Page 81 of Not Mine to Keep

Unable to stop myself, I arched my pelvis forward. My eyes closed as he brought his arm behind my back, and I drew myself tighter against him and rotated my hips at his hard length. Was I turned on by him torturing someone? No. But by being his bad girl? Apparently.

“Don’t give me an invitation on a night like this. I’ll take it.” At the feel of his warm breath near my lips, I opened my eyes to see his mouth hovering close to mine. “I’ll toss whatever’s left of that moral compass of mine out the window just to know what it’s like to be inside you.” His Italian accent took front and center when he talked this time. God help me, it was hot.

Scooching back a touch so my ass was now officially parked on his desk, I quietly studied him, unsure who’d blink first, but I had a feeling it’d be me.

If I was crazy for being aroused, then so be it. The aching need between my legs could only be relieved in one way: by him. At this point, there was no turning back. I wouldn’t leave even if the man got on his knees and begged.

Making up my mind, I parted my knees, and his hands flew to my thighs to stop them from opening any more. “You’ll regret this.” From the looks of it, this was his last-ditch effort to stop me from giving myself over to him, to a man who had blood on his forearm.

“Lesser of two evils,” I whispered, hating myself for using that term again, but it fit like the final puzzle piece clicking into place. “If the choice is between one night with you or never at all, I choose this. Here and now.”

“Calliope,” he gritted out, but some of that darkness was slipping from his eyes, and I needed that man back. The sweet guy wouldn’t screw me on his desk without a second thought, like I wanted him to.

Tonight, I needed the villain he was afraid to be with me.

“Be the asshole, not the teddy bear. For one night,” I murmured, forgetting he hadn’t been clued in on my rambling thoughts or the conversation with Izzy.

“The mask?” One dark brow lifted in question as he brushed his hand over my cheek, keeping his cock at a distance, much to my displeasure. “You want it back on? Would that make this feel less real for you? Is that what you’re asking for?”

“No.”I mean . . . no?

His brows tightened. “I don’t know what you mean.” Then he blinked as if putting it together without me having to spell it out for him. “I understand.” A decisive nod followed, and he surprised me by reaching around to my back, leaning into me as he deftly unhooked my bra. “You’re really lucky you wore a bra and didn’t let the security team see your nipples poking through this thin shirt.”

“Not that you’d spank me for being bad, would you?” I challenged, knowing damn well I was taunting him, and all it did was turn me on even more.

He let go of the clasp and brought his face back into my line of sight. “For you, Calliope, I just might.” His tanned throat bobbed from a hard swallow as he lowered his eyes to my T-shirt for a moment. “I’m good at two things. You saw one of them in the basement.” He paused, giving me a chance to be afraid, waiting to see if it’d happen. When I didn’t budge or blink, he went on, “You sure you want me to show you the other?” He yanked my hair free from the ponytail and threaded a hand through my locks while dropping his mouth over my ear as if someone might hear us. “This will only be fucking for me. This is just something I’m good at. I won’t care tomorrow. You understand that, don’t you?” Eyes meeting mine in a dare, he rasped, “Is that asshole enough for you, or do you need more from me?”

I could give the attitude right back; didn’t he know that by now? “If you don’t screw me, I’ll go find someone who will.”

His hand went straight to my throat.

New kink unlocked. Hand necklace?

He didn’t grip hard. No actual choking. Just a light hold of possession as he brought his face closer. “Go ahead. I told you, with the mood I’m in ...” He angled his head, studying me with cold eyes. The beastwas back.Good.“Want to suck Hudson’s cock in front of me? Have him take you over my desk instead of me?”

“Would he give a damn tomorrow, unlike you? Would he want seconds?” I shot back, curious to see how far he’d take his desire to act like an asshole.

He sneered at me. “He’d be dead for touching my wife. So no, no seconds.”

“Jealous?” I asked, unable to stop the provocation, getting off on whatever the hell was going on between us right now too much. No longer caring there had to be something seriously wrong.

“Do you want me, or someone else?” he asked instead, then moved the hand at my throat down, dragging his knuckles across my collarbone.

“You know the answer to that,” I whispered, my voice catching. “I want my husband.” This time, the sass was gone. Only the truth lay between us. “I want you.”

He cocked his head and slid his hand up my neck before making a pass of his thumb along the line of my lips. “Good. So no one needs to die tonight just because my wife loves to provoke and push me over the edge.”

There was something in how he’d saidmy wifethat had me believing I really was his.

Mesmerized by the moment and the man before me, forgetting all about why I’d come there in the first place, I finally gave him a little agreeable nod.

He stepped back, eyes narrowing as he stared at me, then gritted out, “Fuck it. Fuck it all,” before snatching my face between his palms and kissing me.

The kiss at the wedding had been intense but still sweet.

This one, though ... This one had me grabbing hold of him, hooking my ankles around his back to draw him closer, clutching him as if my life depended on it. Every part of me woke up, even the parts I’d thought were dead.

He groaned and urged me back a bit, as if he might lay me out on his desk. His tongue didn’t duel with mine. It took over. Commanded every movement. Told me what to do and how to do it.

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