The Twelve Vitali Ch. 10

"Your family would expect me to complete a trial," she said as if it was common knowledge. "As you're the second son they would probably expect you to send me to the Battaglia, like Joseph Donati did to Peri."

"That's a very real possibility," he admitted, surprised at her knowledge, but considering where she had just been and who she had been working with he realised he probably shouldn't be surprised.

"And being the second son there is a high probability that you will inherit your father's place as leader of your family?" she asked, but already knew the information thanks to Pete.

"There is the possibility, but I have six brothers who also feel a very real possibility of inheriting the chair. Jacobi and Rafael are both born leaders. I don't believe it will be me," he said carefully, wondering who had told her so much. "I had almost forgotten how straightforward you can be," he chuckled.

"But if you are chosen, as the next leader, would I need to let someone else into my bed like Peri does, or would it be like having a close, affectionate brother living with us where sex wasn't part of equation?" she asked. "I've heard that is the preference of some of the families."

"You sound very well informed," Matteo said carefully.

"I've spent the last month getting to know a family just like yours intimately. I know each of those men now and their roles and responsibilities to their family. They were open and honest with me, for the most part, and if I needed clarification, Pete explained things to me. I understand how important family is to them and you." She said in explanation. "I know what would be expected of me this time if you offered me the partnership again and I took it." She took another bite of her pizza, unsure of what he was thinking now and not wanting to say anything else until he had said something.

"What if I didn't want the business agreement but I still wanted the partnership?" he asked tentatively. "What if I wanted more? A real relationship, messy emotions and risk and all the things that scare me that I want with you? My reasons for wanting and needing a fake fiancé haven't changed. Only now I want it for real if you think you could still care about me."

"I do still care. If I didn't care I wouldn't be trying so hard to understand you and your family and what this all means for me, for you, for us," she sighed. "If we can work things out between us, do you think your fathers would consider sending me to the Donati for my trial rather than the Battaglia?" she asked. "Pete has said he would oversee it," she said without thinking about the implications of that for Matteo.

"You and Pete became very close while you were there," his eyes narrowed, and his voice hardened slightly.

"He was a good friend to me at a time when I really needed one, he never would have violated the trust I put in him by betraying how I felt about you," she said stiffly, feeling his disapproval. "Bianca became a friend too, and also answered my questions about you. You should thank her, because she is the main reason why we are here talking like this right now."

"Oh, and what did Bianca tell you that I should be so thankful for?" Matteo asked, almost dreading the answer.

"She told me about Alessandro and your mother," Cat said, looking him directly in the eye. "It's no wonder you don't trust women. I get it now. I understand why you felt you needed to protect yourself with the business proposal. I came back to renegotiate with you because it makes sense now. I didn't understand why it had to be that way before, but with your history with Nik and the expectations of your family, I get it. You were protecting me as much as yourself."

Matteo sat staring at her dumbfounded and said nothing. Part of him hurt that Bianca had told Cat about the damage Maria had caused, the other part of him was glad she knew now and it had helped her understand him and his family a little better and made her more open to what he would have to ask her.

"For all your talk about honesty, perhaps if you had told me about your mother, as well as the story about Nik, you might have had a better chance of staying in control of this relationship. Instead, I have found out the things I needed to know about you and your destiny from another family," she sighed and put the last bite of her slice of pizza in her mouth. "And I didn't have a team of investigators do it for me so that I didn't understand the context!"

"That's hardly fair, Roberto requested that background check, I did take advantage of it, however," he admitted.

"Yet I'm still here," she said. "Eating pizza and trying to find out what you really want from me rather than just assuming or believing everything I have been told. Tell me what you want, Matteo. I know what being in a relationship with you involves now. I think there is still room for negotiation, but I need to know what it is that you want. Do you still want a business partnership?"

This had not gone at all like Matteo had been expecting. In the three weeks she had been gone, Matteo had gotten to know and try and understand this woman through her brother and pouring over the details of the investigation done on her by his family. He had talked to Ricco, as painful as that was for both of them, and even spoken to Vanessa about her. It had not occurred to him that she would be doing the same thing and was in a better position to get the information she wanted than he had been. Once again, she had left him speechless.

"No," he said abruptly and saw her flinch. "I don't want a business anything. It was wrong of me to expect that of you and then sleep with you. It was messy and complicated." He paused.

"I see. So you're not even open to negotiation anymore?" she asked, not quite ready to give up on him yet, despite his words. She'd come too far and said too much now to walk away.

"Of a business partnership? No." he shook his head. "I want more. I want the relationship without all the messiness and uncertainty. I want to know you're mine, and not because of the money or a contract you have signed, but because you want to be with me."

Cat bristled momentarily until Pete's words about possessiveness and belonging came back to her. Of course she wanted to be his, why else would she be sitting here having this most bizarre of conversations as his moods swung from anger and frustration to those of care and concern from one heartbeat to the next.

"Cat, say something, please," Matteo grumbled, running his hands over his face.

"You don't want a contract at all?" she asked.

"No, I just want you," he said. "I want you to marry me for all the same reasons I asked in the first place, it's true, but also because I have very real feelings for you I can't deny no matter how hard I try."

"I worked really hard on the conditions I wanted to be added to that contract. What am I supposed to do with those now?" she tried to keep a serious tone to her voice, but knew, even if she wasn't smiling, that her eyes were dancing in delight at his words.

"You had conditions?" he asked, clearly confused by what she was saying. "You want the contract? The partnership?"

"I thought it was the only way to get you to fuck me again," she said casually, shrugging her shoulders as if it wasn't a big deal, but couldn't help the corners of her mouth turning up in a suppressed grin.

"You what?" he choked out as if he couldn't believe what she had just said.

"Quite a few of my new conditions involved fucking, which, as you said yourself, you're very good at," she finally let her cheeky grin show.

"Such as," he tilted his head, enjoying the cheeky grin and feeling like they had overcome several hurdles already.

"We are both fairly high energy people. Do you think an average of once a day is enough?" she asked, feeling her laughter bubble up as once again he blinked at her.

"I'm not sure your stats are correct there, Miss Leone. I would never think once was enough, but then I haven't even managed that in the last few weeks."

"No wonder you sound so frustrated, Mr. Vitali. Perhaps I could help you bring your personal data back on track," she offered. She stretched her leg under the table and ran it up the inside on his leg to rest in his lap against his cock.

"That's a bit presumptuous of you, Miss Leone. I haven't even sighted these amendments to the original contract that you speak of," he captured her foot and began to massage it before he totally lost his mind and took her over the table they sat at.

"Let's just say that in theory my horizons have been broadened, particularly in relation to the trial and the training of the Kept and I am highly curious," she admitted, but blushed a little. "Tell me, do you have a red room of pain, as fifty shades fans would call it?"

"I think you asked me that when we first discussed the agreement, and I said I would happily build you one if you had an interest in that direction," he mused. "If we are being honest, I may have to insist on building you a special room like that, now that I know you are curious and expect that the practical application of those ideas will be as alluring to you as you seem to find the theory," he added. "It seems Pete gave you quite a lot of instruction and information. I am pleased that it seems to have stayed theoretical."

"I can see that," Cat flexed her foot as he held it over his lap, her heel grazing over the bulge in his pants. The idea of Cat bound and vulnerable to him was almost too much for him, and he groaned, standing up and leaning over the small table to kiss her deeply, his arms locking under her shoulders as he pulled her up to its shiny surface. She knelt on the table as he clutched her face between his hands and kissed her roughly, bruising her lips as if attempting to devour her.

His hands worked to remove his own shirt, feeling the constraints of it before starting on her clothes. There was no finesse in his movements as he practically tore the fabric from her body in his urgency to possess the woman who made him feel so much, so deeply, in such a short amount of time. He lay her on her back, his mouth never leaving hers as he growled at the awkwardness of their positions and swung her legs so they hung either side of his thighs.

Cat let herself revel in his need for her, matching it with her own. What she had done with her sexual overtures was calculated to speed up their coming together like this and ease the tension so they could talk, really talk, about what a future might hold for them if they stayed together. His mouth left hers and he trailed kisses and small nips down her throat and over her breasts as his hands worked to lower her jeans. She lifted her hips to help him as the kisses went ever lower, eventually teasing at the junction of her thighs where her arousal was beyond merely obvious. His warm breath there as he kissed her thighs made her shudder.

Matteo groaned at the scent of her arousal and knew he would not be able to hold back at all as he reclaimed his possession of her body. Discarding her jeans, he ran his hands up her legs and stood, unfastening his belt and dropping his pants to his knees. Not even bothering to kick them off, he entered her roughly, bending over her to push his hand under her shoulders, curling his fingers around beside her neck as he began to fuck her hard and deep. Neither lasted long, and they came explosively within minutes. Matteo didn't move, instead resting his head on her breast and breathing heavily.

"I've been falling in love with you too," he murmured softly against her breast. "I need you, I need this." He felt her hands tighten around him and smiled. Gently kicking off his pants, he picked her up and carried her into the bathroom.

Cat said nothing as he placed her on her feet and ran the shower for them. She watched him curiously as he tested the water and then drew her to him and kissed her again. She tried to find the right words to say, but everything that came to mind seemed so cliché, so she clung to him and his kisses as they softly washed away everything that had come before this moment so they could start fresh again.

"What happens next?" she finally asked.

"I'm going to make love to you, and then I'm going to ask you to marry me," he said softly between gentle kisses along the side of her neck and below her ear. "After that, we are going to talk about your curiosity and the red room fantasy I will build for you," he chuckled in a deep husky whisper.

*****