Strings Attached
The question hit her like a slap across the face.
“Do you wanna be my girlfriend?”
Diamond blinked vigorously.
She didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. Her legs were still tangled with his. Her wrists bore faint red marks from the belt that had held them. Her lips were swollen. Her skin still tingled from every place his mouth had touched. And now… he hit her with that?
A laugh bubbled in her throat, breathless and uncertain.
“Wow,” she murmured, eyes wide. “You don’t waste time, huh?”
Adriano didn't flinch. His arm lay across the pillow, muscles relaxed but his jaw tight. There was a seriousness in his gaze—something dangerous, something honest.
“I’m serious, Diamond.”
God. He meant it.
Her stomach flipped, and not in the fun, orgasmic way. This was the oh-shit kind of flip. The kind that made her mind to scream at her, to get up and run out the door.
But her body didn’t listen.
Neither did her heart.
She tilted her head, watching him through narrowed lashes. “So what… is this how you do it? Fuck a girl so hard she forgets her own name and squirts all over you then ask her to go steady like it’s 1952?”
He gave a lazy grin, one side of his mouth twitching up. “Worked, didn’t it?”
Diamond huffed a laugh and sat up slightly, the sheet falling to her waist. Adriano’s eyes dropped immediately to her breasts, and he didn’t even try to be subtle about it.
She smirked. “Jesus. You’re really staring at my tits while I’m trying to process your emotional moment?”
Adriano just shrugged. “They help me think.”
Diamond rolled her eyes, but her heart was hammering in her chest now. Not from amusement but from tension, from danger.
He was serious. This wasn’t pillow talk.
He wanted her.
Not just her body. Her.
And wasn’t that the worst thing?
“You’re not joking?” she asked, her voice much quieter now, tinged with disbelief.
Adriano’s hand came up to tuck a lock of red hair behind her ear. His fingers trailed her jaw, down her throat, slow and possessive.
“Do I look like I’m fucking joking?” he murmured.
Diamond’s breath caught.
No. No, he didn’t. There was nothing but sincerity in those striking green eyes. Intensity. A need so raw it made her toes curl.
She could crack a joke. Make light of it again. Deflect with sex. Push him away with sarcasm.
But instead, she whispered, “Why me?”
Adriano’s brows pulled together.
“What kind of question is that?”
Diamond bit her lip. “Come on. You’re you. You're handsome, pretty sure your bank account is fucking loaded. You could have any girl you wanted, so why the stripper with the sharp tongue and questionable taste in glitter?”
He leaned in, lips brushing hers—not kissing, just hovering.
“Because you don’t look at me like everyone else does. You challenge me. You make me feel…” He hesitated, then chuckled, shaking his head. “Fuck. I don’t even know. Like I’m not just the son of a Don. Like I’m a man. A real man. When I was inside you, I forgot about everything else.”
Diamond’s throat went dry.
Fuck!
She hated how much that got to her.
“You always this charming after sex?” she asked, trying to tease again but her voice wavered.
Adriano caught her chin and tilted her head up until their eyes locked. His expression darkened.
“Only when I mean it.”
She swallowed hard.
And then, to keep herself from spiraling, she grinned—sly and confident.
“You asking me to be your girlfriend…” she purred, eyes dancing, “before even taking me on a date? That’s dangerous, Adriano.”
He growled low in his throat, and suddenly she was under him again, his mouth capturing hers in a possessive, deep kiss that sent her pulse rocketing. His hand slid up her thigh.
“I’ll take you on a date… right after I fuck you again.”
Diamond laughed into his mouth, but when he pulled back, her smile faltered. Because he was still watching her like he meant every word.
This wasn’t just lust anymore.
And that scared the shit out of her.
You can’t say yes. You can’t say yes. You’re here to destroy him, not fall for him.
She pressed her forehead to his. “You really want me to be your girlfriend?”
Adriano nodded once, serious as sin. “I do.”
She took a long, slow breath.
Then she whispered, “Then you better kiss me like you fucking mean it.”
And he did.
They kissed like it was the first time.
Slower now. No urgency. No dominance. Just lips moving together, soft and open, with the occasional sigh breaking through. Diamond’s fingers curled gently into his hair, not yanking—just holding. Like she needed to anchor herself to something solid.
Adriano was warm. Solid. Dangerous. And yet somehow, in that moment, he felt like safety.
When they finally parted, Adriano didn’t move far. His forehead rested against hers again, his eyes closed.
Neither of them said a word.
The silence wasn’t awkward—it was full. Full of things unsaid. Full of questions. Full of something else entirely.
Diamond exhaled slowly. “You really throw the word girlfriend around like it’s not a loaded gun.”
Adriano chuckled softly, and she felt the sound in his chest against hers. “If it is, I already pulled the trigger.”
She looked at him, eyes searching.
He looked serene. Like the chaos of his world had been muted, if only for a few stolen minutes in her presence. And something inside her cracked a little.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
“Adriano…” Her voice faltered.
His eyes opened, green and glinting in the low light. “Hmm?”
“I’m not good at this,” she said quietly, almost to herself. “Relationships. Feelings. All that shit.”
“Neither am I,” he admitted without hesitation. “But I want to try… with you.”
Diamond stared up at the ceiling, trying to compose herself.
He shifted beside her and reached out to touch her face, trailing a knuckle along her jawline. “What’s going on in that head of yours, Bella donna?” (beautiful woman)
She turned to him slowly. “I’m wondering if this is real. Or if it’s just sex and adrenaline making you act all soft and romantic.”
Adriano raised an eyebrow, then smirked. “You think I'm soft?”
She gave a light laugh despite herself. “That’s not what I meant, you cocky bastard.”
He reached out and pulled her against his chest, arm wrapping around her shoulders. She went, willingly this time, nestling her head just under his chin.
“You think I make a habit of asking strippers to be my girlfriend?” he asked, his voice amused but calm.
Diamond bit back a smile. “You mean you don’t have a trail of broken-hearted dancers in every club across the country?”
“No,” he said, stroking her arm. “Just one. And she’s lying in my bed right now, asking too many damn questions.”
She sighed. A real one. One that came from deep down.
This wasn’t what she planned. Adriano wasn’t supposed to be this human.
“I could get used to this,” she whispered before she could stop herself.
He stiffened just a little. “Used to what?”
“This. You. Us.” She looked up at him. “Lying in this bed like we’re normal people.”
Adriano’s voice dropped. “We’re not normal people.”
“I know,” she replied quickly. “Trust me, I know.”
He looked at her carefully, as if trying to read her mind. Maybe he sensed something beneath her words. She shifted again, laying on her side, propped on an elbow, her fingers idly trailing the inked golden snake tattoo that wrapped around his arm.
“Your family…” she started, watching his expression carefully, “Are you gonna tell them about this?”
Adriano froze for a second, his jaw flexed.
She nodded. “So… what will their reaction be? If they find out about me? Will it be a problem?”
There was a pause. Then a single word eventually came out of Adriano. “Yes.”
Diamond blinked.
Adriano let out a low breath, not quite a sigh—more like a release of tension that’d been sitting behind his ribcage for a while.
“My father will think I’m distracted and too ‘Americanized’.” Adriano said with an eye roll, “My oldest brother, Alessandro will think I’ve lost my damn mind. And my immediate older brother, Gabriele… well, he won’t say much, but he’ll be watching.”
“But I don’t give a fuck,” Adriano said, his voice low and dangerous. “Let them come. Let Alessandro sneer. Let my father bark orders from overseas. You’re mine and if they don’t like it, they can go fuck themselves.”
Diamond's breath hitched.
“You don’t even know me,” she whispered.
He tilted her chin again, forcing her to look at him. “No. But I want to. That’s the thing. I’m not just here to fuck you, I’m here to know you.”
That did it.
Something in her cracked.
You're falling for a ghost Adriano.
Still, she didn’t pull away.
She curled into him, resting her head against his chest. His heart thumped slow and steady beneath her ear.
“I’m a dangerous woman, Adriano.”
"You think that scares me?" He laughs, but there’s nothing sane in his voice—just hunger. "I hope you're dangerous, Diamond. I want you to be the kind of woman who could destroy me... because I swear to God, I’d still crawl back for more. Burn me, break me—just don’t leave. I’d kill anyone who tries to take you away.”
“Careful, Adriano. I’m the kind of woman who could get you killed.” she replied, her voice laced with seduction.
Adriano leans in, his lips brushing her ear as his fingers trail all the way down to in between her legs until they slip inside her wet cunt. She arched her back as a silent moan escapes her lips.
"Then I’ll die smiling, bella.” Adriano said in a dangerously low voice, “Because if I go out, I want it to be with your hands around my throat and your name on my lips. But make no mistake—if you’re fire, I’m gasoline. And if we burn… the whole fucking world goes down with us.”