Amore (33 page)

“Carlo? Dance? Don’t make a girl beg,” Shae brushed her lips over his jaw. When he turned his head to tell her no, she flicked her tongue at his lips. And then she moved in on him. Holding his face, she would have been on his lap if it weren’t for the table. Her lips were so soft and her tongue so sweet, it knocked his head back and cleared his thoughts. She dragged her mouth to his ear and breathed a kiss there.

“Dance with me, please,” she said. She then caressed his jaw with her lips. His mouth, nose, jaw, brow, all were touched by her petal soft lips. “I’m not ready for the night to end.”

Shae pulled away. A look into her beautiful, long lashed eyes sent the pit of his stomach into wild swirls. Most of his women pleased him with physical aggression to match his own insatiable appetite. She felt soft, lovely, and seductive against his chest.

“
Mannaggia!
Let’s dance.” He scooted out of the booth. He reached back and pulled her out. She wrapped her arm around his waist and went with him to the dance floor. He could tell that she’d had a couple of glasses of wine too many with her light stumbles. But with his assistance she found her balance. He drew her back into his arms. Shae intertwined her fingers behind his neck.

He was tall, handsome, and dominant. What else could a girl want on a night like tonight? The hot and solid length of him made her heart pulse. She shouldn’t have had those three glasses of wine. The conversation between him and the other man felt intense. She kept drinking to keep from asking for the man Santo to leave. Hell the stranger was killing her fantasy. Now Carlo was hers.

To her surprise Carlo could dance. Most men let their ego get in the way and stood stiff while a girl grooved all over them. Carlo held her up against him with a firm grip to her hips. And his movements were hip and pelvic thrusts that kept in time with the music. The man had a natural rhythm that made her eyes flutter with wonder.
I wonder if he’s this good in bed? I wonder if I should break my rule and give him a taste without the chase. I wonder, wonder, wonder...

Shae melted against his hard frame. When his large palm squeezed her ass, she parted her legs and rubbed her sex up and down his muscle packed thigh. She began to roll her ass and grind down the heat and passion burning her core against the top of his thigh. The side of her face was pressed to his chest. Her eyes were closed. And he smelled good; that raw spice and tobacco smell that was all male.

“Stay with me,” he said, and his voice was deep and commanding enough to be heard over the music.

“Hmm?” she smiled and held on to him.

“Stay with me. Tonight.” He proposed.

Shae’s eyes opened. She lifted her head from his chest and stopped trying to fuck the man on the dance floor. He looked down at her with expectation.

“Where?” she asked. “Stay where, Carlo?”

Carlo smiled. He let her go to walk her out of the club. They didn’t bother to pay the bill and no one stopped him to question why. They made it back to the car without incident. The bustling street was teeming with nightlife. And the muggy evening weather cleared her head. In the car with Carlo speeding and swerving around traffic, Shae braced for the final destination.

On the avenue she was again taken by all of the fancy stores and fashion boutiques. The buildings’ architecture was richly designed. Carlo drove up to a corner hotel that looked like a museum. The valet opened her car door and helped her out.

“Thank you,” Shae said. She glanced up to the flags flapping in the wind. “Where are we?” she asked.

Carlo hooked his arm around her waist. “Hotel Diana Majestic. It’s one of the oldest and most famous hotels in Milan. The Milanese host their private fancy affairs here. It’s where the Donna will have her fashion event tomorrow.”

He walked her inside. She absorbed the posh décor.

“You stay here?” she asked.

“Me and the men are here. Yes. We will make sure nothing goes wrong tomorrow,” he said. “Let me take you through the gardens. You have to see it at night.”

“Okay.”

Shae had been disappointed over the little nightspot he chose for them. She had hoped his taste improved. It was as if she’d entered a roman palace from ancient times. They walked through the lobby across black and white marble floors to the side doors, which were all made of glass. Carlo’s pace was casual. Shae absorbed every detail of the palace. It was a good choice for Mirabella’s fashion debut.

Together they passed through two inside doors to reach the outside veranda. She could see the gardens and the lanterns giving the blooming flowers a majestic beauty. Maybe that’s where the hotel got its name from?

“It’s really pretty out here,” she said.

“The hotel is close to two hundred years old,” Carlo said. He walked ahead of her and then jogged down the steps to the lawn. She followed but at a much slower pace. Shae looked up to the stars in the sky. The lanterns around the outside gardens dimmed the beauty of the night above her but still she could see the moon clearly. It was a crescent moon that softened and bathed the landscape in shimmery silver. For a brief moment the moon hypnotized Shae. She’d never appreciated it before.

When she looked back toward Carlo he was gone. Shae paused. She knew he hadn’t gone around her.

“Carlo?” she called out.

Shae heard a couple laughing as they strolled up the path. They nodded politely to her when they passed. She wrapped the shawl around her arms tightly and hurried her steps. Of course her only choice was to take the path that led into the gardens. Confused she kept glancing back wondering if he had indeed gone around her and back inside. Maybe she should go back the way they came. Shae rounded the next corner of rose bushes, now alarmed. “Carlo? Carlo, where are—”

“Rah!”

“Aaargh!” Shae screamed. She was swept from her feet and spun around. Her purse was thrown from her hand. And her body slung over some man’s shoulder. Shae choked on her screams and then they were off and running. Actually Carlo was running while carrying her through the garden. Of course it only took her a moment to realize who had assaulted her. And it felt like an attack. She hit her chin on his back and nearly bit through her tongue from the jostling and bouncing. Hanging upside down she blinked out of shock and fury, and tried to summon her voice to demand her release. Not only had he scared the shit out of her, but he was running with her. Faster and faster he ran around one corner of bushes and then another. What if he fell? What if he dropped her?

Shae screamed and kicked “Carlo, please! Please stop! Please put me down! Stop! We’ll fall. Stop!” He bit the side of her ass and pain shot through her thigh. Shae froze. The bite hurt but the shock of his attack scared her. Her head bounced up and down and banged against his rock hard back. She had to use her hands to brace herself. He ran for what felt like forever. The blood rushing to her brain left her dizzy and weak. She feared if he didn’t stop running she’d pass out or throw up.

And then he stopped.

Shae dragged in a deep startled breath. He brought her down on legs of jelly. As soon as she was on her feet she slapped him. He grabbed her wrist painfully tight and yanked her toward him. She crashed into him and his lips crushed hers. She tried to break away but he held on to her wrist and twisted her arm.
Was he crazy? Yes! He’s crazy!
The fight was on. She fought with everything in her. Carlo let go of her wrist but grabbed her by the neck to maintain the kiss. The strangle hold made her gasp and wheeze. She bit his bottom lip but he didn’t stop. Lord help her but he was too strong. When his tongue slipped into her mouth she bit it hard.

Carlo laughed. She pushed at his chest, but her right hand cramped from the pain in her wrist. And he held her by the throat and forced her to walk backward. Soon she was pinned to a column. She could tell by the cool smooth curved surface.

“Carlo! I can’t breathe!” she wheezed between kissing him back. She knew a woman’s defense when a man became uncontrollable was to lessen the resistance and ramp up her strategy for escape. There was no fun in his overpowering her. And his demands were too aggressive. He was scaring her. She kissed him and tasted his blood on his tongue from her bite. He reached up under her skirt.

Shae squeezed her eyes shut and winced when he scratched her thigh as he tried to force them apart. It was then she seized the moment. She drove her knee up so hard and swift she was certain she’d forced his gonads up into his throat. Carlo buckled. He stumbled back and Shae hit him. Punched him in the face hard. He stumbled back another step holding to his dick. There was madness in his eyes. He glared at her with the look of a predator. Shae had been in some tough spots before, but this one was quite different. Here she was in another country, with a foreigner, hell she had dropped her purse when he grabbed her. She was cornered.

Carlo glared at her under the moon. He didn’t speak. He licked the blood from his lip. And rubbed the soreness from his dick. The hatred she saw in his eyes hurt her feelings. Who was this madman? She really did like the jackass, and he turned barbarian on her for no discernable reason.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Why did you attack me?”

He looked away. He stepped back and away from her. Shae felt a greater sense of relief for the distance. But the fear was still there. Should she run?
Yes!
She should run and the get the hell away from him. Pray he didn’t catch her and finish whatever the hell he was trying to do. The man was bat-shit crazy, a killer, and possibly a rapist. What the hell was she thinking? Marietta had warned her. She fucked up. Carlo ran his hand back through his hair. He said something in Italian or Sicilian, she didn’t know. He began to pace as if panicked. He knew he hurt her. She could tell by the way he looked at her. And she licked the sting of her lip to taste her own blood.

“Why?” she asked.

“I didn’t mean to,” he said.

“Bullshit! What was that? Were you going to rape me?” she shouted at him.

He shook his head. “I was playing… ah, I didn’t mean for it to happen.”

“Bullshit!” she shouted at him again. “You hurt me! On purpose!”

“I apologize,
bella
. I will take you home. I will make it right,” he said. “Don’t tell. Don’t worry. I’ll make it right.”

Shae wiped her tears. “What are you schizophrenic?”

“Che cosa?”
he asked.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she pronounced every word clearly.

“It got out of hand. I wanted to play with you.” He reasoned.

“Play with me? I’m a grown woman. Play with me? Are you fucking kidding me?” she asked. He made no sense. How could he be so awkward and lack control? It wasn’t sexy. It was pathetic.

He turned and started away.

She walked toward him. “Wait a minute. It was the alcohol. We both had a lot to drink. I’m fine,” she tried to reason the attack away. The problem was her throat hurt something awful. She feared it would be bruised in the morning.

He stared at her in disbelief.

“Carlo? It’s okay,” she tried to swallow the tremor in her voice. She blinked away her tears. “I’m fine,” she smiled. “See?”

She turned for him. She looked back at him from over her shoulder.

He shook his head and stepped back with his hands forced down into his pockets. He said something in Italian again. His face was flushed red.

“I don’t understand. Speak English.”

“I will take you back now. I’ll confess to my actions. It’s time to end the night.”

She almost agreed with him. Hell she should get the hell back to the Battaglias, pack her shit, and just leave Italy. The entire family and these men were too intense, even for her. But Shae had seen the Don and his cold ice blue stare. She had heard the underlying warning in Marietta’s voice about what would happen if these men were to break their boss’s rules. Carlo was fucked up in the head. Immature. Dangerous. Possibly a psychopath. But she broke the rules too. And she wouldn’t let him be hurt because of her impulsive choices.

Carlo could not hide his shame. He wanted to hurt her. Choke her. Strangle something. And the urge persisted. When he was angry, frustrated, and horny, the urge to crush something soft often overcame him. Never a good mix if he added alcohol. This is why he could never have a woman, any woman’s heart. Who would want such damaged goods? It was why he fixated on Marietta, and her wild intolerance. Seeing her as the woman who tamed his friend, secretly wishing for someone with her strength to do the same for him.

He should take Shae back to the Battaglias and go see Elsa. At least with her his aggression would be accepted, even welcomed. In the morning he’d face Gio and confess. He’d take his licks. He just hoped his brother Ciro didn’t pay the price. Shae stepped toward him. He could sense her fear by the way she clenched her hands into fists, and see courage in her fearless smile.

“Is that a pool?” she asked.

The question confounded him. Pool? He glanced back over his shoulder. The biggest draw for the Milanese who frequented the Diana Majestic was the pool. They called it the Diana bath. It was a hundred meters long and twenty-five wide. Access to it was often restricted. This area was under some reconstruction. But from their position in the garden they could see down the hill to the clear blue waters sparkling under the moonlight.