The Unwanted Conti Bride (The Legendary Conti Brothers) by Tara Pammi Read Free Book Online

Not that it’s relevant to you.”
    He pushed a tendril of hair away from her temple. That stubborn lock that never stayed back. “Good.” His warm breath raised the little hairs on her neck.
    Knowing that he was saying it to shock her didn’t stop a pulse of throbbing need between her legs. It took every ounce of her energy not to press her thighs close. She needed something distasteful, something to snap herself out of that sensual web he weaved... “You... I... You’ve had numerous lovers. I won’t just—”
    The glittering hunger in his eyes told her she’d already betrayed herself by talking as though she was considering it. Damn! “I’m clean.”
    Like a dream, feverish and hot and full of some elusive subtext, he left.
    Sophia stared at the door for a long time, her knees shaking. Covering her face with her hands, she sank back against the desk.
    Luca Conti was going to marry her. Of all the men in the world, that unpredictable, recklessly indulgent playboy was giving her the chance no one else would. It was going to tangle up everything with everyone horribly. Three months of her life would change the course of the rest of her life. Even after his reckless cruelty ten years ago, she was still affected by him.
    But Sophia could only obsess over one thing.
    That, for three months, she could kiss him all she wanted.

CHAPTER FOUR
    L UCA HAD KNOWN rejection from his mother when he’d been seven. He’d suffered debilitating headaches, insomnia and worse before he hit puberty.
    The first time he’d had sex, he had been seventeen, with a woman a decade older. He hadn’t really wanted the sex; he’d wanted to be held by the woman, to be less lonely for one night. Messed up as he’d been, he’d still realized what he’d done.
    He’d whored himself—his looks, his charm, his body, for a bit of affection.
    One didn’t need a degree in psychiatry to realize that.
    When Leandro had finally discovered him—his brother had always come after him no matter the time of the day, no matter how devious Luca tried to be—sitting on the floor of the hotel room with his head in his hands, and looked at him with nothing but understanding and patience and that all-consuming love that his brother used to justify arranging his siblings’ lives, Luca had thrown up all over the floor. And promised himself never again.
    Never again would he sink that low.
    Never again would he succumb to that cavernous craving within.
    Never again would he be without control.
    For the most part, he was sure he’d succeeded.
    Instead of fighting the sudden bouts of insomnia and crazy energy, he poured himself into everything and anything he could get his hands on. He studied like a madman, inhaling and conquering every subject he touched. He’d become a human sponge.
    Leandro would sigh and smile when Luca said he wanted to try something new.
    Arts and history. Mathematics and astronomy. He’d dabbled in all of them, but moved on, nothing calming the restlessness within. Only music—the relentless, endless chords churning in his head released onto paper, played until he achieved every single note—could soothe it.
    It was both his release and his curse. He’d fashioned a wooden doll for Tina after she’d come to live with them, and realized he loved creating things, designing things, too. So he’d started working with Lin Huang, the creative head of Conti Luxury Goods’ design department.
    Through the years he’d achieved a kind of balance, a normal—for him. He wrote music for hours on end when in that grip, worked at CLG and other projects of his own, surviving on an hour or more of sleep for days. Then he had those carefree days where he got drunk, partied, took endless women to his bed. And had uproarious fun at the expense of others.
    Fortunately for him, he’d discovered he liked sex, just for itself. That he could enjoy it without whoring himself for something else. He’d slipped up only once from the happy path he was