Signed Over to Santino Read online

  ‘Clearly. You were too busy on the dance floor, running away from your problems by rubbing yourself against the first available guy. I’m flattened by the overwhelming sense of déjà vu.’

  ‘I wasn’t rubbing myself against Darren! We were working on your precious campaign. And even if we weren’t, what’s it to you? So what if maybe I wanted to spread my wings a little? Does it state in my contract that I have to remain celibate while performing my duties to the almighty Javier Santino? No, it doesn’t.’

  He stiffened, pure hellfire rushing through him. ‘You were planning on sleeping with him?’

  Heat stormed into her face. ‘That’s none of your business. But of course that doesn’t matter to you, does it? You just had to step in and ruin my fun.’

  He closed the gap between them, physically unable to stop himself from reaching for her. ‘Fun? Is that what you were looking for? You want to spread your wings sexually? Is that it?’ he muttered, each word he spoke lancing him hard and merciless. The idea that she would do this in his absence, invite another man’s hands on her body, ripped a path of insanity through his brain.

  ‘N...no, not exactly.’

  Javier didn’t hear her. His attention was wholly absorbed by the delectable gleam of her red-glossed lips, the memory of their taste as intoxicating to his senses as the most potent spirit. His hands slid from her shoulders down her torso, his fingers easily spanning her trim waist. He jerked her to him, and slanted his mouth over hers before he had time to think.

  His kiss was hard, a merciless punishment for every frame of what he’d seen when he walked into the nightclub, every moment he’d wasted thinking of her, reliving her desperate pain after her father’s phone call, and the helplessness he’d experienced from three thousand miles away. Hell, he’d even gone so far as to wonder if he’d overblown the events of the morning after their night together in Miami and she hadn’t actually acted that badly.

  And all the while she’d been dancing her troubles away!

  She shuddered, her mouth resisting his for a second.

  Then she opened for him. Soft. Warm. Drugging in the extreme. His hands trailed over her hips to cup her behind, the pliant leather almost non-existent as he moulded her to him. With a soft moan, she twined her arms around his neck, her shapely body plastering itself against his.

  Dios, but she incensed his every cell. He’d returned with a plan, a strictly professional one he’d intended to present to her. Seeing her with O’Hare, their heads close together, on the verge of dirty dancing, had firmly altered the landscape of his clearly nonsensical misgivings.

  Far from the distraught creature he’d thought he’d encounter on his return, he’d been confronted with a sensual being intent on driving every red-blooded male in the nightclub into a sexual frenzy.

  Spreading her wings...

  Clearly he’d imagined her earlier distress.

  She moved against him, sleek and sinuous. His blood pounded thicker, his heart pistoning hard against his ribs. Javier widened his stance, pinned her against the wall and brought one hand between them.

  Lifting the hem of her top, he dragged his nails across her abdomen. It was the lightest of touches and yet she shivered as if caught in an arctic storm.

  Her responsiveness hadn’t lessened in the time since they were last together. The gratifying thought spurred him on. A quick, deft fumble, a lowering of her zipper, and his fingers were sliding over her silky skin, beneath lace made hot by her arousal.

  Her shocked gasp singed his mouth as he found his mark. His free hand clasped her nape, and he broke the kiss. ‘Is this what you want, Principessa? Is this the type of fun you’re looking for?’ He thrummed the wet, nerve-engorged bud. Her tiny scream barely echoed through the alley, the greedy roll of her hips already seeking more.

  He gave her a little more, grimly gratified when her fingers bit into his neck. ‘Javier! Dio mio...per favore...’

  He drew back a touch, stared down at her enraptured face and knew he had to have her. All logical reasons why not be damned. ‘You’ll get your chance to spread your wings. But you do it with me. And only me. Comprende?’

  Eyes clamped shut as she chased her elusive pleasure, she whispered, ‘Tu sei pazzo!’

  ‘I’m far from crazy. Since you’re so keen to embrace a whole new you, go right ahead. But if you think I’m going to sit back and watch you throw yourself at every idiot who smiles at you, think again. Consider our contract renegotiated. From now on, I will be the one to give you pleasure.’

  Her head dropped against the wall, her breath coming in aggrieved pants. ‘Santa Maria, I’m not having this conversation right now.’

  He teased her saturated opening, earning a frustrated whimper.

  ‘Open your eyes, querida,’ he commanded silkily. ‘Closing your eyes and wishing your troubles away only work in fairy tales.’

  Eyes heavy with arousal, frustration, and eternally enthralling, met his. Keeping their gazes locked, he leaned forward and licked her lower lip. He nipped at the soft flesh, then pressed one finger inside her. ‘Mine. You will be mine, exclusively, until I say otherwise,’ he breathed.

  Another shudder rippled through her, followed by several more as he increased the friction. He drew back again, his senses leaping with the need to witness her surrender.

  ‘Per favore...please,’ she groaned, her head falling forward onto his shoulder.

  He slid his finger deep into her tight, silky heat, then growled as she found her release seconds later.

  A horn sounded nearby, followed by shouts of revelry tearing through the night air. Javier wondered dazedly how he’d kept upright as the sweet sounds of her climax echoed for his ears alone.

  One minute passed, then two. Stepping back, he righted her clothes.

  ‘Can you walk?’ he demanded thickly.

  Another tiny shudder, then she nodded. ‘Sì.’

  He pressed a kiss to her temple, then slung his arm over her shoulders, gratified when she burrowed into him.

  His limo idled on the kerb, the back door guarded by Antonio. Javier helped her into it, and shut the door behind them. When she went to move away, he stayed her. She collapsed against him, but remained silent as the car crawled through traffic. Although her breathing steadied, he knew she hadn’t fallen asleep from the furtive glances she cast at him.

  ‘We can discuss this now, or we can discuss it in the morning. Either way, my conditions remain the same.’

  She pulled away, and this time he let her have a little distance. She would be back where she belonged soon, anyway.

  ‘Why?’ she queried.

  ‘Why what?’

  ‘Why do you want me?’

  A bitter laugh scraped his throat. ‘If I could explain the mysteries of sexual chemistry, I would be a far richer man.’ He slid his fingers into her hair. ‘But I want you. Badly. And you want me.’

  ‘You can’t hold me to a new, sexual contract. That’s deplorable,’ she disputed hotly, but he didn’t miss her lingering glance at his mouth, and the unsteady breath she took when her eyes met his.

  She wanted him. Almost as badly as he wanted her, despite having come apart in his arms mere minutes ago.

  The memory lit fresh flames in his groin.

  ‘No, but I did talk to your father again. He believes you are on the verge of reaching a new agreement with me. So let’s hear it.’

  Alarm chased over her face, followed by a touch of uncertainty. A swallow moved her throat. ‘I was going to ask for an amendment to our agreement.’

  ‘One that benefits your father?’

  ‘One that buys me a little time. An early release of the second quarter payment to him and a percentage of my future earnings will end our business relationship. And I get to find out what happened with my mother.’

&nbs
p; Javier allowed the wave of sympathy that surged at her words. He’d been caught between a rock and a hard place where his mother was concerned. Having no immediate solution to the problem of his father wasn’t an issue he’d relished. But that would all be over soon. He scoured her face, took in the change. An instant later the memory of another man’s hands on her eroded his sympathy.

  ‘You can have your amendment tomorrow. If you give me what I want.’ Still holding her captive, he traced his finger over her passion-bruised bottom lip, the urge to kiss her again firing up inside him. ‘And before you revert to the tired line of not wanting me, remember that I could’ve taken you in that alley, completely and as many times as I wanted, and you would’ve begged me for more. This way we put our cards on the table. There will be no illusions or misapprehension on either of our parts. And you can’t get on your high horse afterwards and claim you weren’t thinking straight.’

  Perfect eyelashes swept down. ‘And if I don’t agree?’

  ‘Your father pursues his imprudent financial schemes until such time as the fallout adversely affects me and my company. Then I take steps to hold you both accountable and you lose what little assets you have.’

  She opened her mouth to speak as the car stopped in front of his penthouse building.

  He stopped her by pressing his lips against hers, hot and hard, then pulled away before temptation got out of hand. ‘Take the night, think about it and give me your answer in the morning. I know you’ll choose wisely.’

  ‘You’re so certain you know what I’ll decide?’

  He shrugged. ‘Besides the pleasure you’ll receive in my bed, there’s the added benefit that once your father knows you’re mine, truly mine, he’ll think twice about threatening you again.’

  ‘So those are my two choices? Choose you or choose him?’

  ‘The writing’s been on the wall for a while, Principessa. This way you know you’re backing the right horse.’

  He flung the door open and grabbed her hand. In the bright light of the foyer, he caught a clearer glimpse of her outfit and cursed himself for giving her the night to agree to his demands. The ache in his groin alone threatened to fracture his mind.

  Although his every instinct screamed at him to go after her when she muttered goodnight and made a beeline for her bedroom, Javier stayed put.

  Morning would come soon enough.

  Carla Nardozzi would be his.

  * * *

  She would most certainly not be his.

  Not in the cold, calculated way he’d spelt out in the darkness of his car. There had to be another way. She toyed with getting Draco to negotiate on her behalf, but her agent had done his part. This renegotiation of the contract was private, between her and Javier. Besides, based on the current strained relationship between the two men, she didn’t think Javier would welcome her turning to the man he thought she was trying to make jealous three years ago.

  She tossed in the pre-dawn light and a different dilemma flared again. The shameful knowledge that Javier had been right, that she would’ve given herself to him in that alley, couldn’t be erased. The release she’d received at his hand had been gratifying, but it’d barely dented the depth of her hunger. She could continue to deny it, continue to keep him at arm’s length with her words alone. But they would be lies.

  That didn’t mean she had to give in.

  The bed linen twisted around her heated body as she fidgeted. The simple truth was, had their circumstances been different, had they been meeting again after three years as casual acquaintances reconnecting again, Carla knew she would’ve given in to her body’s clamouring. The pull between them would’ve been too great to deny herself a chance to explore it. Especially having already experienced the intensity of it.

  But all that aside, she knew there was no way she could walk away from the chance to find out what happened to her mother, the opportunity to finally lay her ghost to rest. Hadn’t she only yesterday vowed to do everything she could to get to the truth?

  Just as Javier had brought himself to do the unthinkable and tolerate the father who’d rejected him at every turn all his life, for the sake of his mother, didn’t she owe her mother the same? Was the body she’d already given willingly to Javier, and couldn’t deny she would give again were their circumstances different, suddenly too high a price to pay?

  She didn’t deny the irony of finding common ground with the very man who was threatening that ground, but as the sun crested the horizon Carla rubbed her eyes and faced the decision head-on.

  In a few short hours, she would agree to become Javier Santino’s mistress.

  Exactly why that sent a terrible little thrill through her, she shut her eyes firmly against examining.

  * * *

  ‘Ah, there you are. Buenos días, Carla. I was beginning to think I would be subjected to a lonely breakfast by myself.’

  Carla refrained from pointing out the many breakfasts she’d had on her own since arriving in New York. Nor did she imagine for an instant that Javier’s easy tone was in any way a barometer for his mood. What really spelled out his mood were the narrowed, piercing eyes that tracked her from the dining-room door to her seat. Silently, she accepted as she sat down that she might have contributed to that look by oversleeping past her usual first light waking.

  With indolent grace, he scoured her face, now devoid of last night’s make-up, before leaning forward to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. The action, so poignantly gentle, and yet so ruthlessly calculated, sent a tremor through her.

  ‘Javier, I’ve come to a decision,’ she started, wanting to get this over and done with as quickly as humanly possible.

  ‘Let us eat first, chiquita. That way neither of us risks a spoilt appetite if the news delivered and whatever reaction it produces isn’t agreeable to our digestive systems.’

  He nodded to Felipe, who hovered discreetly nearby. Sterling silver domed dishes were unveiled and her plate heaped with all her favourite foods. Managing a stiff smile at the butler, she attempted to make a dent in the poached egg, toast and slices of ham before her. Fresh fruit appeared on another platter. Before she could shake her head, Javier picked up a large chunk of pineapple and sliced it into smaller pieces.

  Forking a square, he presented it to her. His eyes were still narrowed, gauging her stance on a subject he suddenly seemed reluctant to discuss.

  For a moment, Carla wondered if he was nervous about her decision. Although it seemed impossible to imagine it now, she’d witnessed his pain and misery when he’d talked about his childhood. His vulnerability had shown then, and she wondered if it was there now, hidden beneath his brusque and intense demeanour.

  She took the offered fruit and watched him feed himself a piece. In silence, he shared the pineapple between them until it was finished. Then he sat back and finished his coffee.

  When she set her own empty cup down he rose. ‘Now we’ve had our fill, let’s talk.’

  He walked out of the dining room, the white shirtsleeves rolled up his forearms and the dark grey trousers lending him a casual air she knew was false. Thinking they would conduct their business in the taciturn surroundings of his study, she was taken aback when he led her out onto the vast, wraparound terrace. Sunlight framed his lithe form, bathing his hair and body in a vibrant glow as he strolled over to the high terrace wall, and observed the iconic view for a full minute before he faced her.

  ‘Tell me your decision,’ he said abruptly.

  Carla started to lace her fingers, then grimaced when her cast got in the way. She walked forward, stopping several feet away when the immutable force of his aura threatened to swallow her whole. ‘I agree to your conditions.’ Clearing her throat so her voice emerged stronger, she continued, ‘I’ll be your...whatever term you want to place on this association of ours.’

  His eyes
turned dark and stormy. ‘The term is mine, querida. You’ll be mine.’

  Her breath shuddered out. ‘Sì. I’ll be yours,’ she whispered.

  She wasn’t sure what she expected. A triumphant fist pump? A battle cry of victory? No, those weren’t quite Javier’s style.

  ‘Come here, Carla,’ he commanded after a full minute of stomach-churning silence, his voice steeped in quiet authority.

  She went. She was long past the point of equivocating and had accepted that this would be her fate. At least for the short term.

  Strong, corded arms banded her waist, bringing her flush against his hard, hot male body. From chest to knees, she was plastered against him, barely able to breathe for the strength and power of him, for the electricity zapping crazily through her body. Breath growing shallower by the second, Carla waited to be swept off her feet. For what had started in the dark, smoky alley last night to progress to its turbulent conclusion.

  And yet, now she was in his arms, Javier didn’t seem in a hurry to speak, to take what belonged to him. One hand left her waist and trailed upward, the single tie securing her hair pulled away and disposed of before he slid his fingers through the strands to cradle the back of her head. The massage was as unexpected as it was alarmingly soothing. And even more disconcerting were the feelings that surfaced when he tucked her head into his chest, his chin lightly resting on her crown.

  Safe and secure.

  Both emotions absurd, of course, considering she was fully aware of why he’d demanded this sacrifice from her. The evidence of it was a hot and rigid presence against her belly, a reminder that whatever was going to happen between them would be purely physical.

  But Carla stood still, allowed herself to breathe in his scent, let his arms draw her even closer into his body, and, just for the hell of it, brought her arms to rest against his chest.

  ‘Eres mio,’ he murmured throatily after an eternity.

  Although she didn’t understand the words, there was a profound sense of claiming within them, and for a single instant Carla let herself wonder...what if...? The judder through her heart warned her she was risking being badly burnt by fire; warned her to end this bizarre lull.