The Marriage Ultimatum (Contemporary Romance) Read online

  “Yes,” she said, then unzipped his pants and reached inside to stroke him, clasping her hand around his length.

  Dio. More heat flared. The scent of her skin, peaches and cream and a hint of vanilla mingled with the musk of her arousal. He struggled for control, digging a condom out of his front pants pocket before the need brought him to his knees.

  Vibrations pulsed between them, crackled in the air, buzzed behind his hand as he worked her jeans off her amazing tight bottom. Now wasn’t soon enough. Now was yesterday waiting to happen again.

  “Stefano…” She panted and stopped moving her palm along his engorged shaft. “Someone’s calling me.”

  “Ignore it.”

  “What if it’s about Matthew?”

  He inhaled a deep breath and counted to ten in four different languages while stepping away. “Of course,” he said, the reminder about their son halting him, but now that he’d had a taste of her again he wanted more if only to get her permanently out of his system.

  “Dang, I missed it. I’ll check missed call menu.” She quickly read the screen and the color drained from her face.

  “What’s wrong?” A thousand scenarios tripped through his brain. All of them dropped like lead bullets into his stomach. “Is Matthew hurt?”

  “Matthew’s fine.” She struggled to contain her breasts in her bra, then scooted around him to nab her T-shirt from the floor and pull it over her head. “It’s Doug.”

  Chapter 9

  “I’ve got to get Matthew. I can’t let Doug near him.”

  “How the hell did he find you?”

  “I don’t know.” Roxy’s hands trembled as she finished zipping her jeans, adrenaline rushing through her blood and making her heart race with fear. “I should never have given Maura my new cell phone number. I bet that’s how he found me. Or maybe it was my contact at Mountain Brook’s city council.” Everything in her wanted to grab Matthew and run, hide, escape.

  She looked at Stefano, half-expecting him to blame her for this situation. “God, I have to find out what he wants and get rid of him. Where will I go? What will I do?” Her fingers shook as she punched in the code to access her voice mail only to drop the phone to the floor.

  He was by her side before she knelt to grab it, wrapping his arms around her and stilling her frenzied movements. “There’s nothing for you to do, and you’re not going anywhere. You’re not alone anymore.” He smoothed her hair away from her brow, then tilted her chin up. “That bastardo will never go after you again. Believe me.”

  She pressed her hands against her eyes and sagged against him. Of all the reactions she’d expected from Stefano, understanding and compassion weren’t at the top of her list. Anger and suspicion? Those reactions tipped the scale at numbers one and two in her top ten muddled thoughts. “You should be furious with me.”

  He tightened his hold on her. “This isn’t your fault.”

  “But I gave out my cell number, and look what happened.” She’d trusted both people with the confidential information. Now she didn’t know who to have faith in except the one man who had withheld his from her up until today.

  “And I took you out on very public dates to prevent my family from discovering that we’re not a lovestruck reunited couple.” Stefano brushed his knuckles down her cheek and lifted her chin to look her in the eyes. “Do you blame me?”

  “No.” His blue-green gaze steadied her, and her pulse rate bumped back down to normal. “We did what we had to do to get Elena and Donatello off your back.”

  “Precisely,” he said. “That’s why we’ll fight this together.”

  A floating sensation, like all her burdens had been removed, traveled through her. Together sounded a lot better than alone, which was where she’d been for too long. “How?”

  “First, we find out what he wants.” He knelt, picked up the phone, then passed it to Roxy. “Then we neutralize him.”

  She accessed her voice mail and they listened to Doug’s demand for one million dollars to keep his mouth shut about Stefano’s abandonment three years ago. “He’s high,” Roxy said when the message ended. “But he sounds in control. I doubt he needs the money to pay off another dealer. Not after what he did to me three years ago.”

  “Agreed.”

  “What will we do?” she asked. “I can’t give into blackmail when we know he’ll only come after us again.”

  “That won’t happen.” He took her hand. “We’ll shut him up until after we’re divorced. Then the truth won’t matter.”

  The divorce. The ending of their marriage suddenly loomed larger than Roxy had anticipated, but for now they had each other’s backs. “Good point,” she said firmly. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Not a thing until I contact Gian.”

  “Gian hates me.” Roxy squared her shoulders. “Not that the feeling isn’t mutual.”

  “You have good reason to dislike my cousin, but he’s an honorable man, tesoro,” Stefano said. “Gian’s got our best interests at heart. Always.”

  “More like yours.”

  “He knows you’re not a liar when it comes to our son.” Stefano moved her to the studio’s door and they exited the room together. “And he’s got the time to execute a cash delivery in the United States.”

  As they hurried down the stairs and rushed to Stefano’s office, Roxy’s mind reeled. If Doug hadn’t called, she’d be having hot, sweaty sex with Stefano in her studio. So not good. Not good at all. For once in his life—at least since he’d escaped their childhood home—her brother’s timing had been stellar.

  Still, a part of her wished her brother’s timing had been completely off. Because being in Stefano’s arms, feeling his desire, and knowing he’d come to her had awakened something deep inside. Roxy felt alive with Stefano. And she’d missed that more than anything during the years they’d been apart.

  * * *

  Pain pinged in Stefano’s temples and the muscles at the top of his spine knotted after he quietly locked his office door behind him and Roxy. Getting there without running into Donatello or Nonno had taken them on some interesting detours, but they’d arrived unseen. He’d take care of the Donatello problem after handling the current mess created by Roxy’s brother.

  “Take a seat.” He pointed to a wingback chair in front of his desk. “Check your cell for more information—calls from Maura, the councilman at Mountain Brook, emails, whatever while I call Gian.”

  “Put it on speaker,” she said, tossing him a glance over her shoulder while she crossed the hardwood floor. Sitting, she continued, “I don’t want to miss a word, and I damn well better be included in every decision you make about my brother’s demands.”

  He shot her a glance and read the determination glinting in her eyes. No way would she back down and he couldn’t blame her after all she’d been through. “Understood,” he said.

  He punched in Gian’s number, put his call on speaker phone, and swiftly recounted the recent developments. “We’re not sure how he got Roxy’s number…”

  Across from him, she finished reading her phone’s messages and said, “My contact at city council gave Doug my phone number. He can be very charming when he wants to get something.”

  “We’ll change your phone number, then only allow city council to contact you via my offices in Rome.”

  “How can we be sure Roxy’s not part of this scam?” Gian asked, cutting into their discussion. “She might want to make a tidy profit for her future.”

  Roxy bolted to her feet and clasped the edge of Stefano’s desk. “Listen, you bastard, I don’t want or need Stefano’s money. We have a prenup, you remember?” She inhaled a deep breath and her nostrils flared. “If you had bothered to forward my calls three years ago, maybe we wouldn’t be in this jam today. As it is, Stefano missed out on the first years of Matthew’s life because of you. You owe us an apology for that alone.”

  She breathed in again and Stefano’s gaze landed on her breasts… Cristo… he’d been moments
away from taking her, claiming her as his again when her brother interrupted them. How different would things have been if Gian hadn’t blocked her calls?

  “Roxy didn’t want a thing to do with me until I forced her into marrying me,” Stefano said, looking outside. Sunlight streamed through his windows, and he watched Matthew playing with Carlotta and Elena’s boys. He’d missed out on too much from the day Matthew had been born up until now, but he’d been equally to blame for that loss. Stefano turned from the view and said, “All Roxy wanted was child support and shared custody. If the problems plaguing our company and Nonno’s lack of confidence in me hadn’t been an issue, that’s what I’d have done. Now apologize to my wife.”

  She gave him an incredulous stare as his words registered until her lips curved into a genuine smile, one that reached her eyes and lit up her entire face. A guy could get used to seeing more of those smiles, and damned if he didn’t want to make them happen more often.

  Because they were friends. Shared a child. And, if Doug hadn’t interfered, had a healthy sexual attraction to each other that they’d almost consummated. One that he shouldn’t have acted on, but now that he’d crossed that line, he only wanted her more.

  “Well?” he asked again. “You apologizing or not?”

  A nanosecond of silence passed. Then another. He heard Gian clear his throat twice. “Si. I made a supreme error in judgment three years ago,” Gian said. “Now I have the opportunity to make up for that mistake.”

  Her grip on the desk relaxed and she rose to her full height. Rays of late afternoon sunshine danced across her high cheekbones and accentuated the determination in her face. “I’ll accept your apology under one condition.”

  Stefano stifled a laugh. Only Roxy had the courage to demand what she believed she deserved in spite of the odds against her. Again he heard his cousin clear his throat—a sure sign that Gian didn’t like being in the hot seat or giving into anyone.

  “Depends on the condition.”

  “Fair enough, but I promise it won’t hurt.” She pushed away from the desk. “Don’t ever doubt my priorities again. I only want what’s best for Matthew and Stefano. That puts us on the same side.”

  “You have my word,” Gian said, respect in his voice. “Now tell me what you want me to do.”

  “I’ll return Doug’s call and try to convince him to stop this madness.” Roxy circled the desk and stood next to Stefano. “Maybe we won’t have to pay him off.”

  “He smells money.” Stefano inhaled a deep breath and the perfume of her scent intoxicated him, made him want to end the conference call and finish what they’d started in her studio. “No way that’ll happen.”

  “He used to defend me,” she said. “I’d like to believe that the guy I grew up with still exists beneath the demons that drove him to get involved in the underworld.”

  Her stories about her lousy childhood in West Virginia resurrected. That her brother had been someone she’d once relied on for shelter persuaded him. “Call Doug—on speaker. Don’t let him manipulate you.” Doug had abandoned her, lied to her, and threatened her, much like Stefano had, too. His gut clenched into a hard knot. The thought shamed him now that he understood Roxy’s fierce loyalty to those she loved.

  “Agreed,” Gian said over the intercom. “We can’t let emotions guide our actions.”

  “Si.” Stefano pushed away from his desk to stand beside Roxy, then wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “I’ll make sure we don’t let that happen.”

  “Let’s do this.”

  As she hit the call button on her cell phone, Stefano realized he’d behaved no better than her brother when he’d used the background check as a handy excuse to propel out of her life. Yet, she’d stood by him throughout all his efforts to prove to his grandfather that he was the right man to take over Durante Enterprises.

  Not because she loved him, but because he’d pressured her into this marriage for his own gain. They had a fierce attraction to each other, but he’d never know where she stood based on that reality. Everything she had done had been for Matthew’s sake, not her own. And not because she’d changed her mind about Stefano. With everything he had at stake—keeping Donatello out of his way while he convinced his grandfather to join the twenty-first century to save Durante Enterprises’ Steel industry—Stefano couldn’t afford to confuse what had almost happened between them in the art studio with anything more than the sheer need for physical release.

  Chapter 10

  “How much longer do you think you can stall Donatello in Milan?” Roxy asked Stefano as they walked out of their luxury hotel suite toward their private elevator.

  He pushed the button and within seconds the gleaming silver doors opened. “I’m keeping him mired in contract negotiations until after we secure the Phillip Anderson contract,” he said, placing his hand on the small of her back to escort her inside.

  Her pulse thumped hard and went insane at the brief touch. Though nothing had happened between them again after their heated exchange in her studio—other than their requisite kisses in front of Nonno and the family—Roxy’s craving for Stefano had grown stronger with each passing day.

  Not only because of her attraction to him, but because he’d stood by her after she’d failed to convince her brother to do the right thing. Her heart aching, she finally accepted the fact that the man she’d counted on for so long no longer existed. But Stefano hadn’t wavered while they coordinated a counteroffensive to stop Doug’s scheme.

  That drew her closer to Stefano in ways she hadn’t expected. Now, more than ever, being in the same room with him, particularly a small elevator, was becoming more of a challenge. They had two days in Naples where neither of them could lose themselves in their work to escape the undeniable physical attraction they’d unleashed. And, if she were honest with herself, her heart had become involved which made it more difficult.

  Roxy moved away from him and smoothed her palms down the sides of the long, strapless gown she’d chosen to wear to tonight’s charity gala. “Have you heard from Gian?” His cousin had flown overseas four days after Doug had threatened to sell his version about Stefano and Roxy’s love affair to the highest bidder. The only good thing about the sordid scheme had been gaining Gian’s apology for misjudging her all along.

  “Your brother’s no longer a problem.” The doors opened and Stefano guided her into the hotel’s lobby. Once again the warmth of his touch sent heat through her bare skin, and need spiraled low. “Our plan worked.”

  “Thank God.”

  They moved past the tall, glass and chrome doors toward the exclusive Il Cielo bar and restaurant that the charity’s organizers had booked for the gala in Naples. Their progress reflected in the panes—Stefano exuded confidence and sex appeal in his perfectly fitted tuxedo and desire licked at her, flaring through her from the inside out.

  They hadn’t gone beyond their public kisses during the past nine days, but right now she wasn’t sure she could handle another night, especially when he’d supported her in fighting Doug.

  “I’m sorry about my brother,” she said, willing herself to focus on the blend of period antiques juxtaposed throughout the hotel’s montage of contemporary artwork rather than the electricity charging into all of her nerve endings. “I wish I’d never let him back into my life.”

  “You’re a loyal person,” Stefano said. “He used that against you.”

  “He betrayed me.” She slanted her gaze to his handsome profile, tracing the gorgeous lines all the way from the top of his dark, wavy hair down his straight nose, over his delectable full lips and caught the muscle jumping in his determined jawline. “I hate that you had to buy his silence, I won’t let him do it again.”

  “I’ve gotten used to paying off people—even family members—to ensure my privacy,” Stefano said quietly before they entered the crowded room. “A million dollars is a small price to pay to guarantee my company’s merger with Phillip Anderson’s high tech IT group, not to mention givi
ng you peace of mind.”

  “For now.” She suppressed the urge to ask who else he’d been shilling money out to throughout the years, but his confession revealed more about the demons that drove Stefano. “I’m afraid he’ll try again.”

  “Won’t matter after we’re divorced.”

  “True.” They moved into the crowded rooms that overlooked Naples’s night skyline with its breathtaking views of Mt. Vesuvius, Capri, and the Sorrento Coast. “But who knows when that will happen now that Nonno is getting treatment?”

  “You still sure you can stand being stuck with me longer than you’d anticipated?”

  “If it’ll buy Matthew more time with Nonno, I’m willing to risk it.”

  He stopped walking and deftly turned her to face him, one hand on her hip while he brushed his knuckles down the side of her face. “Don’t worry about your brother coming after you again. I’ll do whatever it takes to defend my family. You have my word on that.”

  The room was filled with the sounds of people laughing, talking over the din of pop music piping in through hidden speakers. Servers weaved through the throng carrying trays of glasses and platters of hors d’oeuvres that smelled heavenly. But the only thing she wanted to taste stood in front of her with his captivating blue-green eyes locked onto hers. A man of honor who would do anything for the people he loved… even someone he claimed he didn’t, and couldn’t, love. “I believe you,” Roxy said.

  Though she didn’t know if he would ever become the man she’d fallen in love with three years ago, what now existed between them had transformed into more than a marriage of convenience. Whatever that led to, she had no clue.

  “Buono sera. Good evening,” a female voice said, slicing through Roxy’s thoughts like a blade. “I thought I’d run into you tonight.”

  Stefano wrenched his gaze from Roxy’s. “Filomena,” he said, casually draping his arm around Roxy’s shoulders. “Why am I not surprised to see you here?” he asked drily. “Trolling for a new husband?”