Page 29 of Sins of the Son

“I am not your whore, you arrogant prick bastard. How dare you think you can treat me like this! If you don’t let me out of this room, I am going to scream until the fucking pope himself hears my cries.”

As a relentless stream of cursing spilled from her beautiful lips, she reached down and took off her high heels, gripping them both in her hands like weapons. Already shorter than me, without her heels the top of her head barely reached under my chin. With her petite stature, she reminded me of an angry little Tinker Bell. All she was missing was a showering of gold glitter and stars around her. And just like Tinker Bell, I wanted to give her cute bottom a spanking to calm her down. I raised an eyebrow. The thought had merit.

She clutched one heel to her chest while raising the other over her head. "Don't you dare come any closer."

The corner of my mouth lifted. "I'm talented, but not that talented. I'm afraid I'll need to be quite a bit closer for what I have planned."

"I don't give a damn what your plans are. I've already made it very clear to you. I want nothing—nothing—to do with you."

I sighed as I placed the flat of my palm over my abdomen. “And I’ve already made it clear to you, leaving me tonight is not an option. One week. You’ve given me one week.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I’ve changed my mind. I’m leaving.”

“That’s too damn bad,” I growled. “You’re staying.”

She inhaled sharply as she tightened her grip on her high-heeled weapon. “I don’t care what I said. I’m leaving.”

I studied her. "Only one of us is right. Care to guess which one it is?"

Her lips thinned. "I can name at least five women off the top of my head who would fall over themselves to spread their legs for you. Why can't you go bother them?"

"I don't want them. I want you and only you.”

"Cesare, I'm telling you right now. I hate you. I loathe you. I despise the very air you breathe. The very ground you walk upon. I wish nothing but hellfire and damnation upon you. Every cell in my body abhors the very sight, the very thought, the very existence of you," she declared passionately. “Last night was a mistake. A horrible, wretched mistake. One that I will regret for the rest of my life.”

She was lying.

It was all there, like the mystery of a gorgeous painting to be studied and unraveled. The flush on her pale cheeks. The way her pupils dilated at the sight of me. The rapid pulse at the base of her throat. The way her eyes drifted to the right as she spoke, denoting deception.

“You’re lying and I’ll prove it.”

She raised her shoe higher. “Don’t you dare touch me!”

I chuckled. “Challenge accepted.”

Her brow wrinkled as her gaze swept over me with suspicion. The grip on her high heel faltered. “What do you mean?”

“If I can prove you’re lying, without touching you, you honor our agreement and stay for one week.”

She hesitantly lowered her weapon. “And if you can’t?”

“I’ll let you leave, but first, you have to obey everything I say.”

Her gaze swept over me again. It then shifted to the locked door behind me, the only exit, and back.

I knew how to get my girl to agree. I raised one eyebrow. “That is, of course, unless you know you’ll lose?”

She inhaled sharply as her dark eyes glowed with fiery outrage. She threw the high heels onto the bed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Bring it on, Cavalieri.”

God, she was magnificent.

I stepped so close, I could feel her breath against my skin. “Get. On. Your. Knees.”

Her eyelids fluttered as she inhaled a shaky breath.

I waited.

My hard gaze zeroed in on her mouth as the tip of her tongue peeked out to lick her lips, giving her red lipstick a wet, glossy glow.

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