Page 87 of Captured Fantasy

I met him at the club the week after Lucien and Olivia’s wedding. He had attended, he told me, but he hadn’t stayed long into the night. Something had changed in him after Cairo and it made me wonder if Federico had confronted him after I’d tried to break it off with him.

I got to the table before he did and ordered a grenadine mimosa. It was snowing lightly outside and the dining room was bathed in an insipid light. I heard his footfalls and I looked up.

He looked older and there was a firm set to his jaw that caught me off guard. Instead of his usual black t-shirt and work boots, he wore a fine, Italian suit, tailored perfectly to his body. He looked incredible and I felt the breath leave my lungs in a little rush.

“Cosimo,” I whispered.

He looked over his shoulder to make sure we were unnoticed before lifting my face and kissing me. His mouth burned like fire.

“I’m sorry I haven’t visited as often as I would like,” he said, sitting down. “My responsibilities are…much heavier. Much more pressing.”

“Is that an excuse?” I asked, cocking my head.

“Believe me, Enza, I’d rather be in your bed than anywhere else. But Lucien has had me working from morning to night. Now that he’s gone on his honeymoon, I’m taking over some of his responsibilities until he gets back.”

“Really? That’s huge,” I said.

“It’s…not anything I can’t manage.”

He flicked his eyes to the window and I leaned forward, putting my hand on his thigh. A sizzle of heat moved up my arm and he jerked, his mouth parting as his gaze fell on me. Without speaking, I laid aside my purse and he took my hand, lifting me to my feet. We crossed the dining room and he pulled me into the bathroom, the same one Federico had fucked me in after I’d slapped him.

Cosimo’s breath came short and fast as he turned me around and pulled my skirt up. I wore knee socks, thick and soft against the cold. He groaned as he ran his hand up them, pressing me down until my breasts met the sink.

“Oh God.” The gasp burst from my mouth as he pressed into me, filling me as only he could.

His fingers found my clit and he fucked me slowly until I came. He pulled from me and I took him in my mouth and swallowed his cum. He brushed down my skirt, slipping my panties into his jacket pocket, and cradled my face.

“You’re mine, don’t forget that, Mrs. Russo,” he murmured.

“I know.” I buried my face in his rough, warm palm.

He tilted my chin up, forcing me to look at him. I’d never seen him so serious. His eyes were thick with something that made my throat grow dry.

“I mean to marry you,” he said.

My world slowed and I swallowed the heavy dryness on my tongue.

“I’m right on the edge of something that will change…well, everything. Once it’s done with, I’m going to handle things with Federico. Then I’ll inform Lucien that he can either allow me to marry you or watch me kill every man he tries to hand you off to.”

“Cosimo, I broke it off with Federico,” I whispered in a rush.

His face froze. “You did?”

“I tried anyway. I told him I didn’t want to see him again, that I wanted what we had to be over,” I said. “He got angry, understandably I guess, and said that he wasn’t going to accept it. He said he had a more legitimate claim to me and that this wasn’t over.”

“Motherfucker,” Cosimo said, his jaw gritted. “I’ll handle it from now on. Don’t worry about Federico.”

I nodded, letting him hold me against his warm, firm chest. I wanted to believe him, but I also knew that he didn’t have the final say in what happened to me.

He led me back out to the dining room where our food waited for our return. I sat down, his taste on my tongue, and my thighs wet from my arousal. He bolted his espresso and ordered another, sitting back and crossing his legs like he hadn’t just told me he wanted to marry me. The side of him that announced these world altering things and carried on as if nothing had happened bothered me.

“What’s your time frame?” I asked.

“For what?”

“For marrying me,” I said coolly, raising a brow at him.

He shrugged. “Before summer.”

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