Page 97 of Diavolo

Doubts swirled within her. "I think you're placing me on a pedestal, but I'll certainly try to pull my weight."

Alessandro kissed her. "I have faith in you."

"Thank you," she grumbled.

"By the way—"

"Yes?"

"Mariposa has invited us to a dinner party tonight," Alessandro declared quite suddenly.

Elyse's eyes widened. "What?"

"The Berlusconis will be there as well," he stated, "it is important that we attend. To make amends for Carmen's offenses against Cara."

A bit of anxiety arose in her. Elyse hadn't expected to be called to battle so soon. They had barely gotten married for fuck's sake. But she kept her expression calm and neutral. "I'll have Malina help me pick out a dress."

Alessandro smiled down at her. "One more thing. Valentina will be there as well."

Elyse scowled.

He chuckled at her glum expression. "Do not look so gloomy. A happy thought has occurred to me."

She glanced at him in alarm. "What is it?"

With a sly smile, his hands found her hips. Alessandro started nudging Elyse to their bed. "I believe we still have a few hours until the party.Four—to be exact. And I have some ideas on how we can pass the time..."

22

As the back ofElyse's legs bumped the bed, desire and yearning sparked within despite her concerns about Mariposa's party. To Elyse's surprise, though, Alessandro didn't push her onto the mattress and cage her beneath him. Instead, he let her go. Quietly, her husband intimated, "Another, even happier, thought crossed my mind—"

She gazed up at him with suspicion in her eyes.

Alessandro smiled winsomely. "I broke the rules. Of our game. On our wedding night."

She frowned a little. Try as she might, Elyse couldn't remember the exact play-by-play. Everything between them had spiraled into sex so quickly that night. It was all a blur at this point. Elyse laughed. "I don't think the game matters anymore. We already fucked."

"That is where you are wrong," Alessandro countered. "A chi dai il dito si prende anche il braccio."

She cocked her head to the side. "What does that mean?"

"It means," Alessandro explained huskily, his eyes darkening with pleasure, "your husband needs to be governed. Or he may become a fucking menace in the days to come."

Elyse reached up to rest her hand upon his cheek. "Do youwantto be disciplined?"

Her voice sounded soft and sweet, but she was promising something far more depraved. He inhaled a quick, short breath. "Only by you, wife."

Without breaking eye contact, Alessandro began disrobing, shirt, belt, trousers, boxers, until he stood naked and aroused before her. A second later, like a magnet seeking its mate, Elyse's hand drifted down to grip his cock. Yet, even while Alessandro grew impossibly harder in her hand, filling her with a heady sense of feminine power, a sudden and unexpected surge of uncertainty also came over her. Elyse couldn't seem to shake her worries about tonight's party. The last mafia gathering she attended had ended in disaster.

She bit her lower lip. "What if I don't know how to discipline a man like you?"

Although, the question Elyse had really wanted to ask was—what if she wasn't cut out to be his wife?Alessandro was a raging optimist, too confident in their ability to weather the shitstorm that awaited them tonight. She was a realist. It made her second guess everything. They were fortunate that Cara hadn't overdosed at Carmen's party. In her old life, Elyse never questioned her skills and qualifications as a surgeon. She possessed the necessary hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity to repair blunt-force injuries. She knew how to keep calm during high-pressure emergencies. But could she hold down the fort against the Valentinas and Caras and Mariposas in Alessandro's world? For once, Elyse didn't feel qualified to do a job.

Alessandro didn't fail to notice her trepidation. The sweet, seductive pull between them faded to a quieter, more meditative sort of mood. Gently, he observed, "You havethe lookabout you again."

Sighing, Elyse nudged Alessandro onto the bed and crawled into his lap. His arms wrapped around her comfortingly. They sat nestled together on the mattress with him in the nude and her fully clothed.

"I'm worried that I'll fail you again tonight."

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