Billionaires: The Hero: A Deal for the Di Sione Ring / The Last Di Sione Claims His Prize / The Baby Inheritance

“What are my other vulnerable points?”

“Your face?”

“Be more specific.”

“Your eyes?”

“And what else?”

“Your nose?”

“Yes, but the throat is better. A quick, hard strike against the throat—the Adam’s apple of a man in particular—is perfect. It shocks me enough to let you go. Gouging at the eyes is also good. Your goal is to stun me long enough to get away.”

She nodded.

“Let’s try it from the beginning.”

“The beginning?”

“You need to put yourself back in the scenario. Imagine it’s happening, remember the sequence and go for one of my vulnerable points. I won’t know which way you’re going to go, which gives you the element of surprise that you would have in that situation.”

She pressed her lips together. “Okay.”

He slid an arm around her waist and tugged her close. “Ready?”

“Sì.”

He brought his mouth down to hers, and this time he kissed her. Unlike the first kiss he’d given her in front of the registrar, this one was unavoidable, dominant, meant to simulate the one Silvio had given her. She trusted Nate. She did. Her heart pounded, anyway, at how helpless she felt. How much stronger he was. When he took the kiss deeper, made a claim on her she wasn’t willing to submit to, she stiffened, gathered her strength and slammed her right hand hard in his throat.

Nate released her, his hands lifting to his throat. “Nice job,” he rasped, half coughing, half speaking. “I expected you to go for the eyes.”

Mina stared at him, hands clenched by her sides, adrenaline racing through her. “Are you okay?”

“Fine.” His gaze narrowed. “The kiss was necessary, Mina. It had to be real. To evoke the violent reaction it did in you so you could use your power.”

She nodded.

“And what did you do?”

“I got away.”

“What would you have done next?”

“Run.”

“Where?”

“Out the front door. The house was empty.”

“Exactly,” he said. “Move toward people. Help.”

She unclenched her fists. Took a deep breath as she attempted to calm her body down.

“You’ve just taken back your power, Mina.” Nate stepped toward her. “I knew the blow was coming and you still incapacitated me long enough for you to get away.”

She nodded. Instructed her pounding heart to relax because this was Nate in front of her, not Silvio.

“If you have that power,” he said, “you can choose who you trust. You can choose what situations you put yourself in. Not all men are violent. Some would only want to kiss you for pleasure—yours and their own.”

She knew that. But the way she’d felt when Nate had just kissed her...

“What?”

She put a hand to her heart. “This panic. I know I can trust you and still I felt terrified.”

“Like I said. Give yourself some time.”

She forced a smile. “You’re right. I just hate giving him that power over me.”

He was silent for a long moment. “Then don’t.”

She blinked. “Scusi?”

“You trust me?”

She nodded.

“Then get back on the wagon.” He took another step toward her, stopping just short of her personal space. “We’re attracted to each other, Mina. Intensely attracted to each other. But I am not Silvio. I can kiss a woman and walk away, no matter how hot and bothered I am, regardless of where my emotions lie, because I am in control of them. I would never hurt a woman. So,” he said deliberately, “kiss me right now. Replace that image of what happened with Silvio with a positive experience.”

She gaped at him. “We can’t do that. We made a rule.”

“So we break it for one kiss. The longer you let this eat away at you, the harder it’s going to be to leave behind.”

She had a feeling that was true. She didn’t want to carry this victim mentality with her. Didn’t want to give it a chance to take hold. Because this Mina Mastrantino she’d been tonight was not the real Mina. The Mina who had chased away her childish ghosts in boarding school because there’d been no one else to do it for her. The Mina who’d learned to survive without love when it seemed like everyone around her had it but her, by telling herself someday she would have it, too. The Mina who was stronger than this.

“Sì,” she said. “Let’s do it.”

“Come here.”

For a brief, heart-stopping moment, Mina thought she might actually be insane. Because this man was dangerous. Beautifully, undeniably, self-admittedly dangerous. Yet, she conceded, she trusted him implicitly.

He was letting her take control. He wouldn’t make the first move.

She took a step forward, then another, until she was almost touching him. There she stopped, her innate shyness kicking in. Nate’s gaze caught hers, pulled her in. She took the last step forward, sucking in a breath as he reached out, curved a hand around her waist and brought her to him in a loose hold that continued to give her every option.

She thought he would lean down and kiss her then. Instead, he focused on her lips, as if they were the most fascinating thing in the world. As if he had all the time in the world. Her breathing quickened, anticipation firing her blood. He brought his mouth down to hers without touching. Their breath mingled first, then the lush surfaces of their mouths. Oh, mio Dio. She was practically panting by the time he angled his head and took her mouth.

He brought his fingers up to capture her jaw, lightly, as if she might bolt at any minute. Explored the surface of her mouth with an exquisite thoroughness that just about brought her to her knees. Long and mesmerizing, the kiss went on and on, until she was boneless beneath his fingers, her blood moving through her veins in a hot, restless purr.