“You live here?”
“And you do too, from now on. It was built in 1931, and a Sabatini has done business in it every year since.” I bypass the club entrance and enter the private one in the back. Her eyes go to the card I pull out and press against the scanner to get the elevator to open. “The club is through that door. This second floor is where Marco and Dario will be staying until you’re settled.”
She flashes a glare, knowing full well I mean until I don’t have to worry about her trying to run.
“This is our floor. This is the kitchen. Mary keeps it stocked and I consider it her domain.”
Mary appears. “This is Mary, Mary, my fiancée Regina Conti.”
Her smile is wide as Mary offers her hand. Regina returns it timidly. I wonder if Regina realizes she moves closer to me for reassurance. “Lovely to meet you. Dominic might consider the kitchen my domain, however, I’m always willing to give it up to you. As the woman of the house. I have your room set up for you. Your father has already sent your things to us. I’ve unpacked your clothes. The rest, I’ve left to you.”
Regina goes stiff as she nods. I press my hand to the small of her back. She jumps at my touch, it works to get her mind off Johnny. Keeping her moving, I walk her through the dining room and living room.
I open the door I prefer to keep closed. “This is my workout room. I don’t like people in here.”
Of course she goes into the room. “Do you use all of this?”
There is a heavy bag, a rowing machine, treadmill, a row of free weights, and a weight machine. “Pretty much, I don’t use the treadmill as much as I used to. Everything else, yes.”
Frowning, she stops at the treadmill. “I should start working out.” She says the words like she’s saying she should start eating lead paint.
“Why the fuck would you do that?”
Eyes wide, she tilts her head as her frown deepens. “Because I’m fat. You’re used to being with a bunch of skinny, beautiful women—”
I move fast. Catching her chin, I stop the bullshit coming out of her mouth. “No, fucking no. You don’t say shit like that. Do you understand me?”
Her wince reminds me of how much smaller she is than me. I loosen my grip slightly as I fight the white-hot anger inside me.
“Pay attention, you will not get a second warning. I do not repeat myself. If I say it once, consider it set in stone. I don’t say shit to be nice, nor do I give a shit if you like what I have to say but you will live it. I do not ever want to hear you call yourself that word ever again. I’ve already said I want you. I want you the way you are right fucking now. You don’t change a damn thing.”
Confusion shadows her eyes glittering like fine sherry.
Sighing, I give in. “If you want to lose weight because it makes you feel good, fine. I won’t stop you, but it isn’t what I want. Exactly the way you are right now is what turns me on.”
The urge is too strong to deny, I press my thickening cock against her soft stomach. “Feel what you do to me even when I’m pissed, fighting hard not to bend you over the nearest surface and spank your ass red for saying stupid shit. This is your one warning. Next time I’ll make sure my words are ingrained into the skin of your ass.”
Her eyes widen, her pupils dilate, her breath hitches, causing my cock to harden even more. Damn, my princess is a revelation hour by hour. She wants to be spanked, ah fuck, I can smell her pussy wet for me. My cock jumps, my hand tightens all over again on her chin. With a gasp she takes a step back from me. At least one of us is smart. Then again she doesn’t have two heads that both want to fuck her. With effort, I let her go. “Stay out of this room.”
I turn and she follows a few steps behind. “That closed door is my office, you aren’t allowed in there. This room, you can be in all you want.”
“A library, a real...” I laugh at the awe on her face. I’m proud of my library, it took a lot of work and a shit ton of money. All four walls are covered in books. There are several first editions of both classics and newer books behind a glass shelf. One large window has a window seat, with a stack of pillows. The other window is where one of the two large overstuffed chairs is tucked. A silk chaise lounge and a long leather sofa are across from each other, a long leather ottoman acts as a coffee table between them in the center of the room.
“If this is where you’re locking me in, I’m good with it. I just need a mini-fridge and chamber pot.” Regina runs her hands along the spines of leather-bound books along one wall. Then she’s caught up with the wall of the newer books. The bookcase is stuffed randomly with everything from the smaller paperbacks to the larger softcovers and hardbacks. “You’ve read all of these?”
“The top shelf are the ones I haven’t yet. Don’t get them mixed up. If you take a book from the top shelf, put it back up when you’re finished. I haven’t read all of the classics, those are the only ones that are in any order, alphabetized by Pop.”
“You read Latin and Italian?” She studies a leather-bound Latin copy of a history of popes.
I nod. “Both before I learned to read English. Pop and Nonna taught me. My mom didn’t like the Latin, Italian was fine but her and Nonna went a few rounds on the Latin.”
“You didn’t like your mom.” It’s not a question.
“No.” I check my watch, I have shit I need to get done. This isn’t something I like talking about at the best of times. Except she’s finally talking again. So I lean against the doorframe and settle in to answer her questions. “She was a manipulative, gold-digging bitch who didn’t give a shit about anyone but herself.”
Regina settles onto the window seat with a book in her lap. “What did she do?”
“Her parents wanted her married to a Capo almost twenty years her senior. Pop was a sixteen-year-old dumbass, she was twenty-two. He wasn’t aware of the engagement when he met her in a club, had no idea she was a princess in the family. Her parents had sent her overseas to a finishing school, they had big plans for her as their only child.” I shake my head as I remember her mother still bitter when she spoke of the waste to me when I was only seven years old, shortly before she and her husband moved back to Sicily, never to return to the United States.