Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 34295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 171(@200wpm)___ 137(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 171(@200wpm)___ 137(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
"Callandria Genovese," he murmurs. "What should I do with you, principessa?"
I don't think he's talking to me, but I answer him anyway. "Let me go, Luca. I…I won't tell anyone I was even here. We can pretend it never happened."
"That doesn't work for me, princess." He reaches toward me, and I flinch backward, but there's nowhere for me to go. His fingertips trail down the side of my cheek before gently encircling my throat.
He doesn't squeeze, but he draws me closer, almost as if compelling me with nothing more than the command in his gaze and his hand around my throat. I sway toward him. Closer. Closer.
Until nothing but a tiny sliver of air separates our bodies. I feel the heat of him searing me, feel the way his aura kisses mine every time he draws a breath.
"The rumors about me aren't entirely wrong, princess," he says, turning his head to place his mouth against my ear. "And I find the sight of you chained to my bed far too appealing to give you up that easily."
Shock runs through me, humming like a bowstring pulled taut. I raise my arm, aiming a slap at his smug, arrogant face.
"Ah, ah," he croons, grabbing my hand before it connects. The bastard smiles. He actually smiles at me. "I'm not one of Tommaso's little coglioni. You hit me, and you'll be wearing my handprint on your gorgeous ass to remind you who makes the rules here, principessa."
"You wouldn't," I hiss, yanking my hand from his grip.
"Try me, bella," he growls.
"If you touch me, I'll never give you what you want, Luca Valentino. Never!"
He smiles again, his eyes dark with promise. "Oh, but you will, Callandria. You're going to give me exactly what I want because we both know the only thing you want more than you want out of this room is out of this life. And I'm the only one willing to give you the freedom you crave, principessa."
He's lying. I know he's lying. And yet…and yet the look in his eyes says he's dead serious. He's offering me an out. A chance at the future my own family denied me.
"Why? What do you want from me?"
He runs his hand down my arm, leaving gooseflesh in his wake. His molten eyes meet mine, his lips curved at the corners. "You haven't already guessed?" he asks, leaning forward to press his full lips to my throat, just beneath my ear. "I want you."
I gasp, shocked even though I shouldn't be. "I'm not for sale, Valentino," I spit.
"No?" His lips slide along my jaw. My stomach clenches even though it shouldn't. My nipples harden even though they shouldn't. "We all have our price, principessa. Name yours. Anything you want."
"Let me go."
His breath pelts my throat, warm and intoxicating, when he chuckles. "Anything but that," he murmurs. "I rather like you right here."
"Lurido bastardo," I growl, jerking away from him.
He straightens, that damn smirk still in place as his eyes meet mine. "I'll take that as you considering my offer," he says as if I didn't just insult him. "I'm going to shower."
I watch in silent fury as he winks and then turns on his heel and strides across the room, leaving me chained to his bed.
Chapter Two
Luca
" Dio ," I growl, wrapping a fist around my aching cock. I lean back against the stone shower wall and close my eyes, envisioning the curvy little beauty I left chained to my bed. Callandria Genovese. My enemy. And the only woman to get my dick hard in longer than I can remember. As soon as Mattia carried her in tonight, my cock took notice of her plump thighs and soft body. Of her long lashes and delicate little nose. Of her sun-kissed olive skin and waist-length hair.
She's even more beautiful when she's awake. There's fire in her and those amber sirens' eyes. She may be in chains, but she's no delicate little prisoner. She's every inch the principessa, spitting defiance as if she were born to do it.
I want her, and I intend to have her. Even if I have to play dirty to get her. If that makes me a filthy bastard as she called me, well, I've been called worse. Hell, I've been worse. Rafe's hands aren't the only ones in this family stained with blood. He didn't claw his way to the top alone. Rafe, Gabriel, and I climbed a pile of bodies together. It isn't what he wanted for Gabriel or me, but we made our choice a long time ago. The only hands in this family not stained in blood are Nico's.
Rafe traded his future for Nico's freedom a long time ago. I traded mine to keep my brothers alive. And Gabriel, well, Gabe traded his to keep the three of us together. We'd already lost Nico when he walked away from this way of life. Gabe wasn't going to lose another brother, he said.