Page 34 of Contracted

“It’s getting late,” Serafino said next to my ear.

I turned to him with a pout as I looked up into his stare. “But I’m having so much fun.”

“I was going to suggest a visit to the nightclub next,” he murmured. “You can really let your hair down there.”

I giggled, more than a little drunk on winning...on life. “I’d love that.”

We collected my winnings, which I happily squirrelled away into my silver clutch bag. I had a spring in my step as Serafino held my hand and led me through automated glass doors and across a carpeted lobby toward the nightclub.

The hefty bouncers who stood guard at the doors immediately recognized Serafino. Ignoring the people lined up at the door, they unlatched the red barrier ropes and let us through with a deferential nod.

Serafino took my clutch bag and handed it to the nearest bouncer. “Watch this for a few hours.”

It wasn’t a question and the bouncer didn’t take it as one. He immediately nodded and put it inside his jacket.

I laughed. It was getting to be a bit of a habit for him to palm off my clutch bag to the nearest trusted person. That my clutch just happened to hold a small fortune inside it didn’t seem to faze him. But then, why would it? Anyone who knew him also know no amount of money was worth risking their life.

A bearded DJ in a fluorescent pink shirt kept the place hopping with a seamless mix of electronic dance music, hip-hop and pop, strobe lights flashing to the beat. I shivered with excitement. The atmosphere was electric.

“Let’s dance,” Serafino said close to my ear before he drew me onto the floor where other clubbers were moving to the frenetic beat.

I laughed as I lifted my arms above my head and rolled my hips, the music pulsing through me. All my problems and cares slipped away as I became as one with the beat, as I danced for the man who was so invested in me.

He stepped closer to me and I spun around and encircled his nape with my arms as my spine pressed close to his front. At his arousal so blatantly pressing against me, I writhed against him, pushing his willpower to the limits.

I didn’t hear his growl but I felt it shuddering through his body, his big hands encircling my waist and bringing me even closer so that we were almost melded together.

Then his breath brushed my ear and he said thickly, “You’re going to be the death of me.”

I looked up at him as I tilted my head back against his chest, my eyes then clashing with his as the strobe lights flashed through the crowd of dancers. “We bring each other to life.”

It would have been next to impossible for him to hear me above the music, but his eyes darkened as though in understanding, his hands gripping me tightly. Then he spun me around so that I faced him, his head swooping low and his mouth devouring mine in a kiss that was as frenzied as the beat swirling around us.

I might as well have been in my own world, the dancers jostling around us becoming non-existent while my heart throbbed for the man who’d captured my attention and had yet to let it go.

No one could compare to him, no one would came close to having his charisma, his dangerous aura, his skill in the bedroom—or anywhere else.

It was as if he’d been crafted especially for me. Or perhaps the reverse was true. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was how much I wanted him and he wanted me.

He peeled his mouth away from mine, his dark eyes glittering before he said close to my ear, “Let’s take this to the bedroom.”

I jerked out a nod. I wanted, desperately, to submit to him. I wanted him to fill me completely, where the pain of his entry was overcome by a pleasure that was so damn incredible I all but blacked out from this world and stepped into another.

He kept his arm around my waist as we headed toward the exit. The bouncer looked surprised by our early departure before a knowing look settled over his face. Then his expression became carefully neutral—no one disrespected Serafino’s woman—as he handed my clutch bag back.

We made it to the elevator. Once the doors slid closed, he pressed me against the wall with his fingers digging into my upswept hair as he claimed my mouth once again. I was so invested in his kiss I didn’t notice him unclipping my hair until it tumbled down my back.

He drew his head back, his eyes dark. “My gorgeous firebird,” he said reverently.

My shiver came from somewhere deep inside. My feelings were too powerful, too intense. I was walking a tightrope with this man and doing everything I could not to fall for him.

Then the doors pinged and opened, and he picked me up and carried me into his suite of rooms, kissing me again.

My temperature rose as we shared breaths. Then he put me back onto my feet before we undressed each other, my hands fumbling with a desperate need to touch his naked skin.

Briing. Briing.

He jerked his head back. “What the fuck?” he growled.

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