Page 485 of Hate Mates

She likes it this way,deep and relentless. My kitten lets out a little moan that drives me deeper and faster, thrusting with need, until she’s panting my name, over and over, the very name the little hellcat swore she’d never say while riding on the end of my dick.

My mouth latcheson to her swollen and erect nipple as I drive in deep, hitting that little button deep inside every single time, building waves the size of a tsunami that crush my resolve and force her to finally cry my name. “Massimo!”

The soundof her screaming my name sends me over the edge right after her, both riding the waves, a pummeling force that takes our breaths away. I find her eyes, and in the moment we both know what this means. We will be married, she will be mine, to love and cherish for all time.

Sophia shiversin my arms as I hold her through it all, until every last tremor is gone, and our bodies have calmed. I push a wayward strand of hair from her face so I can see her beautiful, expressive eyes. She doesn’t look away, knowing exactly what this means. “I lost the bet,” she whispers.

I kissher beautiful warm and moist lips. “Then tomorrow you will pay your father’s debt. The priest will marry us, and we will say I do in front of the entire world.”

I’m so honoredto be part of the memorial to one of our dearest colleagues, Catherine Wiltcher. Thank you for reading and supporting our effort to raisefunds for Catherine's favorite charity,Bowel Cancer UK.

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Captive by Victoria Woods

AN ENEMIES-TO-LOVERS, SICILIAN MAFIA STORY

Chapter One

ANTONELLA

It was barely eight o’clock in the evening and I was ready for bed. Makeup removed. Freshly showered. Hair in a messy bun.

I lay in bed in a white silk sleep tank and matching shorts with a book cracked open. At first, I had rolled my eyes at my sleepwear options, but I’d come to realize that silk was a fantastic material to sleep in. It was thin like air but surprisingly insulating when the AC kicked on at night.

All interactions with anyone capable of breathing in this house were bullshit, except when they included Massimo, the chef, and Aurelio, the butler. They were the only people who treated me like a human being. But between those moments, there was very little to do around my new prison. Sure, it was a beautiful estate that came with a lot of amenities, like a swimming pool and access to the ocean, but I couldn’t enjoy any of it based on the pretense of why I was here in the first place.Imprisonment.Any time I indulged and took advantage of my captor’s home, it was only to disrupt his peace. To annoy Lazaro.

He had sold my belongings. Everything I had held dear was gone...because of him. All of Mamma’s mementos andkeepsakes, gone. Items I had been planning on sharing with my children someday, to teach them about the grandmother they’d never have the joy of meeting.

I had never been a person who needed expensive things to make me happy. It was the sentimental things that were priceless to me. Anything that had belonged to my late mother was irreplaceable.

Lazaro was a bad man, inside and out. He was a criminal, I knew that much. And his intentions with me were nothing but malicious.

How much longer would I be here? Would I ever be free? It was my curse in life to find myself in the path of dangerous men like Lazaro.

Knock. Knock.

I didn’t answer. There was only one person who ever came up to my room, and she never waited for me to answer before barging in.

I rested the book on my chest and clasped my hands over my belly, waiting for her to begin. Angelica, the maid, and I found it was easier to skip pleasantries between us like, “Hello,” and “How are you,” because it would somehow just end up in a fight. The woman hated me, and the feeling was mutual.

Her beady eyes darted around my room, investigating as if she had caught me staging a military coup and she was sure to find an army hiding in my room. “The boys are at lunch,” I called to her, going with the conspiracy.

Her overgrown brows pinched together. “Signore Lazaro says it’s time for dinner.”

Interesting.He hadn’t asked me to join him for a meal since he had flipped out and sent me away without food. Since then, I’d either taken my meals in my room or in the kitchen while watching Massimo cook.

As a matter of fact, I had hardly seen Lazaro since then.

Any moment of peace I ever found in this house of horrors was always ruined, either by him or by the rat standing in front of me. I had been looking forward to picking some lemons for lemonade, but minutes after setting up my ladder, I had felt I was being watched. I had turned to see his stupid friends pressed up to the glass of the window, ogling me, while Lazaro had just stood there, yet again pissed off that I existed. If I annoyed him so much, then why not just let me go? Why keep me here just to endure the bad mood he’d been in since he brought me here? It made no sense to me.

Although, I had to admit teasing him was fun. I found great joy in watching his forehead crease with little wrinkles and the hard muscle of his jaw tick.

Was I scared that Lazaro would touch me? Or hurt me for acting out of line? Maybe. But there was some part that couldn’t resist testing his boundaries—seeing how much I could get away with. It was the dopamine hit I desperately needed to fill these mundane days.

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