Page 230 of Merciless Desires

“You’re going to burn your tongue,” I chided.

“Amorina…” Matteo sighed, and I frowned. “These are perfect.”

I nodded toward the freezer where the granita was chilling. “Wait until you try it with the granita and cream.”

“Does it have to be strawberry?”

“What?”

“The granita. Is your favorite strawberry?”

“It’s a tie between strawberry and lemon.”

With a grin, Matteo rounded the island toward me and pressed against me with a coy oops before continuing to the freezer. Reaching past the granita he’d made, he pulled out a container…filled with lemon granita.

“How about I make us some fresh cream while you scoop some granita for us?”

“Deal.”

I ate my favorite breakfast in the kitchen of my new home, with the man I would have to marry.

But I couldn’t let my guard down.

Matteo Cortese would ruin me, that was something I was certain of.

Chapter Eight

MARCELLA

“It’s…just us?”

Matteo gazed at me with a wicked smile. “Yes, amorina. Just us. Thought that was what you wanted?”

He motioned for me to get in the passenger seat of his newest luxury car, whatever it was.

And he was right. I had said I didn’t want to go with his men, so that meant I would be going with him. I just thought it wouldn’t be the two of us…alone…in a confined space.

The attraction between us was obvious. Sure, I was attracted to the man who towered over me with a dark grin. I would have had to be dead to not be attracted to Matteo Cortese.

I was as attracted to him as I was afraid of him. The man had zero issue taking me from my family, exchanging me for money. He paid for me. When it was all boiled down…Matteo Cortese had bought me. From my own papà.

And now he was urging me to get into a car with him. He wasn’t going to dispose of me this quickly, was he? What was I to him other than a purchase? An item?

Did he need me, or did he simply want me?

“Amorina…” Matteo sighed and peered up at the sky. “Must you challenge me on every request?”

I lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Sounds like fun.”

His head snapped down, and that evil grin only widened. “Oh, I’ll show you fun…”

My body blazed at the simple words, a promise for something more. And it annoyed me.

You will not like him, Marcella.

Staying silent, I slid onto the cool leather seat and watched the man who owned me as he rounded the hood, his gaze never leaving mine.

“Seatbelt.” Matteo commanded as he started the car.

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