Modern Romance Collection: February 2018 Books 5 - 8. Kelly HunterЧитать онлайн книгу.
for an old man, si? I will go rest now.”
* * *
Who I found to look after you...
The words left a chill on Pia’s skin. There was something so very wrong with it but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
The moment Giovanni’s silver head disappeared behind the doors of the house, she jerked away from Raphael.
Just when she was beginning to accept that she wanted a relationship with Raphael, the idea of marrying him, the idea of being his equal, his lover, his wife sent her into a swirl of panic.
“Pia, wait.”
“No, Raphael. I need to—”
She tried to slip away, but he captured her wrist and tugged her closer. Her legs tangled with his, her chest rasping against his. The man had the most beautiful black eyes. And when they focused on her like that, she was afraid she would melt from within. That she wouldn’t be able to refuse whatever he commanded of her in that arrogant tone.
“Let me explain, cara mia. You will—”
Chest rising and falling, Pia faced him. “Don’t call me that.”
His fingers crawled to her bare arm, the length of them wrapping around it. “I will call you whatever the hell I please.”
There was a possessive intensity to his words that shivered over her skin. He wasn’t mocking her now and something clearly had upset him too. Not that he would ever admit to it. “But I’m not yours to call whatever the hell you please,” she countered softly, staring into his eyes.
They flared infinitesimally, and Pia felt a surge of satisfaction amidst the panic. Did he really think she had no spine? “I didn’t protest in front of Gio because I didn’t want to upset him. Because I tried to understand that he called your honor into question. Clearly there’s something going on between you two.”
Inscrutability again. What were Gio and Raphael planning that she wasn’t supposed to know? She hoped it wasn’t another protective measure. “I’ve never seen you so upset before.”
She fisted and unfisted her hands. “I hate lies. I hate deception of any kind and it is my grandfather we’re deceiving.”
“It’s only deception if it’s not true.”
She flinched and stopped her frantic pacing. But he wasn’t joking. Dear God, he looked absolutely serious! “I’ve not agreed to marry you. And I don’t remember you asking me. So of course it isn’t true, and ergo it is deception.”
“If the lack of a proper proposal upsets you...?”
A hysterical laugh fell from her mouth while he stared at her with an inscrutable expression. “Stop saying I’m upset. I’m not upset. I’m just stating for the record that we don’t even have a relationship.”
“No?” His fingers clasped her bare arm and her breath fell out of rhythm instantly. “So you go around sleeping with men for the fun of it?”
“There’s nothing wrong with sleeping with a man for the fun of it. Sex should be fun and positive and tender and breath-stealing, shouldn’t it?”
A wicked gleam danced in his eyes. “I am pleased to have left you with such good impressions, bella. I agree that sex should be fun and positive and should be had whenever one wants to.” Heat arced between them, his fingers crawling into her nape. A sultry invitation glimmered in his eyes.
On a soft whimper, Pia closed her eyes. Images of their long, sweaty limbs tangled in gray sheets, the sinuous whispers of their skin sliding over each other, Raphael moving inside her like music—the sensations inundated her.
“But we’re not discussing the sexual mores of twenty-first-century women, are we? We’re discussing you, Pia. I know that what happened the other night is not a small thing for you.”
“No. But one night’s incredible sex is not the basis for marriage either. You could have told Nonno that we’re just...we’re just...”
“Whether now or in a few months’ time, we have to face this question, Pia.”
“Maybe so. But you said you didn’t want a relationship with a woman, much less to marry one.”
“You think I took you to bed, took your virginity, without being prepared for the consequences? Do you honestly think we could have a red-hot affair under Gio’s nose, and then go our separate ways? Turn the clock back to become polite acquaintances who have already shared lovers’ intimacies? Will you be perfectly all right when you see me with a new woman?”
“Yes.” She called his bluff while her heart thudded. “I’ll be fine. We should stop now. Before all those scenarios could become true. Before one of us gets hurt.”
Jaw clenched tight, he stood in front of her. “Is that right, bella mia? You have zero interest if I take another woman to my bed? If I push inside of her wet heat like I did with you, if I send her into ecstasy with my body and my fingers like I did you? If I—”
Pia cupped her hand over his mouth, unable to hear anymore. “I don’t know how one night of sex has transformed into this. We don’t suit each other. I’m not beautiful or sophisticated or any of the things that your other...your usual women are.
“And you...”
“And I what, Pia? Tell me how I do not suit you.”
“You don’t believe in love.”
“You thought you were in love with Frank.”
“You’ll never let me forget that mistake, will you? You think I’m a foolish idiot. Why would you even want me as a wife?”
“I do think you’re naive. But it is what attracts me to you. You’re unlike any woman I’ve ever known. You’re honest and open. You don’t care about external trappings. Just as you know you can trust me, I know I can trust you with myself and even with Alyssa. We burn when we come together and if you put love aside, you and I want the same things out of marriage.”
“Like what?”
“Fidelity, respect and lots of babies.”
“You truly want more children?”
“Yes. Especially if they’ll be nearsighted and smart and beautiful like you are.”
“I have to think about it. I need more time. I need...”
“Si?”
“I want to spend time with you.”
“I’m more than happy to do that.”
She blinked. “You are?”
“Si, Pia. Usually when a man is attracted to a woman, and he wants to do all sorts of deliciously wicked things to her, and is determined to persuade her to walk down the aisle to him, he wants to spend time with her. He wants to be the one who brings her favorite things, he wants to be the one who makes her cry out with pleasure, he wants to be the one who gives her babies...”
Pia threw herself at Raphael, glad that they were finally on the same page. “Although I don’t think we should sleep with each other again too soon.”
He looked thunderous. “What kind of a condition is that?”
“I go into this dreamy state where I can’t think logically when we make love. I...what I’m saying is...you have too much power in this relationship if we have sex.”
A hard, harsh laugh fell from his mouth. “You think you don’t have any?”
A vein pounded in his temple as she pulled him toward her. Joy blooming in her chest, she wrapped her arms around his waist, ran her hands over his muscled back and down. How she loved the way he felt in her hands. When she slipped her hands lower to his buttocks and tugged, his arousal grazed her belly. “Do you think I do?”