Page 59 of The Sound in Silence

Why did you never say anything about racing?

He crooks another grin and his eyes rake down my form. “Do I need to spell it out? My wife stopped talking after a traumatizing car accident and she’s mad I didn’t tell her I race?”

When he puts it like that…I snort, trying to stifle the laughter that emerges as a strange huffing-giggling sound. My gaze flicks to the windows behind him, taking time to compose myself, but returns sooner than meant to, when his large hand cups my cheek, warm and so fucking inviting.

“There she is,” he murmurs. “That right there. Fucking gorgeous,la mia sirena. I long to make you laugh again, Ariella. To never stop making you laugh.”

Is he trying to tell me he wants me to be happy? That’s all I’ve ever desired too.

Why the distance between us then? You don’t touch me.

At this point, why not ask everything?

This time, his dark eyes become near-black with his dead expression. He plucks his phone from me and tosses it onto the desk behind us Then his arm bands around my waist and I’m yanked even closer to his chest, until I’m breathless, until there’s no space between my breasts and his chest, when I can see the different shades of brown flecks in his eyes.

My hands have nowhere to go, and like he’s aware, he grabs my wrists and places both my hands over his chest. His heart thumps gently beneath my right one, while my own heart feels like it’s going to vibrate from my body.

“Do you not remember me saying I wouldn’t do anything until you tell me to. The last thing I want is to freak you out. I’m a patient man, so whenever you’re ready, I will be too.”

The frown pulling down my lips serves as my next, silent question, which he somehow reads.

“Disappointed? You wanted me to bring you in here after only a day and fuck you on my desk? Against the window? Take you like a common whore with no penance for your own feelings?”

At least you’d be touching me.I glance at the phone on his desk behind us, longing to have my voice back.

His hands come down heavy onto my thighs and he presses me onto him. Over his cock. Over his—Oh my god.My eyes fly to his, my mouth parting in surprise. It’s one thing for a man to say it, but it’s another for him to prove it.

He’s getting hard beneath me, from only me kneeling over him. With my hips in his hands, he rocks me slowly, and I swear he’s growing harder. While my core clenches around nothing, my breaths become more tainted with lust.

“Don’t think I don’t crave you,sirena. I do. Every damn night, I lie beside you, hoping that eventually, I’ll be granted the honour to taste you. From the moment I agreed to keep you as mine, I vowed not to hurt you further than you’ve already been. I refuse to be yet another villain in your backstory, but I also don’t want to be your hero. I want to witnessyourise up and save yourself.”

I don’t know how to save myself.

Erico

Before this marriage, I wasn’t entirely sure I had a heart.

Torturing men, listening to their screams and pleas for life, for breath, for even a break in the pain before continuing—none of that ever made me bat an eye.

But Ariella does. My words, the ones encouraging her to control her own fate, came from somewhere, and I’m pretty sure it’s the beating organ beneath her palm.

My heart.

I’ve never been so fucking grateful for it until now, when her eyes get misty and those lips part in surprise. Her breath hikes and the perfect breasts stop rising altogether. Surprised for sure, but the look in her eyes tells me it’s a good astonishment. One she’s pleased about.

After she stormed in here, looking like the water goddess I didn’t realize I needed, everything I’ve said to her has been the truth. I don’t knowhowto be a husband.

When her hand curls into my shirt, right over my heart, her nails scraping the skin there, I’m almost sure she’d only need to do it a single time before finding the sensitive organ. So before she does, I lay the rest of me out for her.

“You think I don’t want you when you became my every fantasy today? You strode in here, no care that you were dripping water everywhere, all to yell at me. Truth is, Iadmireyou.” My hand slides up her bare back, her skin so fucking soft, until I finger the ends of her wet hair. “You have fire that you hide from others, and I noticed it the moment we met at Nico’s party, but now I wonder, how many people have gotten the privilege of experiencing it? Because it’s a shame if they haven’t, and I’m considering myself the luckiest motherfucker on the planet to have.

“I knew you were something that day, and then learning youvolunteeredfor this marriage just about broke me, Ariella. Mafia wivesbecomestrong by their husband’s side out of obligation, but when you came to me, you already were. The suspicions you had”—suspicions that not only gutted me but proves I need to do better—“other women may have brushed aside. Ignored it because they believed it was the proper thing to do.” God knows my mother had. “But you didn’t give two fucks. You strode in here and demanded the truth.” My hand on her hip tightens, holding her until there’s no space between us. Her heat drags over my cock, my pants wet from her swimsuit, but if she keeps looking at me how she is, they’ll be wet for a whole other reason. “I appreciate that about you. You dominated the room, commanded the truth, and didn’t hide your true feelings.”

Emotion builds in her eyes, making them somehow larger, but before it overwhelms her, I need her to know the rest of what I want from her. Of what we couldbe.

“I want you to be in control because I get the sense you haven’t had enough of that. First with your stepfather controlling things, and then your sister bringing you into the Corsettis’ lives. And then when I brought you here, but not again.Youcontrol me.Youdecide what we do.”

Her gaze drops to my lips and instantly, I feel like a winner. This isn’t what I expected when she strode in here: to have her nearly naked in this scrap of a bikini and on the verge of riding my dick, but I certainly refuse to end this now. Not when the craving to push my laptop off my desk so I can lay her back on it and strip the clothing from her body before finally consummating this marriage grows impossibly strong.

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