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“No,” she agreed.

“So why’s there no point in you being on the pill?”

“I’ve been too busy to see anyone.”

“Too busy taking my family down?”

“You know it. Since your father died, it gave everything a new urgency. Even so, it’s been a long time since I had a boyfriend. It just feels pointless taking contraception when I don’t need it.”

“I haven’t been with anyone since my father died,” he admitted.

“Maybe that’s why we’ve descended into this madness,” she mused darkly. “We’ve both been celibate for too long.”

“I thought I’d end my days celibate…” He suddenly cursed and lifted his head. “My mother’s going to be calling soon. I need to put some clothes on.”

That he’d forgotten about his mother gave Elvira a little bolt of happiness. “Where is Cruella?”

“Either at Rico’s or on her way there.”

“What has your brother done to deserve that fate?”

“Fallen in love with an angel.” She’d been rolled onto her back before she even felt Mattia move. Trapping her beneath him, he lifted his chest to gaze down at her. “Marisa’s pregnant and has God looking over her. Not even your brother is so evil he would risk an angel’s life by reneging on our deal and trying to get to my mother again.”

“He might not be, but I am.”

“No you’re not.”

“Anyone stupid enough to fall in love with an Esposito deserves all they get.”

He moved his hips, locking their groins together so she could feel his growing arousal. “What about anyone stupid enough to fall in lust with an Esposito they want to kill?”

Spreading her thighs, she wriggled until he was jabbing at her opening, and hooked her legs around his waist. “That’s no more stupid than falling in lust with a Ranieri you want to kill.”

Fully hard, his stare fixed on hers, he drove himself slowly inside her.

She could no more stop her moan of pleasure than stop herself groping for a buttock.

“If we both get out of this alive, I might just kidnap you again and keep you tied to a bed,” he whispered, withdrawing as slowly as he’d entered her before slamming back into her.

Circling her hips, she gripped tighter to his buttocks, crying out when he slammed hard into her again. Her next cry, though, was more of a wail as when Mattia withdrew again, he withdrew all the way out of her and climbed off her and off the bed.

“God, that’s cruel,” she gasped.

Ignoring her, he slid his jeans up his legs, pressing his enormous erection down in a way that had to hurt him so he could pull the denim over his abdomen. He didn’t bother fastening the jeans.

Only when he’d grabbed a T-shirt from the floor and was smoothing it over his hard abdomen did she notice it was the T-shirt she’d been wearing, but no sooner had she noticed this than he was swooping back and fastening his mouth to hers for a hard, controlled kiss that melted her already burning pelvis into a steaming puddle.

“That,” he whispered savagely, “is for calling my mother Cruella.” After another hard, pelvis-melting kiss, he added, “If you wait here quietly, I’ll finish what I’ve started when I’m done.”

Quick as a flash, she hooked her arm around his neck and purred, “Not if I finish myself off first.”

His green eyes pulsed. “Now that I would love to see.”

“Get rid of Cruella quickly enough, and maybe you will.”

His throat making a soft growling noise, he placed one more swift, hard kiss on her mouth, and then he was snatching up his phone from the floor and strolling out of the room, closing the door firmly behind him.

Not sure if she wanted to laugh or cry, Elvira closed her eyes and swallowed back whatever emotion was trying to push its way out of her chest.