Page 85 of The Arrangement

“What—”

Before she finished her sentence, Viviana found herself turned in his strong arms, the magazine forgone to the bed sheets. Darkened blue stared back under the lamp’s light, a mix of desire and curiosity burning behind the irises. Given that she was wearing nothing but a pale pink, silk camisole with matching panties and he was in only his boxer-briefs, she was all too aware of how her question had affected him.

The hardness starting to stir under the thin fabric had her heart rate picking up at an alarmingly delicious speed. It didn’t take much time at all for him to get going, and once he was, so was she. Anton had that lustfully swirling effect on her every goddamn time.

“Hey!”

A devious grin answered her back before his hand was slipping under her camisole to trail an aching path straight up to her breast. A teasing thumb rolled over her pebbled nipple, flicking the sensitive bud and getting it a little tauter with every rough, calloused stroke. Viviana was quick to melt into the heat of his hand as the other curved to her back and splayed wide open.

“So, who are you?” she asked again.

“I’m me,” he said huskily. “Anton. Boss. Son. Prince. Sir. Asshole. A different mask covers my face every day of the week. A lover. Awfully jealous at times. Quick fists when someone pisses me off, but a calm head otherwise. I like bourbon more than vodka, but I wouldn’t dare tell my father that. I hate to sit still unless it’s with you. I have a thing for guns, fast cars, and good music. Preferably all three mixed together. A girl with brown eyes and an Italian last name owns my heart. What else do you want to know?”

His lips had come to rest dangerously close to hers. She could smell that dark roast coffee he’d been drinking not ten minutes before dancing on the edges of his mouth. With one hand pressing at the black rose that covered his right pec, Viviana had him pushed back to the pillows as she shifted just enough to straddle him.

“There’s always more to learn, Anton.”

“What is it you want to know that you haven’t already been told?”

Viviana grinned, rolling her hips over his groin and watching his dark lashes flutter closed at the action. Air cut through his teeth as a thick groan fell into the quiet room. Juices leaked from her overheated sex as her hands grabbed tighter to grind his hardened length against where the silk covered her crotch.

“Won’t you tell me about the kind of man I’m marrying?”

“Oh, I think you know,” he replied darkly.

“No, not always. I see too many faces and sometimes I wonder which one you really own. Not that I don’t like them all in their own way, but still. Sweet as sugar and charming as a snake. That’s a dangerous combination. I’m not all too sure at all of just what I’ve gotten myself mixed up in.”

For a brief second, he seemed to consider her words. Despite how turned on she was, body hot and ready, sex already throbbing with the need to have him deep, hard, and fast like only he could give it to her, she wanted to hear what he’d say, too.

“Is this really about me, or is it about you?”

Viviana pressed her hand to his chest again. “A little bit of both. I feel like I don’t know who I am now, and your upbringing was similar to mine, in some ways.”

She tried to look away, embarrassed at her own admission. With a chiding click of his tongue, he gently turned her face so she was staring at him again.

“Yes, you do. You’re the same girl with a little more past, that’s all.”

A sigh passed her lips as she replied, “Your opinion, Anton.”

“Sorry.”

Not wanting to start another argument, she decided to drop it. Her body was still hyperaware of his thick erection sliding gently along her silk covered sex, rubbing beautifully over her swollen clit. Anton was good at keeping her mind distracted, anyway.

“So, a dangerous combination for my sensitive heart …”

“You’re right; it is because I’m a risky kind of man. I’m not a good one and I don’t pretend to be. I’ve got stars on my shoulders and a rose on my chest for a reason.” His hand left her shirt before he spread his thumb and pointer finger to give Viviana the view of an inverted cross tattooed between the digits. “Marked for a worthy hit,” he added, not sounding smug or prideful, just honest. “But, I’m a better man than others. I love you best and hold you tight at night.”

“So, my man, then?”

“Always and only.”

“And what’s this man of mine like, anyway?”

Anton laughed a dark sound. It rocked her straight down to the pulsating ache between her thighs. While her question hadn’t meant to bring on their suggestive banter, she didn’t mind the change. Again, Viviana found herself shifting on top of him to relieve some of the tension in her body.

“He’s pretty fucking sinful and downright dirty when he wants to be.”

With a lifted brow, not even bothering to hide the way his words provoked her desire a little bit higher, she leaned forward into his body. Getting right up close to his ear as her wandering hands slipped lower to the spot where Viviana wanted them connected, she couldn’t miss the catch in his breath when her fingers grazed over the bulge in his boxer-briefs.