Luc wouldn’t talk to me. He wouldn’t even look at me. I knew that was a bad sign.

The scene in the lobby replayed in my mind as we rode the elevator up to our room in silence. My stomach twisted at the look I’d seen in his eyes as soon as he’d spotted his mother.

The flirty, tender man I’d spent the day with was gone. In his place was one who looked as if he could tear walls down with his bare hands.

A ribbon of fear threaded through me, but I reminded myself he was still the same man who’d saved me from that party in New York. The same man who’d rescued me from that right-wing fanatic in Rome. The same man who’d touched my heart in a mere matter of days with his kindness and strength and unrelenting passion.

The elevator doors opened with a ping. Luc stalked out of the car, moved down the hallway, and unlocked our door. It flung hard against the wall with a clack. Stomach tight, I followed him into the suite and quietly closed the door at my back.

I didn’t know what exactly was wrong. All he’d told me was that he didn’t get along with his father. I could see how that might not make him want to go home, but I sensed there was something more he wasn’t telling me, something that was eating away at him now like a disease. The only thing I wanted was to rescue him from his torment the way he’d rescued me time and again.

“Luc,” I said softly from the entry hall, watching him move through the living room, shoulders tight, back rigid, every muscle in his body coiled and flexed beneath the khakis and white button-down shirt he wore. “Luc, stop and talk to me.”

He didn’t turn, but his feet did come to a halt. “Go in the bedroom and lock the door.”

My heart picked up speed at his icy tone, one that was even more menacing than when he’d told me to stay away from David Bonello. I knew he was teetering on the edge of that control that ruled him, just as I knew the safest thing for me to do would be to follow his order, but I couldn’t. Not because I wanted to defy him, but because I sensed he needed me right now. He needed someone on his side. He needed someone to love him.

And I did. My heart contracted as I stared at his tense back. I loved all of him. I loved his gentle side, I loved his playful side, I even loved the darkness buried inside him because it was part of what made him him. After this last week, after the things he’d made me feel, I could no sooner turn away from him than I could turn away from myself.

My pulse raced like wildfire as I stepped up behind him, and I swallowed hard because I knew he was going to be upset with me for not doing what he wanted, but I didn’t care. This mattered. He mattered.

“No,” I said softly. “Luc, tell me what happened with your mother that upset you so.”

“Porca troia,” he growled, rounding on me. I sucked in a sharp breath at the fury darkening his features and turning his gray eyes to raging tempests. “I don’t have to tell you anything. You’re nothing but a lowly assistant. Get your ass in that damn bedroom right now and lock the fucking door.”

My skin prickled at his words, but I recognized he was still trying to keep me safe—from what, though, I wasn’t sure. “No, I’m not leaving you like this. Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on.” I reached for his hand. “I want to help.”

He wrenched his arm out of my reach. “You can’t help me. You’re the goddamn problem. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be in this fucking mess at all.”

My stomach caved in. I told myself he didn’t mean it—he was upset. But a tiny part of me couldn’t help hear the truth in those words. I took a shaky step toward him. “Luc—”

“Dio dannato. I told you to get the hell away from me, Natalie.” He yanked a lamp free from the table at his side and hurled it toward the far wall. I gasped and jerked as it shattered into pieces and clattered to the floor. “Get in that room and lock the damn door before I fucking hurt you!”

My heartbeat whirred in my ears as I stared at him, wide-eyed from both shock and horror. Every instinct inside me said to run, that he’d already passed the point of no return, but my heart wouldn’t let me. He was in pain. It was coming out as anger, but I knew deep down it was pain, and I couldn’t—I wouldn’t—let him suffer through it alone.

“No,” I said again. “I’m not leaving you. You need me.”

“I don’t need you,” he sneered. “I needed a body to fuck and use, and you were willing.”

His words hit me hard. A swift punch to the gut. But I stood my ground and shook my head. “That’s not true.”

“It is true.” He was on top of me in seconds, staring down at me with malice and rage. “I saw the way you reacted to that orgy in New York. Why else do you think I targeted you?” He laughed, a menacing sound that made the hair on my nape stand straight. “I went after you because I knew you were an easy lay. I knew you’d let me do whatever deranged thing I wanted to do to you. And I was fucking right.”

My face flamed with anger and humiliation, but I knew in my heart he didn’t mean what he was saying. “That’s not true,” I said in a voice that shook even though I tried to keep it steady. “You’re upset right now, and you’re taking it out on me, but I don’t believe you. I know the real you, and this isn’t it.”

His hands clamped around my upper arms, and he shoved me back against the wall. I gasped at both his tight grip and the way he held me pinned to the unforgiving stucco.

“You think you know the real me? This is the real me. You called me a fucking beast, remember? I am a beast. I’m brutal and I’m savage, and I don’t give a damn what you think about me. You, on the other hand, you’re just a stupid girl who doesn’t know what she’s gotten herself into. Stupid girls who don’t do what they’re told get used like fuck toys in my world. Is that what you want?” His grip tightened. “Is it?”

Pain ricocheted through my arms, bringing tears to my eyes. My heart pounded so hard, I knew he had to hear it. He was waiting for me to back down, waiting for me to crumble. And I wanted to. I wanted to scream at him to let me go so I could run. But something inside me knew if I did, everything between us would shatter like that lamp. And I didn’t want that. I wanted him. I wanted us.

A knot formed in my throat when I realized how I could get through to him. I swallowed hard as I stared into his wild eyes and the idea spun in my head. He’d told me on the dock that I held the power in this relationship. He’d said when I trusted him, I could make him absolutely weak. Submission was about trust, wasn’t it? About trusting another person not only with your body, but with your heart and mind as well?

My pulse beat even faster, and my palms grew sweaty. I’d learned to be fiercely independent from a young age. I’d shut people out and built walls around my heart so I couldn’t be hurt. I’d never let anyone—especially a man—get too close because I knew loving someone required a form of surrender I wasn’t willing to give.

But with Luc… Letting him in, trusting him, loving him didn’t make me feel any less of a woman. It didn’t shatter who I was inside. It made me strong. It made me powerful. It made me feel whole… probably for the first time in my entire damn life.

“I want you,” I whispered, lifting my eyes to his before I could change my mind. “I want to give you whatever you need. And if that’s me, then yes. I want you to use me in any and every way you want.”

Something shifted in his eyes, and he released my arms as if they’d burned him. I saw the disbelief churning in his stormy gaze. I saw the doubt. I knew this was the moment I either went all-in with this man who’d changed my entire world in a mere matter of days, or the moment I left him forever.

My heart felt as if it might fly right out of my chest, but I grasped the hem of my yellow sundress and tugged it up my body and over my head. It fell to the floor at my side, but I didn’t look at it. I didn’t look at him. My whole body trembled as I dropped to my knees in front of him and twisted my hands behind my back, keeping my gaze on his shoes.

Long minutes passed where the only sound I heard was my roaring pulse and his heavy breaths above me. I wanted to look up. I was terrified of what I’d see if I looked up.

Tears burned the backs of my eyes, and I squeezed my eyelids tighter as I knelt in front of him in nothing but my lacy white bra and thong. My heart and soul were completely laid bare for him to either cherish or demolish, and I was deathly afraid of which he would choose to do, but I knew I was making the right choice. I needed this. I needed it probably more than he did. I needed to know if I could truly trust another person with everything I was or if love was only a myth.

“Natalie,” he said in a harsh voice. “Look up at me.”

I blinked damp lashes and gathered my courage. Slowly, I lifted my gaze to his. His eyes were still rough swirling storms, but they were no longer enraged. They were tinged with something else. With an emotion that seemed to almost…overwhelm him.

“Ho un debole per te.” His hand slid into my hair, and he dropped to his knees in front of me. “Vieni qui e baciami.”

I had no idea what he said, but when he pulled me to him and kissed me, I didn’t care.

His tongue plunged into my mouth, claiming me with a hunger I hadn’t known was in him. It wasn’t brutal, it wasn’t savage as he’d threatened. It was fervent and possessive, sucking up all the air around me, consuming me from the outside in. All I could do was moan. All my heart could do was beat faster. All my body could do was surrender fully to every one of his demands.

I kissed him back, tangling my tongue with his as he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me onto his lap. My legs spread on instinct, and I straddled his hips as he sat back on his heels and pulled me close. The hard line of his erection rubbed against my clit. My hands landed on his shoulders. He kissed me deeper, holding me so close, I didn’t know where he began and I ended.

My head grew light. His mouth made me weak. His hands streaking over my body caused me to tremble. And when he rocked up against me, my sex grew tight and wet and achy for the release only he could give me.

His big hands captured my face, and he drew back from my mouth, staring at me with wonder and—my heart squeezed so tight when I recognized the look in his eyes—tenderness. “You wreck me. I am completely and greedily addicted to you. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, sweet Natalie. Forgive me.”

All the worry, all the fear and heartache escaped me. Tears filled my eyes as I leaned forward and kissed him. He groaned into my mouth, wrapped his arms around my waist, and lifted me off the floor. I felt my body turning, felt him carrying me, but I didn’t break the kiss to see where we were going. I just wanted him. I just wanted us. I just wanted this.

“Dio,” he whispered against my lips. “I want to fuck you into a million pieces and put you back together one kiss at a time.”

“Do it,” I whispered back, rocking against his erection. “Do whatever you want to me. I want it. I want you. I want all of you.”

He growled and stumbled. My back hit the doorjamb to the bedroom, and my feet dropped to the floor. He slid down my body, kissing a path of fire along his way until he was on his knees in front of me. His rough fingers tugged my panties down. I gasped and stepped free of them when they reached my feet. Then his tongue licked up my center, and all I could do was groan in utter ecstasy.

My hand landed in his hair. My body slumped back against the doorjamb. I rocked against his wicked tongue flicking and licking and sending shards of pulsing heat all through my body. He pushed my legs wider, and I felt his fingers sliding through my wetness and then surging inside me.

I groaned and tightened around his sinful thrusts, shivered every time he lapped at my clit. My sex grew wetter. His hot breath sent my body into a frenzy. My orgasm steamrolled straight toward me.

“Oh, fuck.” I held his head against me. “I’m going to come.”’

“Do it,” he growled, his voice sending vibrations all through my sex. He thrust harder. Licked faster. “Come on my tongue. Come around my fingers. Come now, Natalie.”

My release slammed into me, sucking the air from my lungs. I cried out as it exploded in my core, blasting ecstasy through every cell in my body.

I slumped against the doorjamb, spent from the pleasure, but Luc was right there to lift me up. He wrapped an arm around my waist and pushed to his feet. His lips brushed mine, and he dove in with his tongue to claim mine all over again. “Can you taste how much you need me? Can you, angioletto?”

I didn’t know much Italian, but I knew that word was some form of angel. He’d said it to me once before. My whole body responded to it, my lust resurging.

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I kissed him hard. He groaned and tugged me away from the wall, then turned me and pushed me backward into the bedroom.

He pulled away from me, his face flushed, his lips swollen. “Get on the bed. And take off that bra.”

My fingers fumbled with the front clasp on my bra, and I scrambled onto the king-sized rococo bed. He freed the top few buttons on his shirt, then reached back and pulled the garment over his head. It landed on the floor near my bra. My mouth watered as my gaze skipped over his cut muscles, his strong shoulders, sculpted pecs, and chiseled abs. A thin dusting of dark hair covered his gorgeous chest, and the thick line on his belly that disappeared beneath the waistband of the pants riding low on his hips was like a giant arrow dragging my eyes down.

“Come here.” His eyes were as dark as I’d ever seen them. A vein in his neck pulsed with strength and power as his hands moved to his belt and he pulled the buckle free. My eyes focused on the leather strap. On the way his talented hands tugged it free from his belt loops and dropped it on the bed beside me. “Turn around, lie on your back with you head right here on the end of the bed.”

My breaths quickened with excitement. I did as he said and looked up at him, watching as he slid his zipper down, reached inside, and pulled his magnificent erection free.

I reached for it, unable to resist. My fingers skimmed soft skin and solid steel. He groaned in approval and moved closer to me. The heady scent of his arousal filled my senses. “Open your sweet, wet mouth, angioletto, and take me to heaven.”

Desire whipped through me. Leaning my head back, I opened my mouth and drew him in. My tongue flicked around the head, and I sucked him deep, taking him all the way to the back of my throat.

“Ah, Dio. Così va bene.” He drew his hips back, then rocked into my mouth again, driving a little deeper. I tipped my head farther, hoping to lessen my gag reflex. He breached my throat and drew away again. My lips closed around his shaft, and I rubbed my tongue along the head, sucking hard as he pushed in once more.

He was potency and vigor filling my mouth, stealing my breath. I swallowed each time he hit my throat, wanting to give him pleasure, wanting to give him everything he’d given me.

On the next downstroke, he pulled completely free of my mouth, making me gasp. His strong hands grasped my shoulders, lifting me from the bed to push me forward. “On your knees. Sbrigati.”

I scrambled to my knees in the middle of the bed. Behind me, I heard the rasp of fabric and the crinkle of foil. My heart raced with excitement, and my stomach tightened with need.

“Spread your legs.”

Luc’s voice was raspy and thick as he climbed onto the bed behind me. The mattress dipped, and then I felt the rough scratch of his leg hair as it grazed the backs of my thighs and the hard, heavy weight of his straining cock brushing my slick, aching core.

“You make me so fucking hard, Natalie.”

His strong arm wound around my waist, and he pulled me up and back against his chest. I gasped but spread my thighs wider to make room for him. His heartbeat pounded into my spine. One mesmerizing hand slid up between my breasts to close around my throat. The other inched down between my legs to position his cock at my entrance.

“I want you sore tomorrow,” he breathed against my ear. “Every time you move, I want you to remember that I was here. That this is mine. That you are mine. Say you’re mine, angioletto.”

Oh… His gruff voice, his powerful body trembling against mine, his commanding and erotic words…

I was a slave to his wants and desires. And I loved each and every moment with him. “I’m yours,” I groaned, angling my hips back so he could take me. So he could own me. “I’m only yours.”

He thrust up inside me, filling me so deeply, I knew he was touching me where no one else ever had. I groaned at the exquisite pleasure. Growling in my ear, he drew out, then thrust back in deep again, stroking my clit with his fingers until I saw stars.

“You are my obsession.” His hot breath at my ear sent shivers down my spine. He held me tighter against him as he thrust faster. Harder. Deeper. His fingers pressed against the sides of my throat. “I can’t get enough of you. I can never get enough of you.”

I couldn’t get enough of him either. And right now, I was so close, I only wanted more.

Heat gathered in my center, a blazing fire in my core that threatened to consume me in flames, but I didn’t want it to devour me until it devoured him. He held me so close, I couldn’t move, so I tightened my muscles on every thrust, trying to pull him with me into the inferno. Hoping it would happen soon because I was growing light-headed, and every plunge of his thick cock into my slick core was making it harder to resist giving in and letting the firestorm destroy me.

“Dio, angioletto.” He shoved deeper inside me, and I felt his cock lengthen and swell. “I can’t hold back any longer. I’m going to come.” He jerked and grunted, and his grip tightened everywhere he held me. “Ah, cazzo. Come with me.”

The orgasm tore through me like a lightning bolt, annihilating my body and soul in a blinding burst of light. Pleasure detonated in my core and incinerated my mind, sucking up every thought and feeling until there was only ecstasy. Until there was only carnal decadence and hedonistic bliss.

“Sei l’unica,” Luc rasped behind me. “Giorno e notte penso solo a te.”

I blinked, recognizing the sound of his sated voice but not remembering when he climaxed. Breathing heavily, I opened my eyes to find I was lying on my side with his arms wrapped around me, holding me close against his racing heartbeat. My hand closed over his at my waist.

“Are you all right?” he whispered in my ear.

Was I all right? A very satisfied smile slid across my face. “I’m way more than all right. I’m…” Just remembering the incredible high he’d given me made my whole body tingle. “That was amazing. I think I blacked out.”

“You didn’t black out. You just got light-headed because I applied a little pressure to the arteries in your neck.”

My eyes flew wide, and I turned my head to look back at him. “You choked me?”

A mischievous smile pulled at his sensual lips. “I don’t choke. I slowed the flow of blood to your brain. Do you know the deepest sexual penetration doesn’t happen between your legs?” He lifted one hand and skimmed his fingertips over my forehead. “It happens here.”

I shivered because he’d definitely penetrated my mind. My mind, my body, and my soul.

“And for the record,” he whispered, “you are amazing. What you gave me…” He swallowed at my back. “You have no idea what that meant to me.”

Love swirled inside me. So much it made my eyes water. I wanted to tell him, but I was scared. This was new to me. It was so fast. I was sure he cared deeply for me, but if he didn’t love me back yet, I didn’t want to say the words. I’d save them and savor them and share them when I knew he felt the same.

“I’m here for you,” I said softly, tightening my hand over his. “I’m not going anywhere. Whatever you need from me, you have it. You have me. No matter what happens.”

His arms drew me tighter against him, and I felt his body tremble as he buried his face in my hair.

Whatever had pushed him to the edge earlier was still there. It still had a hold on him. And that scared me. Especially because I was almost sure I heard him whisper, “I hope I still have you after tomorrow.”

---

He held me all night long. Closer than he had before. As if he was afraid if he let go of me for even a second, I might slip away.

We ate breakfast on the Club Del Doge’s terrace overlooking the Grand Canal and the domed roof of the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. Luc barely ate, and when he wasn’t eating, he was holding my hand, bringing my fingers to his lips for a kiss, smiling sadly at me as we tried to enjoy our last morning in Venice.

Stress hung on his shoulders like a heavy weight, a stress I felt on my own shoulders as we packed and left the hotel. Luc loaded our luggage in a water taxi, but he didn’t try to get me into the boat. Instead, he took my hand and led me through the city to the Piazzale Roma, a square at the entrance to Venice, where a car and our luggage waited. Unlike yesterday, it wasn’t a romantic stroll through the city with laughter and steamy kisses in dark corners, though. Luc barely spoke, and the closer we got to the car, the tighter his muscles grew as if every step was leading him toward impending doom.

The car was a sleek black Mercedes S-Coupe that I knew had to cost a fortune. Two men dressed in slick black suits waited by the car for us. Luc let go of my hand and shook each of theirs, speaking in Italian. The three conversed for several minutes, but I had no idea what they said. The only word I caught was ciao as they waved and crossed the parking lot to another black Mercedes—this one not nearly as nice as the one they’d left us.

Whatever they’d discussed had caused Luc’s jaw to tighten even more, though. With a hand at my lower back, he walked me around to the passenger side, opened the door, and helped me in. Seconds later, he joined me in the driver’s seat but didn’t immediately start the car. He just stared out the window at the bustling tourists, with his hands on his thighs as if he didn’t want to leave.

My heart contracted, and I reached across the console and slid my hand over his on the thigh of the soft jeans he wore.

“You know,” I said, trying to sound sunny and optimistic when I felt anything but. “I was thinking about those boats you said you built. I’d love to see them. What do you say we blow off seeing the folks, and you take me to your hideout in the tropics instead? I’m sure it’d be a lot more fun.”

He didn’t laugh as I’d hoped he would. Instead, his eyes slid closed, and that weight seemed to push harder against his shoulders. “You don’t even like water.”

I wrapped my fingers around his. “I could get used to it. When you keep me distracted, I think I do pretty well near the water.”

He turned his hand over with a heavy sigh and closed his fingers around mine. Heat engulfed my skin and sent a tingle up my arm. I held on as he flipped our wrists and took control, pinning my hand between his and his leg.

He blinked and stared at our joined hands for several seconds. “I need you to listen very carefully to what I’m about to say.”

The hair on my spine prickled, and worry tightened my gut.

“While we’re in Tuscany, I need you to do exactly as I say. No arguments, no questions. Stay with me or my mother or sister at all times. Do not”—he lifted his gaze to the steering wheel—“and I mean do not go off with any other person alone under any circumstances. Do you understand?”

The distress I heard in his voice made my pulse tick up. I had no idea what he was trying to tell me, but my thoughts immediately spun toward Gio.

I hadn’t broached the topic of Gio and Laney with him yet. I’d been too afraid to bring it up so early in our relationship. My hands began to sweat. I was scared to death to bring it up now, when he was already so distraught. “Okay. I won’t.”

Luc’s jaw turned to a slice of steel beneath the day’s worth of scruff on his tan skin. “I know I told you that I like it when you challenge me. I do, but not while we’re at my parents’ home. I’ll try to stay near you as much as I can. If I have to leave you, stay in your room and keep the door locked. Hopefully we won’t be there more than a night or two.”

My heart raced as I stared at his profile. Was Gio at his parents’ home? He’d told me Gio was in the Caribbean. I couldn’t see him taking me anywhere near Gio, but if that wasn’t the threat, then what? The dangerous picture he was painting of his family didn’t fit the image I had in my mind from meeting his mother. Yes, she’d been a little intense, but the emotion in her pale eyes when she’d looked at Luc told me she loved her son. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say you’re scaring me a little.”

“Good. You should be scared. You have no idea what you’re walking into. If it were up to me…” His words died off as he looked out the driver-side window. “It’s not up to me.”

“Luc.” I squeezed his hand, hating the haunted sound of his voice. Hating that he wouldn’t look at me. Hating even more that he wouldn’t tell me what was really bothering him. I’d hoped last night after I’d given myself to him that he’d open up to me, but he hadn’t. I was trying to be patient. I was trying not to push, but I couldn’t stand seeing him so on edge. I laid my other hand on top of our joined ones. “Everything will be okay. It’s just a family visit, right?”

He finally glanced toward me, and when my eyes met his, I saw what I’d missed earlier.

Fear.

He was afraid. This man who was so confident and strong and always in control was terrified. And that realization didn’t just send my own anxiety scrambling, it made my heart race as if the hounds of hell were after me.

“Yeah,” he said as he stared at me with those troubled eyes. “Yeah, everything will be fine.”

He let go of me and started the car. I drew my hands back and sank into the Italian leather racing seat, but his words didn’t calm me, because I knew he was lying.

He was lying to both of us. And I had no idea what that meant.