Broken Promise by M. James

Sofia

“Sofia.” He breathes my name, stepping into the room and letting the door close behind him. “What is this?”

I shiver a little as I meet him halfway, crossing the distance between us as Luca walks towards me. He reaches for me the minute I’m close enough, his hands slipping beneath the robe and sliding over the lace at my waist.

“I think this was supposed to be my lingerie for our wedding night,” I say quietly, and I can feel myself flushing slightly at the memory. “I thought—I thought I could put it on, and we—we could try again.” Even as I say it, I feel foolish. I can’t lose my virginity twice. We can’t undo the way that night went. Just like we can’t undo everything we said and did before it. Pretending to be in Paris and movie nights at home can’t change any of it.

But Luca isn’t looking at me like he thinks I’m foolish. Instead, there’s a heat in his eyes that I’ve never seen before, even in our most lustful moments.

“You look beautiful,” he murmurs. “More beautiful than ever—” he trails off, and I reach up, smoothing my fingers down the v of skin where his shirt is undone.

“I wanted to do something special,” I whisper. “Something different.”

I’ve never undressed him before. Luca stays very still under my hands as I undo the shirt one button at a time, pulling it loose from his suit trousers and pushing the fabric off his shoulders. The sight of his muscled chest and carved abs, the flex of his arms as the shirt slides off, makes me shiver with desire. I can’t imagine there’s ever been a man as beautiful as Luca, as perfectly made. I want to touch him all over, so I do, giving myself completely over to my urges.

He sighs with pleasure as my hands run down his chest, my fingers tracing his rippling abs down to his belt. I undo it slowly, and Luca groans a little when I reach for his fly.

“We can slow down if you want,” he starts to say, but I ignore him, pulling his zipper down and pushing his pants down his hips to pool around his feet.

He’s already hard, as erect as I’ve ever seen him, his cock springing free and nearly touching his abs as it strains upwards, clearly aching to be touched. I shrug off my robe, letting the silk fall to the floor to join his clothes as I look up at him, sinking to my knees as I reach for his cock.

“Sofia—” Luca gasps my name as my hand wraps around his shaft, surprise coloring his tone. “You don’t have to—”

“I know.” I’ve wondered what it would be like to do this ever since he first went down on me that night that he teased me mercilessly, and now, tonight seems like as good a time as any to try. I want to give him the same kind of pleasure that he gave me, and I lean towards him, nervousness and excitement mingling as I flick out my tongue.

Luca groans when the tip of my tongue traces around the head of his cock, lapping up the bead of pre-cum already forming there, and I make a small noise when I taste him for the first time. Emboldened by the sound he makes, I run my tongue around it again, flicking it slightly beneath the head before I press my lips against it, pushing them forward as I take him in my mouth for the first time.

“Fuck, Sofia—” Luca wobbles a little, and I put a hand on his thigh to brace myself. “God, that feels so fucking good.”

I can feel the tension in his thighs, and I know he wants to thrust more of himself into my mouth, to push it into my throat and make me take all of it. Just the thought of that scares and arouses me all at once, and I try to take more, feeling my lips stretch around his thick length as I take an inch more, and then another.

Luca lets me explore him, my fingers wrapping around the shaft as I start to try to move, bobbing up and down slightly as I run my tongue up and down, along his length and back up to the head, sucking in between. None of it is particularly skilled, I’m sure, but he doesn’t seem to care. His fingers run through my hair as he groans above me, looking down at me.

“You look so fucking beautiful with my cock in your mouth,” he murmurs, his voice thick with lust. “I pictured this so many fucking times, Sofia—” he moans my name again as I take him all the way to the back of my throat, slowly gaining confidence.

“If you keep doing that, I’m going to come.” Luca’s fingers tighten in my hair. “God, I want to come on your tits, in your mouth, on your face—”

I’m so turned on that I might have let him do any of those things, but I like the temporary control that I have from this. I like feeling in charge of his pleasure. I pull back slightly, feeling more daring than I ever have in my life as I look up at him, lips hovering just above his head as I whisper: “let’s start with my mouth.”

Luca stares at me in disbelief, but before he can say anything, I slide my mouth back down, sucking harder now, running my tongue up and down as I try to push him towards an orgasm. I want to feel it, taste it, desire rippling through my blood as I stroke his hip with one hand, running my hand over his thigh. The scent of his skin fills my nose, the taste and feel of him overwhelming me. I’m so into it that I almost don’t hear his warning as Luca’s back arches and his hand momentarily tightens in my hair.

The rush of it startles me at first. I feel his cock throb in my mouth, swelling and hardening even more as he groans above me with a sound of strangled pleasure, and then the first hot rush of his cum shoots over my tongue and down my throat.

I choke a tiny bit, and then I swallow, my throat convulsing as Luca shoots wave after wave of cum into my mouth, filling it as I swallow, again and again, still sucking until at last he gently pushes my face back, gasping and moaning as he pulls away.

“Holy fuck, Sofia—”

“Was that good?” I lick my lips, and an expression of pure lust crosses Luca’s face.

“I’m about to show you just how good,” he growls, reaching for me. Before I know it, I’m on my back on the bed, and he kisses me hard, seemingly not caring that he just came in my mouth. His hand strokes my cheek, running over my hair, and then he moves down my body, his hands skimming down my breasts and over my waist.

He takes one nipple in his mouth, licking my breast through the silk of my nightgown, and then moves further down, pushing the hem of it up as he leans down between my thighs, pushing them open so that he has the access he so desires.

The first swipe of his tongue makes me cry out, my back arching as his tongue delves into my pussy, licking all the way up to my clit, swirling and fluttering and sucking until I’m moaning helplessly, my hands tangling in his hair. There’s no teasing this time, only his mouth driving me higher and higher until he thrusts two fingers into me, hooking them inside of my pussy and pushing against that spot that drives me wild until the combination of his tongue and his fingers are too much, and I feel my fingers knotting in his hair, my mouth falling open as my moan becomes a scream, my entire body tensing with pleasure so good that it almost feels like too much. Just like I kept going as he came in my mouth, Luca never stops, his tongue lashing against my sensitive flesh until I finally squirm away from him, gasping as I shudder with the aftershocks of the orgasm.

“I love how you taste,” Luca growls as he moves up my body to kiss me again, and I taste myself on his lips. He’s hard again, his heavy erection pressing against my inner thigh. “You taste so fucking good. I can’t get enough of it. I can’t get enough of you—” he kisses my neck as he reaches down, angling his cock so that the head pushes inside of me. But instead of thrusting in all at once, he starts to move slowly, sinking into me inch by inch so that I can feel all of it, every bit of him as he takes me slowly.

When he finally sinks all the way into me, Luca hovers above me, his hands braced on either side of my head. “I’ve rarely been with the same woman more than once,” he says quietly, “and even then, it was only twice. I’ve never kept wanting someone the way I want you, Sofia. I’ve never felt so addicted to someone. So lost—as if I can’t get you out of my head. As if I can’t remember what it was like to not have you here.”

He kisses me again, then, and the minutes blend into each other as we move against each other, all arching, straining bodies and damp skin, hands linking with one another as Luca thrusts into me in long, slow strokes that seem to go on forever, binding us together more closely than ever before. This is making love, I think dimly, and even as I remember that Luca told me that he couldn’t love me, that we would never be in love, that this would never be that, my mind and body and heart and soul all soundly reject it. I can’t imagine what love is if not this, two bodies straining towards pleasure together, locked in a tangle that neither of us ever want to escape from, breathing each other’s breath, feeling each other’s skin, our heartbeats pressed together until I’ve forgotten which is mine and which is his.

I feel him start to come as I do, my body tightening around him in a wave of pleasure that makes me feel as if I’m coming apart at the seams, dissolving entirely. I hear my high-pitched moans, my breathy gasps of his name in the same moment that Luca presses his mouth against my shoulder, groaning my name into my skin as his cock throbs inside of me, his orgasm spilling into me in a hot rush as we cling to each other, shuddering with pleasure that feels as if it might never end.

We stay like that for a long time, wrapped in each other’s arms, Luca still inside of me as his cock softens slightly, still partially hard. When we finally untangle, it’s only long enough for me to strip off the nightgown and toss it aside. Then Luca gathers me into his arms, pulling me against his chest as he sets his chin atop my head.

“I should take you on a honeymoon when this is all over,” he says softly. “Anywhere you want.”

I press my face against his chest, breathing in the scent of him. “That would be wonderful,” I whisper, and I mean it. I can’t imagine what it would be like to go on vacation with Luca, somewhere exotic and beautiful, just the two of us, but I suddenly want to find out. I want to escape this place more than anything with him, to go somewhere that the Bratva can’t find us, where all of the dangers hanging over our heads vanish.

“Franco and I have to go try to handle the Russian problem tomorrow,” he says quietly as if hearing my thoughts. “I might be gone for a few days. Promise me you’ll stay here, Sofia. Promise you won’t get into any trouble, that you’ll do as I’ve asked, and be careful. If you want to see Caterina, she comes here. I’ll have Carmen check in on you. It’s dangerous right now,” he adds as if I don’t know that already. “I need your word that you won’t do anything you’re not supposed to.”

Any other time, I might have bristled at being given orders, but I’m too relaxed and tired. He’s just looking out for me, I think, my brain foggy with arousal and pleasure. “Okay,” I mumble, curling closer to his chest. “I promise.”

“Good.” Luca leans down, kissing me softly, and he reaches for my leg then, pulling it over his as I feel his cock harden against me. “Let’s do that again.”

* * *

He’s gonewhen I wake up. There’s a note for me letting me know that he didn’t want to wake me and that he’ll be back as soon as he can. For the first time, I notice how empty the bottom of the note looks with only his name signed. No love. Nothing other than his name scrawled across the bottom.

Last night felt like more. It felt like love. But I know better than to allow myself to think something like that. It’s only going to lead to hurt in the end.

Enjoy what you have,I think to myself. It’s better than what you thought it would be.

Caterina comes over a little while after breakfast. She looks tired and more sad than usual, and my chest tightens at the sight of her face. “Are you okay?” I ask, making her a cup of tea as she sits down in the kitchen. “Was last night—”

“It was fine,” she says, her mouth twitching slightly. “Better than I expected, I guess? I don’t know what I expected, exactly. Franco didn’t seem too disappointed. He liked that I was a virgin, but that only works once, you know. So hopefully, he was happy enough to enjoy it again anyway.”

“Was he nice?” I frown at her. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

Caterina shakes her head. “He was gentle. It just—I don’t know what I thought, really. I mean that. It was just more—detached, I guess.” She takes the tea from me gratefully. “Maybe if things were more relaxed, if we could go on a honeymoon—” she shrugs. “But of course we can’t, with the Bratva at our doorstep. And then my father is supposed to be released soon, but his condition still isn’t great—and without my mother, I need to keep an eye on him.” She pauses. “Which is why I came over, honestly, not just to talk about Franco.”

“Oh?” I look at her curiously. “What did you want to talk about?”

“I wanted to ask you if you’d come to the hospital with me this afternoon. I’m supposed to go and talk to the doctor before they release him to go home, set up home health aide care until he finishes recovering from the surgery, and—” Caterina takes a deep, shaky breath. “I just can’t go alone. I really can’t. Please come with me?”

More than anything, I want to tell her yes. The thought of leaving her to handle all of this on her own cuts me to the core—but I remember the seriousness in Luca’s voice last night. “I promised Luca I wouldn’t leave,” I say slowly. “He asked me specifically to stay here while he was gone, not to do anything I shouldn’t. He’ll be upset if—”

“It’d be different if he knew what it was,” Caterina says insistently. I can see from her expression how desperately she doesn’t want to have to be alone. “And besides, he doesn’t have to know. I won’t say anything, I swear.”

There’s no way that Luca won’t know. I’m positive he’ll find out somehow. He always does. But maybe she’s right, I rationalize. Maybe he would understand if he knew the circumstances. And besides, what could possibly happen? Caterina has as much security with her right now as I do. It’ll be fine, I tell myself. She needs you.

“Alright,” I relent. “I’ll go.”

Even as the words come out of my mouth, I know it’s a bad idea. But the way Caterina’s face lights up makes me certain I’m doing the right thing.

As long as Luca isn’t too angry.

* * *

When we walkinto the hospital room, Rossi’s eyes light up when he sees his daughter—the only real positive emotion I ever see from him—but his expression darkens just as quickly when he sees me. I hang back while he talks quietly to Caterina, feeling uncomfortably out of place. I’m just here to support Caterina, I remind myself as they talk, taking a seat near the window.

“I’m going to go talk to the doctor,” Caterina says finally. “Wait here, Sofia? I don’t want him to be alone.”

Being alone in a room with Rossi is the last thing I would ever want to do. But I just nod, feeling stuck now that I’ve come here to help Caterina. I feel like I’m supposed to do whatever it is she needs from me, so I stay put, shifting in my seat as she walks out into the hall to find the doctor.

“You.” Rossi’s voice cuts through the silence in the room, cold and hard and rasping. “Come here.”

“I’m just waiting for Caterina to come back,” I start to say, and Rossi coughs, pushing himself up a little.

“You might be Luca’s wife, but I’m still your elder.” He clears his throat, his face flushing. “Come here.”

It’s the last thing in the world I want to do, but I don’t want him to have a heart attack or something like that either, not when Caterina is already so fragile. So I stand up reluctantly, crossing the room to his bedside.

“What is it?” I try to keep my voice as calm as possible as Rossi turns towards me, his eyes dark and angry as they sweep over me.

“You’re the cause of all of this, you know,” he rasps. “Everything that’s happened, this escalation with the Bratva, all of it is your fault. You and your filthy Russian bitch of a mother.” He coughs, breathing with a rattle as he glares at me. “I should never have allowed Luca to follow through on your father’s fucking promise. I should have had you killed when I had the chance.”

“Vitto—” I should have known better than to use his first name. He looks almost purple with rage, his jaw working as he leans closer.

“You should hope that Luca doesn’t find out the truth about why Viktor wanted you as his wife,” Rossi hisses, and I stare at him, my eyes going wide with shock.

“He didn’t want—”

“He did,” Rossi says, satisfaction lacing his tone. “He wanted to marry you and fuck that tight virgin hole of yours every night until he put another Russian pup in you, the son he so desperately needs to take what he wants from us and keep it. But Luca got to you first. Even he doesn’t know why you’re so special, though.”

“You’re delirious.” My voice doesn’t even sound like mine to me, colder and harder than I’ve ever heard it. “You need to rest. You don’t know what you’re saying. Luca wouldn’t appreciate you talking to me like this—”

“Luca is a fucking mistake,” Rossi snarls, choking halfway through the sentence. “He’s weak. I should never have given him—I should have fucking had you shot like the Russian bitch you are—”

I try to back away, chills running over my skin at the tone of his voice, the room suddenly feeling ice cold. But Rossi lunges towards me, yanking on his IV wires as he does and setting off the machine he’s still tethered to. I dodge his hand, but it snags on the cross at my neck, snapping my mother’s necklace and leaving it dangling in his fist.

“Give it back!” I exclaim, but he’s already hiding it in his palm as a nurse and Caterina come rushing in, both of them wide-eyed.

“What’s going on here?” the nurse demands, and Rossi lays back in bed, heaving and coughing.

“That girl—she’s being cruel,” he says, choking on his words. “I don’t know why she’s here; she doesn’t belong here—”

“That’s Sofia, you know her,” Caterina says, her face deathly pale. “Dad, it’s fine, she’s just here to help me—”

“Get her out of here!” he roars, and I scramble backward, my heart racing in my chest as I push past the nurse. I almost make it out of the room, but before I can slip out, a sudden, awful wave of nausea grips me.

I barely make it into the bathroom before I heave over the toilet, everything I’ve eaten since last night emptying into it as I throw up again and again until my stomach is clenching painfully and my throat feels raw.

“Are you alright?” The nurse’s voice makes me jump, and I nod, holding a hand out to keep some space between us as I wipe my mouth with a wad of toilet paper, my hands shaking.

“I’m fine,” I manage. “It’s just an emotional time right now, that’s all. Everything is really stressful—”

But even as I say it, my mind is racing backward, making calculations that I hadn’t bothered to think about. After all, Luca and I have been using protection—except we didn’t, the night that he came racing home to me after the intruder broke in. And we didn’t on the roof. And we didn’t last night either—but it’s that first night that’s the culprit, if anything at all.

Because when I count, I realize something that makes me want to be sick all over again.

My period is a little over a week late.