The Surprise Conti Child Read Free Page A

he wasn’t allowed to dismiss her like this. Not when she felt so weak-kneed and aware of him. “You know your brother is a fast worker. What if I already have him in my clutches ? Maybe Luca and I’ve already, thoroughly , f—”
    â€œ Basta !” he muttered, before his hand descended on her mouth while the other one locked her against the wall.
    The rough, almost possessive grip he had on her hip branded her. But it was his gaze that held her rooted.
    A flash of temper? A spark of emotion? Whatever it was, it lit his usually droll gaze.
    He wasn’t impervious to her.
    Hot, reckless energy pounded through her, making her thrum with excitement. “You can think it, but I can’t say it, Leandro?” She drawled her words, adding a lazy taunt. “At least, with Luca, I know I’ll have a good time without insults.”
    Gray irises widened, bleeding into the dark black around.
    The quiet room shrank around the two of them, an explosive current springing into life. The masculine scent of him was a whiplash against her senses, his fingertips pressing into her flesh.
    Yet all Alex felt was charged up.
    â€œDo you know what you so dangerously provoke? Are you prepared for it?”
    A wealth of meaning reverberated in his statement and it lay between them, a grenade ticking away.
    Drunk on the challenge in his molten gaze, Alex couldn’t back down. “I don’t care how wealthy you—”
    His tapered fingers squeezed her palm gently. “I don’t agree with my grandfather, bella .”
    â€œNo?”
    â€œ No .”
    â€œThen why did you come tonight?”
    Tension filled the infinitesimal silence before he answered, “Luca told me he picked up a drunk Tina and couldn’t locate you. I don’t like the idea of you being out at night in Milan alone.”
    â€œYou could’ve asked anyone else to do that. Your security team...you didn’t have to come yourself. You could—”
    â€œWhat you’re hoping for, it will never happen, Alexis.”
    â€œYou called me Alexis,” she said simply, letting the warmth of his body float her away.
    His head cocked to the side, and he rubbed her jaw.
    Shock...he was shocked that he had said her name. The fingers that had been brushing her cheek pulled away. “Come, it is time for you to leave.”
    It was as if he’d slammed a door in her face.
    He wasn’t talking just about the nightclub or Milan, but Italy. He was telling her it was time for her to leave. Panic flared through her, but beneath it was a realization that sent her heart slamming against her rib cage. All these days...
    â€œYou want me,” she accused. “You made me feel like I was the only one who felt it, as if I was gauche enough to read it all wrong—”
    In a near-violent movement that sent her breath bursting through her, Leandro captured her wrists. Stilling her body from leaning into him. “This is a mistake.”
    Yanking her hands away from his grip, Alexis pressed her body against his.
    A jagged sound wrenched out from his lips, throaty and low. Moving her hands up his chest, Alex tilted her head back. Every inch of his face was frozen in some kind of torturous agony. And she didn’t intend to let him win.
    She buried her mouth in the opening of his dress shirt. Velvet-smooth and hot, his skin burned against her lips. “Kiss me, just once. Show me what you feel, just once.”
    One hand snuck into her hair. Her scalp prickled as he tugged her up. Dark need pinched his features and Alex shivered, suddenly, finally, understanding the depth of the need he hid under that infuriatingly indifferent mask.
    Anticipation roped with tension set her nerves on fire.
    â€œYou do not know who you’re playing with.”
    She jerked back. “Am I so beneath you then?”
    He shook his head. But the shadows didn’t leave his eyes. “You’re too