Her Sicilian Arrangement (13 page)

Meagan blushed and cleared her throat lowly. “Good. Shall we
speak about the payment?” Vinicius said.

“
I’ll just step outside then,” she said, about to stand when
Marco placed his palm on her shoulder gently.

“No
need. What is the price?” Marco continued. Meagan’s eyes averted to
the man and she gulped as she knew it might be of very expensive
value. She could not allow Marco to purchase something costly for a
sham. It was more than ludicrous. And when she heard the words that
escaped the jeweler’s lips, her mouth fell open.

“
Oh
my god!” she exclaimed before she could manage to swallow it.
“Maybe—maybe I should choose something cheaper.” And both men
looked at her. Vinicius glanced at her and then at Marco who was
surprisingly very calm.

He
spun open the pages of his check book and then filled out the blank
spaces quickly and accurately, and handed the leaf to
Vinicius.

“
It
is always a pleasure doing business with you, Signor
Mussolini.”

“
Thank you. I believe my bride and I should be on our way.
Ciao!”

“Ciao
! Do send
me invitations for the wedding.”

Marco chuckled and then clutched Meagan tightly to him. “We
shall do just that.” And she remained quiet as they walked through
the door and out into the main room of the store. Meagan looked on
and then frowned deeply as her eyes fell on a crowd of reporters,
camera crews and paparazzi stood waiting on the sidewalk before the
store.

“
What—what are they doing here? Who told them?” she snapped and
then heard him chuckle. “Did you call them?”

“
I
may have made a small anonymous phone call.”

“
How
stupid could you be?” she yelled, trying to keep her voice
down.

“
It
is nothing to quarrel about. I just want to introduce my beautiful
fiancée to the world. There surely is no harm in that.”

“
This is not what we discussed. Can’t you go by anything
without changing it to please yourself?!”

Marco ignored her and smiled, pulling open the door and then
grasped her out into the midst of the Media. She groaned as cameras
snapped viciously taking as much pictures as they could and
reporters all talking at once she could not even make out what they
were saying. This was definitely a side of life that she hadn’t
intended on being on. No wonder celebrities felt so tormented by
the people who had jobs in the field that she had too
herself!

“
Mr.
Mussolini, is it true that you and Miss Summers fell in love the
moment you met each other in that conference room? Are you really
engaged?”

“Yes, we are,” he responded arrogantly, his teeth glistening
with a broad smile. He then held up her hand as she stood
dumbfounded and staring up blankly at the crowd. Paparazzi took
countless photos of her exquisite ring and then pulled her as they
walked away towards the car. The crowd followed them
ferociously.

“
When is the wedding?” one reporter asked.

“
Do
you believe it will last?” another question came.

Marco opened the passenger door to let her in and then slid in
to his seat before he drove away quickly. He then let out a
satisfied sigh and then glanced over at Meagan, whose hand was
drawn up and fist resting against her jaw.

“
Are
you okay?” he asked.

“
Wow!” she snapped sarcastically and glowered at him. “What a
stupid question!”

“
Then you are alright, I see. I am heading for the boutique now
for you to buy whatever you need.”

“
Whatever you say…,” she groaned and then stared through the
window, finding no point in wasting her breath arguing with
him.

CHAPTER 9

She
took a sip of the cool refreshing classic Rosé champagne and then
inhaled its complex depth of flavor. She had happened to spot it in
his wine cellar that previous evening after they had returned from
her long and stressful shopping spree. That combined with the fact
that Marco Mussolini had revealed their so-called ‘engagement’ to
the world, and her telephoning her boss to hear his angry voice
yelling something about her not doing her job, and then a few
minutes later seeing photographs of herself and Marco on every
local television station; not to mention seeing her own face pop up
on her personal Yahoo! homepage. Plus, she could not find any leads
at all to who might be sabotaging him and his supposedly ‘good’
name. So yes, she definitely deserved a drink and she gulped down
the contents from her wine glass and poured herself some more. Not
only was Marco being arrogant about it all but he acted as if he
was enjoying it. He was treating her as if she was his woman;
telling her what and what clothes to purchase, what and what food
to eat and when she was to go to bed from when. If he was really
that type of man, she wished God’s mercy to the woman who won his
heart because she would be living the life of a
prisoner.

But
since she had seen nothing better or else to do, she had decided to
take a swim—even though it was 8 pm—in his rather attractively
crystal clear pool. After finishing off her glass of wine again,
she straightened her pink bikini top and then slid down off the
edge of the pool and into the cool water. She could not tell the
last time when she had gone swimming…anywhere; or even worn a
bathing suit. She was surprised that she still looked nice in one
since it had been so very long since she had even watched a
calorie. She then took a deep dive beneath the surface of the
glistening water, held her breath for a while and then re-surfaced
again.

“
Very nice choice,” she heard Marco’s voice and she spun around
to see him dressed in cotton shorts and a thin shirt, holding up
the champagne bottle. “You almost finished the entire
bottle.”

“I’ve never been a drinker…,” she sighed. “But certain people
and their ways can do a lot to a person’s character.”

“
You
are still upset, I see. And I have apologized a million
times…”

“
You
could apologize a million more times and it wouldn’t matter to me!”
she snapped, turning her back on him and submerging her body to
shoulder level.

“
Then I shall do something about that then.”

She
shook her head and wiped the wet locks of hair from her face.
“Forget it. There is nothing you can do—.” And she heard a big
splash behind her causing her to spin around again. Her eyes opened
widely as she saw him emerge from beneath the water and started
approaching her. “What are you doing?”

“
Taking a swim with my fiancée,” he chuckled, knowing that she
would frown the moment she heard the word.

“
Can’t you at least give me some privacy? You’re everywhere I
go!”

“
Maybe it’s because I don’t want you thinking that you can try
to escape our arrangement.”

She
rolled her eyes at him and then swum further away from him towards
the far edge of the pool. “I keep my word…unlike you who is always
changing yours!”

He
followed her slowly and then stopped a couple feet away. “I never
change my word. I just…make a few improvement s to it the way I see
fit as time goes by.”

“
Ha!” she scowled. “Said the man who thinks he’s too high and
mighty to listen to anyone or anything but the sound of his own
voice!”

Marco moved closer to her and she maintained her ground,
glaring at him as he moved nearer and nearer until his breath was
on her face. “You have been tempting me in ways that I cannot bring
myself to resist. It makes me wonder if whether or not you are
deliberately torturing me.”

“
What?” she exclaimed, trying to frown even though her rose
pink blush was giving away her true feelings.

Marco cocked his head to examine her features closely and his
stare darkened as it travelled down her shoulders and to her small
full breasts. He then sucked in a sharp breath and looked at her
face. “I don’t think I can wait much longer…I’d die from
starvation!”

She
then gasped as he circled her waist and back with one arm and then
pulled her up to him, crashing his mouth hungrily against hers. He
slid his tongue between her lips and took full control of her that
she could not even bother to resist…to push him away. Before she
knew it, her hands were clutching at his shoulders and her
fingernails dug hard into his back. Their lip-locking seemed
miraculous and they grasped each other as if they could not get
enough of what they needed.

I
knew it!
Marco
thought as he smiled against her mouth in victory. He could feel
himself arousing physically and he pressed himself against her
aggressively. He had to make love to her now…or else he wouldn’t be
able to live with himself knowing that he had the chance in his
palms and didn’t. The sweet taste of her lips alone promised a
heart melting love making that he knew would turn him inside and
out.

“
Marco…,” she murmured as his soft lips devoured her neck and
then lifted her up, grasping her thighs and kissing the valley
between her breasts.

“Don’t stop me,
mia tesora
,”
he said, hoarsely. Meagan could not even bring herself to refuse
him because he was then making her feel things that she had never
felt before in her life. Her breathing quickened and she felt as if
her knees were too weak to be in normal condition. Her mind seemed
as if it had suddenly stopped working and all she could think about
was finding the pleasure she had been waiting to have for a very
long time. She then felt him undoing the ties to her bikini bottom
and her hand rushed cautiously to his. “I won’t do anything you
wish me not to…”

Meagan held his eye contact for a while until she dropped her
hand and he kissed her again, stripping her completely naked in the
water. He then looked down at her nakedness and felt himself harden
to a point where he found it painful. She was ravishingly beautiful
and she was unaware of it all. But she seemed relatively
inexperienced…how experienced was she? He was too caught up in the
moment to think and he felt as if he was losing control for the
first time in his life.

“
I
have to take you to my bed now! I fear that I will embarrass myself
if I do not,” he murmured and lifted her up to sit of the edge of
the pool. He then left the pool, drank a large portion of the
champagne and then grabbed her up in her arms.

She
giggled, which surprised him and he looked down at her. “You seem
to be enjoying this.”

“
Just hurry up in case I change my mind,” she laughed. “This is
stupid…but I am obviously in the mood!” Marco chuckled and then
moved more swiftly, gripping her damp body tighter and found his
way up the stairs and headed into the bedroom. He then was about to
dump her on the bed, when she yelped, “You’re going to let me wet
the sheets!”

“
You
have no idea how much notches that raised my ego to,” he
chuckled.

She
giggled and covered her face with her hands. “You know what I
meant!”

He
then dumped her anyways on the bed, stripped out of his wet boxers
and followed her, covering her mouth with his. As he filled her
with the emotions that was engulfing his body, she gripped his wet
hair, pulling his deeper down to her. He then kissed her all over
swiftly as if he had no time to waste. She moaned passionately as
he performed magic on her and he enjoyed the subtle satisfied
sounds that she made.

She
was unlike any woman he had ever met. She twisted him in more ways
than he could imagine and just when he had thought that Aimee had
undone him, here Meagan came driving him completely insane. “Touch
me…,” he murmured, pulling her hand down to his manhood and closing
it around it.

She
gasped as she felt its naked smoothness yet so hard to the touch.
Another gasp escaped her lips as she felt it buck as if it had a
mind of its own. He then withdrew her hand and was about to part
her legs apart when, she halted his movement. “Wait—I’m not on the
pill,” she warned and heard him groan. He then reached into a
drawer from the night table next to the bed and took out a condom
package. Marco then sheathed himself quickly before returning to
her once again.

“Forgive me,
mia tesora
, if
I am not gentle,” he muttered, slipping his hand between her legs
and then sliding them apart. “For my desire for you is eating away
at my self-control.”

Meagan stared up at him and tried to relax for the big moment
that was only moments away and she closed her eyes to avoid seeing
the look that would be on his face when he realized that she was a
virgin. He then pulled her down to his pelvis, her legs now spread
widely apart and before she knew it, he attempted to slide inside
of her when the pain ratcheted through her and her eyes flew
open.

“
No—I can’t!” she caused, her eyes damping with tears rather
quicker than she had expected.

Marco stared down at her with a puzzled look on her face. “Did
I do something wrong?” He opened his mouth to ask something else
when he refrained and both his eyebrows rose as if he had figured
her out entirely. She then watched anxiously, scared of what he
might say, when his face twisted in several emotions all at once
and he groaned deeply.