Chapter 25: Candace

I’m momentarily disorientated by the bright sunlight that spills through the window.

I usually have the curtains drawn on the side of my room which brings in the most sunlight in the mornings. The other side I leave open, so I can look at the stars at night.

It’s when I roll over onto my other side I remember with the force of a speeding train, I’m not in my room.

The beautiful man sitting over by the window ledge smoking a cigar is evidence of that.

Now I’m disorientated by him. His presence and that beautiful darkness in him stirs my soul to life.

He’s just sitting there watching me, and I wonder how long he watched me sleep.

Pulling in a breath, he narrows his eyes and leans forward, the cigar dangling between his thumb and forefinger. I’ve never met anyone who could fascinate me and scare me all at the same time.

When I say scared, I don’t mean the general fear a person would feel if they were terrified or frightened of a person or a thing. Dominic D’Agostino scares me because he’s unpredictable, and I can never tell what he’s going to do next.

Like now, we’re just looking at each other, and the silence is just getting thicker. He’s planning for me, and I could kick myself because I’m positive I’m going to enjoy whatever it is he’s conjuring.

Across from him is my contract from the auction. When I see that, I straighten up because it looks like we’re about to get started, and I’m about to get a taste of all those terms and conditions I agreed to.

He smiles when I glare at him, showing my fury he’s seriously contemplating this arrangement; he straightens too.

“Woman, you know you have some balls, right?”

“Yes,” I answer, and he chuckles. “I don’t want to do this, Dominic. There must be some way around it.”

“Of course, there is. I just don’t care for it.”

“So, you want that piece of paper to dictate everything about our relationship?”

“Candace Ricci you talk to me like we just met. Like I’m Monsieur Jacques Belmont. That les incompetent idiot.”

Oh my God. What in the hell have I really gotten myself into?

“What the hell point are you trying to make?”

“The point I’m trying to make is this. I’m Dominic D’Agostino. I am Italia. I’m not a pompous asshole strutting around with a silver spoon up my ass. I won you fair and square, and I’m keeping you. I’m a raw assed gangster at the end of the day. Don’t think you can reason with me and not for fucking fifteen million dollars.”

He takes a draw on his cigar, and I grit my teeth, biting back the urge to tell him to go fuck himself. Instead of lashing back, I decide to opt for the only thing I can right now.

Questions. Anything that will help me figure out what this man has up his sleeves.

“What are you going to do to me?”

“My dear Principessa, it’s more the case of what you are going to do for me,” he says, using me the nickname the boys had for me when we were kids.

“What am I going to do?”

Dominic takes one last draw of smoke and blows it out in rings that cover him in a sexy haze. The corners of his lips slide into an arresting smile that sends the butterflies in my stomach into a frenzy. When he sets the cigar down on the silver ashtray by the window and returns his gaze to me, my insides knot. All the tension I’ve felt in this one week is undoubtedly going to give me a nervous breakdown.

“You’re going to give me a chance. That’s what you’re going to do,” he answers, tapping the contract. “Says here that nothing is off-limits, and you agree to do what I want—everything I want. I’m including that on the list of things I have for you. What I want is a chance.”

“If that’s what you want, then let me go.”

Dominic stands, and my breath hitches. “I don't think so. According to this, I'm the buyer, and your body belongs to me. That means I make the rules here, and I’m not letting you go. If you want to fight me, go ahead. You won't win." He gives me that mocking stare I can't stand, and I fume, balling my fists.

He moves closer, and I gasp when he catches my ankle and yanks me, so my legs dangle off the bed.

“What are you doing?”

He answers by crouching down between my legs and slipping his hands under my ass. His warm, strong hands touching my skin have my head spinning.

“Discussion's over. It’s time to play with you. I want your pussy for breakfast and your tits in my mouth,” he answers before nuzzling his face between my thighs.

My mouth drops open as he rubs his face over the lacy fabric of my panties and reaches up with one hand to fondle my breasts.

All I can do to take the thrill of desire that races through me is breathe. Just breathe and grab onto the bedsheet.

He lifts his head so he can slide my panties down my thighs and tugs on the edge of the oversized t-shirt I’m wearing.

“Take this off. I want to suck your tits,” he says, and lust-filled fire steals over me.

Shame at wanting him to touch me and desire for him mingles hot and forbidden in my throat. Desire overwhelms everything, and his touch weakens me.

He tugs on the t-shirt again and smiles. “Do as I say, Candace.” The menacing smile on his face tells me he knows I’m backed right into that same corner he had me in nights ago, and I won’t protest. Not when he's looking at me like he wants to devour me whole.

I lift the edge of the t-shirt and pull it over my head, doing what I’m told.

A blush sweeps over me as my exposed breasts bounce in front of his face, my nipples noticeably hard.

He runs his hands up the flat of my stomach and catches each nipple between his thumbs and forefingers, then rubs over the diamond peaks.

“You like when I touch you like this, don’t punish yourself by fighting the pleasure.” When a cocky smile floats over his handsome face, my arousal gathers at my core.

It’s going to be evident he’s right in a few seconds when I’m soaked. I do like what he’s doing to me.

He leans forward and closes his mouth over my right breast, sucking while his other hand cushions and massages my left.

Raw, wild need passes through me when he starts sucking harder, and my nipples become so hard his touch and his mouth are painful. He starts moving from one breast to the other working the tips to life with his tongue, and that’s when I give in and allow my body to warm to him.

He has this power over me that makes me forget all the reasons I told myself I couldn't be with him.

I feel good, and I … I don’t want him to stop. Savage hunger that feels primitive takes over my mind and body, kindling need between my thighs. I arch my back into the wild suckle grasping at the sheets, grabbing fist fulls, practically pulling it off the bed.

“Fucking perfect, Candace,” he growls. “You needed this.”

I answer with a mindless moan and reach for his shoulders when he lowers back to my pussy.

“Spread your legs for me, spread them wide for me, baby,” he rasps, pushing a finger into my passage. “Angel, you’re so wet for me. Spread your legs. Let me take care of your needs.”

I widen my legs so he can move his face in between my thighs. When he slides his tongue right into my passage, stars speckle my vision, and the sheets no longer suffice. I have to grab his shoulders, and I dig into his skin so hard I’m sure my nails must pierce the surface.

I throw my head back and press my pussy against his face, moving my hips so he can take me deeper, and he does. He thrusts his tongue deep, deep, deep into me and starts circling my clit. I can barely manage to hold it together when he does that. I know this devil must know what he's doing to me, so I shouldn't be surprised when he suddenly sucks hard on the already sensitive nub.

I scream out from the pleasure. I have to. The sensation is too much, and with that comes the most powerful orgasm I’ve ever had in my life. I scream again, my body bowing to the thrill that claims me. I can’t fight this. I can’t. I don’t want to.

My body shudders in the grasp of his large hands. When he moves his mouth away from me, I have that sensation of loss of heat again. But I don’t have to worry about being lost for too long. Playtime is over. Even if playing is what we both thought we’d be doing. It’s over.

He sits next to me and, in one swift move, shoves down his boxers to free his straining cock. Dominic reaches for me to straddle his lap. Like an obedient servant, I go to him so willingly it frightens me.

All that bravado and willpower I had when I came back from Stormy Creek has faded into the ether. It’s gone, replaced by passion and lust.

I can fight all I want with all my perfect reasons why I shouldn't be with him, but I can’t deny when I’m with Dominic like this, he makes me feel like he wants me.

He settles me down on to his cock and eases into me. I’m still so tight, and because he’s so big, we both feel the impact of him spearing my pussy.

When I wince at the pain, he holds me, slipping his hand up to cup my face. I grab onto his shoulders again, feeling the strain of corded muscles beneath my fingertips.

“You’re so tight, Angel. So tight, baby, you feel so good,” he groans and slides his hand down my throat.

"Dominic I..." My words trail off, but I can't quite remember what I was going to say.

“Tell me you weren’t with Jacques,” he demands, forcing his cock deeper into me. “Tell me.”

“I haven’t been with anybody since you,” I confess, and he rivets his gaze to mine.

“Solo tu anche per me, Angel,” he replies in Italian shocking the life out of me.

Solo tu anche per me. Only you for me too.

“Me?”

To answer my question, he thrusts harder into my pussy, grabs my hips, and starts fucking me; signaling talking is now over.

Pleasure sets my body on fire, and my nerves vibrate in response to the sensation. Pleasure luxuriates over me as Dominic drives into me with a primal fury that makes me know I’m being claimed.

I meet his searing cock thrust for thrust as he fucks me and holds on tight when he starts fucking me so hard my soul trembles at the raw, ecstatic bliss that sings through my body.

When his grip on my hips tightens so hard it hurts and his cock pulses inside my passage, another orgasm claws at my insides. It feels like falling and flying all at the same time—my nerves tingle, and my head spins, dizzy with delicious delight.

When hot cum fills my passage, my body comes alive with another type of heat and a feeling that feels so good it warns me that I’m never going to be able to resist this man.

The realization makes the pleasure recede, and I gaze into those bright blue eyes of his, wishing I could see into his mind.

He bought me at an auction, and now I’m his. He wants a chance with me because he wants me back.

He’s not the kind of man who loses, but what about me?

I don’t want to lose either. I don’t want him to hurt me again.

He's forced me into this. Forced me into diving in headfirst into the ocean of feelings he knows I have for him.

His fingers grace over my cheek, and as he leans forward to kiss me, I move my face. Instead of my lips, he kisses my cheek.

“Be ready in half an hour for breakfast. Then I’m taking you back to your place to pick up your things.” He speaks against the skin of my cheek, but his warm breath caresses me all over. “We’ll be spending the next few days here.”

“I have to work.” I snap my gaze back to him and can tell he loves I’m not even a breath away from his lips.

“You’ll go back to work when I tell you to.”

“But Massimo—”

“You do not answer to my brother. You answer to me.”

He lifts me off his lap and tucks his cock back into his boxers.

I reach for the sheet to cover my naked body and gaze up at him, thinking of what he said to me about not being with anyone else since me. If that’s true, then it must mean something. If he thought of me, then why did he shut me out?

“Why didn’t you write to me?” I ask the question as it pops into my mind.

“What?”

Now that I’ve said it, I might as well continue. “When you were away. I know you sent notes to your brothers. Why didn’t I get a note or something? Proof of life.”

“I wanted you to forget me. It was easier if I had no contact.”

“Easier for who?”

“Both of us.” The flash of something in his eyes suggests I’ve caught him off guard.

“So, it’s okay for you to make decisions for the both of us? Just like you are now, you selfish bastard.”

“Jesus Christ, Candace, we’re not talking about this anymore. Fucking get ready, and don’t keep me waiting. Half an hour.”

Dammit.

He walks out, and as the door slams behind him, I know I'm not going to win.

This is happening, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

It's a new day, and I'm still stuck with the conflict of emotions tearing me apart. And him.