Chapter 13 - Maxim

Her hand is teasing my cock, her delicate fingers pressing against me and sending bolts of lightning splintering through my body.

Again, I remind myself that I swore not to do anything to her unless she really wants me to. I don’t know if she is just teasing me now, or distracting me, or if she is as turned on as I am.

“So why would it be a problem?” she whispers against my ear.

I bite down hard, grabbing her around the waist and lifting her off me so that I can stand up.

She looks disappointed.

“Do you want me?” I ask, bluntly.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you want to feel me inside you, do you want me to make love to you?”

Her eyes grow wide as she stares at me, and my words leave no room for misunderstanding. She nods.

“Say it, then,” I demand.

“I want your cock inside me.”

Her response crashes through me, and my cock grows harder.

I step towards her, my eyes dark, my intentions clear. I cannot hold back for another second. I made a promise that I would not be with her until she was ready, and I kept that promise.

I grab her and lift her in my arms, pushing her hard against my desk, sliding her ass onto the smooth surface. A shocked squeal escapes her as I pull the soft fabric of her dress high over his hips. My eyes take in the black lace underwear she is wearing, everything visible through the sheer fabric.

I growl as I grip her thighs and spread them wide open so that I can see more of her.

She leans back, resting her hands behind her, arching her back and lifting her feet onto the edge of the desk. She is spreading her pussy open even wider for me, letting me know how badly she wants me.

I grab my belt, and tugging it open, then undo my pants and grip my throbbing cock in my hand. I have waited so long for this, to feel her again.

She shifts her pussy closer to the edge of the desk, closer to me, and I grab her lace panties and drag them to the side, letting my fingers play across the warmth of her pussy.

She is soaked.

I step between her legs and press my cock against her.

The loud cry she makes as I thrust my cock into her needs to be silenced.

I grab the back of her neck and pull her lips against mine, smothering her sounds with my mouth as I begin to fuck her.

I can’t have my workers hearing these beautiful sounds. These sounds are for me, and only me.

I thrust harder.

She cries against my mouth. I wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her tightly against me.

Even my kiss is not enough to silence her, so I clamp my hand over her mouth as I begin to fuck her harder than before. Her body jolts as I slam my cock deep into her. Each time I penetrate her, a muffled cry sounds against my hand.

“Be quiet, babygirl. No one else deserves to hear your pleasure but me.”

But the harder I fuck her, the more she moans, so I continue to smother her mouth with my hand.

“Your pussy is perfect,” I whisper in her ear as I pound my cock into her as deep as I can, filling her up and possessing her in every way. “I waited too long to feel you again.”

I can feel her losing herself to me. She tries to push her legs open wider and press her pussy against me even more, her legs starting to shake, and her eyes shining brightly as she stares up at me.

I can feel how close she is to the edge.

“Come all over me, drench me,” I demand.

Her pupils dilate, and I press my hand harder over her mouth, knowing she won’t be able to hold back.

She tilts her head back and I feel her pussy clench around me. She pulses and throbs over my cock as she explodes, her loud moan is silenced beneath my hand. I erupt inside her at the same time.

When we are both spent, I stand with my cock still inside her, catching my breath and feeling the waves of her body against mine.

Being with her this time was even more mind-blowing than the first time on our wedding night, and I feel shaken by how incredible it was.

Last time we were together, she quickly got the upper hand and asked me to leave. It stung, and I don’t want that to happen again.

I step away from her, pulling out of her, and start to button my pants.

If she sees how much that meant to me, she might use it against me somehow, or act cold again. So I try and act causal.

“Thanks for distracting me with sex,” I smirk.

She tilts her head and her brows knot together. Disappointment flashes over her face, and I instantly regret saying what I just said.

I know it was more than that. I should have just kept my mouth shut.

I am about to try to recover from my stupid comment, but my phone rings.

I answer, my eyes still on her as she slides off the desk and pulls her dress down over her legs.

“Yes, you can let them in. I”ll be out in a second.”

“My clients are here,” I quickly tell her. I can’t dwell on what I said now, I need to attend to this. “Come, let’s go greet them.”

“Alright,” she says, politely. “Um, do I look like a mess?”

“No, you look absolutely beautiful.”

She smiles softly, and I feel relieved.

We step out of the office together, and I see one of my guys leading the clients into the warehouse. I place my hand on her lower back as we walk toward them.

The two men are dressed in very crisp black suits.

They are very wealthy buyers, here to find out more about the products we smuggle, and hopefully to place an order.

Chiara handles herself with poise and grace during the meeting, adding valuable comments here and there and capturing the very close attention of one of the men, which causes me to pull her close against my side, making a very clear statement that she belongs to me. He takes note, and becomes more professional after that, which I appreciate. If he had continued to eye my wife in that way, I would have had to ask them both to leave.

The meeting goes incredibly well, and they place a large order. We are busy going over the details when a faint smell of smoke hits the air.

I look up, wondering where it”s coming from.

A shattering explosion ruptures the air as a bomb goes off in the far corner of the warehouse. Immediately, I grab Chiara and wrap my body around hers. Four more explosions boom through the warehouse as different sections burst into flames.

I hear screaming, and the bombs hit with earthshaking force. We all drop to the floor.

My ears are ringing when I look up.

As I pull Chiara to her feet, her eyes are alert and sharp, darting across the warehouse.

I turn to see the destruction, my entire body filled with dread.

“Not the workers” quarters,” I murmur, turning and running toward the back of the warehouse. I see men grabbing fire extinguishers to suffocate the flames that are devouring our products, and I yell at them to get to the back and help the people first.

I run past the shredded body of a young man, his arm no longer attached and the skin of his face a mess of torn flesh, leaving him unrecognizable.

My stomach lurches, and my head spins. I feel so dizzy I can barely take another step.

Chiara grabs my face in her hands. “Look at me.”

I can barely hear her.

“Look at me, Maxim.” I try and focus on her voice.

“Your eyes on mine. Do it,” she shouts.

I lift my eyes to meet hers. Deep, dark pools of chocolate. “That”s good, focus on me,” she says gently. “Just keep focusing on me. And listen to my voice, okay?”

I nod.

“Your men need you. You can do this. You have to ignore the blood. You have to help them.” I can feel her hands shaking against my face.

Her voice breaks a little. “Maxim, I need you.”

A certain clarity shifts inside me. Chiara needs me right now; I can’t leave her alone in this.

I take a deep breath and focus even harder on her gaze. Her eyes brim with tears, but she is still managing to hold herself together.

Something inside me snaps. I will do anything for her.

I wrap my hand around the back of her neck and squeeze my fingers into her soft skin.

“I’ve got you, babygirl. I”m here.”

“Good. Now let’s go and see who needs help.”

Then she grabs my hand and pulls me towards the workers” housing.

As soon as we step through the doors the devastation becomes heartbreakingly obvious.

Her hand drops out of mine, and we begin searching for survivors. The place has been brought down to the bare bones. Shards of metal and shattered brick lay everywhere. Bodies are trapped between the rubble, broken and torn.

Every single person who was in here is dead.

Every single one of them.

“There”s no one here,” Chiara whispers, pain in her voice.

“Let’s go back to the main floor and help the people in there,” I say, realizing that we”re wasting our time trying to look for any survivors in this mess.

She nods, and we run back into the warehouse.

Her inner strength is incredible, shining through as she kneels over people, wrapping wounds in torn shirts, and helps with lifting fallen pieces of rubble off trapped workers. She talks gently to those who are in pain and holds the hand of a man as his life drifts away from him. Then she stands up, wipes away her tears, and goes to find someone else to help.

After an hour, I realize I cannot see her anywhere, and panic hits me.

I hurry over to one of my workers, asking where she is, and he tells me he saw her heading towards the office.

I bolt in that direction, worried about her.

When I find her, she is sitting in my office chair, her entire body shaking and her eyes flooded with tears.

“Chiara, babygirl, you did so well out there. You helped so many people,” I say, pulling her into my arms. Her body is stiff, but I hold her against me, waiting for her silent sobs to dissolve. When I lean back to look at her again, I notice that she is staring at her hands and the device she grips in her fingers.

She glances up at me.

“Is that the explosive?” I ask, shocked.

She nods, holding it out to me, angled so that I can see the code stamped into the shredded edge of the metal.

“What are you showing me?” I ask, confused.

“This explosive is one of Stefano’s products. This is what he smuggles. I recognize the code.”

“Stefano’s?” I repeat, my voice tight.

I take the device from her shaking hands and turn it over, examining it.

“Are you sure?”

She nods. “Do you think he…”

Her words lock in her throat and she is unable to ask what she wants to.

“It looks that way,” I say quietly.

I watch Chiara closely, and by the distress I can see assaulting her mind and body, I know that this is a shock to her. I know that there is no way she could fake her reaction, not like this.

She had nothing to do with this.

I sigh and sit on the edge of the desk.

“Chiara, I need to tell you something.”

Her eyes dart to mine.

“My brothers and I have suspected that Stefano was involved in this for a while. We didn’t know if it was him acting alone or your whole family, but we knew your family was involved in the sabotage that was happening to our shipments.” I take a deep breath, knowing that the next part will be difficult to say. “It is the reason we arranged the marriage between you and me. Because we needed a way to get closer to your family, to find out the truth, and stop this senseless violence and these attacks.”