Bella Mafia Page 9

  “Leave her out of this.”

  Armando chuckled and scratched the side of his head with his index finger.

  “Nothing about this is funny,” she mumbled.

  “You took a ten-hour ferry ride to come here for safety. At least be honest about the reason why.”

  “I thought killing you would make me feel better. I feel dead inside. There’s no changing that.”

  “I promise if you stay you will feel plenty tonight.”

  She glanced around the room and rubbed her temples as if the action gave her power to think it through. He gave her silence and time to do just that.

  “What do you want for protection, Armando? Name the price, if I stay?”

  He waited until she turned her gaze his way. The look he gave her swept down her pretty form. And when his gaze met hers again she knew full well what he’d expect. He offered his hand. She considered everything in the pause between them. Then reconsidered it again. He could tell. Would she run out into the night with a gun and her shame? Or would she be his? Really his. Her hand lifted and reached for his. He brought it to his lips. “Don’t worry, piccoletta, I know what a privilege this night will be for me. I’ve waited a long time to have you. To really know you.”

  He took her hand and walked her out of the parlor. He should have told her that Marietta slept downstairs. He could have shared that Lorenzo was too, trapped behind his walls, and they were all a new happy family. He’d save that surprise for the morning. She walked up the stairs and down the hall to his room with her hand in his. He didn't feel her tug or pull away. There were no tears or sharp words from her tongue. She looked around his home as if she boarded a spaceship. Everything reflected in her eyes as odd or foreign to her.

  Armando opened his bedroom door. Catalina entered his private space. He doubted she did anything intentionally to stir his desires, but the sway of her hips that matched the drift of her hair across her shoulders, drew down the deepest carnal desires he had for her. He’d been in-tuned with every curve and sexy way of hers since he’d seen her married off to Franco. It was as if it happened overnight. Gone was the girl that tagged along with her red-haired whore of a mother. Now he saw the woman. God made her this way. All beauty and curves. A temptress, a woman with the proper cast and iron will to be worthy of a man like him. Not that pathetic puppy of a consigliere, Dominic, that Giovanni keeps on a leash.

  Catalina surveyed the room before she shrugged her purse off her shoulder. Something was going on in that pretty head of hers. He didn’t dare ask what. If she never spoke her distrust or even disgust for him, it would make the night more perfect. Secretly he was willing to pretend. She was here, and he’d seize every liberty given to him to make sure she stayed. She tossed her purse to the chair where he smoked his cigars. He closed the door and locked it. She glanced back at him and then the door.

  “I don’t want us to be disturbed,” he said.

  “Will this be my room?” she asked.

  “Every night. Yes. And that will be your bed. Our bed.”

  Catalina glanced to the wine. He could tell she wanted to be offered a glass. “I think we should stay away from wine tonight. I don’t want you to not feel anything.”

  Her gaze cut away. He picked up the remote and turned off his television. When he glanced over to her, she was unbuttoning her jean skirt and kicking off her thong sandals.

  Armando smiled. She would do her best to rob him of intimacy. Detach from her new reality. It wouldn’t work. He turned off the main light in his room. He decided to switch on the lamps closest to the bed. Catalina dropped her skirt. She pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it aside. She was in nothing more than her bra and panties. She went to the bed and eased in between the sheets, and drew the covers up. He walked over to her side of the bed and stared down at her. She didn't look his way. She stared up at the ceiling.

  “You’re on my side of the bed,” Armando said in a whisper. She glanced to him and frowned as if remembering he was in the room. She was a good actress. She scooted over. Armando lifted the blanket. He slowly dragged it down off her body and the bed.

  “We won’t need that. It’s pretty warm in here.”

  Catalina wanted revenge.

  Revenge was a strong motivation.

  Dominic would someday regret every cruel word he said to her. And Armando would pay with his life for shooting her brother. If it meant she’d have to give him her body to get the evidence needed to destroy him, so be it. However, the moment Armando led her up the stairs to his bedroom, she realized how stupid her plan for revenge was. The only person she punished now was herself. It was her soul, not Dominic's, that she bargained with. If she broke her special vow to Dominic, she broke it with the family. Franco’s murder didn't count. He wasn't a husband to her. The few times they did have sex she felt nothing, she remembered nothing. This would be different. She could never get Dominic back if she did this.

  “Having second thoughts, piccoletta?” Armando whispered with his gaze fastened to hers. And there she was, caught in one of those time-stood-still-while-my-life-flashed-before-my-eyes moments. Armando knew her sin. She could tell by the way he spoke of her lack of options earlier. By now the family must have found Rosetta's body. Dominic would soon figure out she killed her cousin. That only made her appear even more desperate. Mirabella would not forgive or pardon her for something so heinous. She would be labeled his whore, and the shame would sever everything pure between her and her brother.

  “It’s too late for second thoughts.” Catalina said.

  Armando opened his robe. He removed it and she decided to look away. But curiosity drew her gaze back within minutes. He smiled. He loosened the drawstring on his pajama pants. He let them drop. Next went his boxers. He was different from Dominic in every way. Dominic’s skin was pale gold as if licked by the god of the sun. Armando’s deep Sicilian tan was an even olive brown. Besides the tattoo of the gothic letter M over his heart, she saw so no other markings on him. And then he turned around.

  Catalina slowly sat up. She’d never seen anything more beautiful. A tattoo that spread from shoulder to shoulder down his back. It was of the Blessed Virgin Mary with her hands clasped together as if in prayer. Her veil and robe was intricately sketched and inked. There was a round halo circling her head. He turned and she also saw the scar, and she wondered if it was the one Giovanni gave him when he stabbed him back when they were kids.

  “The tattoo. On your back. Where did you get it?” she asked.

  “South America, during my stay down there.” Armando said.

  “You lived in South America?”

  He glanced at her. “I’ve lived in many countries. My father... I own several companies around the world. You like it?”

  She hadn’t realized she was smiling. She nodded and lay back against the pillows. He approached the bed again. Dominic had dark brown curly hair, and his pubes were curly too. Armando’s hair was jet-black and straight. Her gaze went to his manhood. Where Dominic was long rather than thick, Armando’s erection was a mixture of both. She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, aware of his desires, and terrified to acknowledge that she had her own.

  Dominic had taught her to love sex, to love her body. Nothing was forbidden between them. Except this. The act of sharing something as divinely special as making love with another person. How was she to go through with this? Could she?

  “Dio Bella... you are a sorceress,” he rasped. Their mouths met, fusing with a wildfire passion that was fierce and shockingly primitive. Her heart beat so fast she could barely swallow a breath before her lungs demanded another. The touch of his hand to her skin with intentional tenderness did calm her a bit. But her anxiety could not be managed under soft caresses alone. Nothing had prepared her for the bolt of searing hot need that tore through her. She needed more. All of that from a kiss? She felt ruled by the overlapping emotions and second thoughts as he used his tongue to claim her. At last, Armando eased the pressure of hi
s mouth from hers and his tongue traced her collarbone, and then his lips stopped to press kisses to her left and then right nipples. He stroked his tongue back and forth on his favorite nipple and tickled her core. The white lace bra she wore snapped to the front, not the back. With a simple twist of the clasp, both of her breasts were released, and now no fabric lie between his mouth and her skin.

  “Madonna!” he said under a seized breath. For what felt like an eternity he did nothing. But she knew he was close. She could feel his erection pressed against her right thigh. Should she pull down her panties and part her thighs for him. Just get it over with? Catalina opened one eye to peek over at him. She saw him staring at her breasts almost frozen in thought. She opened both eyes and his gaze met hers. “Do you know how beautiful you are? Perfect in every way.”

  She looked down at her own breasts to see what he saw. Dominic constantly whispered how he loved to suck her nipples because they were so thick. When he was really horny, he’d stop in the middle of sex to make her push her breasts together so he could slip his dick between them and ejaculate on her throat. Yes. She knew how her breasts appealed to her one true lover. But she had no clue as to how they would appeal to all men.

  Armando’s hand that lie upon her belly began to ease south. Instead of removing her panties his fingers slipped beneath the trim and inside. Catalina’s breath hitched in her throat.

  “It scares you when I touch you here?”

  “No,” she whispered.

  “Liar.”

  “I’m not scared, I’m... confused.”

  She inhaled then exhaled, and forced herself to relax. Two of his fingers parted the lips of her sex. She almost squeezed her thighs shut because the act was forbidden. But the muscles in her butt cheeks clenched, and her pelvis tilted up in anticipation.

  His gaze lingered on her face as his middle finger made circular movements over her clitoris. Slow and steady, like a round wave stirring and stirring her arousal from deep within. Another audible gasp escaped her parted her lips as her back slightly arched.

  “Yes, Catalina, yes... feels good doesn’t it, bambina,” he breathed and his mouth descended to cover her nipple. The abrasive, warm, wet glide of his tongue around the circumference of her nipple matched every inch of his hand’s glide. Now her hips were rolling in the same motion as his finger that stirred up the pleasure warming her channel.

  She closed her eyes and shut out all thoughts of him. Her instinct told her to fight against enjoyment, and to keep her body and mind in sync. Instincts be damned. They’d not gone too far, and this felt righteous.

  He stopped just as she neared that creamy tingle that would set loose a meltdown of emotion. “Take down your panties for me. I can’t stop touching this sweet pussy,” he whispered against her ear.

  She shivered. Her hands trembled as they honored his request. Armando did not remove his hands as she drew down her panties. Her knees were parted in a V. She drew her thighs back toward her chest to bring the panties over her knees. In doing so she opened her vagina wider and his middle finger pierced her core. Catalina whimpered and her panties were caught tangled on her ankles. She dropped her legs and kicked them off. He pumped one finger in and out of her. And his hand cupped her sex. She no longer cared about pretense. She panted with anticipation.

  “Mmm,” he breathed. As if her response excited him as much as his finger had excited and pleased her.

  Again he stopped. She groaned. She opened her eyes. He rolled over on her and she parted her thighs for him. His pelvis pressed against the hot center of her sex. He tasted his finger and she observed him curiously. The wicked smile that spread across his lips caused one to surface on her own. She quickly swallowed it.

  He noticed her struggle. How much she wanted to hate him and not clue him in to her desires. He seemed pleased by it. The finger that was once wet from being inside of her, and then licked clean on his own tongue, traced her mouth. So sensual was the trace she let her tongue slip out to greet it. Again she stopped herself. What the hell was happening?

  “One day I will tell our grandchildren about the night you came to me, the night you decided you’d get revenge for your brother by being mine. How much I wanted this, wanted you. How much you resisted.” Catalina’s eyes stretched. She opened her mouth to deny it, but he put a finger to her lips and silenced her. “A woman as loyal and as smart as you would not come here to trade sex for protection. You have the heart of a lioness. That’s why I want you so bad. You were born to understand men like me. And I’ll take you any way I can. This night. Every night until you give me the life I want, the life I want to share with you.”

  Armando removed his finger from her mouth and brushed the right side of her cheek with his lips. “No. I’m not agreeing to that” Catalina said and pushed to get him off her. He didn’t budge.

  “I will never let you go. Giovanni will have to put a bullet in me after tonight to separate us. Dominic will have to slit my throat. You're forever mine,” he said into her ear. His grip fastened on her hip and tightened. “Don’t resist me. I couldn’t stand it if you did. Let go. No one is here, no one will tell. Let me have what I’ve been dreaming of.”

  She closed her eyes to the sound of his low, deep voice, and tears slipped from the corners of them. What was she to do? Become a whore for a Don. Be what her mother was ridiculed and scorned for?

  “Per favore,” he said and kissed her cheek. “Bambina, trust me.”

  The best response for her was no response. Since she couldn’t trust her body, she knew she couldn’t trust her voice to say the words she should. She kept her eyes closed and remained still. Instead of forcing the issue he pressed a kiss to her mouth. It was as soft and as a shy as the first touch of a new lover. The touch of her lips to his own sent a current through her entire body. Catalina swept her tongue in to his mouth first. The pureness of her desire had always been there. Deep inside. Dominic was right. Part of her wanted this. Armando’s monstrous cock pressed against her pelvis, she allowed her consciousness to feel the heady sensation of lust pulsating along the walls of her vagina. His tongue action was deft. It flickered then swept in deeper to her mouth.

  Armando felt a surge of satisfaction at her muffled gasp. His tongue licked up over the roof of her mouth and grazed her teeth before it then swirled around her tongue. The kiss was like living in a dream. It felt meaningful even though in his mind and his heart he knew the feeling wasn't real. The resistance he felt earlier receded. She wanted to taste more of him.

  No sooner had it begun, it ended by his will. This was the game he played with her. He’d reel her in, then cast her away. The back and forth was becoming unbearable. She tried to kiss him again, but he stopped her. Ambers of light beneath the dark brown shadows of his eyes put a spell on her. This was it. This was where she’d forget a lifelong love and abandon her soul.

  “Have you ever made love to a man other than Dominic and Franco?” Armando asked.

  “I’ve only made love to one man. Dominic,” she breathed. “Franco was a mistake. It wasn't love.”

  “And I’m a mistake?” he asked.

  “What do you expect me to say, Armando? This would have never have happened if you hadn’t taken over my life and made it so.”

  “In Paris, you kissed me. That is the reason why I sent those pictures to your brother.”

  “What?” she frowned. She completely snapped out of her lust induced daze and glared up at him. “What?”

  “You kissed me and I knew. I’d burn down your life, destroy everything between us to have you. I should have paid more attention to my business. Your brother was destroying my legacy and all I could think of was you. How else was I to have you, Catalina? Tell me one way, and any way other than the path I chose, that would have brought you to my bed.”

  “Stop talking about it,” she sighed. “I don’t wan to talk anymore!”

  He turned her face back so she was forced to look into his eyes. “I’m sorry, Catalina. For causing y
ou pain. You may not believe it. But I am.”

  She shook her head. “I don't care anymore.”

  Armando pushed down on her. Catalina was pinned to the mattress. He was dense. A man with muscle and hardness at every angle. She felt dwarfed by his physical prowess. Her hand was between them and she pushed at his pelvis to keep his cock from entering her. Catalina turned her mouth away from his.

  “Condom? We need one,” she breathed.

  “No condom,” he said and kissed her face.

  “No. I can’t. Please, Armando, let’s not play this game.”

  “It’s no game.”

  “Don't make me do it this way,” she said. No matter how much she wanted the liberation and rebellion, sex without a condom raised the stakes even higher. He kissed her nose and her cheek.

  “No condom,” he whispered in her ear. “You want me to risk my life to have you, then you’ll have to risk yours.”

  “If you don’t put on a condom I won’t go through with it.”

  “You leave and the door closes. I won’t open the door again.” Armando stared down at her with stony resolve. Despite her inner strength and deep love for Dominic, her body was betraying her. Gone was the knot of anxiety at the pit of her stomach. Gone was the dread strangling her battered heart. Everything felt raw and primal. It must have been the same trepidation and rebellion Eve felt when she first bit the apple and betrayed Adam. Mind and soul were no longer connected. With him between her thighs, and the long thick length of his erection pressed between the folds of her vagina, she warmed to the idea of taking a new king into her life.

  Her hand slowly moved from between them. There were no more barriers. Armando chuckled. He kissed her again. “Now you’re really mine.”

  She was his Goddess.

  Armando couldn’t find any imperfection on her. Everything about her turned him on. From her twilight blue eyes, her peach tinted skin, the rosy tips of her nipples, and the fresh feminine smell of her—every part of her was perfection. He eased down her body. Armando’s gaze remained trained on her as he went between her parted thighs. She shuddered. Armando’s hands went under the bottoms of her feet and he pushed them up bringing her knees far back to her chest. She was open, and his. His gaze and his primary focus shifted to her pretty pussy with trimmed fuzz covering her mound. And then he tasted her. She let out the breath he imagined she’d been holding since their lips parted.