Page 63 of Secrets of the Brother
“Kneel.”
Knowing it was foolhardy to argue with him, I slipped out of my heels and gathered up my skirt, only as high as was absolutely necessary to kneel on the purple velvet cushion. Because of his superior height and the low seat of the bench, my head barely reached his mid-abdomen.
He cupped my chin and raised my head. “I’m ready to hear your confession.”
The blood pounded in my ears as I curled my fingers into the fabric of my skirt. “My confession?”
He stroked my lower lip with his thumb. “Yes. I want to hear straight from this pretty mouth how you weren’t planning on telling me that I didn’tfuckyour sister that night. That I didn’t betray you.”
I flinched at his harsh language, made all the harsher given our setting.
He stepped closer as he widened his stance. “Tell me, Bianca. Tell me how your family conspired to drug me and trap me into marriage and how you knew all about it.”
My lower lip trembled. “Please, Enzo.”
In the confined space, his anger was like a hand reaching inside my chest and squeezing the air from my lungs.
“Were you part of the plan?”
He tore off his gray cable-knit sweater, exposing his tanned, muscled chest. The raw, red bite mark from my teeth was still visible over his heart. “Answer me, Bianca.”
I didn’t know how to answer him.
There were so many secrets.
So many terrible deeds.
So many ruined lives.
So much pain.
All caused by my family.
And yet I was the one who had been accusing him of the most heinous crime of all.
He moved his hands to cup my cheeks. “Were you thebait? Was your sweet innocence part of the plan to lure me in? Did you lose your nerve in the end? Is that why your sister stepped in and drugged me? Your family would get their hands on the Cavalieri fortune one way or another, right?” he hissed through clenched teeth.
Tears blurred my vision. “No,” I whispered. “Please believe me. I had no idea what my sister was planning.”
His thumbs caressed my cheekbones as he leaned threateningly over me. “You were my perfect little treasure. So shy and untried. Unspoiled. I was afraid to touch you. To even kiss you. Despite your age, there was just something so innocent and almost unreal about you.”
He moved his hand to press his thumb against my lower lip, applying pressure until my mouth opened.
He forced his thumb inside. “So many nights, I lay awake, fantasizing about your beautiful mouth.”
He reached for the zipper of his jeans.
My eyes widened.
He slowly lowered the zipper.
“I imagined what it would feel like to see those full lips stretched around my cock. What it would feel like to have your tiny throat clench around my shaft.”
He pushed his thumb in deeper, forcing me to suck it. “But I never acted on it. Because I was stupid enough to buy into your sweet, innocent ploy. I was dumb enough to want to preserve and protect that virginal innocence.”
I wrenched my head back, breaking free. “It wasn’t a ploy. You know that better than anyone,” I accused, reminding him of our heated encounter a few days ago.
He chuckled. The sound held no mirth. “If I recall, you goaded me into that as well, with yet another lie. Was that Plan B? Your family’s second attempt at the brass ring?”
