77

Carlo
Gesu, if it wasn’t so wrong, seeing Summer LaTorre on that stage would’ve been a wet dream come true. Her legs look impossibly long under the miniscule skirt, her breasts lush and ripe, pushed up by the tiny bikini top under her white blouse. This can’t be the same princess I sit across from on Sunday meals at her father’s house.
She grips my shirt, her beautiful copper-flecked eyes bright with tears. “You can’t tell him. Please don’t tell him.”
If she had any idea how much her tearful begging turns me on, she’d run back for the protection of that jackass bouncer in a heartbeat. Or she should, anyway.
I force myself to ignore my growing hard-on. Her skimpy outfit doesn’t help matters. But then, I’ve always had a difficult time keeping my thoughts pure when it comes to Summer LaTorre. Gesu, when I saw her thrashing her hips around up on that stage…
But turned on or not, the fact that the don’s daughter is taking her clothes off for money concerns me. I suspect the reason behind it is even more unsettling than catching her in the act.
I cover her fists with my hands, resisting the urge to bring one to my lips to kiss. “Summer, you know where my loyalty lies. I can’t keep this from him.”
“Please, Carlo, you have to.”
Damn, she’s cute when she turns those puppy dog eyes on me. But no, I can’t let this go. “Listen, doll, what you were doing in there” -I jerk my thumb toward the strip club- “isn’t right. You need someone to straighten you the fuck out.”
Summer blinks rapidly.
“You’ve been a hot mess ever since you broke up with your douchebag boyfriend.”
Her eyes widen as if shocked that I noticed she hasn’t been herself for the past few months. Tears spill from her eyes and streak down her face, and I want to kill that douchebag a hundred times over for hurting her.
The damn bouncer stands in the doorway, watching us.
“I don’t want my dad to know. Please don’t tell him.” The puppy-dog eyes plead. “I quit, okay? You heard me quit, right? I won’t go back, I promise.”
I shake my head, steeling myself against the urge to give her anything and everything she asks for. Don Alberto would kill me for keeping something important like this from him. Hell, Don Alberto would kill me just for having seen his daughter practically nude.
Besides, Summer probably needs help. I have no judgement of strippers, but I know Summer well enough to suspect she’s looking for attention from the customers at a strip club to fill some void. Allowing her to keep going down this path of self-destruction won’t do her any favors. She needs someone to sort her out.
“I’m sorry, doll. You need guidance. If you ask me, someone needs to spank your ass to teach you a lesson in self-respect.” Okay, I don’t even know where that came from. It must be the Catholic school-girl outfit tweaking my inner dom.
Unbelievably, she gazes up at me with her big doe eyes and says, “Okay.”
I cock a brow. “Okay?”
She swallows. “You can do it.”
Why does she actually look hopeful about the prospect?
My cock surges against my pants, and my suit jacket suddenly feels too hot.
No. I can’t be considering it.
I stare at her, trying to deny the appeal of bending her over and lifting that minuscule plaid skirt of hers to deliver a spanking. “You want me to punish you?”
She nods.
I push her back against the car, pinning her supple body between the BMW and my larger frame. She releases my shirt, and I grasp her wrists, pulling them together, tucked against my chest.
She stops breathing. Her nipples protrude through her blouse, and her lush lips part.
Christ. I want to take that mouth, possess her glossy lips. Own her. Show her what attention from a real man feels like.
I force some self-control. Her father is the don. The man I owe everything to. I can’t degrade his daughter that way.
“No, cara mia. I can’t.”
Her face falls. “Why not?”
I picture her ass bared for me, my little princess to punish and protect. My gaze slides away, down the row of cars, and one corner of my mouth kicks up as I consider the truth.
“I’m afraid I would like it.” I look back down at her, and she flushes, eyes dilating. Her chest rises and falls, drawing my gaze down to her apple-sized breasts.
“You would like punishing me?” Her voice cracks.
I look her square in the face, let her see the sadistic bastard I am. What she’d get if she unleashed my desire. “Yeah.”
Damn, if she doesn’t look excited. Fuck, if she doesn’t push her abdomen back at my bulging cock, rocking her pelvis up. A low growl rises in my throat.
“I guess I’d prefer it that way.”
Oh, this was too. Fucking. Tempting.
She blinks those big doe eyes. “Look, you know this would kill my dad. He thinks of me as his perfect little princess. His good girl. The one who’s going to marry a lawyer or be a congressman’s wife. Not only would it destroy him to know about this, but he’d be sick about the fact that you and… um…”
“Sonny.” I supply the name of my soldier.
“Yeah, that you and Sonny saw me. That would really piss him off.”
She’s absolutely right about that. I put a finger under her chin. “Summer, I’m not kidding around about punishing you. It wouldn’t be a game.”
It’s the only way I can justify it. That I’m actually trying to straighten her out, not perv on the don’s daughter by enacting every kinky fantasy I’ve ever had about her.
She sucks on her lower lip. “Okay.”
Gesu Cristo. I stroke her cheek with my thumb. I’ve never touched her this way before, even though I’ve always considered Summer to be mine-someday. As underboss to the LaTorre family business at the tender age of twenty-seven, I stand to inherit the kingdom-and that means I get the princess. At least in my mind. I’m pretty sure Don Alberto sees it differently, though.
“Please, Carlo?” Her voice sounds hoarse.
My breath stalls. When it starts again, my heart’s taken off at a gallop. “You’re giving yourself to me? For my correction?”
Does she have any idea what she’s getting herself into?
She sucks on her lip again and nods. “Yes.”
I look skyward. I should tell her no. This won’t work. A) Don Alberto will kill me. B) Don Alberto will kill me again, and C) If I go home with her, I’ll never want to leave.
But I’m already touching her. Her scent fills my nostrils, the warmth of her soft flesh ignites every cell in my body. I don’t want to tell her no. I don’t want to take her to Don Al and Carmen and tell them what I saw tonight, to bring hurt and disappointment to the couple who’ve become my new family. And now that I can practically taste Summer, I sure as hell don’t want to give up this window of opportunity.
Cogliere l’attimo. Seize the moment.
I blow out my breath. Releasing her wrists, I step back and open her car door. When she turns to get in, I gave her delicious ass a smack.
I climb in the driver’s side and adjust the seat back as far as it goes to make room for my long legs. “You’re going to get me killed.”
She unbuckles her high heels and toes them off. “Guess I’ll have to make it worth it.”