Chapter Two
1042 Words
Aarrrrrrrrrghhhh" Sienna moaned out of pleasure.
The room was filled with the echoing sound of skin clapping on skin.
Sienna was on top of Marco on her bed, the white bed sheet clinging lightly to her waist. Her light hair was loose and damp at the edges, falling around her face as she moved above him. A thin sheen of sweat glistened on her fair skin in the low light of her bedroom.
The curtains were drawn…
expensive cream curtains that matched the expensive cream walls and the expensive everything else in a room that cost more than she could truly afford right now.
Marco's jaw was tight. His hands gripped her waist harder than necessary and she let him because she liked it that way.
She looked down at him ….his innocent face not so innocent now, eyes dark and focused entirely on her, mouth wide open, eyes rolled to the back of his head.
He looked up at her lustfully and increased his pace of thrust. The echoing sound of skin clapping on skin increased. Sienna moaned loudly, gasping for air.
And then that breathless, weightless moment arrived and her head fell back, lips parted, a sharp breath escaping her that she couldn't have held in even if she wanted to.
Then it was over.
She collapsed beside him on the silk sheets.
The room settled. Just their breathing and the distant sound of the city outside.
Marco stared at the ceiling with one arm behind his head. A slow smile crept across his face.
"You heard from Dante this morning?"
She didn't move for a long moment.
Just the sound of their breathing slowly returning to normal, the silk sheets warm and twisted beneath them, the expensive cream curtains keeping the daylight out.
Her skin was flushed, a thin film of sweat across her collarbone and shoulders. Her light hair was completely undone, splayed across the pillow behind her. She stared at the ceiling with heavy eyes and lips still slightly parted.
Marco hadn't moved either. One arm behind his head, the other resting across his stomach. His chest was still rising and falling faster than normal. That small satisfied smile was back on his face,the one that never quite reached his eyes.
The room smelled of perfume and warmth and the particular closeness of two people who had spent hours being intimate.
Sienna turned her head to look at him.
"Dante called this morning." She affirmed him.
Marco's smile didn't move but his eyes shifted to her immediately.
"What did he say?"
"He apologised. For last night." She paused. "I wasn't with him last night because my car broke down. But he confirmed that he was with someone and…."
"He thinks it was you." Marco interrupted.
"He thinks it was me." She confirmed.
The room went quiet.
Then Marco laughed.
"Then the plan is still alive Sienna." He reached over and tilted her chin toward him. "Do you know what this means?"
She held his gaze. "It means I don't have to do anything. He already believes it."
"Better than that." Marco said. "The family met last week. The old man made it official ..Dante cannot take his father's seat without a wife. No heir confirmed, no throne.
Sienna was quiet for a moment.
Then the smile that spread across her face was slow and deliberate and absolutely beautiful in the most dangerous way.
"Then I'll give him both." She said softly.
Marco leaned back against the headboard and looked at her the way a man looks when he realises he has chosen exactly the right partner in crime.
"And when the child comes," he said quietly, "a Moretti heir carries my blood. Which means I get my share."
"We get our share." Sienna corrected.
They looked at each other.
"One more thing." Marco said, his voice dropping lower.
Sienna looked at him.
"Act normal around him. The way you always are. Nothing that makes him look twice."
"I know how to handle Dante." She said flatly.
Marco scoffed. "Your family's debt is getting worse Sienna. How long do you think you can keep pretending?"
"That is exactly why this has to work." She snapped. "I am not going back to broke Marco. I refuse."
"And you won't." He said. "Not if we play this right."
She looked at him. "And you? Still tired of playing second fiddle to your best friend?"
Marco laughed quietly. "I just want what I deserve."
"Then we both know what we need to do." She said.
"We do." He affirmed.
No more words were needed. They had been over this enough times to know every corner of it.
Sienna turned back to her reflection and lifted her chin.
A Moretti wife stared back at her.
Dante was going to marry her.
And he was never going to know it wasn't his idea.
………
Cara pushed open the front door quietly.
Helen was in the sitting room. She looked up from the television when she heard the door.
"You're back early." She said coldly.
"The manager let me go." Cara said, setting her bag down.
Helen's eyes moved over her slowly. The loosened hair. The slightly creased uniform.
"You look a mess." She said and turned back to the television.
Cara went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. She stood at the counter drinking it slowly.
"Rebecca's daughter got a promotion." Helen called from the sitting room. "Regional manager. She's younger than you."
Cara set the glass down.
"That's good for her." She said quietly.
"It should be good for you." Helen replied. "Instead you're still running around in a hotel uniform at your age."
Cara didn't respond. She rinsed her glass, put it back and headed to her room.
"Goodnight." She said as she passed the sitting room door.
She had already gotten used to her mother comparing her to her friends' children. It used to bother her but not anymore. Trying wasn't enough for Helen. Perfection was.
Helen said nothing. Her eyes were already back on the television.
Cara closed her bedroom door and sat on the edge of her bed in the quiet.
Wondering who the man was, overwhelmed with the fear of losing her job.
- Writer
