I woke with a pounding headache and fear churning in my gut.
The bug.
I had to plant it today. I lay in bed for a long moment. At some point, Lucy had made it back to our room. She was snuggled under the covers, facing me. I studied her sleeping face. What was I going to do? It was bad enough being forced to marry into this family, but now, the police were pushing me into betraying them, too.
Soon enough, I’d have a target on my back so big it would be visible from space. Just like the rat in the maze I’d always been, the walls were finally closing in, and the exits were barred.
Detective Vane had been clear. Plant the bug before lunchtime today, or they’d come and arrest Lucy. She wasn’t stable enough to stay quiet during an interrogation. She’d break; she was already bursting at the seams, barely holding it all in. She’d crack and tell the truth, and Renato would take her out.
My father’s rosary beads were wrapped around her fist. I stared at the round beads and touched one with the tip of my finger. Lucy shifted, and the entire chain fell into my hand.
I got up quietly, washed my face, and shoved on a borrowed oversized sweater and leggings. I wrapped the rosary around my wrist for good luck. Then I took the tiny bug from the envelope, clutched it carefully in my palm, and made for the doorway.
I’d gotten Sonny off my tail by sending him to the kitchen for some needle and thread. I couldn’t think of anything else on the fly. Since I was sure Carmella would be hot on it, I had to move fast.
I stood outside Renato’s office where it connected with the library, my heart pounding loudly in my ears. Since I had free access to the library, being caught there would be far less damning than being caught in the office. I knocked quietly, hoping against hope there wasn’t anyone inside browsing for a book.
No one answered. For once, luck was on my side. I pushed open the door and peeked around the side. The long room was empty. I stepped inside and shut the door.
The double doors that led to Renato’s study stood open. Just the sight of the room transported me back to the first night I’d met the boss of the De Sanctis family. There was a different rug in there now, and no sign of the men who had died there. I felt no sadness for them, and maybe that made me just as much of a monster as Renato, but it was their rash actions that had put us here, in part. I’d never mourn them.
I headed through the connecting doors to the study. Where should a bug go? Near a phone, maybe, or somewhere people would be talking. Did I even care about finding the best place? No. I didn’t. All Detective Vane said was I had to plant it. She didn’t say where.
I headed toward Renato’s desk. It didn’t have a lot on it, and there were no easy places to put the bug where it wouldn’t stand out. A plant sat on the corner of the desk, and before I could overthink it, I dropped the bug into its soil. It seemed to disappear in the dirt.
There. I did it.
“Charlotte?” Renato’s voice spoke from just behind me.
I whirled around, my ass coming to rest on his desk.
Crap. In my haste, I hadn’t noticed that the floor-to-ceiling door leading from the library to an outside patio area was ajar. He must have been out there the whole time. Had he seen anything?
“I-I was looking for you,” I said. My mind was drawing a blank about what to say. How could I explain being here?
“Were you?” Renato asked, approaching. He had a cashmere sweater on, and the V-neck revealed the golden skin of his collarbones. With his dark waves pushed off his forehead, and his sweater sleeves rolled back to his elbows, he was the picture of effortless elegance with a lethal edge. It was a lot to handle so early in the morning.
“Yes, I—”
My words died as he reached the desk and peered down at the place he’d caught me leaning over. The goddamn plant. He was going to see the bug.
“I was thinking about last night,” I blurted.
He looked curious, but it wasn’t enough to distract him from his mission. He headed toward the other side of the table, getting closer to the bug.
I panicked and reached up to touch his face. He immediately stilled. His cheek was chiseled under my palm and I allowed myself the indulgence of sliding my fingers over his stubble. The raspy feel sent a liquid heat pooling deep in my belly.
His eyes snapped to mine, and his expression was burning. “Is that right?” He made no effort to move my hand from its intimate position, cradling his cheek. He moved his arms to either side of me on the desk, caging me in.
It dawned on me, dimly, that I might have jumped from the frying pan into the fire, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it now.
“And what exactly were you thinking about?”
“My nursing program. You said to convince you to let me finish, but I don’t know how.”
“With your rich imagination, I’m sure you’ll come up with something,” he said, his gaze bouncing between my eyes and my lips.
My body grew hot at the memory of last night.
“Think, little nurse. What do I want from you?” His deep voice twisted up my insides.
“Sex?” I muttered.
Renato smirked. “I suppose no one can accuse you of being a romantic, can they?”
He leaned in, bringing his face so close to mine I started to feel dizzy. He was pulling me deeper into his orbit, and it was disorienting. “Sex, we will have. What else do I want from you?”
I wet my lips, my mouth suddenly dry as hell. “I don’t know. Kids?”
“Kids we will have, too. Try again…” He studied me for a moment and then sighed. He started to pull back, his focus shifting from me to the desk.
Fuck. The bug. Do something, Charlie. Anything!
My hand tightened on his jaw before I could question it, and then I was pushing myself forward. He jerked to a stop when I pressed a chaste kiss to his lips, seeming just as startled as I was. I moved my lips over his, desperately trying to distract him from discovering what I’d been up to.
My panicked attempt to distract him worked better than I ever could have hoped.
Despite the clumsiness of my touch and the chasteness of my unsure kiss, he groaned against my lips and yanked me closer. He kissed me like he wanted to consume me, and I burned in his arms. I had no choice, I reassured myself. I needed to distract him. That was the only reason I’d climbed on the pyre and lit myself on fire.
Liar. I ignored the voice in my head and lost myself in his touch, burning up all over like he’d lit a fever in me.
“This, anima mia, is what I want from you,” he said, his lips falling to my neck. “Your unequivocal surrender.”
I melted in his arms, a heat that scared me building inside my core. I felt empty and needy and just wanted more of his touch. I wanted reassurance and proof that I was alive. I wanted to feel safe, just for a second, and I was pretty sure there was no safer place in the world for me than in this man’s arms.
“Lose the pants,” Renato ordered, his hands roaming over my ass.
I froze, staring up at him.
“I said lose the pants. I want to see your pretty pussy, right here, on my desk.”
I was still frozen with shock when he sighed and tugged down my leggings, taking my panties with them. The cool air snaking around the open patio doors hit my skin, and I shivered.
He guided me onto the desk. What the hell was happening? I should do something. I should stop this. Logical thoughts filed through my head and barely stopped. But then I was bare-assed on the desk, and the man who had consumed my entire life stood between my legs.
“Now, let me see,” he said firmly, pushing my knees apart.
I blanched. It was broad daylight, and I’d never been so exposed. My fumbling sexual experiences had happened in the dark, under covers and a thick cloak of self-consciousness and shame.
It’s okay. You’re just distracting him from finding the bug. This is what you have to do, a soothing voice spoke inside my head. Yup, okay, and that must why I was so excited about it, too. Sure.
Renato pushed my legs apart and made a noise that was half my name and half a growl. “Do you have any idea how wet you are?” he asked, his voice oddly reverent. “It’s glorious.”
Fuck. Couldn’t he leave me a shred of deniability to help soothe my broken pride?
I lay back and stared at the ceiling, humiliation washing over me. I was supposed to be distracting him so he wouldn’t find the bug. I wasn’t supposed to be getting so turned on by that distraction that I was making a wet mess on his desk.
He ran a hand down my inner thigh, making me jump. “How beautiful you are, Charlotte. I knew you would be, but I’m still unprepared.”
I squeezed an eye open at his words. Beautiful? I risked a glance at him. He wasn’t looking at me, he was staring between my spread legs, his fingers petting my wet curls. “Let’s see if we can make you even wetter,” he murmured, his eyes never leaving my pussy as he leaned in and licked me.
I nearly shot off the table. The list of men who’d gone down on me was so short I could count it on one hand. But while I’d been eaten out before, I’d still never come from it. It seemed an impossible feat. It was too awkward and imbalanced. Too much of an imposition to be doing something so one-sided. Selfish.
His elbows pushed my knees apart, splaying me helplessly before him. Liquid heat moved through me, dripping down my spine. He ran his tongue up and down my slit, from my clit to my asshole and back, while I stared at him, aghast and turned on.
His tongue was long and hot, dipping inside me and then back up to circle my clit. After a few minutes of that, while I got wetter and wetter and my leg muscles turned to jelly, he straightened up, his eyes never leaving my pussy. He rolled up his sleeves where they’d fallen, as if he was preparing to get his hands dirty, and brought his pointer and middle fingers to his mouth. He pushed them inside, wetting them, and then leaned in, putting his blunt fingertips against my entrance.
“What are you doing?” I asked breathlessly.
“Showing you what this beautiful body was made for,” Renato replied, his eyes fixing on mine as he pushed his fingers inside me. They were endless and thick. Renato swallowed a curse. “If you’re this tight on my fingers, then you’re going to grip my cock so perfectly.”
He pumped his fingers in and out of me, pressing firmly against the spongy spot on my inner front wall. The elusive, and at times, seemingly mythical G-spot. My wetness coated his fingers, and the sound that filled the air was embarrassing as hell. A wet, sucking squelch. I fell backward and screwed my eyes shut.
“Don’t do that, little nurse.”
“I can’t help it. It’s just biology, remember?” A nip to my inner thigh made me yelp. I leaned back up and glared at him.
“No, bambina. Don’t close your eyes and squirm with embarrassment. Don’t spend a second feeling ashamed of how your body reacts to my touch. It’s a fucking turn-on,” he growled, then leaned in and licked my slit as he continued to finger-fuck me.
His tongue found my clit, and he circled it relentlessly, his fingers driving me toward the edge.
My fingers sank into his hair and tugged at him, trying to move him away. It was too much. Suddenly, the fire that he was stoking felt scary. I was out of control. I didn’t know how I was going to react. I was rushing toward the hardest orgasm of my life, and I didn’t think Renato was the type to give me mercy and stop. I wanted it but I feared it.
I pulled at his hair, and he only went harder. With his tongue moving at such an incredible pace, and his fingers massaging that secret spot inside me, I saw stars. My body tensed, and pleasure washed over me in a wave that never seemed to crash.
Wetness gushed out of me, spraying my legs and the leather inlay on the desk. My pussy clamped down on his fingers, pulling his hand deeper into me. My knees clenched around his head, squeezing involuntarily.
Renato didn’t stop through all of it. Not even for a second. He pushed me through and spun out the pleasure in never-ending spirals that pulsed through my every nerve.
“That’s right, Charlotte. Look how beautiful you are, my perfect, perfect bambina.”
I twitched around him, my body full of sparkles. His words sank into my heart and lodged somewhere deep. So deep, they became a part of me.
My muscles went slack, and my knees fell open. Renato lapped at my pussy, and I writhed at the feel. He licked my center and then moved on to my thighs, licking my skin gently, cleaning me up with his tongue. He followed those gentle ministrations with kisses.
“From now on, Charlotte Burke, you’ll put aside your shame and guilt, let me take care of you and your sister, and stop pretending that this thing between us isn’t electric. I will always keep you safe, from everyone but myself.”
He pulled me up so I was perched on the edge of the desk, his arms supporting me. He put his lips to mine, and I tasted myself there.
“Brava, bambina. Brava.”
