Page 60 of Malevolent Secrets

“Lorenzo, I don’t want to move.”

“I understand. But you’re going to. Because like I said, I don’t let go of things that are mine.”

“I’m not a thing, you can’t just claim me as yours.”

She gets up, and the blanket falls off her body again. Her very delectable little body.

“Except I can, and I have.”

She sputters, and does it make me a jerk that I enjoy her frustration?

“You can’t! I’m not just going to become one of the mindless women in the Cosa Nostra.” Mindless? If only she knew.

“The women in the Cosa Nostra are the farthest things from mindless. This isn’t a 1950’s movie. Women have rights just like every other person,” I say, getting annoyed.

“Okay, but still, I have to work…”

“At my club.”

“I can’t do this. I can’t be with you all the time.”

“Why? Afraid you’ll fall in love with me?”

She sputters again, and I smile and get up.

“There are people we have pissed off, people who will want their own pound of flesh. I mean that in every literal sense. Do you know what they will do to you if they find out that you’re carrying my child—the heir to the Duretti empire?”

She turns white and I hate that I’m scaring her, but I need her to understand the gravity of the situation.

“I don’t either, and that uncertainty is not something I’m willing to risk.”

She deflates, and I hate myself. I take another step toward her.

“I’m hardly around. There are twelve rooms in the house. I share it with my sister, but she’s off traveling the world. None of my men live there. It’s my private sanctuary, and you’ll have it to yourself most of the time. I’m not bringing you in as some kind of sex slave. I won’t fuck you unless you ask me to.”

That last part is going to be really damn difficult because everything she does makes my dick stir. She breathes, and I’m hard. Dressed like she is now in next to nothing, the blue balls are almost unbearable. But I mean it. I won’t touch her if she doesn’t want me to.

“I need you to be safe, and the Durreti compound is the only place where I can make sure of that. Do you understand me?”

She nods and I nod too.

“Good.”

“What about my job? Do I get to keep it?”

Really? Even now, she is still concerned about Jeremy. I sigh.

“If you want to.”

“And friends, can I have friends over?”

“Depends on who they are.”

“Men?”

Fuck no. I grit my teeth, and then I see that she’s smiling. It’s the most enchanting thing.

“I’m kidding. I have just one friend.”

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