Trapped Into Marriage (4 page)

Without a word, she stepped into the luxurious confines of what happened to be a state-of-the-art Audi. The windows closed, sealing them within an atmosphere that both chilled her blood and warmed her toes. She felt Nic
k
Vitale’s gaze sweep over her for a few moments in silence but she looked straight ahead. She let out a shaky breath as he then turned back to focus on his driving
, shooting
them off with a squeal of tires.

***

“Address?” Nic
k
Vitale quipped the moment they were out of the private road.

Keyonna pushed her fingers through her hair in exasperation. “Look, there’s absolutely no cause for you to drop me home. I much prefer to get a cab…”

“Save my time and your effort,” the infernal man said calmly yet with that hint of steel in his tone. His hand was poised over the GPS.

Quelling the urge to bestow him with her most catty eye roll, she blurted out her home address and then said a silent prayer that she could keep her cool the short drive to her place. Thankfully she didn’t live that far away and was virtually counting down the minutes until she would be free from Nicholas Vitale’s disturbing presence.

He drove smoothly and with total precision, and as the silence drew on Keyonna couldn’t help stealing a glance at his profile. She couldn’t read a thing from that darkly brooding face; he looked as forbidding as he always did. But soon, Keyonna felt the need to break the ominous silence so she took the bold step.

“Okay, Nic
k
, why don’t you let it all out,” she said calmly, taking the liberty of calling him by his first name since he’d done the same with her. “Go on; tell me what else you think of me after that little stunt I pulled back there. I’ve come to discover you’re hardly the type to mince words.”

Was it her imagination, or was there an upward quirk to his tantalizing lush
mouth
? Keyonna wanted to kick herself for noticing how nicely curved his
lips
w
ere
for a man and how it had tasted damn good to kiss him. She could still feel the texture of those warm, lightly
savoury
lips with just
a
hint of bourbon…

“You’re a brave woman, Keyonna,”
Nick
told her somewhat thoughtfully. He spared her a narrow glance before facing the road again. “A little crazy, but I can see you’ve got guts. Unfortunately, all that does nothing to lessen the feelings of utter rage I have for you right now.”

Uh oh. Keyonna swallowed inaudibly. She should have known that underneath his cool exterior, the man was fuming. Hiding a flinch, she turned to view him as he continued to speak in that deceptively conversational tone.

“And do you know I’m enraged? No; I doubt that you do. You see, you’ve just managed to ruin my engagement to Rachel Conte. She definitely will not marry me now.”

Keyonna shrugged. “Too bad,” she said without any attempt to sound sorry for him. She’d forgotten nothing about the things he’d said to her and in fact, his accusations were drawing up her wounded feelings all over again. He was mean, hard and appalling and deserved whatever was coming for him…

“Yes; too bad for you,” he told her with a dark, stern tone. “Because I’ve decided that if she will not agree to go ahead with the planned wedding, you will have to do.”

Keyonna twisted right round to look at him
after those bluntly delivered words
.

Her mouth was slack as she told herself she had to have misunderstood him. “Are you being serious?”

“I’m certainly not joking,” he told her calmly, his eyes still on the road ahead, his grip on the steering wheel firm and sure. “I don’t know why you put on that performance, arresting though it was.”

He paused to cock an eyebrow at her, and she could tell he was being sarcastic. Her eyes narrowed though she didn’t interrupt as he continued, “But what I do know is that it has inconveniently landed me without a fiancée and therefore, no bride. This is a big problem for me. A billion dollar problem…”

His matter-of-fact tone made her sit up, her attention now fully grabbed as she tried to make sense of it all. He really wasn’t bluffing, she realized, staring at him. “Hold on…she hasn’t exactly broken up with you, has she?”

Nic
k
’
s
well-cut lips twisted at her question. “Rachel has as good as done so. You saw me go after her. Well, I did my best to reason with her, but she told me it was best if I didn’t try to see her again. Ever.” He glanced Keyonna’s way, his gaze chilly. “Rachel is a proud, spoiled brat. Catching me in the arms of such a beautiful and delectable woman like you must have been a hard sight to stomach.”

Keyonna swallowed drily. It wasn’t the first time he’d called her beautiful tonight but she still felt that sheer drop in her belly. Now he called her both beautiful
and
delectable. Well he had a funny way of showing he regarded her as such, she thought even as she told herself she shouldn’t be sure he meant her to feel flattered by his comments.

Eyeing him speculatively, she murmured, “It seems there’s no love lost between the two of you.” She could hardly keep the curiosity from her tone as she awaited his reply.

“If you mean, do we love each other?” he began, slanting a cynical glance her way, “Then no. I’ve never considered love as a criterion for a good marriage. Mutual respect, physical compatibility, yes. But not love. Unlike you, I believe?”

Keyonna found herself glaring at him with defiance. “I guess you’re indirectly asking me if I’d marry a man I didn’t love. I believe you know the answer to that.”

Now he huffed skeptically. “Ah sure; and the reason you turned Mark down was because you didn’t love him. Yeah, right. You never did strike me as the sentimental type – so I’d rather go with: you don’t want to marry him because he just isn’t rich enough for you.”

He sent her one of his sardonic looks even as she bristled speechlessly.

“After all, Mark Tucker is simply the nephew to Marilyn Tucker who actually holds the reins of whatever wealth the family owns. Mark’s father wasn’t the one who amassed all that Tucker money – Marilyn did. Mark is probably going to have to at least work his way up the ladder within the family’s holdings and see where that gets him. But it’s really up to his aunt how far he goes and once he’s through with his military career, she just might start him at the bottom. My point? He’s no trust fund baby and he relies much too much on his family name which only goes so far as the whims of his doting aunt. Which makes him far from loaded – certainly not rolling in enough dough to impress you, I’m certain.”

Keyonna was gasping, unable to piece a proper sentence together while she felt so totally slayed by his unfair comments. Where the hell was all this coming from? He had no right – no freaking right – to say these things to her and she marveled at how much thought he put into his opinions of her. And much as she hated to admit it to herself, it really, really hurt.

“You’re such a jerk,” she managed to choke out at last. “First you call me cold and heartless – and now you’re implying I’m a gold-digger. What the
hell
?”

He pinned her with a quelling glance, before looking carelessly away again. “Like I said earlier, I’m simply making conclusions. Whether they’re accurate or not remains to be seen. One thing I know for sure…you’re far from cold.”

From the look he sent her in that moment, Keyonna felt her face flush as she knew he was referring to that brief, steamy kiss on the balcony.

Well truth be told she’d put her all into that kiss. She could recall probing inside his hot, moistly sweet mouth and feeling the flashing heat of his tongue against hers.

Keyonna squirmed just thinking how damned good that had felt. She’d never forget that faint waft of his
cologne;
so masculine, expensive and thrilling. A
man's
kiss had never tasted so good and feeling his hands grip her waist had been so
erotic
and had made her just want to melt against him, into him. He was one sexy son of a bitch and she detested herself for wanting him as badly as she knew she did deep inside.

Looking away from his devilishly handsome face and outside the window, she ignored the twitching in between her treacherous thighs and muttered, “I really hope Rachel dumps you for real, Nic
k
. Even I wouldn’t marry a beast like you.”

He chuckled humorlessly, obviously unperturbed. “You’d better pray she
doesn’t
dump me, dear Keyonna. Or you’ll be next in line.”

The soft menace in his words vibrated in the air around them, throwing Keyonna into confusion. She was barely aware that he’d brought the car to a stop right in front of her apartment; her head was in such a whirl. But then when she felt him gr
ip
her chin between his thumb and index finger, her eyes flew to his in surprise. He gave her no chance to react as he suddenly swooped his head down and owned her lips.

Yes, owned. Because the moment his mouth touched hers, he gave her no doubt who was in charge this time.

Firm yet sensuous, his lips ground into hers with a fiery passion nothing like his habitual ice-cold demeanor.

Keyonna couldn’t control her breathing; sharp gasps of excitement spilling from her parted lips. She could feel his dominance in every demanding brushstroke of his mouth
over
hers, which brought the juices fizzing through her panties.

The kiss grew harder
,
more
carnal
and Keyonna was tempted to moan with bliss. She hated that she liked the way his
lips
felt over hers
;
the way his tongue mimicked the act of wicked, hot sex as he fucked in and out of her mouth. Hot damn. Her fingers squeezed tight on her clutch
purse
as she resisted the strong urge to grab his lapels and pull him hard against her now throbbing breasts. Beneath her bodice, her nipples felt like lead thimbles; thick and heavy.
Within her hidden folds, she pulsed and trickled. Deep in her feminine core, she clenched with a need greater than any she’d ever felt before.

But Nick
pulled away when she least expected, and Keyonna felt like whining in protest. Her eyes peeled open to find him drawing back, shoving a hand through his wavy dark hair as he looked away for a moment.

“You
, Ms. Hayes, are
a distraction I don’t want and I certainly don’t need,” he muttered gruffly, as if to himself.

Well, fuck you, thought Keyonna, tumbling back down to earth with a crash. What was that? He blew hot and then cold, the same way he drove her mad with fury and then turned her to molten lava in turns.

“May I remind you that you started all this? You were the one who couldn’t seem to mind your own damned business,” she spat, feeling slapped by his attitude after that pussy-drenching kiss. She’d never met a more infuriating man in her life and she couldn’t believe how much her whole body ached for more of his kisses, his touch. Just imagining being taken by a man like Nic
k
Vitale had her pulse rate speeding alarmingly. She must be crazy.

“All I did was speak my mind, Keyonna. If you felt insulted, I think kissing me was the wrong way to show your displeasure. I didn’t ask you to throw yourself at me.”

“Why you…”

“Save it,” he snapped through her raving words. “It’s obvious we both crossed the line tonight and I’m going to have to figure a way to undo whatever clusterfuck I – and you – have got
ten
m
e
into.”

His expression was unreadable as he held her fuming stare. “Don’t think this is some game, Keyonna. Because it isn’t. I’m dead serious and the sooner you start believing that, the better for you. We’ll definitely be seeing each other again soon. Now get out.”

Keyonna blinked, surprised at the abrupt command. “What?”

“If you much rather I threw you out…,” Nic
k muttered
, and knowing he could very well do it Keyonna scrambled out while her knees shook with rage.

“I was right, Nic
k
; you
are
a beast,” Keyonna spat, before slamming the door after her. He made no reply, but sped off leaving behind a cloud of exhaust fumes.

Chapter Four

Nic
k
was tapping his fingers idly on the polished surface of the table next to him, striving hard to control his impatience.

He was seated within Luca Conte’s opulent study, his drink of whiskey untouched by his elbow. His future father-in-law paced the Moroccan rug underfoot, his expression fathomless.

And yet, Nic
k
told himself he knew what was coming. It was two days since the eventful dinner party he’d escorted Rachel to. He’d been expecting this summons from her father, who had also been a close friend and business associate to Nic
k
’
s
father. Both their families went back before either of the Contes or Vitales had settled in America four generations ago, from their home country Italy.