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He stayed silent, not trusting hiument he’d had with Gio

He had been pushed and shoved to this step by Gio, by circu to doo

Pia, he knew, didn’t give two hoots about VA or the stock or Gio’s fortune The last thing she needed was to knohat Gio had offered Raphael

“I wanted to get away for a while I thought I could go back to the States and tie up some loose ends I told him it was just temporary—”

“Because you wanted to avoid ered him “Did you think of how Gio felt at that? Do you always run away if it gets hard, Pia? Isn’t that what you did when that man cheated you?”

She paled as if he’d struck below the belt She tilted her chin in that stubborn way of hers “I wasn’t running away I needed a break It was hard to be around you knowing that every minute you spent with me was under sufferance”

“That’s—”

“Please, no lies The one thing I know I’ll always have from you is honesty Don’t take that away froether” Pain flashed through her eyes, the raw intensity of it skewering Raphael where he stood “You… I forced you to give e”

“Dio mio! Is that what you think? When will you understand that—?”

“You’vebut another millstone of responsibility around your neck Another person who’s dependent on you, another duty you perforh you resent the hell out of it

“I’ry with you I see all the responsibilities you shoulder, how seriously you take them I just can’t bear to be one of them I don’t kno to make Gio believe that I can look after myself”

He reached her and ran a finger over her jaw She had such soft skin and he wondered if she was like that all over “And what if saying no to you was the hardest thing I ever did That even if you hadn’t waylaid h with it with… Ava That every time I close my eyes, I feel that velvety, swollen center of yours between ers That every time I hear your voice, it reminds , I wake up with an erection and that I getyou bare and writhing beneathme to take you” She stared at him with such wide eyes, such naked lust that Raphael was teht there

He brought her hand to his abdo painfully “I can’t breathe your scent without getting hard like this Do you believe me now, tesoro?”

Liquid longing filled her eyes She bent her forehead to his shoulder and breathed hard while her hand shaped him

Raphael buried his face in her hair, so him Tenderness, he realized He wanted this He wanted her And not just for one night or for a short affair, as he’d thrown at her cheaply The thought of Pia ever sharing this intimacy with any other man drove him out of his mind

She was his, whether she knew it right now or not “For the first time in my life, I want to be selfish I want to take you for myself and damn the consequences You don’t kno randdaughter”

Pia stepped back, heart pounding a hundred times a second She could still feel the shape of him in her palm, could feel the tension radiate from him Stark and etched ant of her, only for her, he was the randdaughter I’m Pia, Raphael And I wish—”

He covered her mouth with his palm and pulled her to hihly, he pushed his hand through his hair “Sophistication or beauty or whatever you think you lack—none of the women I know could hold a candle to you” A frustrated hiss left his mouth “It is exactly why it’s hard to take you”