Arianna’s POV
“I can’t assure you that there won’t be guns but I will be there with you. I won’t leave you for one second,” he said.
My heart was racing and I found it hard to breathe. It felt like he was asking me to sacrifice my life. I was going to die.
He was with me the last time and look what happened. I still got kidnapped.
What was the assurance that it wouldn’t happen again and maybe this time I wouldn’t even be lucky?
I felt his arms around me as my legs grew weak. There was an emotion I couldn’t place a finger on in his eyes.
“If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to. But I don’t want to leave you here instead,” he whispered as he stared into my eyes.
I felt an invisible force weave itself around us. It brought my soul closer to his and all he said were like the words from a divine being.
“It isn’t safe for you to stay in here alone at the moment. Nadia and Eleana are not mentally stable because of what happened to Sara. I don’t want them to harm you in any way,” he added.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and my body eased off as I settled into him.
There was truth in what he was saying. I couldn’t stay in the house alone but it wasn’t because of Nadia and Eleana. I was certain they would come back to their senses as soon as their grief was over.
It wasn’t like they really liked Sara anyway.
“When is the party?” I asked him as I pulled slightly away from him.
“In a few weeks,” he said.
I shrugged at his response. If the party was a long way ahead then I had nothing to worry about. They would have gotten over the incident. Besides I had more chances of survival staying in the mansion and fighting with Nadia and Eleana than going out there where they had guns.
I cleared my throat and looked at him. “I am sorry Gabriele, I will try my chances with the girls,” I said. He was quiet yet his eyes said a thousand things.
“Okay, I will give you time to a thing,” he suddenly breathed out and I narrowed my eyes at him.
What was he trying to play at now? I had to carefully think about my response before relaying it out to him. This might have been a trap for all I knew.
“Okay,” I mumbled and made to move away from him but he pulled me back.
My body crashed into his and as my eyes collided with his, I was pulled into another trance. We were in a little bubble again and all that was left was just us.
The conversation we just had was long gone and my body and mind were only aware of his…
“You know how much you drive me crazy?” he whispered and I let out a soft gasp.
He moved his finger from my arm and slowly targeted my collarbone and chest. They brushed slightly on my skin in circular feather-like motions. My body shivered as I failed to control the pleasure his actions were building in the pit of my stomach.
He pulled me even closer and his lips moved to my ear. He let a soft breath leave his mouth and fan against my ear causing my toes to curl as the sensitivity felt like the first bite of the most delicious ice cream cone.
“Let me make you feel good, Arianna… I promise you won’t regret it,” he whispered hoarsely into my ear.
This was temptation and he knew it. –Saying no was the best thing to do but it wasn’t so hard to muster the strength to say it. My lips parted and I made to speak but Gabriele found this very moment as the right one to pull my earlobe into his warm mouth.
“Hmmm,” I moaned as a sweet wave passed through my spine.
It would have been so easy to give in. Gabriele was so handsome. He had the touches of a devil yet the gentleness of an angel. –I wanted so much to give to him. But I knew that was my hormone thinking for me.
I had to be strong.
I pushed him away but my fingers were like tickle brushes against his hard chest. He imprisoned them in his large palm and his free hand moved to cup my traitorous breast.
I tried to keep the moan that was building deep down in my throat. I bit down on my bottom lip and tried to control my hormones as my sensitive nipples continued getting caressed and massaged through the light material I wore.
“Hmmm,” I moaned out.
“You don’t have to think about anything Arianna… I am here and no one will even know a thing…” he whispered as his fingers somehow found their way into my shirt.
I tried to squirm my hands out of his grip but the action only made my face move upward till he got my eyes as well. He stared at my lips and then back to my face again.
I was already getting turned on, if I let him kiss me, it would be the end of everything. I would definitely give in to him.
I closed my eyes and looked down at my encaged hands. Gabriele was no gentle man. He was a mafia king and he was dangerous. I couldn’t have anything to do with him.
What I had to do was find whoever had sold me to him and then I would plan another escape.
With one final push, I stepped away from him. “I am sorry, Gabriele. But I am not ready yet,” I whispered staring up at him from under my lashes.
His veins were already gathered at his temples and I could catch a glimpse of his little man already pushing against his zipper.
This must have been painful for him, I thought.
There was no way I would fall for his trick.
“I should go prepare for bed,” I said trying to run from him. Anywhere but here…
“Fine,” he breathed and dropped unto the chair.
I rushed to the shower, not because I necessarily needed to bathe, I just needed a place where I could take a deep breath without seeing Gabriele’s dangerously alluring eyes.
I took off my clothes and took a long shower. Making sure I spent enough time in the shower so that Gabriele would go bored and leave –at least for now.
After the shower, I dressed and came to lean on the door to verify if he was still there. The air within the room sounded calm –he was gone.
With relief in my heart, I pulled the door opened and stepped out. But the smile on my face systematically died down as I saw him still on the same chair gazing at me.
“That was very long,” he whispered with a smirk on his face.
“Yeah,” I replied awkwardly.
Silence filled the room and it wasn’t the comfortable kind. There was something on his mind and mine was already overflowing. It was best we let it out.
If I was going to continue spending the night here, then it was best I told him was I wanted.
“Gabriele,” I started with a small voice.
He raised his head and looked at me with all seriousness. “I have a proposition to make,” I said.
A grin morphed on his face and he said, “You have limited choices in this place princess. But tickle my fancy and tell me. What do you want?”
I had to be very diplomatic with my next line so that he would buy it. Gabriele was a very smart man, if I wanted to play him, I had to become even smarter.
“Since I will be sharing this room with you for a longer time… I wanted us to stop teasing one another…” I let out.
It was becoming impossible to resist him each and every time. I couldn’t go on like this.
“Are you scared you will give in?” he asked me and all I wanted to do at that instance was wipe off the satisfactory grin on his face but I remembered that I was playing the obedient card, couldn’t break character and slap him.
“I am not scared Gabriele!” I snapped as my anger took control of me.
His head corked to the side and I quickly corrected the projection of our conversation to save my acting.
This was probably the hardest thing I would have to do but it was for a good cause. I could control my heart and emotions when he wasn’t touching me. But the moment he did, I was under his mercy. I couldn’t resist him no matter how hard I tried.
And if he didn’t stop, it was only a matter of days before his wishes got fulfilled.
“I am not scared because I will be spending the rest of my life here… it is only normal I learn to open up to you…” I whispered.
“So what do you want then?” he asked.
“I want us to be friends.”