61

Stefano
I love the sound of Corey calling out my name just before she comes.
This time I’m the one who feels like crying afterward.
Not that I know what it is to cry. I had that urge beat out of me before I hit the ripe age of six. But my throat and face are tight with what can only be described as sorrow.
I’m wrung out. Maybe it’s guilt from the whipping I gave her. Maybe I can’t stand that she tried to leave me.
I rise slowly, barely fitting between the wall and Corey’s body. I cup her face. “What am I going to do with you?” I ask sadly.
She nuzzles her face against my hand. Her head’s lolling like her neck can’t work to hold it up.
I peer up at her hands and reach behind myself to pry the tape off. Then I tug her to a chair and pull her onto my lap. She comes willingly, leaning her head back on my shoulder as I caress her bare breasts, her inner thighs.
“Why did you leave, Corey?” I have to ask it. It’s fucking killing me. Is she still afraid of me? Does she really still think I’m going to kill her?
“I don’t know,” she sighs. “It’s just… too intense. I can’t stay here locked up with you like this. I’m losing myself.”
My heart stops beating. Then restarts at a jauntier pace. She isn’t afraid of me. She’s afraid of us.
Fuck, so am I, baby. So am I.
“I’m losing myself, too,” I admit, kissing her jaw, her slender neck. “But only cowards run.”
Corey chokes on a laugh and I smile, too.
“Come on, bambina. We’d better get something on your ass before you bruise. I know how delicate redheads are.”
I scoop her into my arms and carry her to the bedroom, where I arrange her on her belly. She’s docile as a child now, but a good whipping and orgasm will do that to a woman.
I search in my bathroom for a salve my cousin in Sicily made me and return.
Corey hasn’t moved. She lies prone with her face hidden in the bedspread. My heart shoots into my throat. Is she crying?
I stroke her hair back from her face, and my shoulders ease. Her expression is soft, relaxed. Almost blissful.
Thank fuck.
I take an ample amount of salve and rub it over the cane marks, working it into her skin.
“What is that?”
“It’s a salve I brought back from Sicily. Helps with bruising.”
“There’s a salve for bruising?”
“I got it from my cousin. She makes a salve for just about everything. She’s one of those natural healing types-you know, into essential oils and herbs.”
“And she gave it to you because you have a propensity for getting bruises or giving bruises?” Her dry question gets under my skin.
I screw the lid back on the salve and drop it onto the bed. “Why do you have to keep poking that wound, baby? You need to remind me I’m no good for you? That you’re better than me?”
“What? No.” She rolls over and props herself up on an elbow, a line folding between her brows.
“I know, I know. I’m the bad guy. I’m on the wrong side of the law and your father’s on the right side.”
Corey goes pale. “My dad definitely isn’t the good guy. Not by any means.” Her words come out rough.
I’m instantly sorry. She told me they weren’t on speaking terms. Now I’m the one poking wounds. I sink down beside her. “Yeah, neither is mine,” I admit.
To my surprise, her fingers seek out my hand and she curls them over it and squeezes. I stare down at our interlocked fingers. When’s the last time any woman offered me comfort? When’s the last time I let her?
Oh yeah, never.
But this woman’s different. Everything’s so raw between us. It’s the intensity she mentioned-why she had to bail.
But I’m not letting her.
My phone buzzes again and I almost lose patience with it. “What?” I snap.
“We have a situation down here,” Tony says in a low voice.
Fuck. What now?
I lean over and kiss Corey’s shoulder. “Tell me you’ll still be in my bed when I get back?”
I see the understanding flare in her eyes. I’m letting her go. Maybe it’s guilt over punishing her, maybe it’s that I want to reward her honesty. Or it’s just time; I don’t know.
She nods and I pull the covers back to help her in. I kiss her lips this time, softly. “Good. I’ll see you in the morning, then.”
“Yeah. See you.”
I start to leave, then turn back. “You need anything? Room service? A drink? Ibuprofen?”
“No, I’m going to sleep,” she says. “Come back soon.”
And that’s when I know I’m fucked. Because the little backflip my heart does at those words is nothing I’ve ever experienced before.
Corey
I hear Stefano come in around 4:00 a. m. but I fall right back to sleep. I wake later to him palming my breast, teasing the nipple as his cock lurches against my ass. I’m still naked from our escapades the night before. And of course, he never got off. I’m surprised he let me sleep this long.
I turn and push him to his back, then climb over him to straddle his waist. His eyes darken as his cock tents his boxer briefs. I free it, moisten the head with my tongue.
He groans. “I give you thirty seconds to tease. Then I’m going to flip you on your back and pound you into oblivion.”
My pussy clenches at the threat. “Oh yeah?” I slide my lips over his cock, taking him deeper as my fist works the base. His hips jack up and he thrusts into my mouth.
“Fuck, bambina. See what I mean?” He reaches for my head, and then, as if to keep himself from forcing me down on him, fists his hands in the air. Then he opens them and tears at his own hair instead.
I hum softly around his member, swirl my tongue on the underside as I pull out. A few drops of his salty essence rewards my efforts. I suck harder, hollowing my cheeks as I pull away.
Stefano growls and wraps a fist in my hair. “Fuck, yeah, baby. Take me deeper.”
I do. I take him as deep as I can go, slowing down so I don’t trigger my gag reflex.
“Bella, bella donna,” he croons.
His breathing grows short, he starts using my hair to tug me down over him faster, deeper, thrusting up at the same time. “Enough. Enough.” He pulls me off, his lip curling like the strain of holding back is killing him. “Roll over. Spread those legs.”
I lay on my belly and spread my legs wide. He swipes his fingers over my wetness and puts them in his mouth. “You taste so good, Corey.” He goes to the closet and returns with condoms and a bottle of lube. I didn’t think I needed lube, but I have to defer. Stefano is definitely a sex god. He must have some plan.
He snaps on a condom and pulls my hips up until I’m on my knees, then eases into me at the same time he reaches around and rubs my clit.
I push back to take him, shivering on a long inhale through my teeth.
Stefano stops, buried in me and plays with my nipples. “You good?”
“I’m good,” I moan, arching my back. “Go on.”
He chuckles and tweaks my nipple a bit harder before he grips my hips and uses me the way I was hoping he would. Deeper and deeper he thrusts, my hips on the perfect angle to take his full length.
I’m on a rocket ship headed for the moon when he squirts lube onto my anus and starts rubbing it in.
I gasp, trying to tuck my tail and pull away, but he won’t have it. With a few quick twists, he’s sunk his thumb into my ass. His other fingers splay across my back, and I’m owned completely. The twin sensations, double penetrations spin me out into hedonistic pleasure-total sensation, vulgar and satisfying.
I start making guttural vocalizations, panting into the bed, my eyes rolling back in my head.
He starts making tiny thrusts with his thumb that match the thrusts of his cock, locking me into surrender.
I can’t even speak to moan his name. I’m lost. Shattering, coming together. He rides me, handles me. His movements are sure and commanding.
“Uhn, uhn, uhn,” I moan with each brutal thrust.
“Take it, bella. Take it like a good girl.”
“Yes,” I gasp.
He pounds even harder.
I whine.
“Come now,” he roars and thrusts three more times before he thrusts deep and stays, pistoning his thumb in and out as my pussy grabs and releases his cock in quick bursts.
I sob with the release, utterly spent. The room spins, I can’t see a thing. Oh yeah, that’s because my eyes are closed and my face is in the sheets.
After a moment, awareness returns. Stefano returns from the bathroom with a washcloth, which he uses to clean me up.
Then he applies more salve on my ass and settles down beside me, kissing my shoulder.
* * *
Stefano
“Nico and your cousin come back today.”
I don’t know why I say it. I mean, I know she wants that information, which I got from Nico when he called late last night, but it’s a piss-poor moment to share it. But I feel the weight of what I’ve done to Corey settle too heavily on my shoulders.
I have to let her go today. Release her to her life. Keeping her prisoner forever wasn’t a solid plan.
“Yeah?” Corey pushes up on her forearm, her pretty breasts shifting to hang sideways. I cup the lower one and run my thumb over the nipple. Such sweet, perfect-sized breasts.
“I’m looking forward to meeting the woman who stole my brother’s heart.” There’s no lightness behind the words, even though it’s true. I’m trying to control the caveman part of me that’s stomping in a circle around my mind, demanding I tie her back up and never set her free.
I go for honestly.
“I want to keep you chained naked in my bedroom for the rest of my life, bella.”
“But?” She already knows what’s coming.
“But I’d prefer it be voluntary.”
Her lips twitch once and then stretch into a full smile. “It’s a bit late to ask for consent, my friend.”
“I know. But I want you to stay.”
She drops her gaze and I already know the answer she’ll give. “I gotta get back to my place.” She says it like she’s sorry, but the words fall flat. She doesn’t even offer up a reason, and I’m not going to push.
This is what she wants.
I purse my lips and nod. “I expect you back here at 8:00 p. m. for your shift.”
Wariness flickers over her expression. “Private game?”
“No. Casino floor. Where you want to be.”
I’m trying to give her something, but she only appears sad about it.
“I’ll be here,” she says, and pushes herself up to sit.
I sigh. “You can shower first. I’ll order room service. What do you want for breakfast?”
“Bacon and fruit. Too bad they don’t do Starbucks drinks for room service.”
“I can hook you up. What’s your drink?”
“Grande latte, hot?”
“You bet.” I get up and dial the front desk to send a bellhop over to the in-house Starbucks for me, then call room service. At least I can do this one small thing for her.
And she’s coming back.
In less than twelve hours she’ll be back in the Bellissimo. Calling me boss.
Things could be worse.