เข้าสู่ระบบHis fingers curled, his thumb pressed, and Eve shattered.
The orgasm hit her like a tidal wave, pleasure so intense it was almost painful. She screamed his name like he'd commanded, her body convulsing, her nails digging into his shoulders through his expensive shirt.
He worked her through it, prolonging it, until she collapsed against his chest, gasping and boneless.
"Beautiful," he murmured, pressing a kiss to her temple. "So fucking beautiful when you let go."
She couldn't respond. Could barely think. Her entire world had narrowed to the feeling of his arms around her and the aftershocks still rolling through her body.
"That," he said quietly, "was just the beginning."
She lifted her head, confused. "Beginning?"
"You asked me to show you what you've been missing." His smile was dark. "We've barely started."
Before she could process that, he was standing, lifting her with him like she weighed nothing. Her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist.
"Where are we going?"
"I have a bedroom attached to this lounge." He carried her through a door she hadn't noticed. "And we're going to use it."
The room was all dark wood and masculine luxury. And in the center, a massive bed.
He set her on her feet beside it, and she swayed, still drunk on alcohol and orgasm.
"Strip," he commanded.
"What?"
"Take off your dress. I want to see all of you."
Her hands shook as she reached for the zipper, but she did it. The dress pooled at her feet, leaving her in just her black lace bra and matching panties.
Dimitri's eyes raked over her like a physical touch, and she resisted the urge to cover herself.
"Fuck, you're perfect."
"I'm not...."
"Yes. You are." He stepped closer, his hands spanning her waist. "Say it."
"I'm perfect?"
"Again."
"I'm perfect."
"Whose perfect girl are you?"
Oh. Oh.
"Yours," she whispered. "I'm your perfect girl."
"Yes, you are." His hands slid up her back, unclasping her bra. "And I'm going to ruin you for anyone else."
The bra fell away. Then he was guiding her backward, laying her on the bed, following her down.
His mouth found her breast, tongue swirling around her nipple, and she arched into him with a moan.
"So responsive," he murmured against her skin. "I'm going to enjoy teaching you exactly how good it can be."
"Teach me," she breathed.
''Oh trust me piccola, i will''
And he did.
His mouth mapped every inch of her body, finding places she didn't know were sensitive. Behind her knee. The inside of her wrist. The spot where her neck met her shoulder.
By the time he hooked his fingers in her panties and dragged them down her legs, she was already trembling again.
"Spread your legs for me, piccola."
She did, shameless in her need.
He settled between her thighs, and the first touch of his tongue made her cry out.
This was nothing like the quick, awkward oral sex Simon had occasionally attempted. This was worship. Devotion. A man who knew exactly what to do and took his time doing it.
Dimitri licked and sucked and nibbled, alternating between gentle and rough, learning her body's responses. When he added his fingers again, she came apart for the second time, this one somehow even more intense than the first.
"Please," she gasped when she could speak again. "I need... I need you inside me."
He lifted his head, his lips glistening with her arousal. "Not yet."
"Why not?"
"Because you're drunk, and when I fuck you for the first time, I want you sober enough to remember every second."
"But..."
"No." He kissed his way up her body. "Tonight, I make you come on my tongue and my fingers. Tomorrow, when you're sober, you can have my cock."
"That's not fair."
"Life's not fair, cara." He rolled onto his back, pulling her with him so she was sprawled across his chest. "But I'll tell you what. Tomorrow, you come to me sober, and I'll fuck you until you can't remember your own name. Deal?"
She should say no. Should tell him this was a one-time thing, a mistake fueled by alcohol and heartbreak.
But looking into his eyes, feeling the solid warmth of him beneath her, she couldn't.
"Deal," she whispered.
"Good girl." He stroked her hair. "Now sleep. You're safe here."
"What about you?"
"What about me?"
"You're still..." She gestured vaguely at his very obvious erection.
"I'll survive. This is about you, not me."
She wanted to argue, but exhaustion was pulling at her, the combination of alcohol and orgasms making her eyelids heavy.
"Dimitri?"
"Mm?"
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For making me feel wanted."
His arms tightened around her. "You are wanted, Eve. More than you know."
She fell asleep like that, wrapped in his arms, feeling safer than she had in years.
She didn't see him pull out his phone.
Didn't hear him make a call.
Didn't know he was arranging for legal documents to be prepared and brought to the lounge within the hour.
Because Dimitri Valentino was many things...ruthless, possessive, morally gray....but he was also a strategist.
And he'd just been handed the opportunity of a lifetime.
Eve Thorne, drunk and vulnerable and desperate to belong to someone.
He'd give her exactly what she asked for.
And in the morning, she'd realize she'd signed away far more than she ever intended.
"How do you know?""Because I've seen his name on a transfer I was told to ignore."Another silence. Then, very quietly, "Good."Dante opened his eyes. The sea was dark below the terrace, the horizon a thin line of lighter dark. "That's the test?""That's the test." There was no warmth in Dimitri's voice, but it wasn't hostile either. "You answered both truthfully.""You already knew them.""Yes.""Then why ask?""So I could see whether you'd lie." A pause. "You didn't. Now give me something I don't know."Dante let out a slow breath. He had planned this part. He had gone over it for two days, sitting in the dark beside Isabella's bed, deciding how much to give and how little to keep."Brooklyn," he said."What about it?""When I took your territory there, I thought I was winning. The Covenant told me to hold it. They said they had a purpose for those corners, and I didn't ask what it was." Dante's voice was steady. "I never saw any of the money.""Explain.""Every dealer I turned, ev
POV: DANTELuca found the seam at two in the afternoon.He came out onto the terrace with a laptop under one arm and the look of a man who had been waiting all day to say something. Dante was sitting in the shade with a cup of coffee he hadn't touched. Through the glass door behind him, he could see the bedroom, the bed, the shape of Isabella asleep under the blanket. Her breathing was slow. The doctor had called twice that morning and said the same thing both times: holding."I've got something," Luca said."Sit."Luca sat and opened the laptop on the table. "The trail I've been following. The Malta import firm, the Naples supplier, the courier. I thought it was a dead end, but I kept going." He turned the screen toward Dante. "Look at the closing date."Dante looked. It was a corporate filing, a page of numbers and stamps. "What am I looking at?""The Malta company dissolved on the nineteenth of August. The registry in Naples says the nineteenth. But the freight authority has it clo
"No.""Are you going to tell him?""Not yet."Eve was quiet for a long moment. When she spoke, her voice was very soft."Why did he do it?""I don't know. I'm going to ask him.""When?""When she's stable. Not before." He rubbed his face with one hand. "If I go to him now, he'll tell me whatever he needs me to hear. I want to go in with the facts."Eve nodded slowly. She looked at his hand where it rested on the railing, at the white edges of his knuckles. He was holding on very tightly."Does anyone else know?" she asked. "That it's him?""Marco. Armani. Now you.""And Mike?""Mike knows I'm helping Dante. He built a false trail for me this morning, so that Dante's man would stop looking." Dimitri's mouth twisted. "He asked if you knew. I told him I'd tell you tonight.""So Mike knew before I did.""Yes.""Everyone knew before I did.""Eve....""I'm not angry about the secret," Eve said. She turned to face him fully. "I understand why you didn't tell me at dawn. I understand that you
"Yes, Signore."He set the phone down and stood for a long time with his hand on the receiver.Someone had got to Armani. Not Dante, because Dante would have gone for the doctor himself, and Dante did not know where the doctor was. Someone quieter. Someone who had known where to look and what to take and how to leave very little behind.It was a short list. He did not care for the name at the top of it....The aide came back at nine that night.Antonio was at his desk with the lamp finally lit. He had not eaten."It's done," the aide said. "The courier is closed. Every registration was withdrawn by six. Armani's file has been removed from three registries, and the fourth is in progress. The Naples depot has been emptied. The stock is in the cold room at Frascati.""Good.""The safe log, Signore." He laid a second sheet on the desk. "There have been no unusual openings in the past year. The only entry outside the first of the month is this morning's. The code used was Armani's own.""
"It will take a few hours.""You have a few hours." Antonio rose and went to the window. The olive grove stood very still in the late sun. "And the depot in Naples. Move what is in it. Not far. Somewhere we can reach.""Understood.""One more thing. I want to know who Luca has been speaking to. Everyone. Phones, meetings, favors he's called in.""That will be difficult.""I did not say it would be easy." Antonio turned from the window. "I said I wanted to know."The aide bowed his head slightly. "I'll begin now.""Go."When the door had closed, Antonio stayed standing at the window. His hands were clasped behind his back. His breathing was even.He allowed himself exactly one moment to think about the girl.She had been sixteen when it began. Pale and anxious, with a mother who watched her too closely and a father who had gone looking for help. Antonio had seen the opening and taken it. It had seemed, at the time, like a small and necessary thing, a thread to hold. He had never intend
"Then who?""I don't know. Not yet. But I'm going to find out."She was quiet for a time. Her breathing slowed."You're still not telling me everything," she said."No.""Why?""Because you can't stand up yet, and I'd rather you were standing when I do." He pulled back far enough to look at her. "I will tell you. I won't keep it from you for long. I swear that."She searched his face. It was a tired face, an honest one. He hadn't tried to soften what he'd said or dress it up as anything else."Is it dangerous?" she asked. "What you're not telling me?""Not for you.""For you?"He didn't answer."That's what I thought," she said softly.She lay back against the pillow. The window had gone from gray to pale gold. Somewhere outside, a bird started up, thin and clear."The medicine you gave me," she said. "Will I need it again?""Yes. For a while. A doctor will bring you down slowly. Weeks, maybe. Until it's out of you.""And then?""And then you're free of it."She nodded slowly. She was







