Chapter 68

VEDA

Luca's big body shuddered against mine when I responded to his plea by running the tip of my tongue along his bottom lip. He was angry at what

happened. I got that. So was I. His fucking cousin had come walking into the little alcove where the bathrooms were right as I opened the ladies’ room door and wouldn't let me leave. And when I'd gotten tired of dealing with him and tried to knee him in the balls, he'd shoved me into the men's room with him, closing and locking the door behind us.

I told him I was with Luca, and he responded by telling me that his cousin was a pussy and didn't deserve a woman like me. I disagreed, loudly, playing my role to a "T." Then he’d backed me up against the door, much as Luca was doing now, grabbed my jaw, and pressed his slimy lips against my mouth. As I tried to shove him off of me, he managed to get one hand underneath my dress and grabbed me between the legs, squeezing hard until my mouth opened on a cry of pain. Then he stuck his tongue in my mouth.

I bit down until I tasted blood and he released me.

Taking advantage of his surprise, I’d spun around and unlocked the door, throwing myself out of the small room and right into Luca's arms. Where I now found myself again. So, yeah, I totally got the anger. And this man who held me now was no pussy. He was a dominant male. I understood that also. Just like I understood why he was acting the way he was, even if I didn't like it.

Or hell, maybe I did.

I moaned as he took my mouth in a harsh kiss—nothing like the slobbery mess of his cousin—and tried to press closer to him. But his arm in its sling was between us, and I didn't want to hurt him, so I backed off as much as I could.

With a growl of frustration, Luca ripped off his sling and threw it onto the ground. Then took my face between both of his palms and kissed me until my lips were swollen and bruised and bloody from his bites. And even then, he didn't stop, nipping at my jaw and sucking on my throat as his hands fell to my breasts. "Touch me, amore," he commanded. "I want to feel your hand on my cock."

I did as he ordered. With shaking hands, I unfastened his pants, his moan in my ear so utterly erotic as I shoved down his boxer briefs and pulled out the long, thick length of him, running my hand up and down, feeling the silken slide of his skin over his rock-hard erection and squeezing the head in my fist. A drop of moisture beaded at the tip as I rubbed my thumb over it.

He cursed beneath his breath as his hands ran down along my sides to my hips, where they stopped. "Take off your panties."

With a nervous look around, I lifted my skirt and hooked my thumbs under the waistband of my underwear, then slid them down over my hips and thighs, letting them fall to the ground at my feet. I kicked them to the side. My heart pounded in my chest as I waited for what he would do next.

"Are you wet for me, Veda?" he murmured in my ear.

I whimpered as he lifted my skirt, exposing my bare flesh to the warm night air. He sucked on my earlobe, playing with the diamond stud there, one hand holding up my skirt and the other gripping my naked hip. With his thumb, he drew slow circles on my skin, closer and closer to my core with every stroke.

"I think you are," he told me. "Shall we find out?"

My hips jerked forward when his thumb brushed over the crease between my legs, finding that exact spot with an accuracy that unnerved me. Desperately, I hung onto his shoulders as he pressed his thumb between the folds of my flesh.

"Were you wet for my cousin, Veda? Did you moan for him like this? Did he touch you here?" His blue eyes were dark with fury. "No one touches you here but me, do you understand?" He cupped me in his hand. “This is mine.”

I didn't bother to answer, and I don't think he was expecting me to. Widening my legs, I gave him better access and was rewarded when he slid one thick finger inside of me.

"Did he make you come? Did you scream his name?"

I shook my head, incapable of speaking as he worked my clit, the heavy weight in my womb building into surges of desire that swelled higher and stronger with every circle of his fingers. My legs trembled as he took me right to the edge, holding me there with a groan until he took pity on me, and I crashed over with his name on my lips. His mouth came down hard on mine, swallowing my cries as my orgasm ripped through me until I was limp and boneless in his arms.

"You are mine, Veda." His voice was little more than a growl as he lifted me against the wall with his hands under my ass. "MINE," he gritted out, the tip of his cock nudging me. "ONLY mine." With one thrust of his hips, he buried himself balls deep inside of me, forcing my body to stretch to accommodate the size of him. But I was ready for him. So ready.

My legs came up to wrap around his waist and my arms twisted around his shoulders as he fucked me against the wall, my face in his neck to muffle the cries I could no longer contain. I wanted this. I wanted him to love me. To care about me. To hate the thought of me with anyone else. But I was quickly becoming the pawn in my own game.

"Say it," he ordered. "Say you are mine."

"I'm yours, Luca," I cried.

His arms tightened painfully, brutally, around me. His breathing loud and harsh in my ear as he pounded into me fast and hard. The siding of the cottage scraped my bare back, but I barely felt it, lost in the sensations he demanded I feel. Just when I was about to beg him to slow down, to stop, to give me a moment, he tensed, his entire body hardening around me, and I felt his release and heard him call my name like a curse just before he hid his face in my hair.

We stayed like that for several long minutes, just holding each other, until gradually, I remembered where we were. "Luca, someone is going to find us."

"Let them," he said. He lifted his head, and although he still wasn't happy, the fire in his eyes had died down to mere embers. Carefully now, he pulled out of me, and I unwound my legs from around his waist.

As I found my feet again, my hands slid over his shoulders and down his arms, pushing off his jacket as I went. There was a wet spot on his shirt. And when I pulled my hand away and put it in the light coming from the kitchen, my palm was bloody. "Luca, you're bleeding!"

He picked up his sling from the ground. "That would explain why my shoulder is throbbing like a bitch."

"Why didn't you say something?"

Looking down at me, one side of his mouth curved up in a devilish smile. "It didn't hurt until just now." When I only stared at him, he sighed. "It'll be fine. I'll clean it up when we get home."

Home. Something twisted inside of me. The lake house wasn't my home. I didn't know if I'd ever see my home again. However, if being with this man would save my life...well, perhaps it wouldn't be such a terrible thing if our fights always ended like this. I found my underwear on the ground and shook the dirt from them, then wadded them up in my hand. I'd throw them away when I got inside.

Luca must've sensed the change in my mood, for he reached out to touch my back. I flinched, releasing a hiss when he touched my skin, scraped raw from the side of the house. His brows lowered into a frown as he turned me around. "Jesus Christ. Why the fuck didn't you say anything?"

He was angry again. "Probably the same reason you didn't notice your shoulder was bleeding."

Taking off his coat, he carefully put it over my shoulders. A little awkwardly with one hand, but he managed. "I'll go in and make our excuses."

"But I'm starving," I told him. I really was. I hadn't eaten yet that day. "And it smells so good."