Page 37 of Sweet Animosity

His mouth slammed down on mine.

CHAPTER 15

VAR

Fuck, she tasted good.

It had only been one day and already I was craving more.

If she hadn’t walked through that door, I would have been on a plane to Italy by nightfall.

The Southside gang were being taught a lesson about interfering in our business by Serg later tonight. And I’d convinced the others Vivian was not a threat.

The only outstanding issue was the forger, but I’d find and deal with them, eventually.

So there was nothing to keep me from claiming her.

Nothing except her rebellious streak, which would have to be dealt with immediately.

She needed to learn that an order was an order, and when I gave one, I expected it to be obeyed.

Especially when her safety was in question.

Breaking the kiss, I slipped my hand behind her neck and pushed her across the room to my desk. Applying pressure, I forced her to bend over it. “Playtime afterwards. Right now, it’s time for your punishment.”

She sprang up and ran to the other side of the desk. “The fuck it is.”

I picked up the riding crop and gestured toward her with it. “If you don’t take that dress off and bend your pretty little ass over this desk, there will be hell to pay.”

Casting her head about, she lunged to the right and snatched an Albarello, a Mongolian ceramic storage jar in muted blues and greens with a dragon motif.

My lips thinned. “Vivian, don’t you dare.”

She raised the jar over her head and demanded, “Back off and open that door.”

“Not a chance,” I growled back.

She launched the jar at my head. It smashed against the black marble fireplace.

Staring at the scattered shards, I glared back at her. “You’re lucky that was a reproduction, woman.”

Unfortunately, that was the only one, and an unintentional purchase, since I was led to believe it was real at the time. The rest of the Mongolian artifacts in my private office were priceless antiques, some dating back to the time of Chinggis Khan.

Before she could destroy anything else, I vaulted over the desk, knocking off the few items I kept on it, and reached for her.

Fuck the riding crop.

I wanted to feel her skin on my hand.

Snatching her around the waist, I raised her off her feet as I leaned back to sit in my high-backed executive chair. After laying her squirming form over my lap, I gripped the hem of her dress.

“Let me go, you big gorilla!”

My hand skimmed the back of her thigh as I pulled her dress over her ass to anchor it in the curved dip of her lower back. Rubbing my palm over the silk of her ivory panties, I dug my fingers into the fabric and tore them off.

Vivian braced her hands against the edge of the seat and lifted her torso up. Her hair was a wild tangle, half covering her face. “If you don’t let me go this instant?—”

I raised an eyebrow. “You’ll what? Threaten to call the police again?”

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