we have, he had to learn to ask for things when he wanted them, and I had to learn what his queues were when he asked for those things.

It’s easy to take things too far when neither party is sure of what they want.

And if he didn’t trust me enough to ask for the things he desired most without fear of judgment, he sure as shit wouldn’t have trusted me enough to go through with it.

And that’s what I need from Joe if she wants me to help her in a way I know I can. Trust.

So I don’t break eye contact, ensuring her that when she’s ready to ask, I’m listening.

Fiddling with my chain, she closes her eyes for a moment, and I find myself counting her stunning dark eyelashes as they rest on her cheek. But before I finish, she opens them again, and it’s then that I see it.

Bravery.

Determination.

“Can I try it?”

“Try what, Love?” I ask, encouraging her to really ask me.

“What you give, Luca. Can I try?”

“How about we start small, yeah? You’re day has been emotionally exhausting enough, and I don’t want to push it.”

She breaks my stare and looks down at her lap. That just won’t do. “I’m only going to say this once, Josephine.” My hand brushes along the column of her throat. “ Look at me.” She gasps as my hand cups her face and jerks it back toward me.

The command in my voice changes her expression entirely. It heats with passion and want… need.

“Here’s what you need to understand if you want this, Joe,” I declare. My hand lets go of her face and moves back down the column of her throat, and over her chest, memorizing the way the slope of her body changes as I get to her breasts.

“I say what I mean, and I mean what I say. There is no bullshit with me.” My fingertips trail over her peaked nipples, and the whimper that spills past her lips sends a jolt of electricity straight to my cock.

“I didn’t say no, did I?” When she doesn’t immediately answer me, I pinch her nipple. “Did. I? ”

“No,” she answers breathlessly.

Pushing the blanket out of the way, my hand trails down the center of her stomach, and her eyes flutter closed as it approaches her pussy. “I simply said we will start small.”

I cup her pussy. My fingers spread her open as I drag them through her arousal.

“Because it would kill me if I took this too far when you weren’t ready.

” I dip the tip of my finger into her opening, and when she wiggles in my lap, I pull it right back out.

“So we start small, and you do as I say. Understood?”

“Yes,” she breathes.

I pinch her clit between my thumb and forefinger, and she cries out, “Try again.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Heat burns through me as the words leave her lips.

My entire body feels like it’s on fire for her, and I want her to burn right along with me.

Quickly, I throw her off of me so she’s lying on the bed, her head facing the end, and kneel between her parted legs.

Without further preamble, I shove two fingers inside of her.

The feel of my fingers in her cunt has us both groaning.

“I don’t think you understand the lengths I’m willing to go to make you cry out in pleasure, Love.

” With my free hand, I reach up and wrap it around the front of her throat.

And when she tilts her chin up to give me more room, the fire that was burning in me turns into a raging inferno.

I squeeze it gently and watch as her eyes flutter in pleasure.

“Sebastian, please,” she begs.

“This pussy is mine, and I will do with it as I please. Clear?” I growl, spearing her with my fingers.

“Yes, Sir,” she whimpers as she holds back the orgasm that’s already threatening to break free.

“Tell me. Tell me this body is mine to tease. Mine to kiss. Mine to hold. Mine to fuck. However and whenever I want.”

“Seb—”

“Tell me,” I beg. “You want to be mine. Then be mine . Be mine to worship. To make you happy. To fulfill your every waking desire. Be mine, and let me be yours. Tell. Me. ”

“I’m yours,” she pants, her eyes burrowing into my soul as she says the words. She means it.

She’s fucking mine .

“I’m yours,” she repeats. “Worship me, and let me worship you. Kiss me. Fuck me. Be mine, Sebastian, and I’m yours.”