Chapter Five
Sophia jabbed the intercom on Antonio’s desk. “Claudia, can you have Signor Venti’s car brought round, per favore?”
“Si, Signorina Crane,” Antonio’s assistant answered.
Sophia stared down at his dark head and touched a hand to his hair. “You can fight this.”
He gripped her wrist in a tight clasp, almost crushing her bones. He dragged her closer and pressed his face against her belly.
She trembled. She felt his hot breath through the fabric of her skirt and desire rushed through her.
“I can smell your arousal, Sophia,” he said, his voice a husky growl.
She squeezed her eyes closed. “Antonio—”
One of his hands fiddled with the hem of her skirt, while the other hand slid up to cup her bottom. He looked up, his eyes threaded with fire. “You’re playing a dangerous game coming near me.” His fingers slid under her skirt, brushing the backs of her knees.
“This isn’t a game,” she said.
His hand moved higher, skimming her inner thigh.
“I want to help you, Antonio.”
He made an angry sound and moved, yanking her down so fast she squeaked. Before she could respond, his mouth captured hers. His hard arms wrapped around her, holding her tight as his tongue ravished her. She accepted the wild kiss and returned it. Slowly, she felt some of the vibrating tension seep out of him.
She tangled her hands in his thick hair and broke the kiss. “I trust you, Antonio. I know you can control this.”
A grimace crossed his face and his hands slid away from her. “Damn you for being so stubborn.”
She used her strength to get him to his feet. “I told you before, I can help you. I’ve been running from everything for too long…I’ve decided it’s time to stop.”
“Hell of a time for you to decide that, cara.”
“Tell me what you need?”
He made a choked noise. “I am not going to say the very dirty, sexy answer I want to tell you. Just help me get home.”
She nodded. “I’ve already called for your car.”
She wrapped an arm around his back and together they stumbled out of his office. Claudia appeared, a worried look on her face, and Sophia waved the dark-haired assistant off.
“Signor Venti is ill. I’ll help him home.”
As they headed down the stairs, Sophia felt the heat pouring off his body. His hair and shirt were damp.
When they descended the front steps of the museum, she saw a silver Ferrari waiting out front, and breathed a sigh of relief.
She got Antonio settled in the passenger seat and then snatched the keys from the young museum employee. She slid into the driver’s seat and shot Antonio a glance. His eyes were closed, his breathing shallow, and deep grooves bracketed his mouth.
“Hold on a little longer.”
She started the car and pulled out into the street. The fancy car required all her focus. Thankfully, she’d been to a cocktail party at Antonio’s home before and remembered where it was. He owned an exquisite townhouse in the heart of Florence, only a few minutes from the museum.
She screeched to a stop in front of a stone building. The cream façade was topped by a terracotta-tiled roof. Burgundy shutters flanked the windows.
She opened her door, but before she could skirt the car, he pushed out of the vehicle, bracing himself with one hand on the roof.
“Let me help—”
“Don’t touch me.” He gave a vicious shake of his head. “I can make it from here. I want you to go.”
She narrowed her gaze. “Let’s get you inside.”
“Sophia.” His gaze was locked on her. “It’s best, safest, if you left Florence. Go home until this…is over.”
Until the Tempest Winds were defeated. Or until he succumbed to his lust and lost himself. Or was killed.
Ignoring him, she slipped an arm around him and led him to his front door. He cursed in rapid-fire Italian under his breath all the way. She couldn’t quite catch everything, but she heard something about stubborn women and people who didn’t listen.
She stuck the key in the lock on his door. “Corus paid me a visit.”
Antonio jerked to a stop. “What? Did he hurt you?”
She opened the door. “No. But he told me you were…”
“Close to breaking.” Antonio moved through the doorway. “He senses it. He whispers on the wind, trying to tip me over the edge.” Antonio’s shoulders slumped.
“You aren’t giving up now.” She brushed past him and moved inside.
He followed her in, his usual lithe stride stiff. She paused at the base of a curving staircase. “Now what?”
“I need to get to my room and take a cold shower.” He gripped the railing and started up.
Sophia stayed a step behind him, watching his unsteady steps and the way his knuckles strained white. When he stumbled, she slipped an arm around him again.
They hobbled down a wide hall, and at the end, he opened his bedroom door. Sophia swallowed. The room was gorgeous and decorated in dark masculine blues and grays. The bed was large, the intricate headboard twisted into sensuous shapes that hinted at naked, entwined bodies.
“Come on.” She helped him over to sit on the bed.
“I’m here. Now go.”
She thrust her hands on her hips. “I told you, I’m not leaving you.” She worked the rest of the buttons on his damp shirt free, then yanked it off.
He moaned, doubling over. “It’s getting worse. If you don’t leave, I’m going to tear those neat and tidy clothes off you. I’ll throw you on the floor and thrust myself between those slim thighs of yours, and fuck you until you scream.”
Instant heat flooded her, turning her slick between her legs. Her gaze traced his sculpted chest and her pulse raced.
A growl tore from his throat. “I can smell your arousal again.”
She saw his eyes were glowing, as though flames flickered in their depths.
“I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt anyone.” His big shoulders heaved. “There’s a box under the bed. Pull it out.”
Curious, she kneeled and reached under the bed. Her hands touched a large wooden box and she slid it out. She flipped open the lid, and the bottom dropped out of her stomach.
It was a set of chains.
The metal was shiny and new. They looked like the ones Corus had used.
Antonio sucked in a deep breath. “I had them made the day the Tempest Winds escaped. They’re strong enough to hold me.” He lay back on the bed, spreading his legs and reaching his arms above him. “I need you to chain me. Hopefully, over time, I’ll calm down.”
Sophia swallowed. “There must be another way.”
“There isn’t. Do it.”
She sat on the edge of the big bed. The chains had been designed to clamp around an ankle or wrist, and the other end around the headboard or footboard of the bed.
Oh, God. Reluctantly, she attached one chain to the footboard, then to his ankle.
After his legs were chained, she tied up his left arm. She couldn’t look at him as she completed the task. His big body twitched and she realized he was fighting the need to stop her.
As she reached for his second wrist, he reached up and gripped her chin. His eyes still burned, his beautiful green irises shot through with red. “Thank you, cara. For helping me.”
She nodded and clamped the final chain in place.
Then she stood. “I’ll do anything to help you.”
Sophia could finally admit what she wanted. Who she wanted. Seeing Antonio’s struggle, the way he’d fought to protect her, all of it had earned her trust completely.
She started to unbutton her shirt.
His eyes widened. “What are you doing?”
She shucked off the shirt, then after a flick of the zipper on her skirt, she slid it down her legs. “I’m going to help you. We can beat the lust together.”
“No.” His hot gaze raked over her. “Leave.” He jerked against the chains.
Sophia took her bra off and then skimmed her panties down. Antonio’s gaze made her skin flush. No one had ever looked at her with such hunger. She’d give Antonio and herself what they both needed.
“You were worried you’d hurt me, but chained up like this, you can’t.”
He yanked against the chains like a wild beast, perspiration slicking his magnificent body. His face reflected his battle—it glowed with lust, but under that she saw something else.
He cared about her.
“Just let yourself go, Antonio. I promise I won’t let you fall.”
“Sophia.” Her name was torn from him.
She pressed her hands and knees to the gray silk sheets. “I’m the one in control now.”
***
The torment had never been this bad.
Antonio wanted Sophia safe…and he was not safe. But she was determined to try and save him.
He was terrified he’d hurt her.
She crawled closer, and he couldn’t take his gaze off her beautiful, naked body. She was all creamy skin and tantalizing curves. Her blue eyes glowed.
The beast in him yanked on the chains, wanting to reach for her. The man in him tugged on the chains, desperate to free himself and make her leave.
But as she’d told him, she was in control.
“I want you, Sophia. More than I want to breathe. But this can’t happen. You have to go.”
She pressed a finger to his lips. “Quiet now. I know what I’m doing.”
When she straddled his hips, he felt the slick warmth of her brush his stomach. His hips jerked up.
She pressed her palms to his chest, her touch burning through him, setting fire to his already inflamed senses.
She smoothed her hands over him. “God, I love your body.”
“I love yours,” he said. “I’ve imagined you in my bed, naked, so many times.”
Her hands moved up her own body, cupping her breasts. “Like this?”
As she played with her nipples, he hissed. “Yes.”
She leaned down and fused her mouth to his. The kiss was wild, hungry. He needed the taste of her. Needed all of her.
She broke away, her chest rising and falling rapidly. She slid lower down his body. When her slim hands tugged at his trousers, Antonio thought he’d simply explode. She shoved his trousers down as far as his splayed legs allowed.
In seconds, she freed his cock. “You’re so hard and thick.”
Her hands moved up and down his length. She palmed the swollen head of him, slicking pre-come down his cock. He made a sound—part growl, part groan.
She stroked him, her hands sliding from the fat purple head to the thick base. He shouted, jerking against the chains.
Then she moved and lowered her head. She sucked the head of his cock into her mouth.
“Cazzo! Sophia.” He bucked his hips up.
She swallowed him deeper, then pulled off him with a pop. She lapped at his cock, tasting him. “You taste amazing, Antonio.”
As he watched her, he saw her slide one hand between her thighs. He groaned.
Her blue eyes flicked up to him. “You like watching me suck your cock?”
“Yes,” he hissed.
Her lips parted. “And you like watching me pleasure myself?”
“Yes. Tell me what you’re doing.”
“I’m rolling my little clit around.” She gasped. “It’s swollen and I wish your tongue was lapping at it.”
“Later. Later I’ll spread you out, eat you, fuck you hard, make you come again and again. Then I’ll start all over again.”
Her chest hitched. With another smile, she sucked him back into her mouth. Her tongue swirled around him, finding a thick vein and working it.
“Yes, Sophia. Suck my cock, cara.”
Her hands gripped his thighs, her nails biting into him as she increased her suction, her cheeks hollowing. He wouldn’t survive this. But at least he’d die knowing Sophia and the most excruciating pleasure of his life.
On the edge of release, Antonio realized he was growling like an animal, the sound coming from deep in his chest. Then Sophia sat up, her wonderful mouth pulling away. She moved until her thighs straddled his hips, until her hot, wet center touched him.
Again, he fought the chains, mindless, desperate.
She leaned over and fumbled at his bedside table. Her chest was rising and falling as she opened a small foil pack, then rolled the condom over him. Then she positioned herself over him. He felt the head of his erection nestle in her folds, then she paused.
“I want inside you,” he growled. “Let me inside, cara.”
He thrust up wildly, desperate to feel her sink down on him.
But an agile move of her hips prevented it, her hands pressing against his chest. “Don’t you realize?” Her voice was husky, desire in its depths. “You have to let me have control. Trust me. Let go. Only then can we beat the lust.”
Antonio froze. Her eyes glowed an otherworldly shade of blue and her pale skin shone like marble. He felt a brush of power over his burning skin, like the kiss of a cool breeze.
Aurae. The word echoed in his head.
Sophia was Aurae. One of those women gifted with control of the seasonal breezes. A woman with the power to control his vice.
A woman born to be his mate.
He was a dominant man by nature, and one who’d held power all his life. Giving control to another went against everything he was.
But this was Sophia. And he’d already given her his trust when he’d asked her to chain him.
She was his. The truth of it echoed through him. He wanted her, desperately, but beneath the desire was so much more. Something that burned brighter and hotter and only for her.
“Look at me.”
Her whisper made him jerk his gaze to her face.
She lowered herself slowly. The fat head of his cock slid inside her and he watched her bite her lip.
Dio. He thrust up and this time, he slammed inside her tight body. She threw her head back, her cry echoing around them.
“So big,” she panted.
Antonio groaned. She was so tight, hot. He forced himself to stay still, even as shocking pleasure roared through him. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”
She smiled. “Never. I just needed a moment to adjust.” Then she raised her hips, then lowered back down.
Sophia started riding him, dragging herself up and down on his throbbing cock.
Pleasure built. “Sophia. Please.”
She rocked her hips harder, her flesh slapping against his. Soon she was taking every inch of him, her face twisted with pleasure.
If he’d been free, he would have pushed her down onto the silk and pistoned between her legs. He would have touched every inch of her, marking her as his.
Her strangled cries fueled his raw, mindless desire. Antonio surrendered himself to her, letting her ride them both to sweaty oblivion. She stripped the lust away. In its wake, there was hot, natural desire and something he was too afraid to name. The bright, hot spark of something he’d thought himself incapable of feeling.
She slid a hand between her legs. He watched her rub her clit, then stroke where she was stretched around him. She was so damn sexy.
Her body clamped down on his, convulsing.
“That’s it, Sophia. Come on my cock, cara.”
She threw her head back and screamed.
He thrust his hips up, his orgasm moving through him like the wildest storm. The unbearable pressure in Antonio broke. His body shook, then with a wild shout, he shot his come deep inside Sophia’s sweet body.