- Book info
- Sample
- Media
- Author updates
- Lists
Synopsis
His rules. Her pleasure. His way.
Italian heiress and international financier Milla Castra knows she can't avoid him forever. Irredeemably confident and controlled Lex Duncan once shared her craving for things deliciously forbidden. He was her lover. Her Master. And the husband she's kept secret from everyone.
But Lex will never relinquish what's his---and Milla is definitely his. And he knows she can't resist the exquisite pleasure that awaits in his arms. When the violence of her past threatens them both, Lex will risk everything to keep Milla safe . . . before she submits to the cruelest master imaginable, Fear.
***
Rules of Engagement series
Book 1 - Rule Breaker (Arya and Max)
Book 2 - Rule Master (Milla and Lex)
Book 3 - Rule Changer (Carmen and Thomas)
Italian heiress and international financier Milla Castra knows she can't avoid him forever. Irredeemably confident and controlled Lex Duncan once shared her craving for things deliciously forbidden. He was her lover. Her Master. And the husband she's kept secret from everyone.
But Lex will never relinquish what's his---and Milla is definitely his. And he knows she can't resist the exquisite pleasure that awaits in his arms. When the violence of her past threatens them both, Lex will risk everything to keep Milla safe . . . before she submits to the cruelest master imaginable, Fear.
***
Rules of Engagement series
Book 1 - Rule Breaker (Arya and Max)
Book 2 - Rule Master (Milla and Lex)
Book 3 - Rule Changer (Carmen and Thomas)
Release date: March 7, 2017
Publisher: Forever Yours
Print pages: 324
* BingeBooks earns revenue from qualifying purchases as an Amazon Associate as well as from other retail partners.
Reader buzz
Please log in to recommend or discuss...
Author updates
Close
Rule Master
Sienna Snow
CHAPTER ONE
“Ms. Castra, once you sign, I can file all the necessary documents.”
My fingers gripped my pen as I scanned the forms. The moment I wrote my name on the papers, I’d begin the process of making up for all my mistakes.
The mistakes I’d never have admitted to if I hadn’t gone through the terror of the last six months.
But could I do it? Could I end something that started more than ten years ago, something that meant the world to me?
I set my pen down, took a deep breath, and looked up at my assistant, Rachel. Her face told me she wasn’t happy with my decision, but would do what I asked.
“You don’t have to execute this now. You can wait until you get home, and then decide.”
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I pushed back from the patio table and walked to the balcony railing of my family’s Italian villa.
Church bells rang in the distance, signaling the end of mass at the duomo, the cathedral marking the center of the town’s square.
I clutched the balcony railing overlooking the busy streets of the city of my birth, Milan. The summer heat dampened my skin with a light sheen and made me long for the cooler weather in the city of my heart.
Boston.
There I wasn’t the rebel daughter of one of Italy’s most renowned families, who got into more trouble than necessary. In Boston, I was a well-respected, successful entrepreneur who ran two multinational corporations and had friends who loved me more than my own mother.
I also had…
Lex.
A painful ache clenched my heart. He’d made so many sacrifices for me over the past years; now it was my turn.
He deserves a fresh start, Milla.
Six months ago, the only thing I took seriously in my life was my work. I lived by the motto “work hard, play harder.”
My perspective completely changed after I was kidnapped as part of a plot to steal security software my company had developed for the US government. I’d left Boston hoping to forget the pain and devastation in my life, only to learn I couldn’t run from my problems. The longer I waited to face them, the more I hurt the one person who meant the world to me.
“Ms. Castra. I need you to tell me what our next steps are.”
I released the railing, pushed a strand of hair behind my ear, and turned toward Rachel. Without another word and before I lost my nerve, I walked over to the table, picked up the pen, and signed my name.
“It’s done,” I whispered, trying to keep the tremor out of my voice.
“I’ll take care of contacting your attorney.” Rachel gathered the papers and left the terrace.
I let my head and shoulders drop as I settled my hands on the back of my chair.
My fingers went to the collar of my shirt and rested on the necklace underneath. I closed my eyes, and a vision of Lex’s piercing blue ones staring back at me appeared. The eyes I’d spent hours looking into. The ones that used to know all my secrets and saw deep inside me to the real Milla. To the girl who was nothing like she appeared in the press.
How was I going to live without him? Without the long talks and laughter or the heated arguments or the feel of his body against mine?
Or the orgasms he pulls from you with the slightest graze of his whip.
I shivered, pushing the last image back. I couldn’t go there right now.
The hardest part would be the day when he had someone else by his side. A woman who could give him the pleasure and satisfaction I once had and couldn’t anymore.
I wiped a stray tear from my cheek when my phone buzzed in the back pocket of my jeans. I pulled it out and answered.
“Hello.”
“Hey there, mera behna. I miss you.” My heart lightened at the sound of my best friend’s voice and the standard Hindi greeting she gave me.
Arya Rey Dane was my sister in everything but blood. We were two girls from completely different backgrounds who became best friends and created the world’s first female-founded, billion-dollar technology development firm. Ditching high school was the only thing on our agendas the day we met, and now we couldn’t imagine a life without each other.
After an incident during my fifteenth birthday, where a few of my friends and I got drunk and ran half naked through the streets of Milan, my parents decided to teach me a lesson and send me to boarding school. Their biggest mistake was believing that by sending me to a school run by nuns halfway across the globe, I would miss home and start behaving. They should’ve kept me in Italy, where the nuns are much more hard-core. I got into more trouble in California than I could ever have at any of the convents in Italy.
“I missed you, too,” I said, trying to add a cheery tone to my response. I hadn’t told Arya of my plans for the future, and I wasn’t sure she’d let me go through with them if she knew.
“What’s wrong?”
How would she know that I was feeling sad?
“Huh? What makes you think something is up?”
“Well, for one, you responded to my question with a question. Second, your voice gave it away. Third, you didn’t answer me with your haughty Italian heiress greeting of ‘Pronto.’ You said ‘hello.’”
I never used that phrase, and she knew it. It was a running joke between us from when a friend of ours vacationed in Rome and came back educating us on proper Italian etiquette.
“Yes, yes, Miss Genius IQ. I forgot my Italian protocol. I’ve been hanging out with your half-Indian ass too long.”
“My ass is huge right now, and you would know that if you were home. And don’t say we video chat, because it isn’t the same. I need the deliverer of my chocolate croissants here in Boston with me. Max doesn’t go to the same bakery as you do.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the joy I heard hidden around the whining. She was finally going to have the family she’d wanted all her life.
Arya had spent five years building herself up following the deterioration of her relationship and devastating loss of her babies. Finally, she had her fairy tale. After reuniting with the love of her life, she was expecting twins again.
“I know, bella. I’ll be home soon to see the giant whale you’ve become with those boys.”
“I miss you. He misses you.”
My breath hitched.
“Why would Max miss me? Isn’t he your husband?”
“Don’t be a smart-ass.” Her voice grew stern.
“I know, Ari. I’ll talk to him when I get back.” I hesitated for a second. “How is he?”
“How do you expect? He’s been with the same woman for a decade, and she left him. Something we still haven’t discussed, by the way.”
I cringed. I’d avoided any conversation regarding my relationship with Lex, especially the part where I’d kept it a secret and never told her he was the Dom I’d been with for years. Or that he was even more than my Dom.
“Is he…is he…”
Do I want to ask this question or get an answer? It would make my plan easier, but it won’t lessen the pain.
“No, he isn’t seeing anyone, you moron. For some reason, he loves you and takes the commitment he made to you seriously.”
Relief flooded me. “Pregnancy is making you bitchy.”
“Yeah, well let me count the ways I am pissed off at the whole lot of you. First, my two best friends lied to me for years, pretending to see different people when they were together the whole time. Surrounding me with overwhelming sexual tension and making me think it was love unfulfilled.”
I cringed. “Well there were personal reasons for all of that.”
“Second, when I found out they were a couple, they left out a tiny detail that they were more than Dominant and submissive.”
“Well, you see…”
“Shut up. I’m not done.”
“Sorry, I’ll zip it.” I motioned with my fingers on my lips and laughed at myself when I realized she couldn’t see me.
“Third, my other best friend and sister-in-law, Carmen, has become a complete workaholic and has no time for me. Fourth, I don’t have you here to keep me sane while on bed rest and prevent me from killing my overprotective husband. And fifth…” Arya sniffed, and her voice cracked. “I’m scared out of my mind that I’ll lose these babies too.”
My heart ached for her. She’d been through so much and by some miracle, she was pregnant again. “Don’t cry, mia sorella. I’ll be home soon.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just a big, pregnant, hormonal fucking mess.”
I shook my head and adjusted my phone to the other ear. “Language! Max is going to kill you if the first word those kids utter is ‘fuck’ or ‘shit.’ I thought you were working on your sailor’s mouth.”
“Whatever,” she grumbled. “Try being ten thousand months pregnant and confined to a stupid bed.”
I laughed. “You know you love every minute of it.”
“I do, but I don’t have you to share it with,” she whined.
The weight of the previous conversation shifted. Thank goodness, no more talk about Lex or me.
“I’ll be home soon and come massage your fat feet and keep you company until my nephews come into the world.”
“I’ll hold you to it. Okay, I better go before Max finds out I snuck out of the house.”
“Why are you sneaking out of the house to call me?”
“Um, you see…”
“Ari,” I admonished with a grin.
“I wanted to go baby shopping.”
The girl thought she could pull one over me, but I was onto her tactics.
“Not buying that. You hate shopping. What is going on, bella?”
“Fine,” she muttered. “I snuck out to get chocolate from that shop you took me to in Little Italy. Max said I had to limit my sweets since the doc was worried about my sugar levels. But, Mil, he should know better than to keep a pregnant woman away from her cravings. Oh hell, I think I see his car.”
“Don’t blame me if you get caught. I’m not the one who ditched her security detail to get a chocolate fix. I was the innocent recipient of your call.” I shook my head.
The girl never gave Max a moment of peace, always getting into something or the other.
I grunted to myself. I was one to talk.
“I’ll keep you out of it. You’re in enough shit with Lex.”
“Ari,” I exclaimed and then glanced at my watch. “Merda. Gotta go. I have to get ready for the ball tonight.”
Arya sighed. “Such is the life of an Italian socialite.”
“Bite me, Dane.”
“Back at you, Duncan.”
I winced and opened my mouth to respond, but she’d hung up.
Well, that was nice of her to leave it like that. I tucked my phone back into my jeans pocket. I knew the moment she had me alone I was in so much trouble with her. I couldn’t blame her for wanting answers.
I stepped away from the balcony area and walked toward the terrace stairs. A second before I crossed the threshold, my sister-in-law Leena reached the top, nearly slamming into me. She was windblown and out of breath.
I grabbed hold of her arms, keeping her steady on her feet. “Whoa, there, pregnant lady. What’s going on?”
She put a hand against her chest and then sat down on the nearest chair.
“Milla, you have to be ready.” Leena rubbed her temples and tried to steady her breath. “I ran up here as soon as I heard.”
This probably had something to do with Mamma; it always had something to do with Mamma.
“Okay, you’re scaring me. Please tell me what’s going on.” I glanced at my watch again. “I’m going to be late if I don’t get ready for the gala soon.”
Leena grasped my hand and tugged me toward her. “He’s here.”
Okay, that’s a bit dramatic.
“Who’s here?” I crouched in front of Leena.
She glanced behind me as a deep voice spoke.
“Your husband. And I’m here to take my wife home.”
CHAPTER TWO
My skin prickled as Lex’s deep Irish brogue washed over me. I closed my eyes for a moment and then opened them, staring at Leena’s shocked face.
“You’re married?” she asked me.
“Yes.” I nodded.
“For how long?”
“Ten years,” Lex answered, drawing Leena’s attention to him.
“You kept it from us all these years?” She looked back at me, shaking her head. “I don’t understand. Why would you keep this from us? Didn’t we deserve to know? Especially Marcello and Dominic?”
I grimaced, hearing the underlying hurt in Leena’s question.
“It’s complicated,” I whispered, not knowing what else to say.
She watched me for a moment, not saying anything, then stood, bringing me up with her.
“Mil, we can’t help you with this if you don’t let us in.” She gave Lex a wary smile over my shoulder. “I’ll leave you two alone to talk.” She kissed my forehead and then glared at me, telling me without words that I was in deep shit.
At this moment, thinking about what I was going to tell my family was the least of my worries. All my attention was focused on the man behind me. How would I face him, knowing what I’d signed only fifteen minutes earlier?
This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. I wanted to wait until I was back in Boston. Until I’d found a way to explain why I was breaking both of our hearts.
I stared at the vines growing along the terrace walls.
“Mil. Look at me,” Lex ordered, in the liquid-smooth way that made anyone listen, in or out of the courtroom.
A shiver crept up my spine, and I pushed back the urge his mere presence brought forth, the desire to kneel and wait for direction. Six months apart and I still couldn’t resist his pull.
I had to remain strong, or I wouldn’t be able to go through with my plans. This wasn’t about me anymore; it was about Lex and giving him a better life without me.
“Why are you here, Lex?”
“Can’t you even turn around and look at me, Mil?”
I couldn’t. If I turned around, I’d want to touch him. My skin burned with the desire.
At that moment, fingers glided along my bare arms, causing a desperate ache deep inside me. I held in a deep moan that tried to escape.
“Look at me, baby,” he crooned.
I willed my body to remain where it stood, but it betrayed me, and I turned to face him.
His beautiful, almost piercing cobalt eyes burned into me, searching for answers to questions I couldn’t respond to or at least didn’t know how to.
A golden tan shaded his skin, and sun streaks highlighted his blond hair, telling me he’d spent a few days at the beach. Who was he spending his time with? The only vacations he’d ever taken were with me.
Don’t go there, Milla. It is none of your business. Especially after what you’ve started.
The wind picked up, blowing my own locks into my face. Lex lifted his hand to tuck the stray strands back, but I flinched away.
His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say anything.
“Why are you here?” I asked. Good, my voice didn’t quiver. “I know Rachel sent the office my itinerary. The plane will be here in a few hours.”
“I canceled it.”
I tilted my head to the side and cocked my hand on my hip. “Lex, you don’t have the authority to cancel my flight. My company owns the plane.”
“But I do, you see.” He stepped forward as I moved back, stopping as my legs hit the patio table. “I had a chat will your business partner, and she agreed that I’d be the best person to bring you back.”
My temper flared, and I pinched the bridge of my nose. I couldn’t believe Arya would do this to me. We’d just talked on the phone; why didn’t she tell me Lex was coming? Oh, she was so dead when I got home. She couldn’t fix what’s wrong with my relationship with Lex by sending him to me. It wouldn’t work. Plus, even if I wanted it to, I wasn’t the same, react-then-regret girl anymore.
I reined in my anger—getting mad wasn’t going to solve anything—and took a deep breath. First, find out why Lex needed to bring me home and then call my meddling best friend and tell her to mind her own business.
“What could you have said to her to convince her that I needed you to bring me home?”
The corner of Lex’s mouth turned up. “That was impressive. I thought you were going to explode, but you held back. Who are you and what have you done with my wife?”
“A lot has changed in the last few months.” I closed my eyes and pushed the sadness my words brought forth and focused back on Lex, who was no longer smiling.
“What’s going on, Mil? You used to tell me everything.”
I shook my head. “I can’t talk about it right now.” I leaned against the table. “Please just tell me why it was so important for you to bring me home. I’m a big girl. I can manage to get back to Boston without a chaperone. What’s the worst that can happen to me? I’m surrounded by security twenty-four seven, isn’t that enough?”
I glanced to my right at Tony, a member of my security detail. He leaned against one of the high walls of the terrace, giving off a relaxed aura, but I knew he was aware of everything going on around him.
He inclined his head toward me and then said “Sir” to Lex and returned to scanning the area around us.
I looked at Lex. “He’s with me everywhere I go. Tony can protect me for the next few hours until I get on the plane.”
“This is non-negotiable. I’m bringing you home. Besides, the only plane available for you is our plane.”
His words awakened images of the escapades we’d engaged in during our many flights together. My skin tingled, reminding me of how long it had been since we’d touched.
I wiped sweat from my brow. “Does making these high-handed decisions without discussing them with me get you off?”
“You’re the one who knows what gets me off. Why don’t you tell me?” His eyes bored into mine.
“You are insufferable.” I ground my teeth and held back the urge to tell him I’d book a commercial flight, just to spite him. Since my kidnapping, I wasn’t stupid enough to risk my safety simply to make a point with Lex.
“I’m your husband. I have a right to bring you home.”
“Why now? Why not a few months ago or, for a matter of fact, yesterday?” I turned my back to him, closing my eyes and clenching my fists open and shut. “Please, Lex. Tell me why you’re here.”
If he’d come sooner, I might not have signed those stupid papers. I might have waited to see if we still had a chance. No, I couldn’t second-guess my decisions anymore. He deserved someone who wasn’t selfish.
“You want to know why I waited? I wanted you to heal. You wouldn’t talk to me. You needed something I couldn’t give you. And in my ever-loving stupidity, I believed you’d get that here. When I realized you were hiding from me, I decided I’d come get you. I’ve spent the last month clearing my schedule so I could spend time with you here until we figured things out. That was until a few days ago.”
“What changed?”
Lex sighed. “I don’t know how to tell you this.” He moved behind me but didn’t touch me. “I got this in my private e-mail.”
He reached around me and gave me a printout. It had a picture of me bound against a pole, bleeding from whiplashes, and my head hanging down. There was a message underneath that read, Although she suffered, she still owes me a debt that I plan to collect.
My feet buckled, but before I fell to the floor, Lex grabbed me. The hours of my torture and captivity flashed before my eyes, and nausea invaded my stomach. I’d worked so hard to push all the memories back, and now everything seemed fresh once again.
“Easy, baby. I’ve got you.” Lex lifted me into his arms and sat with me in the nearby chair.
I couldn’t breathe. A heaviness settled on my chest. I had to get clean. I rubbed my arms, trying to cleanse the feel of dirty hands on my body.
“I’m not going to let anyone hurt you again,” Lex whispered into my hair.
His scent enveloped me, soap and light cologne. I leaned into his comfort, letting the security of his body drive my fears back. I was protected here, more than I’d felt with the ten bodyguards who’d watched over me during my entire stay in Italy. I buried my face into his chest and clutched his shirt.
I was safe if I was with him.
No, Mil, you can’t do this. You’re leading him on.
I tried to push out of Lex’s hold, but he held me tighter. “Please let me go. I’m not good for you. I’ll only cause you more pain.”
“You’re my wife. Your being a pain in my ass comes with the package. Plus, I’ve had ten years to build up an immunity,” Lex said with a hint of humor and a smile.
I tilted my head back and glared at him. “This isn’t a joke.”
His face lost the glint of amusement. “I know, Mil. Has Christof made any contact with you?”
“N-no.” I shook my head and bit my lip for a moment. “This is the first I’ve heard of him wanting to get my attention.”
“He didn’t send the message to you. He sent it to me. He wants me to think I can’t protect you.” Lex cupped my face. “I can’t bear anything happening to you.”
I wanted to lean into his touch but held myself stiff.
“Please, Lex. Let me get up. I can’t depend on you like this. I’ll fall apart.”
He opened his lips to argue, but then conceded, loosening his arms and allowing me to stand. He remained in the chair, staring at me, in the way that made me want to kneel and give him anything he asked.
I knew this would be hard, but how was I going to make it if only a few minutes in his presence gave me the urge to call Rachel and cancel the plans I’d set in motion?
“Talk to me, Mil.”
Ignoring his command, I asked, “Did you tell anyone else that we’re married?”
Hurt flashed across his face and then disappeared just as fast. “No, but I’m sure Leena has spread the news by now.”
Relief and disappointment hit my gut. I wasn’t ready for the fallout from keeping our relationship a secret, but at the same time, I wanted the world to know he was mine.
Shit, I’d done it again. He wasn’t mine, not with the divorce papers I’d signed.
“I’m taking you home, Mil. I’ll throw you over my shoulder and carry you onto the plane. Just know you won’t get back to Boston without me.”
I took a deep breath trying to keep my anger in check. The old Milla would have gi. . .
“Ms. Castra, once you sign, I can file all the necessary documents.”
My fingers gripped my pen as I scanned the forms. The moment I wrote my name on the papers, I’d begin the process of making up for all my mistakes.
The mistakes I’d never have admitted to if I hadn’t gone through the terror of the last six months.
But could I do it? Could I end something that started more than ten years ago, something that meant the world to me?
I set my pen down, took a deep breath, and looked up at my assistant, Rachel. Her face told me she wasn’t happy with my decision, but would do what I asked.
“You don’t have to execute this now. You can wait until you get home, and then decide.”
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I pushed back from the patio table and walked to the balcony railing of my family’s Italian villa.
Church bells rang in the distance, signaling the end of mass at the duomo, the cathedral marking the center of the town’s square.
I clutched the balcony railing overlooking the busy streets of the city of my birth, Milan. The summer heat dampened my skin with a light sheen and made me long for the cooler weather in the city of my heart.
Boston.
There I wasn’t the rebel daughter of one of Italy’s most renowned families, who got into more trouble than necessary. In Boston, I was a well-respected, successful entrepreneur who ran two multinational corporations and had friends who loved me more than my own mother.
I also had…
Lex.
A painful ache clenched my heart. He’d made so many sacrifices for me over the past years; now it was my turn.
He deserves a fresh start, Milla.
Six months ago, the only thing I took seriously in my life was my work. I lived by the motto “work hard, play harder.”
My perspective completely changed after I was kidnapped as part of a plot to steal security software my company had developed for the US government. I’d left Boston hoping to forget the pain and devastation in my life, only to learn I couldn’t run from my problems. The longer I waited to face them, the more I hurt the one person who meant the world to me.
“Ms. Castra. I need you to tell me what our next steps are.”
I released the railing, pushed a strand of hair behind my ear, and turned toward Rachel. Without another word and before I lost my nerve, I walked over to the table, picked up the pen, and signed my name.
“It’s done,” I whispered, trying to keep the tremor out of my voice.
“I’ll take care of contacting your attorney.” Rachel gathered the papers and left the terrace.
I let my head and shoulders drop as I settled my hands on the back of my chair.
My fingers went to the collar of my shirt and rested on the necklace underneath. I closed my eyes, and a vision of Lex’s piercing blue ones staring back at me appeared. The eyes I’d spent hours looking into. The ones that used to know all my secrets and saw deep inside me to the real Milla. To the girl who was nothing like she appeared in the press.
How was I going to live without him? Without the long talks and laughter or the heated arguments or the feel of his body against mine?
Or the orgasms he pulls from you with the slightest graze of his whip.
I shivered, pushing the last image back. I couldn’t go there right now.
The hardest part would be the day when he had someone else by his side. A woman who could give him the pleasure and satisfaction I once had and couldn’t anymore.
I wiped a stray tear from my cheek when my phone buzzed in the back pocket of my jeans. I pulled it out and answered.
“Hello.”
“Hey there, mera behna. I miss you.” My heart lightened at the sound of my best friend’s voice and the standard Hindi greeting she gave me.
Arya Rey Dane was my sister in everything but blood. We were two girls from completely different backgrounds who became best friends and created the world’s first female-founded, billion-dollar technology development firm. Ditching high school was the only thing on our agendas the day we met, and now we couldn’t imagine a life without each other.
After an incident during my fifteenth birthday, where a few of my friends and I got drunk and ran half naked through the streets of Milan, my parents decided to teach me a lesson and send me to boarding school. Their biggest mistake was believing that by sending me to a school run by nuns halfway across the globe, I would miss home and start behaving. They should’ve kept me in Italy, where the nuns are much more hard-core. I got into more trouble in California than I could ever have at any of the convents in Italy.
“I missed you, too,” I said, trying to add a cheery tone to my response. I hadn’t told Arya of my plans for the future, and I wasn’t sure she’d let me go through with them if she knew.
“What’s wrong?”
How would she know that I was feeling sad?
“Huh? What makes you think something is up?”
“Well, for one, you responded to my question with a question. Second, your voice gave it away. Third, you didn’t answer me with your haughty Italian heiress greeting of ‘Pronto.’ You said ‘hello.’”
I never used that phrase, and she knew it. It was a running joke between us from when a friend of ours vacationed in Rome and came back educating us on proper Italian etiquette.
“Yes, yes, Miss Genius IQ. I forgot my Italian protocol. I’ve been hanging out with your half-Indian ass too long.”
“My ass is huge right now, and you would know that if you were home. And don’t say we video chat, because it isn’t the same. I need the deliverer of my chocolate croissants here in Boston with me. Max doesn’t go to the same bakery as you do.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the joy I heard hidden around the whining. She was finally going to have the family she’d wanted all her life.
Arya had spent five years building herself up following the deterioration of her relationship and devastating loss of her babies. Finally, she had her fairy tale. After reuniting with the love of her life, she was expecting twins again.
“I know, bella. I’ll be home soon to see the giant whale you’ve become with those boys.”
“I miss you. He misses you.”
My breath hitched.
“Why would Max miss me? Isn’t he your husband?”
“Don’t be a smart-ass.” Her voice grew stern.
“I know, Ari. I’ll talk to him when I get back.” I hesitated for a second. “How is he?”
“How do you expect? He’s been with the same woman for a decade, and she left him. Something we still haven’t discussed, by the way.”
I cringed. I’d avoided any conversation regarding my relationship with Lex, especially the part where I’d kept it a secret and never told her he was the Dom I’d been with for years. Or that he was even more than my Dom.
“Is he…is he…”
Do I want to ask this question or get an answer? It would make my plan easier, but it won’t lessen the pain.
“No, he isn’t seeing anyone, you moron. For some reason, he loves you and takes the commitment he made to you seriously.”
Relief flooded me. “Pregnancy is making you bitchy.”
“Yeah, well let me count the ways I am pissed off at the whole lot of you. First, my two best friends lied to me for years, pretending to see different people when they were together the whole time. Surrounding me with overwhelming sexual tension and making me think it was love unfulfilled.”
I cringed. “Well there were personal reasons for all of that.”
“Second, when I found out they were a couple, they left out a tiny detail that they were more than Dominant and submissive.”
“Well, you see…”
“Shut up. I’m not done.”
“Sorry, I’ll zip it.” I motioned with my fingers on my lips and laughed at myself when I realized she couldn’t see me.
“Third, my other best friend and sister-in-law, Carmen, has become a complete workaholic and has no time for me. Fourth, I don’t have you here to keep me sane while on bed rest and prevent me from killing my overprotective husband. And fifth…” Arya sniffed, and her voice cracked. “I’m scared out of my mind that I’ll lose these babies too.”
My heart ached for her. She’d been through so much and by some miracle, she was pregnant again. “Don’t cry, mia sorella. I’ll be home soon.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just a big, pregnant, hormonal fucking mess.”
I shook my head and adjusted my phone to the other ear. “Language! Max is going to kill you if the first word those kids utter is ‘fuck’ or ‘shit.’ I thought you were working on your sailor’s mouth.”
“Whatever,” she grumbled. “Try being ten thousand months pregnant and confined to a stupid bed.”
I laughed. “You know you love every minute of it.”
“I do, but I don’t have you to share it with,” she whined.
The weight of the previous conversation shifted. Thank goodness, no more talk about Lex or me.
“I’ll be home soon and come massage your fat feet and keep you company until my nephews come into the world.”
“I’ll hold you to it. Okay, I better go before Max finds out I snuck out of the house.”
“Why are you sneaking out of the house to call me?”
“Um, you see…”
“Ari,” I admonished with a grin.
“I wanted to go baby shopping.”
The girl thought she could pull one over me, but I was onto her tactics.
“Not buying that. You hate shopping. What is going on, bella?”
“Fine,” she muttered. “I snuck out to get chocolate from that shop you took me to in Little Italy. Max said I had to limit my sweets since the doc was worried about my sugar levels. But, Mil, he should know better than to keep a pregnant woman away from her cravings. Oh hell, I think I see his car.”
“Don’t blame me if you get caught. I’m not the one who ditched her security detail to get a chocolate fix. I was the innocent recipient of your call.” I shook my head.
The girl never gave Max a moment of peace, always getting into something or the other.
I grunted to myself. I was one to talk.
“I’ll keep you out of it. You’re in enough shit with Lex.”
“Ari,” I exclaimed and then glanced at my watch. “Merda. Gotta go. I have to get ready for the ball tonight.”
Arya sighed. “Such is the life of an Italian socialite.”
“Bite me, Dane.”
“Back at you, Duncan.”
I winced and opened my mouth to respond, but she’d hung up.
Well, that was nice of her to leave it like that. I tucked my phone back into my jeans pocket. I knew the moment she had me alone I was in so much trouble with her. I couldn’t blame her for wanting answers.
I stepped away from the balcony area and walked toward the terrace stairs. A second before I crossed the threshold, my sister-in-law Leena reached the top, nearly slamming into me. She was windblown and out of breath.
I grabbed hold of her arms, keeping her steady on her feet. “Whoa, there, pregnant lady. What’s going on?”
She put a hand against her chest and then sat down on the nearest chair.
“Milla, you have to be ready.” Leena rubbed her temples and tried to steady her breath. “I ran up here as soon as I heard.”
This probably had something to do with Mamma; it always had something to do with Mamma.
“Okay, you’re scaring me. Please tell me what’s going on.” I glanced at my watch again. “I’m going to be late if I don’t get ready for the gala soon.”
Leena grasped my hand and tugged me toward her. “He’s here.”
Okay, that’s a bit dramatic.
“Who’s here?” I crouched in front of Leena.
She glanced behind me as a deep voice spoke.
“Your husband. And I’m here to take my wife home.”
CHAPTER TWO
My skin prickled as Lex’s deep Irish brogue washed over me. I closed my eyes for a moment and then opened them, staring at Leena’s shocked face.
“You’re married?” she asked me.
“Yes.” I nodded.
“For how long?”
“Ten years,” Lex answered, drawing Leena’s attention to him.
“You kept it from us all these years?” She looked back at me, shaking her head. “I don’t understand. Why would you keep this from us? Didn’t we deserve to know? Especially Marcello and Dominic?”
I grimaced, hearing the underlying hurt in Leena’s question.
“It’s complicated,” I whispered, not knowing what else to say.
She watched me for a moment, not saying anything, then stood, bringing me up with her.
“Mil, we can’t help you with this if you don’t let us in.” She gave Lex a wary smile over my shoulder. “I’ll leave you two alone to talk.” She kissed my forehead and then glared at me, telling me without words that I was in deep shit.
At this moment, thinking about what I was going to tell my family was the least of my worries. All my attention was focused on the man behind me. How would I face him, knowing what I’d signed only fifteen minutes earlier?
This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. I wanted to wait until I was back in Boston. Until I’d found a way to explain why I was breaking both of our hearts.
I stared at the vines growing along the terrace walls.
“Mil. Look at me,” Lex ordered, in the liquid-smooth way that made anyone listen, in or out of the courtroom.
A shiver crept up my spine, and I pushed back the urge his mere presence brought forth, the desire to kneel and wait for direction. Six months apart and I still couldn’t resist his pull.
I had to remain strong, or I wouldn’t be able to go through with my plans. This wasn’t about me anymore; it was about Lex and giving him a better life without me.
“Why are you here, Lex?”
“Can’t you even turn around and look at me, Mil?”
I couldn’t. If I turned around, I’d want to touch him. My skin burned with the desire.
At that moment, fingers glided along my bare arms, causing a desperate ache deep inside me. I held in a deep moan that tried to escape.
“Look at me, baby,” he crooned.
I willed my body to remain where it stood, but it betrayed me, and I turned to face him.
His beautiful, almost piercing cobalt eyes burned into me, searching for answers to questions I couldn’t respond to or at least didn’t know how to.
A golden tan shaded his skin, and sun streaks highlighted his blond hair, telling me he’d spent a few days at the beach. Who was he spending his time with? The only vacations he’d ever taken were with me.
Don’t go there, Milla. It is none of your business. Especially after what you’ve started.
The wind picked up, blowing my own locks into my face. Lex lifted his hand to tuck the stray strands back, but I flinched away.
His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say anything.
“Why are you here?” I asked. Good, my voice didn’t quiver. “I know Rachel sent the office my itinerary. The plane will be here in a few hours.”
“I canceled it.”
I tilted my head to the side and cocked my hand on my hip. “Lex, you don’t have the authority to cancel my flight. My company owns the plane.”
“But I do, you see.” He stepped forward as I moved back, stopping as my legs hit the patio table. “I had a chat will your business partner, and she agreed that I’d be the best person to bring you back.”
My temper flared, and I pinched the bridge of my nose. I couldn’t believe Arya would do this to me. We’d just talked on the phone; why didn’t she tell me Lex was coming? Oh, she was so dead when I got home. She couldn’t fix what’s wrong with my relationship with Lex by sending him to me. It wouldn’t work. Plus, even if I wanted it to, I wasn’t the same, react-then-regret girl anymore.
I reined in my anger—getting mad wasn’t going to solve anything—and took a deep breath. First, find out why Lex needed to bring me home and then call my meddling best friend and tell her to mind her own business.
“What could you have said to her to convince her that I needed you to bring me home?”
The corner of Lex’s mouth turned up. “That was impressive. I thought you were going to explode, but you held back. Who are you and what have you done with my wife?”
“A lot has changed in the last few months.” I closed my eyes and pushed the sadness my words brought forth and focused back on Lex, who was no longer smiling.
“What’s going on, Mil? You used to tell me everything.”
I shook my head. “I can’t talk about it right now.” I leaned against the table. “Please just tell me why it was so important for you to bring me home. I’m a big girl. I can manage to get back to Boston without a chaperone. What’s the worst that can happen to me? I’m surrounded by security twenty-four seven, isn’t that enough?”
I glanced to my right at Tony, a member of my security detail. He leaned against one of the high walls of the terrace, giving off a relaxed aura, but I knew he was aware of everything going on around him.
He inclined his head toward me and then said “Sir” to Lex and returned to scanning the area around us.
I looked at Lex. “He’s with me everywhere I go. Tony can protect me for the next few hours until I get on the plane.”
“This is non-negotiable. I’m bringing you home. Besides, the only plane available for you is our plane.”
His words awakened images of the escapades we’d engaged in during our many flights together. My skin tingled, reminding me of how long it had been since we’d touched.
I wiped sweat from my brow. “Does making these high-handed decisions without discussing them with me get you off?”
“You’re the one who knows what gets me off. Why don’t you tell me?” His eyes bored into mine.
“You are insufferable.” I ground my teeth and held back the urge to tell him I’d book a commercial flight, just to spite him. Since my kidnapping, I wasn’t stupid enough to risk my safety simply to make a point with Lex.
“I’m your husband. I have a right to bring you home.”
“Why now? Why not a few months ago or, for a matter of fact, yesterday?” I turned my back to him, closing my eyes and clenching my fists open and shut. “Please, Lex. Tell me why you’re here.”
If he’d come sooner, I might not have signed those stupid papers. I might have waited to see if we still had a chance. No, I couldn’t second-guess my decisions anymore. He deserved someone who wasn’t selfish.
“You want to know why I waited? I wanted you to heal. You wouldn’t talk to me. You needed something I couldn’t give you. And in my ever-loving stupidity, I believed you’d get that here. When I realized you were hiding from me, I decided I’d come get you. I’ve spent the last month clearing my schedule so I could spend time with you here until we figured things out. That was until a few days ago.”
“What changed?”
Lex sighed. “I don’t know how to tell you this.” He moved behind me but didn’t touch me. “I got this in my private e-mail.”
He reached around me and gave me a printout. It had a picture of me bound against a pole, bleeding from whiplashes, and my head hanging down. There was a message underneath that read, Although she suffered, she still owes me a debt that I plan to collect.
My feet buckled, but before I fell to the floor, Lex grabbed me. The hours of my torture and captivity flashed before my eyes, and nausea invaded my stomach. I’d worked so hard to push all the memories back, and now everything seemed fresh once again.
“Easy, baby. I’ve got you.” Lex lifted me into his arms and sat with me in the nearby chair.
I couldn’t breathe. A heaviness settled on my chest. I had to get clean. I rubbed my arms, trying to cleanse the feel of dirty hands on my body.
“I’m not going to let anyone hurt you again,” Lex whispered into my hair.
His scent enveloped me, soap and light cologne. I leaned into his comfort, letting the security of his body drive my fears back. I was protected here, more than I’d felt with the ten bodyguards who’d watched over me during my entire stay in Italy. I buried my face into his chest and clutched his shirt.
I was safe if I was with him.
No, Mil, you can’t do this. You’re leading him on.
I tried to push out of Lex’s hold, but he held me tighter. “Please let me go. I’m not good for you. I’ll only cause you more pain.”
“You’re my wife. Your being a pain in my ass comes with the package. Plus, I’ve had ten years to build up an immunity,” Lex said with a hint of humor and a smile.
I tilted my head back and glared at him. “This isn’t a joke.”
His face lost the glint of amusement. “I know, Mil. Has Christof made any contact with you?”
“N-no.” I shook my head and bit my lip for a moment. “This is the first I’ve heard of him wanting to get my attention.”
“He didn’t send the message to you. He sent it to me. He wants me to think I can’t protect you.” Lex cupped my face. “I can’t bear anything happening to you.”
I wanted to lean into his touch but held myself stiff.
“Please, Lex. Let me get up. I can’t depend on you like this. I’ll fall apart.”
He opened his lips to argue, but then conceded, loosening his arms and allowing me to stand. He remained in the chair, staring at me, in the way that made me want to kneel and give him anything he asked.
I knew this would be hard, but how was I going to make it if only a few minutes in his presence gave me the urge to call Rachel and cancel the plans I’d set in motion?
“Talk to me, Mil.”
Ignoring his command, I asked, “Did you tell anyone else that we’re married?”
Hurt flashed across his face and then disappeared just as fast. “No, but I’m sure Leena has spread the news by now.”
Relief and disappointment hit my gut. I wasn’t ready for the fallout from keeping our relationship a secret, but at the same time, I wanted the world to know he was mine.
Shit, I’d done it again. He wasn’t mine, not with the divorce papers I’d signed.
“I’m taking you home, Mil. I’ll throw you over my shoulder and carry you onto the plane. Just know you won’t get back to Boston without me.”
I took a deep breath trying to keep my anger in check. The old Milla would have gi. . .
We hope you are enjoying the book so far. To continue reading...
Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved
