Riccardo Read Free Page A

be with him. To have him hold me, caress me and treat me like a woman, not a little girl. I didn’t give a shit who my father was. In that respect, I was stubborn, just like my father. Mind made up. It was my mission to make him admit he wanted me even if he was adamant he would never cross that line.
    Something inside of me snapped. I walked toward him and stood close enough to touch him. Shit, he was built. I was petite and the sheer size of him next to me was making me breathless and giddy. I rested my hand against his solid chest. I had to touch him.
    “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” His voice was deep, hoarse and raw.
    “I want you, Riccardo." I thought he was going to laugh at my admission. He didn't. Instead, his gaze fixed on my mouth as I licked my lips nervously. I had no idea why I admitted that to him. I could feel the sexual chemistry and an awareness pulsed through our bodies. It felt like I was drowning in it and suffocating from its intensity. He tried to take my hands off his chest but I wouldn't budge.
    He relented. My hands shook as I smoothed them over his chest. Feeling his warm skin through his shirt, I revelled in his hard and powerful chest. I felt the pressure of his fingers on my wrists. It was as if he wanted to release me but just couldn't bring himself to do it.
    “Don't, Lorena. Don't say things like that," he said through clenched teeth.
    "I know you want me, too. You just won't admit it."
    “We can’t and won’t do this. Nothing can ever happen between us." He groaned, almost as if he were in pain. “Goddammit—”
    Without even intending to, his words and body betrayed him. I stopped him from speaking by raising my right hand and placing my fingers over his lips to silence him. "You can deny it all you want, but I know you feel it and I know you want it. It's just a matter of time before you give in to me." I rubbed his lips ever so slowly and continued, "I will win, Riccardo, and I always get what I want."
    Inside, my heart stuttered and I worked hard to control my voice and breathing. Never before would I have ever thought to speak to a man like this. The fact he was a man especially, almost had my knees trembling, but my stubborn determination won out. I would not fold, run or cower. Not when I had the scent of Riccardo and the visions of the two of us running rampant through my head.
    With that, I kissed him once on his lips, barely applying pressure. I could have sworn I heard him moan as I stepped past him and left him standing there. I hoped he panted and lusted after me, the bastard.
    He may be my forbidden pleasure, but one day, I would make him mine.

CHAPTER TWO
    The Present
    RICCARDO
     
    I was tired. I just wanted this hit over and done with. I stepped into the abandoned warehouse and dropped my cigarette on the ground, smashing it out with my steel-capped boots. I needed to stop smoking. I hated it. It was a bad addiction that I just couldn't crack, but it calmed me, loosened me up when I was stressed. And man was I stressed. This hit was going to be a hard one. It involved one of our men and he wanted revenge like nothing before.
    “Capo, we've been waiting for you,” Stefano said as he ushered me inside the warehouse. The first thing I saw was a man tied up and spread between two beams.
    This fucker had been brought here for raping Vincenzo's younger sister. It wasn't the first time either. Grace was barely sixteen when he attempted to assault her the first time. We should have finished him off back then but we were too late and the cops got to him first. Prison saved him. Dobson Browning had been locked up for the last six years for assault and attempted rape. Why the fuck he was released, I had no idea. From the moment he was a free man, he stalked Grace again. Only this time, he managed to rape her. I could only imagine the gut-wrenching rage that filled Vincenzo’s belly. He was livid that he hadn't prevented this from happening. He wanted revenge