Mistress By Blackmail(9)

Dragging her attention from the smile, she tried to concentrate on her mission. “I’m here for Matt.”

“No. You are here for me.” He trailed one long finger across her cheek. “You are delicate as a flower petal.”

The electricity of his touch sent a frisson of raw power through her entire body. He took her breath away. He took her words away. He took her ability to move away.

“I believe I promised I would translate. My fairy queen.” His voice twisted around her, inside her. Warm and melting as butter. He caressed the words with his faint Italian drawl. “Or my little one. Which do you prefer?”

“Yours?” Her heart thumped into a gallop at the thought of being his. But her brain jerked to life at a faster clip.

You’re mine.

One male had claimed she was his a long time ago and she’d barely escaped. The man before her might be potent stuff, but her teenage memories superseded even the Great Man. She stepped back, away from him. “I’m not yours. I never will be.”

The silver gaze never left her face. “I’m afraid I must disagree.”

“And I disagree totally with what you’re doing to your brother, Mr. La Rocca.” He’d been able to derail her like no other man ever had. She wasn’t going to be distracted anymore, though. Not by his words nor his potent appeal. “I’m here to point—”

“Why you came here initially is immaterial.” He continued to smile his impossible smile. “What is important is how we handle things going forward.”

“There is nothing immaterial about forcing Matt—”

“What you must see is I am much more capable of making you happy than Matteo.”

“I don’t need you to make me happy. I’m perfectly happy right now.”

“You will be happier with me.” His big body loomed over hers, encircling her in his presence. “I promise you, I have much more to offer than my brother.”

“You have nothing to offer that I want.”

Really? her body questioned.

“Really?” He leaned down, his face mere inches from hers. His breath whispered across her mouth, mint and man. “I think I have many things you want. I will take pleasure in giving you every single one.”

She stared over his shoulder and tried to think. Tried to pull her brain back to normal. But once again, her mind filled with a cloudy haze of pure desire. The man was seduction personified. She couldn’t quite believe he was serious, yet it didn’t seem to matter to her blurring brain or her burning body. “You can’t be serious about all this.”

His finger smoothed across her jaw and pushed her chin so her eyes met his. His shone, glowed a hot pewter. Somehow, he’d moved closer. “I am always serious. You will come to know this.”

“You…you…”

“I have decided on what I will call you. Carita suits you the best.” Both of his hands lifted, slipping across her cheeks and through her hair. Melting her where she stood. Sending tingles of sensation across her skin, into her soul. “Little darling.”

The words became muffled as his mouth moved softly, slowly over hers.



* * *



She smelled like sunshine.

She tasted like a tart cherry.

She felt like warm silk.

All of it mixed with sweetness and spice. And nothing very nice.

Grazie a Dio.

He liked her spunk, liked her feisty spirit. Her fiery temperament would add zest to their bedroom adventures. He relished the thought of taming her. His body hardened as he pulled her toward him. Dio, he was really looking forward to it.

Slipping his tongue across her mouth, he tasted her, sipped her. “Open your mouth, carita,” he whispered on her lips. “Let me in.”

Her lashes lifted. Her night-blue eyes met his, glazed with the passion he’d created inside her. The sight filled him with a fierce delight. This next month would be no chore at all and she would derive as much pleasure during this time as he. He would drive every memory of his brother out of her head and her body. The thought of her with Matteo burned in him. He relished the thought of claiming his prize and vowed she would never think of any other man except for him for at least this next month.

“Open for me,” he commanded, his words harsher than he’d meant them to be. But he suddenly had a driving need for her to acknowledge his claim on her.

Her eyes cleared and sharpened. Two small hands slapped his chest. “Let me go.”

Startled at her sudden change, he stared at her piquant face. His hands tightened on her waist. “You were with me all the way.”

“You grabbed me.” She pushed him, and the feel of her hands on his chest drove his blood into a frenzy.