Page 20 of Bound to the Mafia King

“That wasn’t what your body was saying a few seconds ago.”

The blush in her cheeks deepened. “Leave, Valerio. I am engaged to Sergei. Why must you overstep boundaries like that? Why can you not respect that I am a taken woman?”

The anger simmered in my blood. She needed to stop saying that she was taken by that idiot. She did not belong to him. She was mine; she just hadn’t accepted it yet. But in time, she would.

“Leave, please.” She walked to the door. “Please, before anyone here sees you.”

I cocked my head to the side. “And what if someone is to see me? Would that be scandalous, would your beloved be angry? Tell me, what does the little Russian Buffon do to you when anger finds him?”

She scowled. “Don’t patronize me.”

I held my hands up to show that I came in peace. “I am not patronizing you. I am simply asking you a question.”

“You know good and well what men in your world do to disobedient women. None of you are ever kind in your punishments.” The venom in her tone was potent. “I know you are just like the rest of them in this world, but if you have any humanity in you, Valerio, leave. Think of it as paying your debt to me.”

“I thought the gala was me paying my debt.”

She stilled. “I…”

“You said that if I was to walk away from you, then that would be payment for you saving my life. Yes or no?”

She gaped at me for a moment, her eyes scanning mine. “I think saving your life calls for many debts being owed, no?”

I shook my head and stepped toward her. “I think not. A favor for a favor. You should have been more careful with what you bargained for. Now you will simply have to save my life again for me to owe you another favor.”

“You’re an asshole, you know that?”

“Please,” I huffed, “compliments will get you nowhere.”

I knew that my antics were only irking her. But getting under her skin was so fun. The lust that had riddled her eyes was still very much prevalent.

“Are you wet for me,cielo?”

“What?” The look of shock and horror on her face was comical. But the slight spark in her eyes fueled my hunger for her.

I wanted to taste her again. I knew that kissing her would cause problems for me.

I stepped toward her, her back pressed against the wood of the door. I could see the fear in her eyes no matter how well she tried to hide it. She had learned to mask her face with others, but I was a master at seeing beyond people’s bullshit, and she was no exception.

Her lips were plump and swollen from my assaults on them. The kiss had been electric, it was unlike any kiss I had ever experienced in my life. They were soft, but the sweetness I had expected from her was dulled and muted. She had a slight edge to her. She wasn’t just cotton-candy and clouds. She was spice, and she had some bite to her.

She intrigued me, and that was the worst thing that could have happened. Had she been exactly what I had anticipated her to be, then maybe I could have walked away from her right that moment. Had she just been what any other woman of her archetype was, I would have been able to move on. But she was so much more. She was complex like the Diophantine equation. Every time you thought you had her figured out, she shocked you. Her edges were not all sharp, but neither were they all dull. She had a mixture.

It made her unpredictable and thereby made her dangerous to me, because I lived off the thrill.

I watched the small ball in the middle of her throat bob up and down in nervousness. “Please, Valerio.”

What was she asking for? Her eyes told me one thing while her body moved toward my heat.

I leaned forward, my eyes darting to her lips and then back up again to meet her gaze. That one taste was simply not enough. I wanted more. I craved more from her.

That hum that had begun only seconds before we kissed returned, and my body responded to the soft vibrations. The blood pooled to my cock, hardening the length as I stared at her.

I brushed my thumb against her bottom lip and pulled it down. I couldn’t stop thinking about the way her lips molded around mine, or the way her tongue had danced against my own like we had done this dance before, a million times over.

“You… you are addictive, Anastasia.” My breath wafted against her face. “Like a drug that I refuse to quit.”

She swallowed hard, her arms stayed by her side, not moving a single inch. “I am getting married, Valerio.”

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