Page 21 of The Devil's Fire

“Oh, you’re so welcome, darling.” She mimicked Morella, and we both burst out laughing.

Everyone chatted away as we waited for the appetizers, but all I could think of was this was not the original seating arrangement.

My father was sitting at the head of the table. To his left sat Lorenzo while to his right was Morella, next to her sat my uncle, and in front of me was Cara.

That meant Damiano was sitting right next to me.

This was either going to be a blessing or a curse. I haven’t decided yet.

Unfortunately, Michael couldn’t stay due to 'duty calls,' as he had mentioned before leaving.

I found myself sitting so close to Damiano that it made me a little nervous. I tried to distract myself by quietly talking to Cara and tried to ignore how close I was to him.

Appetizers were served, and I stared blankly down at my plate. It was some kind of green liquid in front of me, and I wasn’t even sure it could be classified as soup.

There was no way I was eating it.

I then accidentally made eye contact with Morella, who gave me a big smile and an encouraging nod to try the green stuff in the bowl. I picked up the spoon to pretend I would eat and waited until she stopped looking at me. And of course she waited for me to try it.

I scooped up a bit of the green liquid in my spoon and tasted it. I held my breath as soon as it touched my tongue. A very pungent taste of something I couldn’t even describe covered my entire mouth. I forced it down as I looked at Morella, who was giving me a Cheshire smile, waiting for my response. I gave her a tight smile and an awkward thumbs-up. She nodded in approval, returning to her conversation with my father.

I grabbed the glass of water and chugged half of it. Glancing at Cara, seeing her trying to pinch her nose discreetly as she ate. The sight of her made me snort out loud, but I quickly tried to disguise it as a cough. Cara squinted her eyes at me as I tried to hide my smile behind my hand. She quickly checked around and flipped me off.

Oh no, she didn’t.

I stretched my legs as far as I could and kicked her leg. Her eyes narrowed, and she tried to kick me, but I was quicker and moved my legs away.

And crashed them right into Damiano’s leg.

My eyes widened and my face went hot when he faced me with that expressionless look on his face.

“Sorry.” I whispered with an apologetic smile. His lips curled up ever so slightly, making me look at him in surprise. If I had blinked, I would have missed it.

I looked away and saw Cara with a smirk. I was going to make her pay for that. I was about to move when he put his hand on my thigh and stopped me. So, now I was supposed to sit through dinner with his hand on my thigh, and my legs pressed against him. That wasn’t nerve-wracking at all.

I reached for the wine and took a big sip to calm down my racing heart.

My breath halted when Damiano caressed my thigh excruciatingly slowly. It made my body tingle like crazy and made me almost violently shiver. I gulped down more wine. If I kept going like this, I was going to get drunk in no time.

Another plate of food was served, and this time, it looked promising. Steak with roasted potatoes and glazed vegetables. I almost moaned out loud when the very tender and juicy piece of meat melted on my tongue.

I stopped chewing for a second when I felt Damiano’s hand going up even further on the inside of my thigh. I shifted my gaze to him, but he was facing my uncle and listened to whatever he was saying.

I went back to eating my food, ignoring the way his hand was making me feel. But it was getting dangerously close to my private area. I could move my leg away to stop him, but I didn’t want to, it felt so… nice.

Maybe a bit too nice.

My cheeks were getting warm, and I couldn’t decide whether it was because of the wine or because of him.

His hand continued moving up, and I bit down on my lip when his fingers brushed right there. I couldn’t suppress the shiver that rippled through my body. Damiano gave me a quick look before refocusing on Cara’s father, his hand tightening on my thigh.

My legs parted, thinking about how his fingers would feel inside of me…. I was up on my feet in a flash, excused myself to the restroom, and hurried out of the dining room.

I rested my hands on the sink and looked at my reflection in the mirror. My face was flushed, a hue of red on my cheeks as if I had been out in the sun for a while.

I turned on the faucet, getting my hands under the running cold water for a bit, and then pressed my hands on my neck and chest to cool myself down.

I shouldn’t be attracted to someone like him. He was dangerous, and not someone I should mess around with. But I couldn’t help it. His touch elicited a faster reaction from my body than ever before.

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