Page 75 of Cruel Heir

I would have chosen to go back, if Andre hadn’t given me a choice in the first place. If he hadn’t let me come back to his bed, instead of continuing to come to mine. If we hadn’t shared that night where he proved that he valued my desires, my needs, over his own pleasures and wants.

If he hadn’t proved to be a man I could respect—and love.

He tells me, when we return back to his estate, that he wants to raise our family there. I have no argument with that. Even if my time there started out as something terrible, there are good memories there now, too. I want to make more of them with Andre, until all ofthe bad is so long forgotten and insignificant that we don’t think of it any longer.

But we have another home now, too.

My father gifts me the estate that was meant to be given to me on the occasion of my wedding, a beautiful lakeside property out in the countryside with a working vineyard, far enough out that it feels like a haven. The mansion is beautiful, the grounds impeccably kept, and it takes my breath away when I see it for the first time, when Andre and I go out to visit it.

“I had no idea marrying you came withthis,” Andre murmurs teasingly in my ear as we step out of the car, and I laugh, turning into his embrace.

“Now I know you just married me for my money.” It’s as ridiculous a statement as his is, considering the fact that Andre’s family is very nearly as wealthy, with estates every bit as lovely. But this—this feels like it could beours.

“We don’t need to talk about why I married you,” Andre says quietly as we walk inside, heading up the curving staircase to the suites of rooms on the second floor. “But the reasons I fell in love with you—”

He turns, backing me up abruptly against the hallway wall, close to one of the bedroom doors. “I fell in love with your bravery,” he says softly, his lips very close to mine. “Your stubbornness. Your fearlessness. Your intelligence.”

Andre punctuates each with a kiss, his hands resting on my waist, sliding down to my hips. “Your beauty and your money are very far down the list,” he adds teasingly, and I laugh, biting his lower lip as he kisses me again.

“You’re not supposed to say things like that,” I whisper against his mouth teasingly, arching into him. I can feel how hard he is already, pressing against me, but he’s taking his time.

I don’t want to go slowly.

“Why do you love me?” he murmurs against my lips, and I fumble for the doorknob next to us, pushing it open.

“You’re very handsome.” I look up at him with a mischievousglint, backing into the open room as I slip out of his grasp. “And very—well-endowed.”

“Those are the first things on your list?” Andre gives me a mock-hurt expression—or at least I hope he knows I’m only teasing. “Nothing else?”

“You’re wealthy enough that youdon’tneed to marry me for my money. But I want to come back to this—” I slide my hand against him, palm pressed to the thick ridge of his cock. “I think this was really the deciding factor.”

“I don’t believe you.” Andre’s hands are already tugging at my shirt, slipping it out of my jeans, up over my head. “There has to be something else—”

I kiss him, hot and hard, fumbling with his belt as he strips away my clothes. There’s no furniture in this room yet, but I don’t care. I back him up towards the window, turning so he can sit me on the wide sill, spreading my legs as he drags my panties down my thighs.

“There is,” I whisper as I lock my legs around his hips, pulling him in towards me. His pants are only halfway off, his shirt unbuttoned and hanging loose around his muscled chest, but I can’t wait any longer. I want him, here, in this place that is meant to be ours. I want my husband.

I want the man that I love.

“You gave me a choice, when no one else ever has,” I whisper against his lips. “You were willing to let everything you wanted go, if it meant keeping me.That’swhy I love you. You bent, instead of breaking me. I’ve never known another man who would do that.”

“And you never will,” Andre growls against my lips, that hint of possessiveness that sends fire through my veins, his cock nudging hotly against me. “You’remine,principessa.”

His voice softens as he pushes inside of me, filling me, making me moan and gasp with pleasure. “And I’m yours.”

As he sinks to the hilt, every inch of him slipping inside of me as I whimper his name, his mouth finds mine again. I feel the cool glass of the window against my back as Andre thrusts, his hips meetingmine again and again, long, slow strokes that make me cry out and writhe against him.

“I love you,” I gasp against his lips. “I love you—”

“And I love you.” His mouth slants over mine, tongues tangling together, the heat of the kiss mirroring the heat between my legs. His fingers slip between us, stroking my clit expertly, finding the exact rhythm that he knows I like. “Come for me,principessa—”

It takes almost nothing to send me over the edge. I clench around him and hear him groan, his pace quickening, and I urge him deeper as I tighten my legs around his hips.

“More,” I breathe. “I want more—”

And he gives it to me. He makes me come again, his fingers keeping time with the strokes of his cock, his mouth devouring my lips until there’s no part of me that doesn’t feel utterly bathed in sensation. As I arch my back and cry out, bucking against him, rippling around the solid thrust of his cock, I hear him groan my name.

“Fuck, Lucia—”

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