I’d completely fucking lost it.

My body twitched with the aftershocks of the most intense orgasm I’d ever felt. I lay over Natalie’s back, pinning her to the arm of the sofa. Her skin was slick with sweat, sticking to my dress shirt and slacks. I tried to push myself off her, but her tight little pussy clenched around my cock, milking me of the last drops of my orgasm, and I groaned all over again.

I never lost control. I was on the verge of losing control again right this fucking minute. In my quest to force her submission, I’d let my hunger get the best of me, and I’d pounded into her like a savage. I hadn’t even lasted five damn minutes. Or stopped, knowing she was injured. Disgust rolled through me. Disgust at my actions and aggravation that she’d defied me. That—bloody hell—I wanted her to defy me right now, all over again.

Her pussy was too tight, her body too damn hot. Sensing I was teetering on the edge of something I knew I wasn’t ready for, I grasped the condom at the base of my dick and pulled away. She whimpered as I lifted off her but didn’t move. I tugged the condom free and tossed it in the garbage near the small kitchen.

Tucking myself back in my pants, I watched her. She hadn’t yet moved, just lay over the arm of the sofa breathing deeply. I knew she’d come. I’d felt it the moment I drove inside her. And I both loved and hated that fact because it hadn’t been at my command. Because it had been so powerful, it had dragged me into that blinding pleasure with her.

The urge to pick her up and toss her over my lap so I could force her to submit with the flat of my hand overwhelmed me, making me hot…making me hard. Shaking, I backed away from her and scrubbed a hand down my face.

What the hell was happening to me? What the fuck had this woman done to me? Sex was supposed to sate this raging hunger inside, but my body was already tightening with an uncontrollable need to prove to her all over again that she was mine.

I didn’t want her to be mine. I didn’t want any woman to be mine. I wanted domineering, rough sex, which I’d pretty much just gotten. I should be done with her already.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Natalie’s throaty voice hit my ears just as something around my neck tightened. My lashes lifted in surprise, and I looked down into her sizzling blue eyes as she pulled me toward her with both of her delicate hands wrapped around the ends of my bow tie.

My brain short-circuited. She was completely naked, wearing nothing but those sexy-as-shit fuck-me heels, her gorgeous body damp and flushed from her orgasm. And she was looking up at me as if I was the answer to every one of her fantasies.

Powerless to resist her, I let her pull me in. And when she lifted to her toes, I met her lips with mine and kissed her the way I had in the elevator. The way I’d told myself I should never kiss her again. The way that made me weak in the knees and left me wanting things that weren’t just sexual.

My arms wound around her waist. I lost myself in the soft wet heat of her mouth, in the tenderness of her kiss. Vaguely, I realized she was pushing the jacket from my arms, that she was tugging the shirt from my slacks and sliding the buttons free, but I didn’t care. I wanted more of her sweetness, more of her innocence. More of the woman who’d made me drunk with lust from the first moment I’d seen her.

She pulled me toward her, taunting me with her wicked mouth, unsnapping my pants with her tantalizing fingers. The back of her legs hit the couch. I tightened my arms around her and lowered her to the cushions, desperate to feel every inch of her body against mine, desperate to let her consume me with her goodness. I kissed her deeper as I rocked my hips against hers. She groaned into my mouth and opened her legs, making room for me.

I wanted more. I wanted everything. I kissed my way down her throat and clasped her breast in my hand. She groaned and arched beneath me. I drew her tight nipple into my mouth and suckled. She shuddered and squeezed her thighs against my sides, making me absolutely ache with the need to thrust inside her.

“Ah yes, Luc.” Her fingers streaked up into my hair. “More. I need you inside me again. I can’t wait. Take me.”

Her voice was like a melody in my ears. Her words hypnotizing me to her will. I pulled a condom from my pocket and pushed my pants the rest of the way off, kissing her other breast, pressing my lips gently around the angry red cut on her side, trailing my tongue down her belly toward her sex all over again.

God, her scent…

My head grew light from her arousal as I rolled on the condom and teased her clit with my tongue. Groaning, she lifted her hips and rocked against my mouth. I wanted to feel her come on my tongue, but the need to see her eyes when she did was too overwhelming, and I couldn’t wait another second.

I kissed my way back up her torso to her neck and finally her mouth. She opened immediately and drew me into a blistering kiss. Her legs fell open, and my cock brushed her silky wetness. Fire shot down my spine with the need to thrust hard and deep, but I wanted to see her face when I did. Needed it the way I needed air to breathe.

Pulling away from her mouth I said, “Natalie, look at me.”

Her eyes fluttered open and held mine. And something in my chest broke open wide when I saw the trust in those tender blue pools.

“Oh yes, take me, Luc. Make love to me.”

Her hand slid around my nape, and she pulled my lips down to hers. I groaned, powerless to do anything but push inside her. I fought the urge to close my eyes so I could see her reaction. She groaned just as loudly and didn’t look away, trapping me in her gaze, holding me tight deep inside her body, claiming something in my chest as hers and no one else’s.

I wasn’t sure what was happening to me. I couldn’t look away from her. Couldn’t do anything but thrust harder as she whispered for me to drive deeper. I felt myself falling into something I knew I wasn’t ready for, felt my soul tearing open, felt her devouring me with every grunt and gasp and whisper and gaze. And even before my climax hit, I knew I was fucked, and not in any way I’d ever wanted.

I’d set out to dominate her purity and seduce her into submission, but I was the one who was crumbling. In a few short days, she’d taken control of my wants and desires and most basic needs, and that didn’t just steal my breath, it frightened me right down to my bones.

Because I knew there was only one way to keep her safe now. I had to completely break her so no one could take her away from me.

---

I don’t remember sleeping.

I do remember holding her most of the night. Naked, skin to skin, her cheek resting against my chest as she slumbered, her hair tickling my shoulder while her legs entwined with mine beneath the sheets.

She was fire and flame warming the coldest spaces inside me. I couldn’t get enough of her, and my appetite wasn’t just sexual. She’d done something to me. She’d awoken a part of me no one had ever touched. I’d given her the chance to leave. I’d done everything to push her away, and yet she’d stayed. And now that she’d broken through my walls and shone her light over the darkness inside me, I couldn’t let her go any more than I could sever a limb.

Of course, that was going to cause major problems within the family. I didn’t want them anywhere near her. I didn’t want her innocence tainted by their corruption. I’d have to keep her hidden from them, and that meant separating my two worlds. I wasn’t sure I could pull it off, but I couldn’t see another choice. Now more than ever it was vital to both our survivals that she did exactly as I said.

She stirred in the bed and rolled to face me where I sat in the chair across the room. The sheet rode low on her belly to expose her gorgeous breasts to my view. Sunlight slanted through the windows, bathing her pale skin in ribbons of gold.

I sipped my coffee and watched her, remembering the way she’d given me that body last night in the living room. Again in the shower where I’d carried her after she’d destroyed me on the couch. And then in my bed until we were both absolutely weak. I couldn’t wait for her to give me everything again—but from here on out, I needed to be firm that it happened on my terms, not hers.

Her eyes fluttered open. She focused on me across the room, and I watched confusion draw her brows together to form adorable creases in her forehead that faded quickly into a sweet smile I ached to kiss from her lips. “Good morning.”

“Buongiorno.”

She shifted one hand under her pillow and stretched, pressing her breasts out toward me in a way that made my mouth water. “What are you doing way over there?”

“Drinking my coffee and watching you.”

Her smile widened, and a familiar heat seeped into her sleepy blue eyes. “I like you watching me.”

My cock stiffened. “I know you do.”

A blush rose in her cheeks, and she pulled her gaze from mine as if embarrassed by my bluntness. She glanced over my slacks and dress shirt rolled to my elbows and open at the collar. “How long have you been awake?”

“A few hours.” I rose, moved to the table near the window, and poured her a cup of coffee. She watched me in silence as I stirred cream and sugar into her cup, and brought it to her in the bed.

Tugging the sheet up to her breasts, she fixed the pillow at her back and sat up. Her hair was delightfully rumpled, hanging in scraggly curls around her face, and her skin was void of makeup, but to me, she’d never been more beautiful. All I wanted to do was slide back between those sheets with her, but I couldn’t. From now on, I needed to lead her where I wanted her to go, not the other way around.

“Grazie,” she said as I handed her the cup. She lifted it to her mouth and sipped. A smile pulled at her luscious lips as she glanced up at me. “You were paying attention.”

“I pay attention to everything, gattina.” I set a plate of breakfast pastries on the table beside her. “Eat.”

She reached for a croissant and lifted it to her lips. “What does that word mean?” she asked between bites. “You used it several times last night.”

“Gattina?” When she nodded, I said, “It means kitten.”

“Oh.” Unease drifted into her eyes. For a moment, I thought I was seeing things, but then her shoulders tensed and she set the half-eaten croissant back on the plate.

She obviously didn’t like being called kitten. I knew she couldn’t understand the real meaning of the word—she was too innocent for that—and usually I hated it too, but it fit her. Especially since kittens had claws, which she very clearly did.

I moved back to the table so I wouldn’t be tempted to grab her and lose myself in her sweetness. “I need you to get dressed.”

“What time is it?”

“Nine o’clock.”

“What?” Fabric rustled in the bed behind me. “Why didn’t you wake me? You were supposed to meet with Versace at eight thirty.”

I slid my hands into the pockets of my slacks and turned toward her. She’d set the coffee cup on the nightstand next to her. The sheet was still clutched to her chest, but one bare leg was now extended to the ground, as if she were about to bolt out of bed. “I cancelled the meeting.”

Her eyes lifted from the floor where she seemed to be searching for something. “You did?”

I nodded. “I still need you to get dressed. We have another meeting in an hour.”

“With who?”

I didn’t answer.

She stared at me with both confusion and a whisper of unease. I saw it. I knew I could alleviate her worry, but I stayed silent. The little power struggle between us had to end. I needed her to know who was in charge. It was the only way I was going to keep her safe now that this thing between us had combusted.

Several seconds passed in silence, then she said, “You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

“No.”

She bit her lip. Trepidation filled her blue eyes. “Are you taking me to the airport?”

Fear grabbed hold of my heart and squeezed. “Is that where you want to go?”

She stared at me a long second then finally whispered, “No.”

Sweet relief filled my lungs, but I was careful not to let it show. This woman already had enough power over me. “I want you to wear the yellow sundress the stylist picked out for you, the nude heels, and no panties.”

A flush crept up her face. “No panties? Is that an order?”

“Yes.”

I could practically see the wheels turning behind her pretty blue eyes. She didn’t like being told what to do. Not even in something as simple as what to wear. She was weighing the pros and cons of defying me. Even though I didn’t want her to, I grew hard at the possibility.

Her gaze dropped to the floor. “Where’s my towel from last night?”

“In the bathroom.”

“Can you get it for me?”

“Why?”

“Because I’m naked and I have to go back to my room to get dressed.”

“You didn’t seem to have any problem being naked last night.”

Her face flushed darker, but when her fierce gaze shot to mine, I saw it was irritation, not embarrassment fueling her color. My dick grew even harder. Especially when she stared at me with those challenging eyes, daring me to back down.

Silence stretched between us, one that made my pulse pound. A heartbeat later, she tore her gaze from mine and tossed the covers back with a huff. My whole body tightened as I watched her slide out of my bed in nothing but her sexy flesh, square her shoulders, and walk toward the door with her head held high.

Fuck me. I was absolutely crazy about this woman.

“Natalie.”

She stopped at the open doorway but didn’t look back.

“The same rules still apply. You’ll do exactly as I say, or there will be consequences.”

She turned her head so I could see her gorgeous profile, but she didn’t look back at me. “I already know you’re not going to send me home. What else can you do to me?”

My blood flamed. “Test me, and you’ll find out.”

She didn’t respond. Just lifted her chin and walked through the suite toward her room.

As I watched her sweet ass swaying with her movements, I tried to settle my raging pulse, but nothing worked. I’d already had this woman—several times—but I was now more turned on than I’d been last night. Partly because I knew she’d test me. Partly because I didn’t know when or how she’d do it. But mostly because the thought of taming her, of watching her reaction as she succumbed to her own sinful desires, lit me up like a firework and made me feel alive.

And I liked feeling alive. I’d been numb for so long, I’d forgotten what it was like. With Natalie, I almost believed I wasn’t a monster. I hoped after today, she still agreed.