Page 15 of A Beautiful Crime
And with Luca Fiore I fear what he’ll do to me if Constantine denies papa’s offer.
“You’re afraid,” he acknowledges and my eyes return to his. They curiously look at me but he sounds fascinated when he concludes, “But not of me.”
I’ve already made one too many mistakes tonight so I keep my mouth shut to prevent another.
The music finally comes to its end. The conductor giving the final direction and the strings' haunting melody linger in the air.
Since our dance has come to an end I go to remove myself from his hold but his hand only presses me tighter against him.
I can feel each hard edge and line of his body. The black tuxedo jacket with black lapels does nothing to hide his physique. In fact it only enhances it.
Leave it to Constantine Donati to dominate even a tuxedo.
What isn’t there that bends to his will?
“Another dance,” he orders lowly, his eyes intent on mine.
Daringly I look past him and see my brother subtly pointing to his Movado watch plated in yellow gold.
Constantine pinches my chin and forces me to look at him. “Do not make me repeat myself, Carina.”
My eyes flare. “What would you do if I did?”
His lips graze the shell of my ear as he promises me darkly, “I’ll make that ass of yours so red that you won’t be able to sit for a week.”
My head reels back as I regard him with an arched brow and pursed lips. “I thought you didn’t take pleasure in hurting women.”
His eyes darken with mischief. Liquid pools of black that want to drag you in and remain lost in the depths of them. “Trust me, mia Carina, there is a fine line between pleasure and pain that can be blurred.”
“Are you suggesting that I will take pleasure from pain?” I balk and for the first time since my rebirth I scoff. I audibly scoff.“You must be mad to believe that I’ll let you do that, let alone touch me,” I spit out.
Oh, I am seething. My veins coursing with fire and my body vibrating with a fury so palpable that I know he can feel it.
“When I make you my wife I’ll be able to do anything I want with you,” he tells me. My nostrils flare as I glare up at him.
His eyes make a perusal down my body as his hand shifts to my lower back. The tips of his fingers kissing my ass.
I inhale a sharp breath.
Then his eyes take account of my lips stained in a merlot red before giving me his eyes again.
“You’ll be begging for my touch. This body of yours will be mine to do with as I please.”
“Over my dead body.”
He chuckles darkly and I loathe the sound of it. “Ah, Carina,” he breathes my name and I loathe how my body responds to it. “Your body has been dead for months. I’m only going to bring it back to life.”
“I promise you this, Signore,” I spit, “ifI become your wife-”
“Whenyou become my wife,” he corrects me.
I ignore that comment and continue on with a harsh bite in my tone. “You will not touch me. I forbid it.”
He snorts. “You forbid it?” He asks like I told him the joke of the millennia. “You’re not the one who makes the rules here, leonessa. Your father made a deal with the Devil. Do you know what that means, Carina?” He arches a brow and I remain quiet. “It means he cannot take it back. It means you’re mine for as long as I fucking wish. And as long as you’re mine I will do with you as I fucking please.”
From being papa’s marionette to his.
God, how I loathe him.
