The Playboy's Fugitive Bride (8 page)

His hearty laughter bounced off the walls of the dining room.  “Well, I just assumed you’d resign seeing you’ll be a brand new multimillionaire once we consummate our agreement.  I guess I’m a
punda milia
in that regard.”

Nia blinked several times and shifted uneasily on the chair.  The wine was working its evil on her senses, affecting her ability to harness her tongue.  If she weren’t careful, Massimo’s cleverly crafted questions would cause her to say something that would give her away.

She glanced at her half-empty glass on the table, then pushed it away, out of reach.  “I love teaching,” she said, placing her hands on her lap.  “I don’t see why I should give it up just because I’ll have money.  I plan to save my millions for retirement.”

“Hmm.  That’s a very good plan.  Be sure to invest it wisely.”

“I will.”  She picked up her water glass and took a big long gulp from it.

He sat back and folded his arms across his chest, his face breaking into a sinister grin.  Or perhaps she should say a profusion of sinister grins, since he seemed to be leering at her in multiple layers.  Nia felt the sides of her mouth tremble as an unwarranted smile parted her lips.

Oh yeah
, she was drunk.  She raised a hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh.

“The thought of you as a schoolteacher turns me on,” he remarked, watching her closely.

“Just about anything in a dress turns you on, Massimo.  Even a slippery snake slithering along in a grass skirt would get a rise out of you.”  She giggled at the image of Massimo stealing stealthily behind a snake through a field of tall grass.  What would he do with it once he caught it?

He joined her humor, chuckling heartily.  “
You
turn me on, Nia Sylk.  Everything you do, everything you say.  The sound of your sexy voice, the sparkle in your beautiful brown eyes, the way you flip your wrists to tuck your hair behind your delicate ears.  The way your slender fingers caress the stem of your wine glass, the way you walk, twisting your hips and sweet little backside just so.”  He made a smooth undulating motion with his hands.

“And your breasts...” He shaped his palms to the size of two medium-size melons.  “
Mama, che belle tettone
.  Voluptuous, firm, and full, the way I like them on a woman.  They fit perfectly in my hands, and I can’t wait to suck them into my mouth. 
Bellisima!
” he exclaimed, placing his fingers to his lips and making a loud smacking sound with his mouth.  He finished with that deft snap of his wrist Italians were famous for.

Nia crossed her arms in an effort to stop the throbbing of her swelling breasts and the hardening of her nipples against her lacy bra.  “You have a two-track mind, Massimo Andretti.  All you think about is sex and money.”

“Most women appreciate my mind, and soon you will too since our relationship is built on sex and money.  Sex for money to be exact.  Lots of sex for lots of money,” he added with a low throaty laugh.

Massimo’s dirty talk was causing all kinds of havoc to Nia’s system.  She felt flushed and lightheaded and, unwittingly, she thought of the photo of Jabari in the act of mating.  She felt like a female jungle cat that had been cornered by a persistent male.  Like the cat, she had two options—run or mate.  Since she couldn’t do either, Nia reached for her wine glass and finished the contents in one swallow.

She hated Massimo’s ability to arouse these unwanted and frustrating desires in her.  And judging from the smile on his lips, she knew that he knew the effect the wine was having on her.  Massimo wasn’t the kind of man to pass up an opportunity, but she hoped he had enough scruples to resist the temptation to force himself on an intoxicated woman.

She hoped
.

From his vast experience with the opposite sex, Massimo knew Nia was at the moment struggling to control the need to mate.  How he was going to hold up his end of the bargain and not make love to her was a puzzle to him.  Just the thought of having her in his bed and knowing he couldn’t take her was already driving him insane.

If he had any sense, he’d have Azi prepare one of the guest rooms and warn Nia to lock herself inside it.  But he’d already laid down the law—they were sharing a bed—and so it would be.  Andrettis didn’t renege on their promises or their threats for that matter—not even when their lives depended on it.

As he watched Nia struggle with her feelings, Massimo knew it was time to bring the night to an end.  The sooner they were both asleep, the safer she’d be from him.  He’d already asked Azi to leave a pot of her magical tea in his suite.  He didn’t trust himself with Nia, and he had no intentions of diving head first into something he knew nothing about. 

Until he heard back from Paul, he would have to find other ways to resist her.  He knew Azi’s tea would work its magic in a matter of minutes.  It was the same tea the Masai tribe had kept pouring down his throat when he’d had his unfortunate run-in with the rhino all those years ago.  That tea, in a much more powerful dose than Azi’s, had kept him from going insane from the unbearable pain.  It was the most effective natural sedative he knew.  That tea may have also been responsible for the hallucinations he’d experienced about a pair of sparkling brown eyes that had kept his mind focused and off the excruciating pain.

He had to stop dwelling on the past when his present and his future were so unstable.  “Would you like anything else, Nia?” he asked finishing the one glass of wine he’d been nursing all evening.

“Like what?”

“Tea.  Dessert.  Azi makes a mean devil’s food cake.  It’s my favorite indulgence.”

“I’m full,” she said patting her stomach.  “But you are free to have some.” 

From the look she tossed him, Massimo was sure that in her mind, she’d tacked on
Devil
to the end of the sentence.  “
Andiamo a letto, poi
.  Let’s go to bed,” he translated for her benefit.

The trepidation in her eyes told Massimo that this was the moment Nia had been dreading since he told her they would be sharing a bed—sex or no sex.  She’d been gulping down the eighty-thousand-dollar bottle of
Romanee Conti
all night in an effort to self-intoxicate and deter his advances.

He was never one to miss an opportunity where a slightly drunk but experienced woman was concerned, but he would never seduce an innocent inebriated girl—no matter how alluring she was.  He could have told Nia that her drinking binge was unnecessary, but he’d gotten great pleasure from watching her simmer in her own sauce.  He saw no harm in having a little fun with her before his impending nuptials next week.  It might be the last time in three years he would have fun with a woman.

He rose and walked around the table to stand behind her chair.  When his fingers brushed against the warm silkiness of her arm, she shuddered and gazed up at him.  Her eyes were bewitching as they glimmered in the light from the fireplace and the wrought iron chandelier above the table.  They haunted him. 
Where had he seen them?

“Vieni,
cara
,” he said, helping her to her feet.  He would worry about her eyes tomorrow.

She wobbled a little as she stood up and Massimo immediately circled her waist to lend her support.  Once she was steady, he followed her out into the corridor, staying close should she stumble, but far enough to admire the gentle curves of her hips and buttocks moving beneath her black knee-length dress.

He was now the proud owner of two gorgeous cats, he thought as he watched the glossy mane of straight black hair bounce against her back as she walked.  Just as Jabari possessed the grace and charm of ultimate feline beauty, Nia displayed all the charisma of the quintessential female.

As he imagined Nia purring in pleasure beneath him, Massimo thought of calling Dafne again, this time to tell her that their arrangement was off.  Ever since he met Nia, he’d been having trouble making a decision and sticking to it.

He would possess her.  He would possess her not
.

He’d never been this indecisive about anything in his entire life.  He was known for making articulate and prudent decisions then following through until they passed or failed muster just like his ancestors before him.  It was the stick-to-itiveness upon which Andretti Industries prospered.  Nia Sylk was slowly stripping him of that power.

“Massimo?”  Nia turned and gazed up at him.

“Yes, pussycat?”  His heart pounded against his chest when she licked her lips with her little pink tongue.

She stood on her tiptoes and draped her arms around his neck.  “Would... would it be... wrong if I...  I asked you to...  to kiss me?”

“No, pussycat.  It wouldn’t be wrong at all.”  He tucked strands of hair behind her ears.

She was so damned desirable
.

He was so damned hard
.

“I...  I know I... asked you to wait... before we...  you know—”

“
Piccola, mia
.” Massimo growled as his arms circled her.  He’d promised to break his promise, only if she asked.  Was she asking?

He should be flogged for the lewd images flowing through his head.  The fact that she was drunk didn’t seem like much of a deterrent now against such pungent temptation.  He was going to hell.  God help him, he was already there.  He eased her onto the elevator and drew her close, pressing her sweet, soft body into his.  She felt absolutely divine, and smelled just as...  

He bent his head and covered her tender waiting mouth with his, kissing her deeply and rapaciously.  When they stepped off the elevator, Massimo led Nia down the hall toward his bedroom like a butcher leading an unsuspecting lamb to the slaughter.

The kiss was deep.  Deep and thrilling.  His hot tongue wrapped around hers, probing, thrusting, sucking a response out of her.  His hands were everywhere on her body.  On her breasts, molding and kneading until her nipples became so hard they were painful to the touch.  She shuddered as his fingers trailed slowly down her belly to the junction of her thighs, nestling against the entrance to her moistened sex.  He whispered something in a foreign tongue, and she opened for him.  His voice was hypnotic.  She felt warm and full and achy...

“Nia...”

He leaned over her, fully clothed while she lay naked and vulnerable on the bed.  He smiled then lowered his head to suck a nipple into his mouth.  She whimpered...

‘Nia.  Wake up, sleepyhead.”

“No.  Go away.”

Her body was alive, pumping with urgency.  She reached for him, wanting him...

“If you don’t wake up, pussycat, I will get back into bed with you.  And we will spend the entire day making passionate love.”

Nia’s eyes flew open.  She gasped when she saw Massimo sitting on the side of the bed, a wicked grin on his face.  She jumped up as reality struck her.  Then she hurriedly dived back into the mattress when she realized she was naked.  She grabbed for the silk sheet, pulling it all the way up to her chin.  When and how did she get naked?

“Sweet dreams?”  Massimo’s eyes drank in the erotic picture she presented.  A full pouting mouth and long dark lashes fanning enormous aphrodisiac eyes.  He had been watching her seductive little movements on the mattress, fighting the temptation to crawl back into bed and finish where they left off last night.

“My dreams are off limits to you.”

“Were you dreaming about me, about us, pussycat?”

“Don’t you wish.”  She cut her eyes at him.  “And stop calling me pussycat.”

He leaned closer and planted his palms on either side of her body.  “But you do purr like one.  And after last night—”

“Last night?”

Massimo cast his mouth downward in a feigned wave of disappointment.  “Don’t you remember?”

She shook her head and clutched the sheet tighter to her throat.

“Let me see.”  Noticing her death grip on the sheet, Massimo altruistically reached out and brushed away the strands of hair that had fallen across her face.  “Immediately following dinner, you asked me to kiss you.”

Her forehead creased in confusion.  “I did?”

“
Si
.  You begged me, actually.”

She gulped.  “And... and... wha... what happened… next?”

“What happened next?  Well, you threw your arms around me and refused to let me go.  You were all over me and I couldn’t get you off, even after I repeatedly reminded you about the ‘no sex for a week’ clause in our agreement.  You said it was a stupid clause.  You couldn’t imagine my delight at hearing those words.  So I picked you up and brought you to bed.  I even had to undress you.  It was a struggle, but well worth the effort after we—”

“We didn’t!  Did we?”  Nia’s mind reeled as she fought through the foggy images.  She remembered dinner, the tasty lobster bisque, and all that fine wine.  She remembered getting on the elevator, but everything else was a blur.  Everything except the vivid images of Massimo’s hard naked body lying next to hers, holding her, kissing her, molding her to him.  But that was a dream. 
It had to be a dream!

“Oh, Nia, you really know how to emasculate a man.  Here I was, thinking I’d been so thorough in my lovemaking, that I’d satisfied you beyond your wildest imaginations, only to hear that you don’t even remember making love with me at all.”

Nia’s fists curled around the silky fabric of the sheet.  
They had done it.
  And she couldn’t even remember.  She closed her eyes as sobs of defeat and contempt threatened to spill from deep inside her. 
Damn him!
  She should have known she couldn’t trust him.

She opened her eyes and glared at him.  “You bastard!  You took advantage of an innocent, drunk girl.  I should have known you couldn’t keep your word.  You lied, just like you—” She stopped and turned away at the near slip.

What did it matter, anyway?  He’d ruined everything.  Her entire plan had blown up in her face.  When he gave her that money on Saturday, she would really become a generously paid whore.  She would have sold her virginity for two million dollars once she accepted that money.  It wasn’t like she had the privilege of walking away without it to save her dignity.  She had to accept it to save Aaron’s life.