It’s not a request. I snap my eyes open, chest heaving, meeting his dark, furious gaze.
Cassio is looming over me, a beautiful, terrifying nightmare. He lets go of my wrists and traces his fingers to my right nipple.
"Did he look at you like this?" Cassio asks, his voice practically vibrating with unfiltered jealousy. He sheds his dress shirt, tossing it onto the floor.
I stare at his torso. He is covered in dark, swirling tattoos of thorns, crests, and shadows that map the hard, sculpted muscle of his chest and arms. Scars cut through the ink, jagged silver lines that tell the story of a man who lives entirely by the sword. He is lethal. He is magnificent.
"Did Dario strip you down in his father's house and look at you like he wanted to eat you alive?" Cassio presses.
"No," I whisper honestly, my voice cracking.
Dario never looked at me. Dario never touched me.But I’m too terrified to voice those words.
Cassio misinterprets my answer. He thinks I’m defending a past lover’s gentleness against his own brutality. His eyes darken to pitch black, the last frayed thread of his control snapping completely.
"Good," he growls. "Because you're going to forget his fucking name by sunrise."
Cassio leans down, capturing my mouth in a bruising, devastating kiss. The aggression in it is intoxicating. His tongue sweeps past my parted lips, tasting me, demanding a submission I am suddenly desperate to give.
I kiss him back, pouring every ounce of my pent-up rage, my isolation, and my terrifying, undeniable attraction into the clash of our mouths. I bite his lower lip, tasting the faint, metallic tangof his blood, and he groans, a deep, guttural sound of pure male approval.
His hand slides up my thigh, his calloused palm grazing the sensitive skin of my inner leg. I jolt, a sharp gasp tearing from my throat and directly into his mouth.
I am incredibly, embarrassingly wet. The sheer friction of our argument, the danger of his proximity, the unhinged jealousy radiating off him, it has all conspired to prime my body for a war I have no idea how to fight.
Cassio feels my slickness, and a dark, triumphant smirk curls against my lips. "You hate me so much, don't you,moglie?" he whispers against my mouth, his fingers brush against my core.
"I despise you," I sob, my hips arching off the mattress involuntarily as his thumb finds the aching, sensitive bundle of nerves there.
"Show me," he taunts, pressing down.
I shatter.
It happens so fast, so violently, I don't even have time to brace myself. My entire body bows off the bed, a broken scream rips from my throat. I squeeze my eyes shut, my nails digging bloody half-moons into the heavy muscle of his shoulders as wave after wave of blinding, white-hot pleasure crashes through me. I have never felt anything like this. It’s too much. It’s agonizingly good.
Cassio watches me fall apart, his dark eyes burning with a terrifying, possessive satisfaction. He thinks he has conquered me.
As the aftershocks tremble through my limbs, leaving me breathless and dizzy, I desperately hope he is satisfied. I hope he’ll roll over, leaving my secret intact.
But Cassio Vellutini doesn't stop halfway.
He unbuckles his slacks completely, pushing them down along with his dark boxer briefs. I catch a glimpse of him, he is thick, heavily aroused, and terrifyingly large, and then he positions himself firmly between my thighs.
The panic returns, slicing through the lingering haze of my orgasm.
"Cassio," I gasp. Not knowing if I want him to stop or continue.
He leans down and kisses me, sending all rational thoughts flying out of my mind.
He aligns himself at my entrance. The blunt, hot pressure of him against my core makes my heart stop.
He’s going to tear me apart."Look at me," he commands, his eyes locking onto mine, demanding I witness my own ruin. "Know exactly who is claiming you."
Before I can form the words to tell him this is my first time, before I can confess the humiliating truth of my untouched existence, Cassio thrusts forward, driving his hips down with the ruthless, unhesitating force of a man expecting a smooth, wet welcome.
He hits the barrier immediately.
The pain is blinding. A sharp, tearing agony rips through me, so intense it feels like I am being split in two.