VITTORIO'S MISTRESS (The Vittorio Series) (10 page)

She didn’t say anything as she climbed into the seat next to him, nor did she look at him.
 
She merely sat there staring straight ahead and clinging to the small overnight bag as if it was a lifeline.
 
Dante leaned over and gently pried the bag from her hands and tossed in the back seat.
 
Curling his fingers around the back of her neck, he gently pulled her close enough to capture her lips in a long, seductive kiss.
 

When he finally felt the tension leave her body, Dante reluctantly let her go and headed towards his house.
 
It wasn’t more than a twenty minute drive this time of night but each second that ticked by was agonizing.
 
He didn’t waste any time putting his car in the garage as he normally did but parked instead right in front of the house then hurried around to Paige’s door to help her out.
 
At least that’s what he’d intended to do.
 

The moment she stood up and faced him, Paige was in his arms.
 
There was
a desperation
in her kisses that touched his heart and set his soul on fire, and for a few self-indulgent moments Dante let himself forget she was only here because he’d blackmailed her.

“Take me to bed,” Paige said in a breathless whisper when Dante’s lips began a slow, heated descent down the side of her neck.

The next few minutes were a whirlwind of giddy excitement for Paige.
 
Dante’s head snapped up.
 
He gave her one hard, fierce kiss then grabbed her hand and all but ran up the front steps and through the great hall, and together they made a mad dash up the stairs that led to his bedroom.
 
The second the door closed behind them, there was a flurry of activity as they frantically fought to get each other’s clothes off.

They fell across the bed, too consumed by the need to join their bodies to delay it any longer.
 
Dante sank into her with a grunt of male satisfaction at the same time Paige thrust her hips upwards.
 
She sobbed out his name, clinging to his broad shoulders as he filled her again and again and again.
 

It didn’t last any longer than their brief encounter on the porch but Paige didn’t think she would have survived if it had.
 
She closed her eyes, drawing air into her lungs even as Dante snatched it away again with feathery kisses that started at her neck and worked their way down to her quivering belly.
 

The night was endless, and if Dante seemed insatiable then Paige could only blame it on her own lack of inhibitions.
 
Four years of dreaming about him, of fantasizing about the things she wanted to do and experience if she ever got to sleep with him again had given her the courage to let go.
 
She explored every inch of his beautiful body and found a great deal of pleasure in watching his reaction when she discovered a particularly sensitive spot.
 

It was the most erotic experience of her life and when Paige finally fell into an exhausted sleep with their arms and legs still entwined after a prolonged session of love making, she did so with a smile on her lips and a heart that was filled with love.
 
This was where she belonged, and for the first time in four years she dreamed of a building a life with Dante instead of being plagued with the nightmare of living without him.

Dante lay awake listening to the sound of Paige’s soft, even breathing as she drifted off to sleep.
 
So much for his plan to keep her at arm’s length and slowly seduce her over the course of the next month.
 
He wasn’t even going to try and convince himself he could revert back to the original plan after tonight.
 
It would be torturous enough to be separated from her during the long days of the week but to deprive
himself
of Paige’s delectable body at night was too cruel to even contemplate.

Dante closed his eyes when Paige threw one slender leg over his thighs.
 
All he could think
 
was thank God he’d have to revise his plan.

After the night of decadence they’d spent indulging in every sexual fantasy imaginable, Paige would have bet her life that Dante didn’t have it in him for another round.
 
She also would have doubled that bet and sworn with undying certainty that she wouldn’t have the slightest interest in sex for the unforeseeable future.
 
But the moment she woke to find him watching her with such a look of stark hunger in those dark eyes of his, Paige was instantly aroused.

She pulled his mouth down onto hers, smothering the groan that rose to her throat when he buried himself deep inside of her.
 
Pleasure mixed with pain as he stretched her swollen inner muscles until the slow rhythm of his love making finally eased the tenderness and she was once again lost in the glory of being Dante’s lover.
 
Afterwards, she lay in his arms with a contented smile on her lips while Dante absently stroked her hair just as he used to do.

“What would you like for breakfast,
carissima
?
 
Waffles perhaps with strawberries?”

Paige tilted her head back.
 
“I’d almost forgotten it was you who first tempted me with that odd combination.”

Dante feigned a look of
indignance
.
 
“There is nothing odd about it.
 
My mother would be insulted to hear you say such a thing, especially since it was a tradition she started years ago when we were just children.”

“I know the story,” she laughed.
 
“Your mother is a horrible cook and always has been.
 
The only thing she managed to make without burning or mutilating was waffles and that was only because she discovered the waffle maker had a timer on it.”

Dante chuckled.
 
“She was so proud of her waffles she always made ten times more than any of us could ever eat.
 
We used to stuff what we could into our backpacks when she wasn’t looking and dispose of them in the trash bins at school.”

“Ah, so you admit there was a time in your life when you were thoughtful and sweet,” she teased.

“I am still thoughtful and sweet, and to prove it I will make you breakfast myself.”

“I’m certain it’s closer to lunch time than breakfast, but I’m intrigued by the idea that you’ve developed some culinary talents over the past few years.”

Dante swept aside the resentful thought that it was one of the ways he’d filled the empty hours after she’d left him.
 
“I coerced my cook into teaching me so I could manage by myself on her days off.
 
When you spend as much time as I do wining and dining clients, restaurant food quickly loses its appeal no matter how fine the establishment is.”

“In that case, I would be honored to have you serve as my chef.”

“Shall we shower first?”

“Is it safe?”
 
Paige said with a grin.
 
Showering with Dante had always been an experience in eroticism all its own that inevitably led to making love.

Dante heaved a regretful sigh.
 
“The mind is willing,
mio
bello
, but the body is not able.
 
Like a starving man, I am afraid I have gorged myself and now require a little time to recuperate from my feeding frenzy.”

“Do you mind if I use the restroom first?”

“The bathroom is that way,” he nodded to a door off to his left.
 
“I will run down to the car and retrieve your bag and join you in a few minutes.”

Paige waited until he’d pulled on the jeans he’d worn the night before and left the room before slipping out of bed.
 
The bathroom, like the rest of the house, was proof that Dante’s success in the business world had made him a very wealthy man.
 
After relieving herself, she stood in the middle of the room and did a slow pirouette, fascinated by everything her eyes encountered.
 

Double sinks with sparkling gold taps and handles were inlayed on marble topped counters adorned with matching gold cups for each sink.
 
A sunken tub that was large enough to qualify as a small pool took up one corner of the bathroom while a shower that could easily hold a party of five had been built on the opposite side.
 
Encased in etched glass and equipped with showerheads mounted into the ceiling, Paige almost groaned with anticipation as she stepped inside and spied the dials for massaging jet streams.

Dante stood in the doorway for several minutes, his labored breath growing more ragged by the second as he watched Paige while she showered.
 
Well, she wasn’t exactly showering which was the reason why a certain part of his anatomy had sprung to life long after he’d declared it down for the count.
 
She’d discovered the jet streams and had adjusted them so her back and shoulders received the massaging relief they were designed to give.
 
Her arms were extended in front of her, palms planted against the tiled wall to brace
herself
while her delightful derriere wiggled slowly back and forth.

It had been a long time since he’d enjoyed the intimacy of sharing a shower with a woman; four years to be exact.
 
It seemed strange to him now that he’d never even considered inviting any of the women he’d slept with since then to join him, especially when he’d found so much pleasure in showering with Paige.
 
He supposed if he put some thought into it, he’d discover there were a lot of pleasurable things he’d cut out of his life because they were painful reminders of his time with Paige.
 
But he had her now and Dante intended to enjoy every minute with her.

Paige turned around when the shower door opened.
 
“I could stay in here all day,” she sighed as he gathered her in his arms.
 
“Are you going to kiss me now?”

“Greedy woman, have I not kissed you enough?”

“Not nearly enough.”

“Then I shall have to remedy that.”

Paige was well and thoroughly kissed by the time they finished showering.
 
They took turns lathering each other up, which took considerably longer than it should have because Dante had taken his promise to remedy the kiss deprivation situation very seriously.
 
Clothed only in their towels, he’d ordered her to sit on one of the chairs beneath the heated lamps while he used the blow dryer on her hair then brushed it until it gleamed.
 
She’d missed the pampering he’d lavished on her and it felt good to allow him to take care of her again.

Once they’d gotten dressed, Paige sat on a kitchen stool while Dante prepared their meal.
 
Given that it was almost two in the afternoon, they’d opted for lunch instead of breakfast and she was having a wonderful time just watching him move around the kitchen like a pro.
 
Obviously he hadn’t been stretching the truth about knowing how to cook because he’d chosen to prepare linguine in lobster sauce along with fresh asparagus tips and garlic bread.
 
The enticing aroma had her stomach grumbling and her mouth watering long before it was done cooking.

“How do you normally spend your Saturdays?”
 
She asked after he’d set her plate in front of her and took the seat to her right at the informal dining counter.
 

“I am usually up by seven, take a two mile run then shower and head to the office for most of the day.”

Paige hesitated for a moment.
 
“Do you…date much?”

“I have not led the life of a monk if that is what you are asking.”

She swallowed the painful lump in her throat, silently chastising herself.
 
Of course a man like Dante wouldn’t go without female companionship for long.
 
Hadn’t last night proved that his sex drive was practically insatiable?
 
She wondered how many there’d been or if he was seeing anyone in particular now.
 
As if he’d read her mind, Dante’s hand closed over hers.

“Brief, meaningless encounters,
cara.
 
That is all they were.
 
There has been no one special in my life since you and there is no one I am seeing on a regular basis right now.”

“I had no right to ask,” Paige said, then offered him a tremulous smile.
 
“I probably have no right to say this either, but I’m glad.”

Dante refused to analyze the significance behind the surge of happiness that whipped through him.
 
“Does that mean you want me all to yourself?”

“I don’t want to share you,” she side stepped the question.

“What about you, Paige?
 
Has there been anyone special in your life?”

“No, there’s been no one since you.”

“And that man I saw leaving your house?”

“Marc Bernese.
 
He’s
Chantel’s
twin brother.
 
You remember
Chantel
, don’t you?”

“Yes, I remember her but it is not
Chantel
I am concerned with at the moment.”

Was it wrong to find such joy in the knowledge Dante was jealous of Marc?
 
Probably, but she didn’t care.
 
She was glad he was jealous because it meant he felt more for her than just lust.
 
Of course it
would
be wrong to let him continue to think there was something going on between her and Marc so Paige told him the truth.

“He’s just as much a brother to me as he is to
Chantel
.
 
We’ve known each other for ages and there’s never been even the slightest romantic interest for either of us.”

“That is not what it sounded like last night,” Dante said with a scowl.

Paige laughed.
 
“The date he was referring to wasn’t with him but with the whole crowd he and
Chantel
hang out with.
 
I don’t go out much but when I do it’s usually with them.”

“He kissed you.”

“On the cheek.”

“It was
dark,
I was not sure where he kissed you.”

“Well now you are.”

Dante sat back in his chair and sipped at his wine.
 
“Not that I wish to upset the apple cart, but why did you give in so easily to becoming my mistress?
 
You were furious with me when you found out about the loan and yet you held nothing back last night or this morning.”

“I
was
furious about it, and I’m still not happy that you’d stoop to something that low just to get me into your bed.
 
Under the circumstances, I made the only choice I could.”
 
Paige pushed her plate away, surprised that she’d devoured every last bite.
 
“I assume you did it because you felt we had unfinished business and this was your way of getting me out of your system.”

“In a way, I suppose you are right,” Dante admitted.

His honesty sliced right through her, though she’d suspected it all along otherwise why set a time limit on how long she’d remain his mistress?
 
But suspecting it and knowing it as a certain fact were two very different things; the dull ache that had settled in her chest was proof of that.
 
She’d have to be very careful not to give away how she really felt about him.

Paige’s smile was quite convincing.
 
“Then we understand each other because I feel the same way.
 
Granted, I didn’t appreciate your methods but I think being your mistress for a month will allow me to get you out of my system as well.
 
Assuming it takes that long,” she added because he deserved to have his ego taken down a peg or two.

The muscles in Dante’s jaw flexed.
 
Assuming it took that long?
 
Paige was just as addicted to him as he was to her, and if last night was any indication as to how the rest of the month would go, he sure as hell wasn’t going to have her out of
his
system by then.
 
She was delusional if she thought for one minute she’d ever get her fill of him, he’d make sure of that if it killed him.