Tempered by Her (3 page)

Chapter Five

“Dance with me,” I said, leaning toward Raquel to breathe in her
berries and cream scent.

She bit down on her lower lip, but didn’t meet my gaze or answer.

“One dance.” I nudged her with my elbow. “Come on. A little more
corruption won’t kill you.”

She glanced up at me, a wry expression raising her brow.

“Come on, woman! You’re killing me.”

“Oh, put the poor guy out of his misery.” Jenny giggled, her low
tolerance showing more than Raquel’s with slurred words and waving hands. “Go
on.”

Raquel heaved a breath, her breasts rising, and I fought not to lower
my gaze. “All right. One dance.”

Tugging her out among the other swaying couples, I was glad a slower
song poured from the crooner on stage. While grinding would have been
hot—exactly what my cock wanted—I needed to take it easy and not scare her off.

I spun her close and grasped her waist.

Bottom lip between her teeth, she stared at my chest and draped her
hands on my shoulders.

I leaned down so she’d hear me over the loud music. “It’s a shame Papa
won’t let the ladies wear jeans to work. God knows checking you out would
brighten every day.”

Her cheeks flushed, but she still wouldn’t look up at me. Stiff and
awkward on her feet, I realized what the problem was. “You’ve never danced with
a man before, have you?”

She shook her head.

Pleased to be her first, I encouraged her closer until our bodies
brushed. Her lips parted, the artery in her neck pumping like mad. I’d promised
not to touch her unless she wanted me to. Yeah, she wanted me to all right. No
doubt about it.

She closed her eyes, and I leaned down again, breathing deep of her
berry scent. “You all right?”

“Oh yeah,” she breathed. “More than all right.”

I stepped back as her head jerked up, cheeks crimson as though the
words escaped unfiltered.

Fuck yeah.

Unable to help my grin, I pulled her flush up against me, her breasts a
soft cushion against my lower pecs.

From behind those hot glasses, her pupils dilated, and she fuckin’
sagged against me like she had no strength in her legs. Plump lips begged for
my teeth, the smooth skin of her neck made me drool. I wanted to plunder like a
fuckin’ pirate. Take what my cock desired and finally get her out of my system.
Off my damn mind. Too bad I’d promised not to touch her.

Her fingers tightened in my hair, and I realized we’d stopped dancing.
She gazed up at me. Expectant. In offering.

I lowered my head, my mouth hovering a few inches from hers. “I’d give
a million dollars to kiss those lips of yours right now.”

She closed the distance between us.

Fuckin’ fireworks blasted behind my eyelids, my heart and soul sizzled
from Raquel’s branding. My mother-fuckin’ ears rang. The rumble against my
chest let me know she moaned, but I didn’t hear a goddamn thing over the
booming in my ears.

Velvety soft, like a peach, her lips brushed against mine. Parted at
the slight sweep of my tongue. God, she tasted like Sweet Tarts and vodka. So
fuckin’ sweet. Barely able to keep my hands from feeling up her beautiful ass,
I tasted—devoured—every inch of her mouth.

Time didn’t exist as I breathed in her exhales. Cradled her head in my
hands as though she was a porcelain doll, fragile and in need of protection.

She backed away, her chest rising and falling as fast as mine.

What. The. Fuck.

I stared into her eyes, and the world silenced. Never—not once in my
life—had I experienced desire like the need coursing through my fuckin’ blood
like a raging nor’easter.

Sprawling her out on my bed for a onetime feast of pain and pleasure
wouldn’t be nearly as fulfilling as I’d hoped. I’d send her away, my body still
craving. Starved for her taste. Her breath.

Fuck.

I stepped back, grabbed her hand, and led her back to her friend, needing
to escape, needing to get my fuckin’ head screwed on straight before taking
what I wanted.

Oh, I planned on getting as far as I could, but it wouldn’t be because
alcohol hindered her ability to think—or because I had fuckin’
feelings
rising to the surface. I wanted
her, eyes wide open, willing and wanting, without a reason for her to call
foul, my selfish prick attitude firmly in place.

She slumped into her chair, her friend glancing open-mouthed between
the two of us.

“It was nice meeting you, Jenny.” I turned to Raquel who stared at her
empty cup. “Have dinner with me tomorrow.”

She lifted her chin. “Are you always so bossy?”

God, if only she knew how much I loved to dish out orders. “Would you
please
have dinner with me, Raquel?” I
asked.

“No.”

Jenny gasped. “
Raq
!”

“I … I can’t.” Raquel tried for a smile but failed.

I put both of my palms on the table, my face inches from hers. “I’ll
ask again. Every day until you relent.”

She cast her gaze downward, making my inner Dom want to play. “You’re
in for a long wait, Zane Risso.”

I flashed my teeth at her. Game on.

****

Theo called me a few times over the weekend, trying to get me to go to
Chantelles
, but I didn’t have the energy or desire.

“The fuck has gotten into you?” Theo’s voice bellowed through my cell.

I propped my feet up on my coffee table and flicked through a few
channels until I found Sunday Night Football. “Nothin’.”

“Bullshit. It’s usually you dragging my sorry ass out to get some
action. Who is she?”

I swigged from my cold winter lager, my stomach tight as a mother
fucker. “Who is who?”

“Whoever the hell has sunk her damn claws into
you.
”
His exasperated exhale had me pulling my cell away from my ear again. “What
witch cast her spell and tamed the selfish prick?”

I chuckled. I couldn’t help myself. “I’ll never be tamed.”

“
Coulda
fuckin’ fooled me,” he grumbled.
“Just like the rest of our buddies … find a good woman, agree to a ball and
chain, and become a world class bore.”

“Fuck you.”

“I don’t do blood, cuz.”

“Fuck off, then.” I took a long pull of my beer.

“Damn, man. Tell me I’m not right. Tell me you’re just in some fucked
up funk.”

I shifted on my leather couch, but kept my tone level. “I’m just in
some fucked up funk.”

“Thank God. Next weekend?”

“Yeah, sure.” Another minute of his bellyaching about not getting any
action that weekend, and I hit the end button and tossed my phone onto the
cushion beside me. “Fuck.”

****

Wednesday night family dinners sucked. No matter how hard I tried, I
showed up late and pissed Papa off.

Mom met me at the door as always with a smile, kiss, and lingering
hug—the highlight of the night. She pulled back and peered up at me with the
same blue eyes I saw every morning in the mirror. “How are you, Zane?”

“Good.”

“Liar.”

I quirked a smirk and glanced away. “I’m good.
Really
.”

She murmured a noise of disbelief, and taking my arm, led me toward the
dining room. We walked through the arched doorway, and everyone present smiled,
Papa included.

A shiver slid down my spine as I halted in my tracks.

“Zane!” Lia hurried to me, greeting me like Mom did. “What’s wrong?”
she whispered, pulling away, hands gripping my upper arms and peering up at me.

Damn Risso women intuition. “I’m good.”

“Well.” Her face lit up again. “I’m going to make your night even
better.” She held out her hand to her husband Ryan, her dark eyes shining.

“How are ya, brother?” Ryan asked, a grin in place, as he pulled Lia
against his side.

“Good. Good.” I glanced between the two of them as Ryan planted a kiss
on the top of my baby sister’s head. They’d always been sickeningly in love,
but the look they shared… “What’s going on?”

“Well.” Lia sounded breathless and peered up once more at Ryan. “I’m … we’re
going to have a baby.”

It took her words a few seconds to sink in, but when they did, the
tension left my body. I swung Lia up in my arms and spun her around. No wonder
Papa grinned rather than frowned over my usual lateness. Fuckin’ tears pricked
my eyelids.

I set Lia back on her feet and kissed her cheek, her laughter still
tickling my ears. “Congrats, Sis. Best news I’ve heard in ages.” Once I
released her, she leaned into Ryan. He wrapped his arms around her again. I
clasped Ryan’s shoulder. “So, when’s the big day?”

“Early July the doc said.”

“How ‘bout you two?” I asked, turning to greet Cole and Gwen.

“Oh, another ten years at least.” Gwen laughed, a sparkle in her hazel
eyes.

Papa shot her a glance, brow furrowing, but Cole shook his head.
“Already trying.”

The grin returned to Papa’s face.

‘Course they were trying after a mere four months of marriage. The good
son needed to carry on the Risso name, make the old man proud and all that
shit.

A few minutes later, we all settled down at the table, still grinning
like idiots. Papa threw out a joke—a fuckin’
joke
while eating. I couldn’t remember his having done such a thing
since I was a kid.

Bastian’s chair across from me remained unoccupied, and I had to put up
with my siblings and their spouses making eyes at each other all evening. Hell,
even Papa and Mom smiled at each other from either end of the table, their eyes
full of love for the other. I scarfed down the pot roast Mom had made and
enjoyed a second helping of Tiramisu with my espresso while trying to ignore
the fuckin’ five-hundred pound dumbbell in my stomach.

Across the table, Cole leaned down to whisper in Gwen’s ear, and she
blushed. He sipped his coffee and grinned. Beside me, Lia’s hand rubbed Ryan’s
upper thigh, squeezing and flexing. He draped his arm across the back of her
chair and tugged her close, his gaze enough to melt any woman’s panties. Hell,
even I found it hot. Pretty-boy Ryan would have been on my must-have list if
Lia hadn’t seen him first.

Taken. Spoken for with words and an obvious energized tether of love.
All of them.

I glanced around the table again. Fuck, was I missing out. Countless
partners and conquests beneath my belt, but not a damn one filled me with what my
family thrived on—the kind of love little girls dreamed about, that once in a
lifetime connection. A soulmate.

I stretched my neck side to side, trying to clamp down where my
thoughts had been heading since I tasted Raquel’s lips. “I’m heading out.”
Always the last to arrive and the first to leave, my words didn’t seem to
surprise anyone.

Hugs and kisses in goodbye lasted another full ten minutes while my
feet burned to get the hell out. I needed to cleanse my fuckin’ head and lose
myself in someone—anyone—before I decided to do something stupid.

But, my mind was already made up. I wanted what they had and felt sure
Raquel could give it to me.
If
I gave
up the BDSM lifestyle and became a conservative, goodie-two-shoes.

I cursed the entire twenty minutes home, knowing—just
knowing
—what Theo would say when I
bailed on him come Friday night.

Chapter Six

Mind and body remembering the feel of Zane’s mouth, I stared at the
to-do list Cole had scribbled on a legal pad. The words hazed together as
arousal swept through me, and I clenched my eyes shut. The outer office door
swished open, and lips pursed, I pushed up my glasses and lifted my head.

Zane stood inside the door, arms crossed and staring at me with a
strange look on his face, one void of the usual hunger and sexy cockiness. My
heartbeat sped up as he continued to peer at me in silence. He almost appeared
… afraid.

Emboldened by his unusual display of insecurity, I raised an eyebrow
and waited.

 
“I’ve been going about this all
wrong.” A deep inhale swelled his chest, and he dropped his arms to his sides.
“I need to meet your father.”

I lifted my brow farther. “Why?”

“I need to ask him something.”

Anxiety snaked its way through my stomach. “What?”

“I’d like his permission to … court you.” Zane’s lips twisted as though
the word sickened him, and I stifled a laugh with my hand.

“And why would you want to do that?” I asked once I knew I wouldn’t
giggle.

An unnaturally shy smile lifted his luscious lips, and I almost swooned
in my chair. Zane Risso and shy, unsure of himself. Crazy dangerous.

He took a few steps closer to my desk, but didn’t loom above me as he’d
seemed to be fond of doing. A quick glance at Cole’s closed door, and he turned
his unsmiling face my way again. “I want to court you—date—or whatever your
parents call it. I’ll talk to them. Ask permission. Do whatever I’ve got to do.”

Good Lord, was he sincere, or launching a new plan to get me naked? I
stared at him, my stomach tightened, anxiety twisting. “I’m not the kind of
girl you’re looking for, Zane.” I kept my voice low, but only because I could
barely draw breath.

“How do you know what I want?” Zane searched my face, but his gaze
didn’t slip below my chin as it usually did.

I tilted my head to the side, lips pursed in what Jenny called my “
pah-leeze
” look.

He grinned, all out and teeth gleaming like the Zane I was a little
more comfortable in dealing with. “You’ll never know if you don’t try.”

I peered at him, almost trusting the honesty in his eyes—and in his
words. It seemed he hoped for more than a conquest, and God help me, I wanted
to do exactly as he suggested.

My parents should have named me Eve.

“You don’t have to ask my parents’ permission,” I said, my voice a
jumble of shaking nerves.

A slow smile sent his blue eyes to twinkling. “Have dinner with me.”

“Yes.” My whispered response rang in my ears, a loud gonging of doom
echoing on its heels.

“Tomorrow. After work.”

I bit the inside of my lip, but mind made up, I dipped my head in
agreement.

****

“Did you finally say yes?”

Cole’s voice jerked my head up from the folder spread out on my desk.
“I’m sorry?”

“Zane. Dinner.”

Stink
. Heat flooded my face. Admit the truth or
lie to my boss? I nodded.

“When?”

“T—t” —I cleared my throat— “tomorrow. Please don’t tell anyone. My
father wouldn’t approve.”

Cole nodded, his gaze fixed on my face while I fought not to squirm.
All the Risso men, save Bastian, held an intensity in their gaze, one of a
confident man in charge and used to getting their way.

Scary as hell on Mr. Risso and Cole, but on Zane? Hot enough to liquefy
my bones.

“He’s a good man.” Cole smiled, and the tension left my shoulders.
“Might take a while for everyone else to realize it, but he is. Just a little …
sidetracked in life. He needs a stable woman, one who will ground him and tame
his wild ways.”

Unsure why my boss told me such personal stuff or how I should respond,
I kept my mouth shut and dipped my head.

Cole returned to his office without another word.

What in the world?
He all but gave me his blessing to go out
with his devil of a brother. And, he thought I could
tame
Zane? I glanced out the far window to see if the sky was
falling. Rain drizzled from above, the dark clouds hanging low over Boston’s downtown,
but certainly not falling.

Giddiness lit inside me, sending a rush of adrenaline clear to my toes.
I was going to dinner with Zane Risso, the Italian god of my dreams.

If my father ever found out… My smile disappeared.

I heaved a sigh and returned my focus on the folder in front of me.
Honor thy father and mother, I’d been taught. Lying is sin, they’d instilled in
me. Pre-marital relations were an abomination.

Clasping cool palms against my hot cheeks, I squeezed my eyes shut.
I’m going to burn in hell.

And I would without a doubt enjoy every second that would earn me the
one-way ticket.

****

Friday proved torturous. Long and boring. Sure, I loved my job as a
personal assistant to the next patriarch of the Risso Family business. It paid
well, offered great benefits, and awarded me handsome men to feast my eyes on,
but I wanted the work day to be over with a capital O.

I checked my watch for like the fiftieth time. Ten ‘til five.
Butterflies had been fluttering in my stomach all day, and I’d barely been able
to force down lunch. My gaze strayed to the door. Would Zane come to get me?
Meet me in the parking garage? His car, or mine?

Stomach churning, I shut down my computer and gathered my things. Cole
had left an hour earlier, offering me a good luck on my dinner date as he
slipped away.

Five o’clock, and no Zane. I pulled on my navy pea coat atop the light
blue blouse he’d complimented a few weeks earlier, placed my purse strap over
my shoulder, and made my way outside to the parking garage.

My mouth, dry as the Sahara, refused saliva to form, and although not
cold, shivers had me trembling from fingertips to toes.

Zane stood beside my parents old Corsica they’d gifted to me, overcoat
hanging open, loosened tie drooping from his unbuttoned shirt. Dark hair, a tad
too long, brushed his coat’s collar. His blue eyed gaze roamed down me as it
always did, lighting sparklers in its wake, and I had to look away.

Sin personified.

“Hello there, gorgeous.” His low voice had my sex clenching and pulse
thrumming.

Definitely sin. “Hi.” I stopped a few feet from him, purse clutched
close.

“Hungry?”

Heat licked at my face. “Starving.”

He held out his hand.

I peered at it a few seconds before realizing what he wanted. Last time
our hands had touched, I’d been half-drunk, half-numb from a single sex on the
beach. I reached out, and my breath caught as his fingers laced through mine,
warm and firm.

“I’ll drive.” He tugged me left toward the reserved parking area and
his shiny Audi. “Ever been to Valentino’s?”

“No.”

Like a true gentleman, he opened the passenger door and held my hand
until I settled. I breathed in the scents of new car, leather, wintergreen, and
a hint of Zane’s musky cologne as he rounded the front of the Audi.

My mouth watered.

He climbed in and put on his seatbelt, but turned toward me with the
gaze that had me clenching my thighs together. “You look good in my car.”

I pushed up my glasses and glanced away, my lips in a closed-mouth
smile, since I had no idea how to respond to such a thing. Hands clasped around
the purse on my lap, I looked out the windshield—and to whatever the evening
held.