Chapter 26: My Fake Marriage Just Became Very Real (18+?)

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Lorenzo stood up slowly. I instinctively took a step back and he noticed, of course, he noticed.

"Why are you so afraid of me, my love?"

Oh, I dunno maybe it’s because you kill people?!

"I...I’m not afraid of your sorry ass."

"You’re lying."

"I’m just standing away from the mafia Don whose hobbies include threatening people."

"Fair point."

He stepped closer, and I backed up again until the desk pressed against my hip. The edge of the polished wood dug into me like a very expensive reminder that I had nowhere left to go. My heart was doing the kind of frantic little tap dance you usually only see in cartoons right before the anvil drops.

"Lorenzo." I said, "You better back the hell off!"

He halted, he fell into a moment of silence before he reached for me.

I flinched before I could hold it back. Something shifted in his expression...not anger, something deeper and quieter. The kind of quiet that made the air feel thicker, like the room itself was holding its breath.

He pulled back. "Alex."

"What?"

His voice softened. "I’m not going to hurt you."

I swallowed hard. "Then stop acting like you’re about to."

His jaw tightened, and for once, he looked genuinely frustrated. "I spent eleven months watching you."

I blinked. "That sounds way creepier than you probably meant it to."

His mouth twitched. "I watched you."

"Still creepy."

"I watched you become part of this house, part of my family."

That left me speechless as he stepped closer again, but this time I didn’t move away.

His scent hit me before he did. That clean, cold Alpha scent that I’d spent eleven months trying to block suddenly felt so much stronger with him near. It muddled my thoughts. The kind of muddling you get when someone opens a bottle of expensive cologne right under your nose and then asks you to do math.

I hated that, I hated even more that I noticed it and let out more of his pheromones.

Was...was he trying to...

...to SEDUCE ME?!

"You were supposed to leave," he said softly. "Then all of a sudden I realized I didn’t want you to."

My heart skipped a traitorous beat. I blamed the room. Clearly, it was the room’s fault. The lighting. The air conditioning. Possibly the ghost of whoever used to own this ridiculously large desk. Anyone but me.

Then Lorenzo kissed me again. This time, it wasn’t calculated; it wasn’t the polished routine from our wedding. It wasn’t the carefully controlled gesture he’d used in front of my family. This was emotional and sudden, jarring enough that my mind just halted for several seconds. The kind of halt you experience when your brain blue-screens and the only error message it can produce is a long, drawn-out....what the actual fuck.

Then I pushed him away again. "Stop it, Lorenzo! You can’t keep me here just because you think I look good with your crazy family!"

His eyes narrowed a bit. "That isn’t the only reason."

"Then what is it?"

He looked at me for a long time. "You."

I frowned. "That’s not even an explanation, you freak!"

He chuckled, "It’s the only one you’re getting tonight."

I threw my hands up in exasperation. "Wonderful. So informative. I married a man who communicates exclusively through cryptic facial expressions."

He chuckled softly. I pointed at him. "Don’t you dare laugh!"

"I’m trying my best not to."

"We made a deal," I countered, my words spilling out messier and more desperate with each passing second. "We mean nothing to each other beyond the plan. You know that, I know that. This was never supposed to be real!"

Then all of a sudden, with a calm efficiency, he stepped closer, pinned my wrist, and spun me so I was pressed face-first against the wall.

"We mean nothing to each other, you say?" His voice was low, dark, right against my ear. "You’re so feisty... maybe that’s another reason why I want you to stay so badly."

I unleashed every creative insult I could think of, and he took them all with visible amusement that only grew as the air between us thickened. The kind of amusement you see on someone who has just discovered a particularly entertaining new toy and has zero intention of putting it down.

I struggled against his grip, "Argh! Let me go, you backstabber! Fucking stupid liar!"

He pressed closer, and I could instantly feel unmistakable evidence of his arousal against me.

I paused as if he had pressed an off button on me.

The feel of his hard cock nearly short-circuited all coherent thought I had left, as nothing from those previous eleven months had prepared me for the reality of his body responding like that.

No...no, no, no, no!

This wasn’t happening! It wasn’t!

"You see what you do to me, Alex?" he sighed into my hair, the words edged with something that sounded almost like relief. "What you’ve been putting me through in secret all these months?"

Then his mouth found the side of my neck, kissing and scenting my skin, zeroing in on the scent gland I’d kept carefully blocked for so long.

The soft moan he let out against my skin sent waves of conflicting emotions through me...equal parts horror and betrayal, as my body reacted in ways I couldn’t control.

Holy crap...was I...? Was I wet?!

The slick evidence of arousal came without my permission, while my mind raced through a chaotic monologue swinging between anger over the broken deal, confusion at the sudden shift.

And a bizarre realization that my own biology had decided to abandon every shred of self-preservation at that very moment. The kind of betrayal you only get from a body that has apparently been taking secret notes this whole time and decided now was the perfect moment to switch sides.

Lorenzo stayed pressed against me, delivering the final line with a quiet certainty that left no room for argument.

The words hung in the air of the study while the torn paper scraps on the desk silently confirmed that the temporary arrangement was over.

"I must apologize, mio cuore..." he said, "I’m afraid the deal is off. You’re not divorcing me and you’re not going anywhere. You must uphold your vows to me forever. Till death do us part, my love."

His mouth continued its slow work against my neck as I remained pinned to the wall, breathing heavily, caught between the rage that still flared in my chest and the utterly unwanted response from a body that had seemingly decided the performance was done.

Oh, hell no! I had to get the hell out of here.

Even if it cost me my fucking life.

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"mio cuore" : My heart