Page 58 of A New Days Don

My heart skitters at the possessive way he says ‘my.’ I have to force myself not to gasp or react, even though my face heats up even more, and my arousal begins to pool. After the little escapade in the SUV earlier today, I know what comes next, the little dull ache, and now that I know how to relieve it, I don’t trust myself to be able to hold my hips back from seeking and chasing after the intoxicating release.

I try to get out of his embrace and put distance between us, but he doesn’t let me. I wait for the panic to come from being trapped by him, but it never does. Despite the heat sizzling, there is an underlying feeling of calm in his arms.

“Massimo,” I slap my hand over my mouth. That was meant to be frustration, but the moan that escaped was anything but. I feel his cock throb against my stomach, and he shifts his hips out of the way.

“Ignore that,” he murmurs, “I can’t help it when you moan my name like that.”

I don’t know what comes over me. My hands act with a mind of their own. It’s as if my apprehensive brain doesn’t get a say in what my minx of a body wants. Wires are crossed, and my hands grip Massimo’s hips and pull him into me. The outline of his cock is no less shocking as I feel it throb again. This time it’s his turn to let out a breathy groan. The way he becomes weak, losing himself the way I do, makes me feel powerful.

“Y-you don’t get to fluster me and keep your composure.” I stammer shyly, cringing when my voice comes out more breathless than alluring. I’m not sure if the words coming out make sense as I feel him pulse against me.

Massimo chuckles, his forearm landing on the roof of the Audi and caging me in. His mouth is so close to mine, I can feel his shaky breath on my lips.

“Oh, sweetheart, I am barely holding my composure where you’re concerned.” His voice is almost pained, and my chest swells knowing he is holding himself back for me. He cares about my comfort, and that is more than most can say with the way I have been disregarded so easily in the past.

I bite my lip, and Massimo tracks the movement of my bottom lip, pinching it between my teeth. My fingers twitch, squeezing his muscular hips, which only serves to tease me more than him.

“Careful, beautiful, unless you want to cancel our gelato date for a night in.” The devilish smirk on his face makes me pause, because for the first time in my life, I want whatever the male in front of me is promising. I won’t begin to pretend like I know why I feel so safe around Massimo or why I like his touch, but I do.

When I don’t make a move to escape him, a swallow works its way down his throat, making his Adam’s apple bob. He screws his eyes shut and pushes from the car. My cheeks flame with embarrassment. Any unearned confidence I felt washed away with his rejection.

Told you a man like him could never love damaged goods.

That awful small voice in the back of my mind rears its ugly head. Tears burn my eyes, and I wish I could just disappear. Refusing to cry, but also feeling the awkward tension build around me, I stare off in the distance of the dimly lit garage.

“Mila,” Massimo’s voice is thick with his own desire, and it makes me bite my lip harder. I refuse to let him get to me. Every single emotion trying to tear me down slams into the wall I have carefully built around my mind, body, and soul.

“It’s nothing, we should just go get the gelato or whatever,” I tell him, walking past him, his leather and mint scent seems to overpower the dirty, damp cement of the parking garage. I hate that my body wants to lean into it. I hate that I crave the comfort it brings and the peace it gives me.

Before I can press the button for the elevator, I am pulled into his warm embrace. Massimo’s heavy hand pressed into my lower back, holding me against his ridged muscles.

“Don’t lie to me,” Massimo growls in frustration, his voice colder than usual, and I stiffen in response, trying to put some distance between us.

“Let go of me, Massimo.” I demand, “Why are you even here? Why are we even doing this?”

“Because I fucking want to.” He snaps, “And nobody else will ever have you. I can’t do what you want me to do because when I take you to my bed, I am going to lose myself in every inch of you. I am going to show you how good it feels to be fucked and worshipped by a man, and I won’t stop until all you can think, feel, and remember is me.”

My breath hitches, and I open and shut my mouth several times, trying to think of what to say next.

Did he just say that nobody else will ever have me? What does that even mean?

The elevator dings, and Massimo pulls me into it.

“Wait! What do you mean nobody else will ever have me?”

Chapter 23

Massimo

I bit my tongue before I could say the words ‘you’re mine.’ Though the damage was done with that little slip, as much as I keep dodging her pestering question, I can see her frustration with me brewing deep in her bones. She wants answers that I can’t give her yet, not until I know she won’t run or fear me, and the look she gave me when the possessive thoughts tried to pry their way out of me was all I needed to know that she isn’t ready to hear the truth. Even if her needy little face and body are screaming for it.

Soft Italian music plays in the background as we sit at one of the pink and white artesian tables. Mila licks her Stracciatella ice cream from the waffle cone she wanted while I slowly spoon my Amaretto out of the bowl, enjoying the view of her pink tongue collecting the white cream. The only thing that stops me from making the flirty comment on the tip of my tongue is the look of pure joy shining in her cerulean irises. My chest swells and puffs knowing that it was this small action of buying her gelato at one in the morning to put it there.

“I haven’t had ice cream in years,” Mila notes, taking another big lick, barely coming up from her cone long enough to form the full thought.

I watch her for a moment, playing around with the gelato slowly melting in my bowl, “Years? Why?”

If she looks this blissful having gelato, why would she avoid it for so long?