Love Thy Enemy

Chapter 12: Manipulation

I take a cautious step forward into the cottage, allowing my eyes to adjust to the warm light radiating from the fire inside. I inhale deeply, savoring the smell of wood and moss.

"Do you like it?" Valentino is seated on a red couch facing the fire, but he turns around to watch me. I drop my bag on the floor by the door

"Yes. I do." I answer cautiously. Is this the calm before the storm or is he being genuine? Is Valentino ever just genuine?

"Will you come take a seat next to me, Adelaide?" I come around to do as he asks, but instead of matching his cold demeanor I surprise him by sitting on his lap and wrapping my arm around his neck. I hate it when he is cold because it tells me something horrible is coming my way.

"Of course, lover." I answer, smiling mirthfully and kissing him on the lips. The small cottage makes me feel as though we are a normal couple taking a leave from the city for a romantic getaway. When he doesn't respond to my kiss I grab a fistfull of his hair and pull, crushing my lips to his more forcefully. I want him to feel, to remember why he wants me, why my body ignites his. I want the warmth, his love, his heart. His arms wrap around me and he kisses me back gently, as though trying not to hurt my feelings, before pulling back with a heavy sigh.

"Are you trying to distract me?" Valentino wonders, eyeing me with suppressed lust.

"Do you need to be distracted?" I reply, caressing his thigh, and then his length under his jeans. "Oops" I pull my hand back. I am trying to distract him from my encounter with Giovanni, but I am also eager to be with him, especially after my near death encounter only about an hour before.

"Please don't say "oops" when you are touching my cock." His bluntness makes me laugh. Without wiping the smile from my face I ask him my next question. I want to give him the appearance that this is a casual conversation.

"How did you know I was meeting Giovanni tonight?" I maneuver my body so that I am straddling him, offering him a closer and planer view of my breasts. He doesn't push me away, he is surrendering. With a hand on each of his shoulders, I kiss, suck and lick his neck, his chest and his mouth.

"I found his little note outside your door when you were in the shower. The idiots knocked." I knew I wasn't being paranoid. I must have not heard the knock because I was in the shower. I don't stop kissing him, instead, I drop down to my knees in front of him with my hands on his thighs.

"Did you send your men to protect me?" I unbutton his jeans.

"I sent my men to kill Giovanni." The note gave him a location and a time, that was all he needed. Lucio must have lied, perhaps he was afraid to confess the kind of man his Boss truly was.

"Why?" I wonder, breathing heavy from the sight of him.

"Because he wants what is mine and I don't share" he takes a hold of my hair and pulls back roughly, as though proving his point. We may not be a couple but I am his.

"Are you angry with me?" I hold my breath. He lets go of my hair and traces my bottom lip with his finger with fondness.

"Am I angry that you went to see my enemy behind my back?" he raises an eyebrow.

"I suppose that's a stupid question" I bite my lip, forgetting that it still hurts from this morning. He takes my chin in his hand, forcing me to look up at him once more.

"I understand why you did it, Ana." He forgives me before letting go. I lower his jeans down his strong thighs, and then his black boxer briefs. Finally seeing him, I wrap my lips around his hardening length and lower my mouth to please him. His head falls back, telling me he enjoys it. I smile to myself. Our desires do not lessen with the passing of time, with the promise of betrayal and the fear of loss, it grows. He wraps his hand around my hair as a warning, but I ignore it, making him come in my mouth while I use my hand to stroke him from the base.