Page 10 of Engaged to the Don

I feel my breathing speed up and warmth tingle between my legs. “I…I just came by to talk about last night,” I stutter. Christian doesn’t seem the slightest bit nervous as he stands dangerously close to me without any clothes on. It’s almost as if he’s reading my mind and is showing me exactly what I wanted to see.

“Have you come to a decision?” he asks, getting right to the point.

“Well…not exactly,” I stall. Should I admit that I just came here because I felt insanely attracted to him and wanted to kiss him again, even though I don’t feel ready to give him a final answer yet? “I liked the cassata cake,” I say, attempting to change the subject.

“I’ve never met a man like you, Christian.”

Christian moves closer to me and grabs both of my hands, placing them on his bare chest and my heart starts racing. “Come find out who I am, Lara.” I suck in a quick breath and feel my thighs tremble as he leans in and brushes his lips across my ear. “Sei molto bella.”

“Voglio fare l’amore con te,” I whisper.

His hand teases me as it lingers at the top button of my jeans before dragging the zipper down slowly and dipping his hand into my panties. He glides his fingers down my slit and my legs instinctively part for him. His lips are on my neck and I can’t help that a moan escapes when his finger slides into me. I’m already wet for him as he moves in and out, sliding deeper until his thumb begins to circle my clit. My eyes flutter and I brace myself against his chest with my hands as waves of pleasure ripple through me. I bite down on my bottom lip, trying not to come undone too quickly.

The moment escalates out of control as a heavy heat swells between us and I urge my body against his, wanting to feel the hardening desire growing within him. I don’t know what I’m doing. Everything is a cataclysmic disaster of uncertainty right now, and with things falling down all around us, I should be stopping myself from giving in to the man who very well could wind up being the man I’m chained to in an arranged marriage. But instead, all I can think about Christian in this moment is how much I want him.

Dangerous man or not, I don’t care, my fingers trail down his torso to that perfectly chiseled spot just above his towel that I first laid witness to when he answered the door without a shirt on. Whatever this is between us, it’s come on strong and fast. I can feel my better judgment swimming away in a sea of torrid thoughts.

As if he can read my mind, Christian lifts me up and carries me over to the bed, laying me down and climbing over me in a single sweeping motion that makes the space between my thighs start to throb. After tossing my jeans and panties to the floor, his fingers work to unbutton my top before returning to circle my clit while plunging two fingers in and out of me in a hypnotizing rhythm. While his hands work their magic, his lips move from my neck down to my black lace bra. He uses his teeth to peel the lace down and expose my nipples, which he begins to suck and flick with his tongue. I arch my back, urging him on as adrenaline crashes through my body. “Oh, God,” I groan as I grasp the sheets so hard my knuckles turn white.

No man has ever possessedme like this. I’m desperate to have him inside me and my hands reach to pull off his towel as his weighty cock falls onto me. I open my legs and tip my hips forward to coax him inside. Accepting my invitation, he thrusts inside of me with a strength that makes my breath catch in my throat. He fills me completely and I’m stretched to ecstasy. He moves inside me with a steady, calculated rhythm and my orgasm builds quickly. He presses his mouth against mine and when I come, moisture spills over his cock and bolts of electricity shoot through me.

Before I come down from my high, Christian grabs my hips and flips me over. He grips my side and angles my body so that as he enters me, he hits areas deep inside that knock the breath out of me. He fucks me harder and harder until I clench around him with a second orgasm and when I cry out, he empties himself with a satisfied growl. I feel him pulsing inside me and the two of us remain frozen as if we don’t want his moment to end so soon. He finally withdraws and I feel him dripping down my thighs.

As I lay against his chest listening to his heartbeat fire off at a breaking pace, Christian says, “I don’t know what you’ve done to me. But somehow you’ve planted a seed inside my hollow chest, and I’ve rapidly grown feelings for you, Lara. To my own detriment, perhaps, I’ve become viciously protective over you.” I feel my own heart start to race at his words. We lay there quietly embracing each other until Christian announces that he has to head into the office. He gently slides out from under me and unwraps his arm from my shoulder as he gets out of the bed. Even just looking at him standing there naked, with his well-endowed cock hanging between his legs, makes me squirm with further desire. He reaches into the nearby dresser to grab his pants and pulls them up onto his hips—a shame.

“You can relax here in my room as long as you’d like,” he offers. “I’ll be back at 5:00 to take you out to dinner. I’m sure you have a lot of questions to ask so you can get to know the real me.” And with that, he winks at me and finishes getting dressed while I watch him intently until he leaves the room.

When the door closes, I pull the blanket over my head and let out a squeal of excitement. This man—thismonster—who I thought was dooming me to a life of further captivity and further witness to the violence that I have been around my entire life, is now the only thing I want.

10

CHRISTIAN

Pacing is not usually my thing but I have too much pent-up energy and no place to channel it. The mounting stress I’m under, due to the rising escalation with the Hell’s Devils, and now with Valentino Ricci as well, is burning in my veins. I’m also filled with restless energy over my feelings for Lara.

Since I’ve given her twenty-four hours, and since my crew is keeping a close eye on the biker gang, which seems to be quiet at the moment and likely entrenched in strategizing their next move, I decide to do something unconventional. I avoid thinking about the mounting conflict and instead decide to surprise Lara with a romantic gesture before receiving her answer tonight. Being rich means having access to everything and anything at my disposal, includingtime. And she deserves to have a better engagement than the one she’s had. So I decide to buy her one.

I spend the rest of the day calling on the people I need to make this surprise happen—florists, culinary chefs, decorators, venue planners—everyone I can possibly pay huge amounts of money to in order to create something gorgeous by tonight. And since everyone in the city is afraid of what might happen to them if they were to disappoint me, by 3:00 pm everything is in place. I threaten all the vendors with a most certain death if they breathe a hint about my secret plan. And I trust only a small circle of friends to know about this intimate event in order to keep tight security on everything.

My people finish up the last-minute touches on the coming party, so I go off to ensure that my crew is still successfully keeping the Hell’s Devils at bay. I’m working off of little sleep, yet I have high energy. Assuming that Lara says yes, I then plan to deal with the biker gang right after our wedding is over. It’s not a matter that can wait too much longer, since I expect that Roman and his gang will soon make a move. He won’t let the violent rampage I unleashed inside his headquarters go unpunished. Or, he can try, at least.

I’ve got just enough time to get back to the house to freshen up for the most important dinner date of my life. I’m confident the intimate moments we shared in my bedroom this morning can make her forget about my awkward interaction with her in the kitchen at breakfast. I was feeling so vulnerable last night when I shared my growing feelings for her, that when she said she needed time to think about my proposal, I immediately felt my walls go up. This is why I never pursued any relationships seriously in the past. Until now, I’ve successfully avoided thinking about marriage and the future with anyone, because falling in love and getting your heart broken is a distraction acapodoesn’t have time for. I know that some of the othercaposlike Malacoda Giotti have gotten married but it seems that after the honeymoon is over and a few babies are born, they start taking mistresses and things begin to sour. I guess that familiar mafia tradition of marriage, kids, then mistress is how thecaposkeep the fairytale of true love from distracting them. Having a mistress after marriage never appealed to me, so I’ve ignored the whole mafia marriage track altogether. I’m determined to always have my head on straight despite my feelings for Lara.

Just as I reach to open my car door, I’m apprehended.Roman.I had just unlocked my Audi when Roman and two of his goons jumped me from behind. Normally, I would’ve been ready, but I’ve been too distracted and my head has been in the clouds all morning. I wasn’t even aware of my surroundings, which is the exact thing I was just warning myself about before I was ambushed, a basic and epic failure on my part. I don’t relish having to admit to Matteo later how I let a biker sneak up on me in a parking garage. He’s likely to chastise me about it for the rest of my days.

The two men he has with him aren’t much bigger than me, but they’re able to grab me from behind and twist my arms behind my back at an unnatural angle that I’m fairly certain has dislocated my shoulder. When Roman stands in front of me, he grins with his crooked smile and missing tooth, then pulls his hand out from his pocket, brandishing iron knuckles that he swiftly pounds into the side of my gut. Kidney shots are theworst. They instantly immobilize you and can even cause death if the perpetrator does it right. Fortunately, Roman isn’t as skilled a fighter as he is a thug. It still hurts like hell, though.

The beating lasts a solid few minutes, with his two biker cronies holding me down and Roman getting in his hits. I mentally chalk up the cuts and bruises. All things I can handle as long as he doesn’t pull out a gun or a knife to gut me. After a while, when I can no longer even raise myself up to my knees, they finally walk off, Roman once again managing to get away. He’s like a slippery newt I want to squash beneath my shoe.

I’m pretty banged up and badly wounded when I get back to my apartment, only to find that this hadn’t been a random jump in the parking garage, but part of a carefully planned two-pronged attack. I had almost forgotten they have allies now, and the Ricci crime family attacked my place while I had been getting the shit beat out of me across town. Instantly, I fly into survival mode and search for Lara, racing up to her bedroom and trying not to think about what I might find there. But the room is empty, and she isn’t there. I run back down to the kitchen. Ester had texted me when she saw Lara up and about, so maybe the two of them had been sharing another pot of tea when the attack happened. My stomach churns when I see a pool of blood seeping out from the kitchen corner. “Ester, no!” I cry out when I see the lifeless woman slumped against the corner with her neck slit open. There is blood everywhere, and Ester’s hollow frozen eyes stare back at me, unmoving.

I’m outraged that anyone could do this to a kindly, elderly woman, and feel a fury like none I’ve ever experienced. But this is what men like Roman and I do—we kill, and we exact vengeance. My beloved housekeeper is nothing more than collateral damage in this fight, and for that, I vow to make Roman pay with more than just his life. I will make himsufferfor this. I sweep my fingers over Ester’s face to close her eyes, and I plant a last kiss on her forehead. She was a good woman, and she will be sorely missed. I will avenge her. When I stand up, my heart is pounding inside my chest, and adrenaline blocks out the pain of my injuries. If anything has happened to Lara, I swear to God I’ll—

“Christian!” Loreto calls out as he and Rex run toward me. Matteo is right behind them with his hand holding onto Lara’s arm. “We managed to keep Lara safe, but they killed Ester and a few other members of the staff. My father was here, with Roman’s gang.”

“What the hell happened to you?” Matteo asks as he steps around Rex to look at me. “You look like you’ve been beaten within an inch of your life.”

“Yeah, that’s accurate,” I say. Rage permeates every inch of my voice. “Roman got the jump on me as I was headed back here. He set this all up.” I pause in silent fury for a moment. “I’m going to make him regret ever doing any of this.”

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