Page 16 of Ruthless Contract
I expected her to tell me off or something. To say I was insane. To threaten to stop chatting with me.
“Romeo Cattaneo,” she whispered. “If you keep saying sweet shit like that, you’re going to make me fall in love with you.”
Fuck, Juliet!
I swallowed, pretty sure that I was already in love with this masked woman.
CHAPTER FIVE
ROME
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Her words were on repeat in my mind.
“If you keep saying sweet shit like that, you’re going to make me fall in love with you.”
My cock throbbed beneath the sheet while my pulse pounded against my ribs. This was a dangerous fucking woman. Did she understand what hearing those words did to me? How they made me feel?
Whatthey made me want?
They made me want things I had no business wanting from a woman whose real name I didn’t even know. I didn’t just want her pussy. I didn’t only crave sliding my cock into her mouth until she gagged on it.
I wanted more.
I wanted everything.
Her heart. Her mind. Her words. Her time. Her thoughts. Her prayers. Her very fucking soul. Every part of this woman needed to belong to me. I wanted her obsession. I needed her just as gone for me as I was for her.
When she’d told me she was stalking me, that should have set off warning bells, red flags. All I’d heard was wedding bells. This woman could stalk me all she wanted. Because as soon as I located her, I would do the same.
I wanted her attention. Her loyalty. I wanted to become the first person she thought about in the morning and the last person she spoke to at night. I wanted every filthy little outfit she wore during these calls to be for me and only me.
No one else could see her in them. I wanted to hear her laugh in person. Wanted to know what she sounded like without the voice modulator distorting her words. Wanted to see her without the mask.
I wanted to know the woman behind the screen. Wanted to know what she looked like, seated across from me in the morning, sipping coffee. Wanted to know what she looked like when she came apart beneath me. I wanted to hear her moan my name while I fucked her into oblivion.
Damn it. Where was this woman?
I forced myself to take a deep breath, but it didn’t help. I was past the point of self-control. The idea of her out there, somewhere, living a life that didn’t include me, made me feel angry enough to murder someone.
If she’d been in the room with me right now, I probably would’ve handcuffed her to the bed just to keep her from leaving. I wanted her locked in with me, all mine. I wanted to ruin her for anyone else.
This wasn’t healthy. It wasn’t normal. Even as I told myself that, I still pictured myself finding ways to make sure no other man ever laid eyes on my Juliet. I’d told myself this would pass.
That as soon as I figured out who she was, as soon as the mystery was gone, I’d lose interest and move on to the next thing thatpiqued my curiosity. But that was a fucking lie. The more I learned about her, the deeper I sank.
I swallowed hard, trying to regain some control over my thoughts. This was getting dangerous. Because the more attached I became to Juliet, the more I found myself wanting things I couldn’t ask her for yet.
Not until I found her. Not until I knew who the hell she really was. Not until I knew she wasn’t some elaborate setup sent to destroy me. Despite not having all the facts... I still couldn’t stop wanting her. Couldn’t stop craving more of her.
And the truly fucked-up part was, if she offered me her heart right now, I’d probably hand her mine in return without thinking twice about it. Normally, I didn’t do romance, didn’t do love, didn’t do forever.
I’d seen men fall hard, seen how obsessed they could become. Seen what those men did when the women they loved didn’t love them back. My dad was the first man I witnessed that with. I knew how destructive a relationship like that could be.
I’d grown up in a house that doubled as a war zone, watched my father destroy my mother piece by piece until there was nothing left to wreck. And even after she freed herself from his clutches, leaving us behind with him, he’d forbidden us from saying her name.
His twisted version of love had nearly destroyed him. I’d sworn I’d never let myself get caught up like that. My parents’ relationship had been the reason I’d never dated. Not once. Not in college, not after.
