Page 44 of Isle of Seduction
I reluctantly let go of my fake anger as I devour the meal in front of me. Green beans in butter, lentils in coconut milk with warm spices, the flavours melting on my tongue and all the while, Andrea watches me.
“What?”
“Don’t fight me on everything, guerrieritta, I just love watching you. You’re so unguarded when you eat what I make for you, it’s mesmerising.”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“Maybe. Welcome to my isle of seduction, sweetheart. I won’t stop until you fall for me.”
“That won’t happen.”
“It’s already happening,” he says, while caressing my cheek with his thumb. The gesture is reverent and sends a delicious shiver down my spine.
NINETEEN
FUCKING JEANS
“Cara mia, come sit down with me.” She hesitates. “Please.”
She faces me, one leg bent under herself and the other foot planted on the ground as if she wants to make sure she can run. I sigh and bend down, taking hold of it and placing it firmly on my lap.
“What are you…” Her voice turns into a moan when I press my thumb deep into the arch of her foot. The sound goes straight to my cock. I swallow back a groan and focus on her.
“This push and pull shit we’re doing. It’s not working.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m not doing any pulling, I’m only pushing you away, but you keep being an ass. You’re more sticky than cum, seriously.”
She means it as an insult, I’m sure, but I burst out laughing, the sound falling freely from my lips and it’s so freeing, so addictive, I know I’m never gonna let her go. If she can pull that sound from me when no one else has in ten years, she’s more than my wife. More than my Queen.
“Guerrieritta,” my voice holds a false warning. Yet, she needs to know I won’t tolerate lies. “You can’t act all jealous, then tell me you don’t want me when I know what you taste like and how beautiful you look when you come.”
Just like I expected, when put in front of her own idiosyncrasies, she prepares for battle. Her face heats, and she tries to pry her foot off of my hands, but I don’t let her.
“Your no sex rule isn’t working, Giulia.”
Like magic, her name stops her wiggling and shuffling.
“I want you and you can deny it all you want, call it pretend all you want, but you want me too.” I pull her soft body flush against mine, setting her on my lap to straddle me before I take her face in my hands. “When I married you, I needed a wife for my image. But you’re no trophy wife. You’re Giulia fucking Moretti, and we fucking work together.”
“We don’t,” she scoffs. “You piss the hell out of me at every turn and I respond in kind.”
“That’s because no one has ever challenged like you do, guerrieritta. Your blood runs hotter than mine and that gives me life. You’re right, I piss you off on purpose at every turn, because when you react, you prove to me you’re not indifferent. I matter to you.”
“I…” Her mouth opens softly, shocked into silence.
A first.
Her hands rest on my chest and I’m sure she can feel my heart pumping too fast against her fingers. I just admitted I’m like a kid in kindergarten pulling the pigtails of the girls he likes just so she’ll give him any reaction because it’s better than nothing. She’s stunned into silence, but I refrain from asking for more; I’m already demanding everything of her and I know she isn’t ready.
“Andrea, I’m temporary.” Her green eyes lock on mine with vulnerability for the first time. It’s like looking out the window the morning of the first winter snow. Breathtaking. The force of her words register and I want to beat the fucker who put that idea in her head. We might have a contract that says this is temporary, but contracts are meant to be renegotiated and right now, I want more.
“Work with me, and let me be your husband. In truth.” She knows I’m not only asking for her body.
“Andrea.” My name rolls off her tongue like the most beautiful sound. “You and I are not meant to be happy together. You’ll get bored and discard me and like I’ve always done, my entire life, I’ll end up having to fight for you, for your attention and your l…” She stops before she can say the word that’s on the tip of her tongue. “I don’t want to be used and discarded.”
“Is that what you really think of me?”
She stands like she needs the distance but she doesn’t leave the room, which I’m going to call fucking victory because Giulia doesn’t do emotions, she only fights or flees.