The Italian's Bedroom Deal (18 page)

“I know that I love you and I don’t want to lose you simply because your father did something that was irrelevant to our relationship.”

Clarissa closed her eyes as the pain ripped through her. Oh, to hear those first few words just this morning, she would have been on cloud nine. “Why lie now, Max? You have everything you want. You did it, you won my father’s company so what’s left? There’s no need for you to continue with this charade of a marriage. You don’t need me anymore.”

He jumped off the bed, his hands holding her upper arms in an attempt to convey the sincerity of his message. “That’s not true. I swear I didn’t know what your father was doing. And to prove it, I’ll sell the company and donate every penny to charity. I don’t want the company, Clarissa. I need you.”

The words were so sweet and he looked so sincere. Closing her eyes, she shook her head. “No Max. You fooled me once. I can’t take it again.” She looked at his shirt and whispered, “It hurts too much.”

He stilled as her admission flowed over him. “Why?” he asked. “Why is it too painful?”

Turning her head from side to side, she tried to deny him but he held her close, pulling her into his chest and holding her carefully. She couldn’t take the sweetness of his embrace and her pride was gone. She couldn’t hold back the words anymore. “Because I’ve loved you so much, for so long and you lied to me. You told me you wanted me. Just me!” she exclaimed, stomping her foot for emphasis. “Do you know how seductive that is for someone who’s been an afterthought her whole life?”

He bent down so he could see her face. “You’re wrong, Clarissa. You’re father loves you dearly. He’s just terrible at showing it. He sent the papers to my office so you wouldn’t see them. He didn’t want you to know about what he was planning. He knew it would hurt you. It never occurred to him that my secretary would send them to my home office. He’s been so wrapped up in his own company and working his life away that it never occurred to him that I would bring my work home with me. But I do. I need to be with you even if you’re only across the room. I like working through details and looking up to see you in the chair in my office while I work, I need to see you concentrating so hard when you’re working on a difficult passage and I want you in my bed, in my life and across from me at breakfast and dinner, and lunch if you can endure me that often. I want to see you grow huge with our children and when they enter our lives, I want to raise them right beside you, not missing out on any of those incredible moments your father threw away because of a blind need to achieve something in the business world. You’re sweet and beautiful and you make me crazy with desire just watching you walk across a room.”

She couldn’t take it anymore. The tears that had been spilling out gently burst out of her in a cough of pain. “But you have my father’s company. You don’t need me!”

He held her closer. “That’s not true. You’re everything to me. You love me and I love you and there’s nothing we can do but figure out how to trust each other because we can’t live without each other. I won’t expect anything less, nor should you.”

“I don’t trust you,” she said adamantly.

He smiled over her head as his arms tightened around her waist. “Yes, you do.”

She pushed out of his arms and glared at him. “No, you arrogant bastard! I don’t love you.”

He chuckled softly, unable to stop the relief soaring through him as he watched her face. “Yes, you do. Otherwise, you never would have married me and compromised everything you believed in. You trust me for the same reason. You just need to learn to trust yourself.”

He pulled her closer but she shook her head and walked around him. “No, Max. I don’t want this anymore. I don’t want to feel like this ever again. It’s too painful.”

“I agree.”

She hadn’t expected him to say that and it stopped her. She turned in the middle of the room, the anger gone to be replaced by the hurt once again. “What did you say?”

“I agree. The pain is too much. But I can’t let you go. That would tear me apart and I can’t live without you.”

His words confused her even more. As did the sincerity in his voice. She told herself not to trust him, not to trust what he was telling her. She’d seen him convince others of his way of thinking and she couldn’t fall under the spell. “You want the money and the power,” she challenged, daring him to contradict her.

“No. I want the challenge of business. I don’t care about the money although it’s a nice side benefit,” he replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

Despite the hurt and tears Clarissa couldn’t help but laugh. “You need to work on your humility.”

“I need to work on making you deliriously happy,” he countered and took a step toward her. “I need to work on making your father understand things about you that he’s too stupid to realize on his own. I need to tear up this document,” he said, referring to the will that was sitting on a chair by the bed, “and make sure your father finds his own successor because our children are going to be too busy running my companies and taking over my businesses. They won’t have time to do anything with his. He missed his chance with you,” he stated firmly. “I won’t be so blind to our children.”

She could feel her resolve wilting under the pressure of his words. They sounded so wonderful and she desperately wanted to believe him. “What children?” she asked.

He smiled and her stomach did a flip flop. “The ones we’re going to make as soon as you admit you love me and will never leave me again.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Is that all I’m going to say?”

He laughed, knowing he’d won. “You’re going to give me several daughters that will look as gorgeous as you are.”

“You think so?” she asked flippantly. A thought occurred to her and she stopped his forward momentum with a finger to the middle of his chest. “Will you ever keep a mistress?” she demanded.

Of all the things she might have asked, that one was the most hilarious. “Are you kidding me?” he asked and saw the worry in her eyes. He stopped and pulled her close, lifting her off her feet and carrying her to the bed. “I can’t believe you would ask me something like that but since I can see the anxiety on your face, I’ll let you know that no woman has ever made me feel the things you do. I’ve never had sex with a woman and felt so much pleasure as I do when we touch. I’d never jeopardize that kind of bliss by even thinking of another woman. You’re the only one for me and you’re stuck with me for the rest of our lives. And if you ever leave me again and scare me the way you have for the past eight hours, I will personally carry you all the way home, lock you in our bedroom and tie you to our bed.”

Since he’d already pushed his knee between her legs, Clarissa could barely breathe for the excitement washing through her. “And what will you do with me when I’m tied up?” she asked breathlessly.

He pulled her shirt from her jeans, his large hand covering her stomach as he shook his head. “First you have to tell me that you love me.”

“I love you,” she said forcefully, not even hesitating as she watched his eyes, saw the fire inside of them and the relief when she said the words. His expression told her so much more than his words and she realized that he was right. She didn’t need to trust him. She needed to trust herself, to believe in herself and his love. She had to believe that he could actually love her and wasn’t like her father, always following the next business deal and thrill of making his next million.

“And that you’ll give me lots of daughters with beautiful blue eyes and curly brown hair and the prettiest smile I’ve ever seen.”

She shook her head, her smile growing wider with each sentence he spoke. “I’ll give you lots of sons with black eyes that will charm everyone in sight.”

“And you trust me and you’ll never leave me again, terrifying me and giving me a heart attack.”

“And I…” she started to say she trusted him but his hand moved across her flat stomach and she was unable to think any more.

He bent down and kissed her stomach with his lips. “What were you going to say?” he asked, teasing the sensitive flesh over her hip bone.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” He lifted his head and looked down at her. “You believe that, don’t you?”

“You really don’t want my father’s company?” she asked, the niggle of fear slipping up once again although she hated that feeling.

“I want you. You’re father’s company can go to hell. And if you don’t believe me, I’ll take my support out of his company. He’ll be bankrupt in a year. Then there won’t be anything left for him to give to me. Will that work?”

Clarissa’s eyes widened. “My father’s company is in trouble?” she asked.

Max nodded. “Why do you think he’s asked me to step in?”

“I didn’t know that’s what he was doing.”

He nipped her shoulder, then pulled the fabric down. “It’s the reason I was at the dinner party that night. Although I can’t remember much of anything after you walked in. I’m afraid your father was very irritated with me that night.”

Clarissa laughed happily. “Oh Max! You do love me!”

“Haven’t I been telling you that for the past hour?”

“I love you too,” she said and happily gave in to the feeling of his mouth, his hands and his love.