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He smiles, and it distracts me. Luca’s smiles are things of beauty; his handsome features transform into something even more heart-bustingly gorgeous. With that one second of distraction, he has me cornered—lifting me from my feet and physically pinning me against the wall. He crushes his much bigger body into mine and holds my wrists up over my head. His eyes are flaring red and silver, and his mouth is inches away from mine. Despite everything, a flush of desire floods through me, and when he grinds his hard cock against me, I know he feels the same. He kisses my neck, nibbles my ear, soft and gentle and glorious.

“You’re not listening to me, angelo mio. I said you weren’t going anywhere. And right now, I don’t think you want to. You’re wet for me, Rosa. Your pussy is already trembling in anticipation of me fucking you. Your nipples are so hard I can feel them through your clothes. Your pulse is racing, and your heart … your heart is beating faster than ever. You say you’re leaving? They’re just words. Your body tells a different story.”

Damn him, he’s right. He increases the pressure on my wrists. It hurts in exactly the best way. The way he knows makes me throb with need. I groan, lean my head back as he trails hot kisses over my jaw and my throat, reducing me to rubble with his lips and his tongue and the slightest scrape of his teeth. All I want is for him to be inside me in every possible way.

“No,” I manage to murmur, trying to pull my hands free. This is a game, surely? He wouldn’t really hurt me or keep me against my will. Would he? “No, Luca, please … I have to go.”

He licks the pulsating vein in my neck, the sensation so exquisite that my knees actually buckle. “I already told you no. If you keep arguing with me, I’m going to take you downstairs and chain you up. Put manacles on your wrists and hoist you up so you’re dangling in front of me. Weak, exposed. Desperate for me to bite you, to spank you, to fuck you. To use my toys on you. To make you come harder than you’ve ever come before.”

“No …” I mutter, but even to my own ears it sounds more like “please.” The image takes hold in my mind, and I’m on the verge of orgasm just from thinking about it. Do I want to be chained up and railed by Luca? Damn yes, I really do. It speaks to that part of me that trusts him with every cell in my body, every beat of my heart. He has tied me up before, dominated me, possessed me. It has always been divine. Now he’s planted all these new ideas, all these new pictures, and I want them desperately.

“I can hear your heart, Rosa. I can tell how turned on you are right now. My naughty little girl, so much longing, so wet … so in need of punishment …”

He keeps hold of my wrists with one hand and plunges the other inside my pants. He knows exactly what he’s doing, pushing aside the soaked fabric of my panties, burying two of his fingers inside me. His thumb rubs my clit, and within seconds he has me exploding, shattering, screaming his name as I ride wave after wave of pleasure. He growls, spins me around, and bends me over so my hands are flat on the wall and my ass is leaning out towards him. My pants are torn away, and he slams his huge cock inside my still-quivering pussy. It’s not a gentle thing. It’s not elegant. It’s basic. It’s animalistic. It’s absolutely fucking perfect.

He bites me as he drives into me, and I come again the second his teeth tear my flesh. His hands are holding my hips, and he’s moving so fast I can barely breathe, all his vampire speed and strength pouring into that one ferocious fuck. He bellows as he comes, one final thrust deep inside me. Both spent, we fall to the floor, him scooping me into his arms to protect me from harm. Holding me there, on his lap, tenderly sucking at the wound on my neck to seal it. He strokes my hair, and I settle in against him. I have never felt so safe with anybody as I do with this man. Luca has showed me more love and kindness than anyone else in my adult life, and I adore him for it. He pretends he is a monster, but he’s not. He’s perfect, the other half of my heart.

And I still need to leave him.

He kisses my hair, and I slide my fingers beneath his shirt, glorying in the feel of all that muscle. All that Luca.

“You know I still have to go,” I tell him quietly.

He sighs, some of his earlier rage slaked by the sex. I know it wasn’t just anger anyway—it was hurt. It was pain. It was the fear of losing me.

“I don’t see why,” he replies, tightening his hold on me. “There were no sparks that time.”

I gaze up at him, eyes wide, pretending to be shocked. “What? No sparks? That was some world-class orgasming right there.”

He shakes his head and gives me half a grin. “You know what I mean, bella.”

“Yes. I do. But in some ways, that’s even more confusing. If it was predictable, it would be better. If I knew the circumstances where it might happen, I could work around it. But it’s not. It doesn’t happen every time we have sex, but it does sometimes. I think it’s more likely when I’m angry and upset, maybe tired out? Given my life circumstances, there’s usually a lot of sex and anger and upset. I just don’t know, and I hate not knowing. It’s dangerous.”

“I can handle a little danger, Rosa.”

“Maybe you can, big guy, but maybe I can’t. Not this kind of danger. I can’t imagine a world where I finally find you, and then accidentally destroy you. Plus, I have no clue if it’s going to change, stay the same, disappear, start to be triggered by other things. What if it evolves and gets even more unexpected? What if it happens when I see a rainbow, or eat a donut, or when Moonface licks my face … fuck, I could set Moonface on fire. That would be way worse.”

He laughs, his body shaking with amusement. “Setting the dog on fire would be worse than killing me?”

I look up, giving him a “doh!” look. “Of course! But you get my point, Luca. You must get my point. I know you look like a Neanderthal, but you have a brain in there somewhere.”

I’m trying to make light of it. Trying to joke. It’s been a defense mechanism of mine for years, ever since my grandfather first whipped me with his belt. I couldn’t beat him physically, so I chose another way to get my revenge—through wisecracks, rebellion, swearing. Getting under his skin, one word at a time, until I was old enough and strong enough to make it clear he would never lay another hand on me, not if he wanted to keep his hands.

Luca knows this about me. Sometimes it tickles him, sometimes it infuriates him. But now, it just seems to be making him sad.

“Where were you running to, Rosa? Back to Chicago?”

“Initially, yeah. But then I thought I’d maybe go with Minnie and talk to Bruno Lombardi. She’s right; if anyone can help figure it out, it’s him. Assuming he’ll help us. I think he will. Plus, I’m still kind of curious about where our runaway spell went and if there’s any connection. Too many questions and not enough answers. I need to do this, but I’m worried. Not just about leaving you but also Donatella.”

“What do you mean?” he asks.

I pause, letting him figure it out.

“Ah. I see. The stupid game your asshat of a grandfather has unleashed upon the world. The others must have been killing with some stealth, but the Goliath incident was so big, it triggered a Call. It won’t be the last if Pietro is right. You’re scared of leaving her to deal with it alone.”

I nod, snuggle in against him, burying my head and inhaling the perfect scent of him. I wish the whole world would just go away and leave us alone for a while. I want a long lie-in, and Sunday brunch with the newspapers, and a couples massage, and a getaway to a romantic inn in Vermont. Normal stuff. Except we’re not normal, and we never will be.

“Pietro is right, my gut tells me. Those teams were racking up the kills, and it’s going to get worse. This isn’t a great time for me to go on vacay. I was going to talk to you about it all, once I’d … um …”