The Unwanted Conti Bride. Tara Pammi

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СКАЧАТЬ the pursuit of pleasure and the pleasure itself. Without shame or scruples, he used his charm, his looks, to draw women to him, amused himself for a time and then walked away.

      He’d carefully built his life to be that and nothing more. He’d trampled her innocence even when he’d intended to do the right thing once. But in the end, he’d left. He would walk away again.

      After having a small taste. She really expected it of him—to behave abominably, to torture her with his lascivious words and deeds. He couldn’t disappoint her.

      His humor restored, he eased his grip on her. Instantly she shoved at him. He didn’t budge. “I can think of an infinitely more pleasurable and mature way to vent your frustration.”

      “It’s hard to be mature when you laugh in my face like this.”

      “Your dignity is that fragile? The Sophia I keep hearing about in boardrooms and business mergers is apparently nothing short of Goddess Diana.”

      He curved his mouth into his trademark smile. Her glare didn’t dim one bit. If anything, she stiffened even more.

      Dio, when was the last time he had had such fun? And they hadn’t even shed their clothes yet. “I was right, it is I that gets under your skin.”

      Her eyelids fell slowly. A second to restore her quaking defenses. Right on cue, she looked up, her fiery glare renewed. “I forgot that it’s all a big joke to you.”

      “Being a debauched playboy who cares for nothing is hard work.”

      “I was stupid to think we could have a mature conversation. All you—”

      “Then persuade me.”

      “What?”

      Surprise in her gaze filled him with a strange satisfaction. Shocking, needling, generally startling Sophia out of that hard shell could become addictive. “Persuade me. Indulge me. Make me an irresistible offer.”

      * * *

      Make herself irresistible to the most beautiful man on the face of the planet? A man who held nothing sacred?

      “I have a better chance of finding treasure in my backyard,” she said softly. Wistfulness snuck into her voice and she cringed.

      “Kiss me, then.”

      “What?” She rubbed her temples, dismayed at how he reduced her to a mumbling idiot.

      “Put your lips on mine and pucker them up. Your hands can go on my shoulders or my hips or if you’re feeling bold, you can grab my ass—”

      “What? Why?” Years of oratory at debate club evaporated, her brain only offering whats and whys.

      “That should be the first step for a couple considering marriage, si? I could never marry a woman who didn’t know how to kiss.”

      Don’t. Look. At. His. Mouth. “It’s obvious you’re only torturing me and will never really consider it and you...” She looked and the contoured lushness of it made her lick her own lips, which made him grin and prompted her to raise her gaze. “Your lover is lying in your bed and you’re—”

      “If you’d been paying attention and not mooning over me—” Sophia fisted her hands, just fighting the urge to wipe that satisfied smile off his face, for he was right, damned devil “—then you would know that Mariana and I are over.”

      “You just said you wore her out!” Her brow cleared. “You said that just to rile me up, didn’t you? There was hardly any time between when you left and I found you for you to...to—” She couldn’t believe what her logic led her to say. If only she could stop blushing! “—wear her out.”

      “I actually don’t need that much time to get my lover off—”

      “Where is she?” Sophia cut him off.

      “She’s a lightweight and I kept plying her with drinks. Her husband’s divorcing her, which is what she wanted, but she’s a little emotional about it. I couldn’t just...throw her out of the party when she was in such a state.”

      “No, of course, not. They all adore you even when you’re done with them.”

      * * *

      Except her, Luca thought with something akin to a pang in his chest.

      “You’re free to adore me, too, cara. No one will have to know.”

      She snorted. That inelegant movement of that sharp, stubborn nose made him chuckle. “God, really, you don’t need any more admirers, secret or otherwise. And I’m not kissing you.”

      Pink and wide, her mouth was like a long bow, the only feature in her face that was soft and vulnerable. A pillow of lushness. It betrayed that tough-as-nails, no-nonsense persona of hers.

      He desperately wanted to feel it under his own, wanted to taste all that pent-up passion. One kiss wouldn’t hurt. She was the one who’d cornered him, the one throwing outrageous ideas at him, the one looking all delectably confined and uptight in that dress. “How do you expect me to believe you’re not playing a joke on me with this proposal? Maybe this is revenge? Maybe you intend to make me fall in love with you, and then leave me at the altar pining for you? Maybe...”

      Brown eyes glittering, wide mouth mobile, she laughed. It was a full-throttled laugh, deep and husky. The kind that came all the way from your stomach, burned through your lungs, leaving you a little dizzy. Her body shook all over.

      The sound stole into Luca, filling every hungry crevice inside him. It was one that could cut through the darkest space, filling it with light. “What is so funny?”

      “You, falling in love. With me.”

      He said it softly. “The whole world assumes Sophia Rossi is tough, brave, the conqueror of every challenge. Decimator of men. Only I know what a coward you are.”

      It fell in the space between them like a weapon, and he waited, breath balling up in his lungs. Anger and apprehension vied in her face until she covered the distance between them. He didn’t know if she was going to slap him or kiss him or castrate him. No woman could create that mystery except Sophia. No woman had ever filled his veins with this heady anticipation.

      Fingers on the lapels of his shirt, she jerked him close. “No one calls me a coward, you manipulative bastard.”

      Throaty and tart, growly and yet with a deep vein of need pulsing beneath, it was Sophia to the end. Brave Sophia accepting facts and meeting them head-on. Dutiful Sophia kissing the man she hated just to hear him out.

      Short and curvy, she barely came up to his chest. Hands on his shoulders, she pulled herself up, as if to elongate herself. Like a vine clinging to a cement wall.

      That pressed every inch of her to him. Lush breasts, followed by such a thin waist that he wondered how it held up those glorious curves, then flaring into rounded hips, hips a man would anchor himself on while he thrust inside her. Shapely thighs that would clutch a man tight as he jerked in pleasure within her velvet heat.

      Again and again, until he forgot what or who he was.

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