He Wanted A Submissive

veinticuatro.

When they arrived home to a pitch black house the mood between the two seemed to darken even more.

Not with anger or sadness, but tension.

Valerie was on completely on edge because of the way Luca was handling her. When they got out of the car, he made her walk in front of him.

He'd taken off his shoes and let her wear them so she wouldn't have to stumble forward in her heels any longer, but she'd rather have hobbled along if it meant she could keep an eye on him instead of feeling like a helpless gazelle being stalked by a lion.

Brian opened the door to the house and bid the couple a good night. Luca wordlessly nodded and Valerie squeaked out a goodbye.

It seems even Brian knew when to run...

The sound of the door closing behind them made Valerie's heart miss a beat. The suspense was killing her, before they could make it upstairs to his bedroom, Valerie turned around and stopped their tracks.

"What the hell did I even do?!" She incredulously expressed. She didn't like feeling as if she was eight years old and was gearing up to be given a talking to. He needed to use his words or she was gonna explode.

It was the way he looked at her as she stood frazzled and full of nerves.

He was calm, serene even as he regarded her in that infamous expression of silent power. His jaw was tense, which sharpened it to the utmost extent. His hands were in his pants pockets and his brow was arched just a tad, probably because he was surprised at her audacity to even ask the question.

Without saying one word he had already made her feel like she was at his mercy.

Her body was screaming.

"That. You're explosive and condescending. You assert yourself where you're not needed." He spoke as if the matter was simple. His tone measured and even.

"Even more so," Luca continued, closing the distance between them to which he was looking directly down at her. "You put yourself in harm's way breaking up the fight. Never do that again. I would rather—"

"You looked as if you were gonna kill him, Luca! I couldn't stand aside and let you be the headline of another smear campaign!" Valerie lost her temper at his explanation of why he was mad at her. She thought she'd done the noble thing. She crossed her arms and turned her face from him, fuming now.

Shit, if I was gonna land myself in jail, I'd want someone to stop me.

Putting a finger under her chin, Luca drew her face back to his. "That's not the point. You could've gotten hurt. That's all I care about." He stated.

He had such good intentions behind his iron fist and flaring temper. The softness in his voice did not match the fire in his eyes. Valerie found herself looking up at him and feeling like she could just beat the smugness out of him.

"Well, if you get to care about me, I get to care about you. All you do is shove how much you care about me down my throat— your money, your assistance all of it, and get mad when I don't take it. I can do the same." She couldn't help, but grouch. Contract be damned, she just wasn't able to be a bystander.

Luca tilted his head just the slightest, mischief flickering in his deep brown depths.

"I can make you bend to my will. Can you make me bend to yours?"

His question hung in the electrified air.

Valerie was tongue tied, still fuming but all but stupefied by how he strung his words together. Luca's finger under her chin turned into a soft hold around her throat, their silent stand off getting hotter and hotter as the silence in the room began to become second to their roaring sexual tension.