Twisted Hearts by Cora Reilly

Savio entered the bedroom with me in his arms, then set me down carefully. Before I could say something, he kissed me fiercely, surprising me.

I pushed against his chest, wanting to make something clear, and he pulled back with a grin. “Tonight, you are mine.”

“If you think I’ll sleep with you only because we’re married now, you’ve lost your mind.”

“It’s your duty and my privilege,” Savio said with a taunting grin, thinking this was a game.

I couldn’t believe him. I knew it was my duty. I knew what my family expected from me, and how ashamed they’d be if they found out I’d denied Savio Falcone my body. But Savio had been a bastard to me and I had absolutely no intention to make this easy on him.

“I don’t care. If you want me, you’ll have to force me because I won’t give you anything.”

Savio tilted his head. “I don’t think you’d fight me.”

“I would,” I said.

“And we both know you wouldn’t stand a chance, Kitty. Your little girl fight moves are no challenge for me.”

His self-assured tone drove me forward, but my wedding dress made moving difficult.

Savio blocked every single of my punches and even a half-ass kick, his grin widening. He jerked me toward him and stole a kiss. I rammed my fist into his stomach, causing him to groan. Before I had time to consider another move, Savio thrust me forward and I fell down on the bed. With the heavy material of my dress, I stood no chance finding my footing.

Savio shoved up my skirt, climbed on top of me and knelt between my legs. I tried to shove him off, but he was too strong for me. He grabbed my wrists and pushed them up over my head. I tried to twist under him to buck him off with my hips. Savio anticipated the move and used my momentum to bring his thighs under mine, shoving my legs farther apart so he could settle between them.

He smiled, but beneath the amusement, there was something darker, something dominant in his expression that had never been there before. He was a man who knew he had every right to claim what was his to claim, and he was eager to do so.

The worst was how my body reacted to the fight with Savio. I was becoming increasingly aroused.

Savio’s smile turned daring as he reached between us, his hand sliding down my side to my stomach.

I struggled against his hold. “Don’t you dare,” I whispered harshly. There was a hint of vulnerability in my voice that annoyed me.

Savio’s brown eyes held mine as he lightly stroked the inside of my thigh. He didn’t move closer to my center. “Gemma, I know you’re fucking wet. I know you want me to touch your pussy. Just say it and I’ll show you how it feels to have an orgasm.”

“I’ve had orgasms before,” I muttered despite the burst of heat in my cheeks.

Savio’s expression turned feral. “When you touched yourself?”

I considered making a story up about having some guy getting me off secretly, but I wasn’t suicidal, nor did I want an innocent man to die so I could taunt Savio. He was a Falcone, no matter how much he enjoyed our banter, there was a limit to what he’d tolerate.

“I have capable hands,” I said.

Savio smirked. “I don’t doubt it, but it’s something entirely different if a man licks you or finger-fucks you, Gemma, trust me.”

“Do you even know how to please a woman? Whores always pretend they enjoy it.” He and his brothers, like so many men in our world, had used the services of the whores from their clubs in the past, even I knew that.

“I’ve had enough girls scream my name.”

Jealousy burned through me, and I tried to crush it. Of course, Savio saw. He chuckled, and a new wave of fury erupted in me.

“I’m all yours now, Kitty.”

Was he really?

He kissed my throat then made his way up to my lips. His tongue teased them open, nudged, caressed, stroked the inside of my mouth until everything was spinning and my panties stuck to my center. I didn’t even know it could be like that. My body had never reacted this way before. Soon I felt the proof of Savio’s arousal, and my senses returned. I pulled out of the kiss, breathless and hot.

“I’m not going to sleep with you,” I said again, firmer this time.

It must have finally sunk in, because he frowned. “So you want to make me wait.”

“You’ll have to wait, or you’ll have to take what you want against my will.”

He kissed my cheek. “Ahh, Kitty, you know that’s not my style. I want your pussy to scream for my cock, and it’ll happen. This game you’re playing, I’m a master in it. The wait will be every bit as torturous for you as it’ll be for me, trust me.”

The way I could feel the low vibrato of his voice between my legs, I feared he was right, but I wouldn’t let him get the upper hand, not this time.

“Get off me. I’m tired and want to get ready.”

“Of course,” he said as he straightened his knee, lightly brushing my crotch. I twitched at the spike of pleasure, my eyes widening, my breath halting.

Savio smiled knowingly as he straightened. With flushed cheeks, I took in the bulge in his pants, then quickly tore my gaze away.

I tried to sit up, but the dress prevented that. Sighing, I held out my hands. “Can you help me up?”

“Only if you can help me get this down,” he said with a nod toward his crotch.

“I could kick you between the legs…”

Savio shook his head with a chuckle. He finally took my hands and tugged. I came to my feet, bringing us once again close. Savio’s eyes made me swallow hard.

“I thought you wanted to get ready,” he murmured, making the words sound way dirtier than they were. I wasn’t sure how to stand a chance against him in this battle of wills, because it was completely out of my comfort zone. I had no experience in the game of seduction.

I took a step back from him. Savio was too much to handle for me, but I wasn’t someone who gave up easily.

“Will you at least allow me to get you out of this dress or will you deny me this too?” He was joking. I didn’t miss the darker note in his voice, though.

I’d need his help to get out of the dress anyway. The heavy fabric was closed with hooks and buttons at my waist and over my butt. I nodded.

“Does that mean I’m allowed to undress you?”

“Yes,” I said quietly, even as my heart beat in my throat. The most I’d ever showed a man was my stomach. No one had ever seen me without clothes.

Savio caressed my bare back, making my breath hitch. Then he loosened the hooks and helped me pull down the top. Even facing the other way, I felt exposed. I brought my palms up to cover my breasts when Savio slowly dragged my skirt down until I could step out. I wasn’t sure where he was, but aware of his gaze as he saw me in only white lace panties.

I was torn between the urge to run into the bathroom and turn around to see his expression.

Suddenly, I felt him behind me and he pressed the softest kiss to the nape of my neck. “My God, Gem, you’re killing me.”

A smile tugged at my mouth at the longing in his voice.

“That makes you happy?”

Biting my lip, I hurried into the bathroom and closed the door. My heart was hammering against my ribcage. Forcing myself to calm down, I took in my surroundings. I’d never had a bathroom for myself, always had to share it with every member of my family. The Falcone mansion probably harbored a dozen bathrooms, all of them as splendid as this with the granite floors and walls, floor-to-ceiling showers and endless vanity counters.

I took a long shower before I removed my makeup and let down my hair. Then I began brushing my teeth.

“Getting ready can’t possibly take this long, Gem. I’m coming in.”

The toothbrush wedged between my teeth, I grabbed a robe from a hook and put it on. My clothes were still outside.

My fingers around the brush tightened when Savio walked in completely naked and with a boner that drove heat into my cheeks. I stopped brushing and froze.

Savio didn’t show the slightest hint of shame. Of course not, he’d been naked in front of so many women, it wasn’t anything special.

His eyes flashed with amusement when he noticed my expression. I had seen him naked before, that one time, but this couldn’t compare. He was bigger than I thought possible. The bull definitely added to the intimidation factor.

Chuckling, he stepped inside the shower and curled his hand around his erection.

“What are you doing?” I whispered.

“Jerking off since you refuse to take care of it for me.”

“I’m sure you have a girl on speed dial who’d gladly help you.”

Savio’s gaze was pure fire. “No other girls, Gem.”

I spit out the toothpaste, wiped my mouth and fled the room.

Ignoring the nightgown that I was supposed to wear tonight, I grabbed a pair of Savio’s sweatpants out of one of the dressers and put on one of my tank tops. That way I’d feel more like myself. Being in a bed with Savio was bad enough.

A few minutes later, Savio came out of the bathroom in sweatpants not unlike the ones I’d put on, his eyes scanning me from head to toe. He walked over to the bench in front of the bed, took the ridiculous piece of silk and held up the flimsy negligee with a cocked eyebrow. “What? No sexy nightgown for me?”

I shrugged. “If you want sexy outfits, you can go to the Sugar Trap and leer at the whores over there.”

Savio’s smile turned darker as he dropped the nightgown on the ground and sauntered over to me with that self-assured swagger that made me furious. “I never said you weren’t sexy.” He stopped beside me, his hand sliding over my hip and lower back, as he leaned down, close to my ear. “To be honest, seeing you in my sweatpants is the fucking sexiest thing I can imagine, so thank you for that.”

I shivered but gave a small shrug. “I didn’t try to be sexy for you.”

“And yet you are,” he murmured. “I’ve never jerked off as quickly as I did with the idea of being the first inside of you.”

Was there anything that made this man blush? Or at least the slightest bit embarrassed? I took a step to the side. “Well, you won’t be tonight.”

“Not tonight, but eventually, Gem. I’ll be the only man that’ll ever be inside you. I’ll be the first everything.”

He was right. Even if I didn’t sleep with him tonight, I would eventually, and not only because Savio was my husband and thus the only man I was supposed to give myself to but also because for as long as I could remember, it had always been him I wanted.

Gemma didn’t deny it. She tugged a strand of her hair behind her ear and approached the bed hesitantly. Now that I paid closer attention, I saw how nervous she was. She kept moving her fingers in an attempt to hide their shaking. After a moment in which she looked as if the bed might attack her, she glanced at me.

“It’s your bed now too.”

She nodded absent-mindedly and climbed under the covers.

I walked to the other side of the bed and slid in beside her. She was tense, sitting upright against the headrest. I mimicked the position. “Do you intend to spend all night like this?”

“What do you suggest?” she asked, which showed how frazzled she was. My Gem was nervous about being in a bed with me.

I cocked one eyebrow.

“I’m serious, Savio,” she said quietly. “I know this seems like a game, but… I want a marriage, a partnership. I want to get to know you better. I want us to become a team.”

Serious conversations weren’t my specialty. I tended to avoid them but Gemma had a point. We were married now. “Nothing’s stopping us. We have our whole life.”

Fuck, I’d really said it.

“Yeah,” Gemma said quietly, then looked around. “This is strange.”

The strangest thing about this situation was that outside, the party was in full swing while I was talking to a girl in my bed almost fully clothed. “I know.”

My eyes trailed over her slender shoulders, the way the outline of her breasts teased me through her shirt. “I don’t know what to do,” Gemma admitted. “Or how to act.”

“How about we start with lying down?”

I stretched out and propped my head up on my arm, then waited for Gemma to do the same. She lay on her side, facing me. “Still strange.”

I reached out and touched her cheek. “How about you come closer?”

Suspicion flickered across her face.

I guessed I deserved that. “Only to cuddle.”

“Cuddle?” she repeated with a small laugh, finally relaxing.

“That’s what Greta calls it.”

Gemma slid over to me and I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her closer. She tensed briefly when our fronts pressed against each other, probably expecting my cock to dig a hole into her belly, but I had more self-control than that—at least if I wanted to.

She peered up. “For you, this is probably business as usual, having a girl in your bed.”

Being in a bed with a girl, definitely. But this? “You’re the only girl who’s ever been in my bed.”

“Really?”

“Really. This is my place, and I never felt like having anyone invade it.”

“And now I’m here.”

“You are.” I stroked a curl away from her forehead. I didn’t mind having her here, quite the contrary. Gemma’s presence didn’t feel like an invasion of my privacy. “I want to kiss you.”

Gemma gave a small nod and I took her mouth, dipped inside. Her eyes fluttered shut, and I closed mine too, something I rarely did, but fuck, I only wanted to feel. And Gemma felt perfect in my arms. Her body molded with mine, our legs scissoring until the heat radiating from her pussy seemed to scorch my thigh.

My palm pressed into her lower back, tempted to move lower, cup those round globes. I wanted to take this further, all the fucking way, but more than that, I wanted to prove to Gemma that I respected her decision. If this was a test, I would not fail it.

When I pulled out of the kiss, Gemma’s lips followed my mouth until she caught herself and opened her eyes. In her eyes, I could see desire—her body was practically screaming for more, but if I knew one thing about Gemma, it was that she could be stubborn as fuck, and she’d obviously set her mind on punishing me for my track record with other women.

With an audible swallow, she lowered her leg from mine and brought a couple of inches between us. Her heat lingered and my cock throbbed with every beat of my heart.

“What will our life be like?”

That was something I hadn’t really given much thought either. For a long time now, my daily routine had been the same. Workout in the morning, breakfast with someone from the family, then a few visits to restaurants and bars that paid for our protection, seeing how they were doing, making sure they didn’t forget who kept them safe. Meetings with my brothers, making sure the Camorra ran like a well-oiled engine. Fight training. Dinner with the family, then partying and finding a fuck for the night. Rinse and repeat. In the last two months, only minus the fucking part, which led to another evening workout to blow off steam and had made me even more ripped.

“I really wish I knew what you were thinking,” Gemma said quietly.

“No, you don’t, trust me.”

She mulled over that for a while, allowing me to take in her face. Her skin was flawless, every inch of her beautiful. I really liked her face without makeup when in the past with other girls, their morning face if I had been too hung over to disappear right after sex, had made me want to hurl. “Whom do you trust, Savio?” Her eyes were trying to reach deeper, see beyond the mask I showed to people.

I turned off the light because this was reaching a level of personal I preferred to discuss in the dark. “My brothers, absolutely. Fabiano, of course.” Even Adamo. He’d changed since his year in New York and had made up for some of the shit he’d done.

“Are they the ones you go to when you need to talk?”

I didn’t do the kind of talking Gemma was referring to, not even with my brothers. I sorted things out for myself. Humor and sarcasm had been my weapon against any attempt of my brothers, especially Nino, to talk about some of the things we’d gone through in the past. Eventually, he gave up.

Gemma waited. “That’s all?”

“Kiara, to some degree.”

“Not Diego?”

“To some extent, but it’s a different level of trust than with family.”

For me, trust was a conscious effort. I had to allow someone to earn my trust. I rarely bothered. My brothers and I had almost paid with our life for the one time we trusted someone after we returned to the States after our father had been killed. Friendship was a shaky construct, one that often broke under the weight of a better opportunity.

“Isn’t he family now?”

Her voice was soft, probing, but also drowsy and I hoped she’d fall asleep before she could dig deeper.

“He is. You are.” Yet, how could a simple vow, a wedding, turn people into family. It took more than that. Like trust, it took effort. Fabiano had become family without shared blood. He’d given everything he had to offer and killed and bled for us.

“But not really, not yet,” she whispered. “Will you ever trust me like you trust your brothers?”

I wanted to say yes. I didn’t want to lie to her. The silence hung over us like the humidity in the air before a summer storm.

“You can trust me. You can talk about everything with me.” Her fingertips brushed over my wrist.

“Kitty, don’t you think that’s enough serious talk for our wedding night? I didn’t sign up for a psychological exam.”

Gemma tensed. “You are right. You wanted to get inside me, not allow me to glimpse inside your head.”

Frustration swelled in my chest, but I shoved it down. Soon Gemma’s body softened, her breath evened out.

I slipped out of bed and left the bedroom. The party outside had quieted down, but I stayed clear of the garden, not wanting to encounter one of the guests. Instead, I headed into the kitchen to grab a sweet snack, the only sweet thing I’d be allowed to eat tonight.

I paused when I spotted Remo, leaning against the counter with Nevio on his arm. The kid looked exhausted but was obviously refusing to sleep. The way he hung in my brother’s hold, his chin resting on his shoulder, showed he wouldn’t last much longer. When he was half-asleep, he was a cute kid, but sometimes he managed to freak me out despite his only four years. “Already done?”

My mouth tightened.

Remo raised an eyebrow. “She didn’t let you in?”

Nevio looked between his dad and me.

“I bet that gives you a sick kick.”

“I couldn’t care less if you score or not, Savio.”

I leaned beside him, knowing the longer I stayed, the more Remo would see. Even without sharing my darkest thoughts with him, he always seemed to know what went on. “Do you trust Serafina completely?”

Remo’s dark eyes did their X-ray thing, but I didn’t look away. If there was one person on this planet whom I’d allow to dissect my twisted heart, it was him. “I do,” he said quietly, a dangerous truth for a man like him. Few men in the States were more hated than my brother. Trust was a risk he shouldn’t allow himself.

“How did you allow yourself to trust her?” How could you?

“It happened. She saved me when she should have killed me. She forgave me for destroying the life she’d grown up in. She betrayed her family for me.”

I laughed darkly. “None of these things is going to happen with Gemma, so…”

He narrowed his eyes. “If Gemma wasn’t trustworthy, she wouldn’t be allowed to live among us, among my children, Nino’s sons, Fabiano’s daughter. I’d never risk either of their lives only so you can get a taste of virgin pussy. So you better tell me now that you think she’s deserving of our trust, of your trust.”

Leave it to Remo to deliver a threat that made me feel better. “She is trustworthy, don’t worry. Gem has a heart of gold.” Repeating the words her mother had said to me, I knew they were true, which made me feel like an even bigger asshole because she deserved better than me.

“Then what’s the problem?”

I gave him an ironic smile. As if he didn’t know. “Me. The problem is me.”