One Night: Sizzling Attraction: Married for Amari's Heir / Damaso Claims His Heir / Her Secret, His Duty

“You truly do not have it.”

She shook her head. “I don’t. I never did. I helped him get it but...I don’t have it.”

“I believe you,” he said.

Her stomach twisted. “So much for family. So much for decadence, too.”

“So would you say I’m your first taste of decadence?” he asked, his voice positively wicked now.

Heat speared her stomach, blooming outward, flooding her cheeks. “You know you’re the first man I’ve been with.”

“Yes,” he said, his voice rough and gentle at the same time. “And I am intrigued about that. Would you care to elaborate?”

“Well, I had never had sex before. Then I met you. And I had sex with you.”

He angled his head and leaned in, biting her lower lip. The sharp shock of pain faded quickly, ending on a sizzling burst of pleasure that flowed through her entire body. “That is not what I meant.” There was something that looked a lot like humor in his eyes, and she wasn’t really sure what to do with that.

But she liked it.

“Sex seems like an awful lot of stripping. A good con woman doesn’t like to remove her masks. I know I don’t. So I was never in a hurry to get that close to anyone. I mean, I could have been with someone if I’d wanted to. But I would’ve been playing a role. And that never sat well with me.”

“And with me? With me in the hotel room, back in New York. And with me now? Are you yourself?” He leaned in, pressing a kiss to her jawline. “Or are you still wearing a mask?”

His gaze met hers, his dark eyes boring into hers, and she had to look away. “I don’t know. I have no idea who I am. I’ve spent every day of my life playing a part. Even the waitress...the version of myself that was supposed to be good. Supposed to be honest—that was a role. I was only pretending to be normal. Slipping on the costume. But at the end of the day I would take it off and...I just felt like me again. I didn’t feel different. I’m always pretending.”

“And with me?”

She took a deep breath, her heart thundering hard. “That’s what terrifies me most.” It was the truth. And she didn’t know why she was admitting it. Didn’t know why she felt compelled to offer him the kind of honesty she’d rarely even given to herself.

“What? What terrifies you, cara mia?”

“That the day we made love in New York was the most honest I’ve ever been. With myself. With anyone.” She swallowed hard. “I’m not sure I liked her.” She said the last part slowly, heat assaulting her cheeks.

“And why didn’t you like her?”

“Because she...” She was starting to feel stupid talking about herself in the third person. “I...I slept with you. And I didn’t even know you. And I liked it.”

“And that’s a problem?”

She looked down, her voice muted. “For a lot of people, yes, it would be.”

“It isn’t for me.” He shifted his position so that he was sitting next to her. “I spent too many years wanting things. So I don’t now. I take. I have. I don’t want.”

“I do. That’s pretty much all I do.” That was true, too. Another thing she wasn’t certain she should’ve shared.

“Not anymore. Not with me. I can give you anything you want. I can give our child anything they might want. Anything they might need. And I will do the same for you. I promise, with me it will only ever be feast, Charity. You will never have to live through famine again. I swear it.” His voice was fierce, his dark eyes intent on hers. “I can give you decadence. You will never want for it again.”

She wanted to take him up on that promise. She wanted to sink into it. To sink into him, to cling to him and make him promise never to let her go.

It was then she remembered that he’d never promised her fidelity. And he had never promised a relationship. He was only promising things.

And he had gone out last night.

He might have slept with someone else less than twenty-four hours ago.

The idea made her skin crawl.

“You went out last night,” she said, conscious of the insecurity in her tone.

He paused for a moment, his dark eyes flat. “Yes, I did.”

“Did you sleep with someone else?” Her chest tightened painfully.

“No,” he said, his tone definitive.

The knot loosened slightly, her heart pounding hard. “Don’t lie to me. Not about that.”

“I have no reason to. You know that.”

“Don’t,” she said, her voice a whisper. “Don’t lie to me. And don’t sleep with anyone else.”

He put his palm on her cheek, his dark brows drawing together. “Forever, cara mia? That’s an awfully long time. I doubt either of us can predict the future quite that well.”

She couldn’t imagine ever wanting another man. But then...she was inexperienced. He was not. She couldn’t fathom it now—but maybe someday.

But she doubted it. “Then at least not while you’re sleeping with me.”

“I promise,” he said, his tone grave.

It was enough for her. It was enough for now. So she leaned in and kissed him, leaning in to his lips, to his promises, to his decadence. Because she was tired of wanting.

And in Rocco there was satisfaction. So she was determined to seize it.

For as long as possible.

* * *

Rocco was certain he had left some of his sanity back in that bed. Back beneath the covers with Charity. And for some reason he couldn’t bring himself to be disturbed by that.

He had promised her fidelity.

Granted, he didn’t think he could make his body respond to another woman even if his brain wanted him to. Hell, he knew he couldn’t. He had tried. He had failed.

Even so, he didn’t promise such things to women. Because he knew they might start thinking that they had a more permanent place in his life than they did. Though, if any woman had a permanent place in his life it was Charity. Not as his lover, certainly, but as the mother of his child.

As his lover... She was incredibly beautiful. Incredibly responsive. And right now he couldn’t imagine preferring anyone over her. But sex was all about satisfying the immediate need. And he had no idea how his immediate needs might shift over the course of the next few weeks. He had never practiced long-term commitment. And he didn’t intend to start now.

But he would honor his promise. His promise not to take anyone else to bed, as long as she was in it.