Chapter 17

CHAPTERSEVENTEEN

“WANT TO GO for a swim?”

Want to go for a… What? Huh?

Luca blinked as Dom reached for the ties securing his arms above his head and tugged, and when his hands fell free, they dropped to his sides like puppet strings.

Hmm, he liked that idea—Dom as his master and him as his puppet—because Dom had commanded him so well.

“Luca?” Dom hooked his thumbs into the sides of his pants and shoved them to the floor, and Luca’s brain took another detour into fantasyland.

Dom’s body was a work of art, all sinewy muscle and taut skin. He had a wide chest with a dark dusting of hair, and Luca wanted to trace each of the ropey veins in his built arms with his tongue.

“Okay, when you work out how to function again, I’m going to be down in the pool.” Dom kicked his pants aside and, naked as the day he was born, turned to the table, picked up the bottle of wine and two glasses, then walked out of the pavilion.

The threat of losing such a magnificent view finally made Luca’s body re-engage. He walked to the edge of the covered pavilion and stared at the sexy man sauntering across the grass stark naked.

Luca looked down at his spent body. His arms felt like dead weight, and his legs felt like Jell-O. Even if he wanted to follow Dom, he wasn’t sure he was physically able.

So he settled for watching for the moment. He tracked Dom as he made his way across to the patio where twinkling lights illuminated the seating area, then he headed down the steps to where the pool was located on the second level. He walked across the property as though he were fully dressed and didn’t give a shit who might see, and honestly, if Luca had a body like Dom’s, he might feel just as comfortable walking around that way, but who knew who could be watching?

Luca thought about that for a second, and then thought, What the hell do I care? It wasn’t like he knew anyone here. Or that he’d ever see them again after they left. So why should he be worried about giving their neighbors a peep show?

As Dom disappeared from view, Luca made up his mind. The pool sounded like heaven on his weary muscles. Add in seeing Dom naked again, up close and personal…and he was halfway across the patio before he could talk himself out of it.

Luca headed down the steps just in time to see Dom walking to the deep end of the pool. Dom glanced up, and the reflections from the water and the lights glimmered off his nude form.

Luca sucked in a breath. Dom was like some kind of sculpture in an art gallery, until he executed a perfect dive into the water.

Luca’s feet moved fast then, getting him down the steps and to the pool before Dom even surfaced. He could see Dom gliding under the cool blue water, and then he finally broke the surface and began the smooth, even strokes of a perfect swimmer.

Jesus, the man was sexy. He was all strength and power, even after holding Luca up and fucking him like there was no tomorrow.

Luca moved to the shallow end, dipped his foot in the water lapping against the edge, and sighed. He walked down the stairs until the water was to his waist, and Dom came to a stop a few feet from him. As he slicked his wet hair back from his face, the water glistened off his body like diamonds in the night.

“Decided to join me after all, did you?”

“Well, someone worked my body over pretty good, so yeah, the idea of a soak was appealing.”

“Just the soak, huh?”

Luca ran his eyes down what he could see of Dom’s body. “Mhmm. Just the soak.”

“Right.” Dom smirked. “It’s not like you were complaining.”

“And I’m not now.”

“No, you’re not. I think you like it when I tell you what to do. That’s why you came down here.”

Luca snorted. “Hardly. I do what you tell me to do because I like what your cock does to me.”

Dom arched a brow, and Luca pushed off the bottom onto his back and kicked some water in Dom’s face. He was just about to turn and move out of Dom’s reach when a hand grasped his ankle and tugged him across the top of the water. Dom gripped his hand and hauled him upright, then wrapped a strong arm around Luca and drew him against his naked body.

“You do know there’s a very easy way to tell whether or not you’re lying.”

Luca’s heart thumped, his body beginning to take notice of what it was rubbing up against. Dom’s wet hair glimmered under the moonlight, and Luca’s mind began to spin.

What the hell were they doing here? This was unbelievable. Here he was standing in a pool in Lake Como under a full moon and sparkling stars like he was in some goddamn fairytale. At least back at the penthouse he’d been more aware of his situation, clearer of the lines between good and bad. But here and now there was no one interrupting them after one of the most mind-blowing sexual experiences of his life. There was nothing to remind him that Dom was actually the bad guy in this fairytale.

So again, Luca had to ask himself, What the hell am I doing? What is he doing?

Luca gave Dom a gentle shove, and to his surprise, Dom let him go. The tension in the air was crackling with sex and something more, but it was clear neither wanted to acknowledge it.

Dom turned and swam to where the bottle of wine sat on the edge of the pool. Before Luca could stop himself, he blurted out, “What are we doing here?”

Dom poured himself a glass and downed it in a long gulp. “You know what we’re doing. We’re waiting for everything back home to—”

“I don’t mean that, and you know it.”

Dom’s eyes narrowed, and Luca knew this was a conversation Dom didn’t want to have, but that was too bad. This was the second time they’d been together like this. The first time he could dismiss as a one-off, chalk it up to hate boiling over into lust. But this time around had felt different. This time around had involved dinner, wine, moonlight, and—

“We’re just passing time.” Dom turned his back to pour another glass of wine. “Stop reading so much into it.”

Luca didn’t buy that for a second, and he was sick and tired of Dom trying to deny this connection they had. Yes, it was fucked up. Yes, it was destructive and unhealthy. But trying to act as though it didn’t exist clearly wasn’t working.

He moved through the water to Dom. “So if I’d been any other captive of the Rossettis, you would’ve tied me up and come inside me like you had every right to? That’s what you’re trying to tell me?”

Dom’s jaw clenched, and Luca shook his head.

“Is this denial you’re clinging so hard to still about the whole gay thing?”

Dom slowly turned his head, and if Luca was smart, he probably would’ve shut his mouth. But since when had he ever done anything smart around this man?

“So, what? You’re passing time with me until you run off and have a bunch of babies and I…I don’t know, die?”

Something fierce and possessive flashed in Dom’s eyes. “There will be no babies, not if I can fucking help it. I’m sure my father is just as upset about me blowing that dinner date as he is with me coming to rescue you.”

Luca couldn’t help the little happy dance that took place inside him at those words.

“As for dying, I think we’ve established I’m not going to let that happen under my watch.”

Luca swallowed. “Why?”

“What do you mean, why? You know why.”

“No, I don’t, not really. You were hellbent on killing me when we first met. Now you’re determined to keep me alive. Why?”

Luca knew he was pushing. He was angling for an answer his brain would accept, one that would make sense of all the emotions he was feeling.

“What do you want me to say? I want you alive because I like fucking you?”

He knew Dom was trying to scare him off, but now that he was finally talking, opening up a little, Luca wasn’t backing down. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get an opportunity like this again.

Luca shrugged and looped his arms around Dom’s neck. “If that’s how you feel.”

Dom took in a deep breath and then let it out, shaking his head. “I’m not allowed to feel what I feel. The sooner you understand that, the better off you’ll be.”

Luca’s heart ached, more for Dom than himself. Dom reached behind his neck and pulled Luca’s fingers free, and as he swam off toward the deep end, Luca couldn’t help but think that in those few words, Dom had told him more than he ever had before.