Page 19 of Savage Proposal

I had no doubt he would.

CHAPTER 12

Isabella

Lorenzo hadn’t worn a condom. I couldn’t believe I would do anything so irresponsible as to let him fuck me bare. I spent the rest of the afternoon curled up on my fresh sheets—changed while I was in the shower, just like Lorenzo had promised—angry at myself and at Lorenzo.

I tried reminding myself that Lorenzo and I were planning on making a baby anyway, but surrogacy happened in a doctor’s office. It was clinical and impersonal. It didn’t involve Lorenzo calling me beautiful or bringing me the kind of pleasure I had only ever read about in shitty romance novels.

Having nothing to do didn’t help my spiraling thoughts. There were only so many laps I could make inside the house, and I wasn’t allowed outside, necessarily. I could probably have a guard shadow me if I wanted to be in the back garden, but I wasn’t feeling particularly in need of company at the moment.

At seven, Amalia called me down to dinner, and I wasn’t surprised to find that it would be just her and me for the evening. “Elio told me that they were working some things out with one of the minor families.”

I had no idea what that meant, but the image of Lorenzo beating that man with a pair of brass knuckles came to mind.He touched me with those hands. I shuddered. “I’m sorry you’re stuck with me,” I said.

Amalia chuckled. “I promise you, it’s no hardship. It’s nice to get a little girl time.”

“It must be hard being the only woman in the house,” I said.

“I was the only girl in a house with four brothers, both younger and older.” She looked at me and rolled her eyes. “Trust me, I’m used to it.”

I whistled. “That’s a big family.”

She snorted and took a dainty sip of her red wine. “You’re Italian, right?”

I nodded and shrugged at the same time. “My family isn’t really all that close. It was my dad and me for most of my life. My little sister is going to NYU, though, so I’m hoping to get to spend some time with her.” Not that it seemed likely to happen now.

Amalia’s smile was tight. She reached over and patted my hand. “I’m sure you’ll get to see her soon.”

Calling out her obvious lie wasn’t going to do anything besides make her mad, so I just smiled at her and murmured, “I hope so.”

We finished our dinner with little fanfare, and I shooed her out of the kitchen so I could clean up. Lorenzo’s kitchen was equipped with a state-of-the-art dishwasher, but instead of loading it, I filled the farmhouse sink with scalding water and soap.

While the dishes soaked, I packed up all of the leftovers, labeled them the way I had seen Amalia do, and put them into the refrigerator. I was elbows deep in the sink when I saw headlights out the window.

My heart kicked in my chest, but I kept scrubbing at the dishes, rinsing them, and putting them onto the drying rack. It only took a few moments for Damian and Elio to come through the back door. Elio paused when he saw me. “Where’s Amalia?”

“I sent her upstairs. I think she said something about getting in the tub.”

His smile became devious. “I think I’ll go check on her,” he said and winked at me, practically skipping from the kitchen.

I shook my head, chuckling. “He’s just a big kid, isn’t he?”

Damian, who had been reaching for the door to the refrigerator, paused and looked at me. “You’re talking to me?”

“Am I not allowed?”

“It would be best if you didn’t,” he said with a shrug and went back to finding dinner for himself. Once he found what he wanted, he took it with him out of the kitchen without looking my way.

My chest hurt. It wasn’t like I was invested in making any sort of lasting friendships here, but the next year of my life would be a hell of a lot easier if I couldtalkto people. “You could just put the dishes in the dishwasher. I paid an arm and a leg for it for a reason.”

I looked over to the door. Lorenzo was standing there, dressed in the same clothes he wore this afternoon. He hadn’t even gotten undressed when he fucked me. All of my anger came rushingback to the surface, and I couldn’t turn away fast enough to hide my scowl.

“What’s your problem?”

I shook my head. “Nothing.” I felt Lorenzo come up behind me. He didn’t touch me, but I could feel his body heat pressing against my back. I expected him to say something, but he just stood there, happy to annoy the shit out of me, until I cracked. “You didn’t wear a condom earlier.”

There was a pause, and then: “Is that all?”

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