Page 3 of Merciless Attraction

“Aren’t you the fucking gentleman?” I let out a dark snort and reach for the door. I get it open enough to slide through, but Frankie grabs me again. He hurls me backward and slams the door shut. This time he locks it.

Fuck.

When Frankie lunges for me, I duck onto the floor, hoping to use the table as my shield. The floor is filthy, sticky under my shins as I crawl to the other side. Frankie flips the table out of his way. A loud crash echoes around the room, but it’s not from the table.

Antonio’s standing in the doorway with fury in those devil-arched eyes. He takes one look at me, and charges after Frankie. I can hear words and grunts between them, but the soft grasp of Natalie pulling my arm snags my attention.

However, I can’t stop trying to watch Antonio and Frankie trade blow-for-blow. Everything is moving in slow motion like a scene from an action movie. The way they spin and toss each other around ... Antonio’s overpowering Frankie with ease. Nothing like what I imagine a doctor to be.

Rage, pure and carnal, to protect me has my nipples hardening with desire. Fuck, Frankie must have put some powerful shit in that tiny shot. The fight feels like it’s lasting an eternity, but unreal in the way that Antonio throws Frankie around this small room.

Even Natalie’s face is hazy as I tell her, “Their fight scene looks so real.”

“It’s very real, love. Come on. Upsy-daisy.” Natalie helps me to my feet.

One foot is flat on the ground, while my other rests awkwardly in one half of my favorite pair of red-soled heels. There’s something sparking inside of me. I shouldn’t be so turned on by Antonio bloodying Frankie’s face. While I hated every moment alone with Frankie, if it were Antonio, I’d have been happy to be locked in the room.

“We can’t leave yet. My shoe is somewhere” I use her shoulder to hold myself upright.

The lustful energy exploding through my body has my pussy quivering with anticipation. Antonio’s masterful with his hands as a physician and as a fighter. I want to know how masterful they’d be working on my body to coax an orgasm out of me.

One deep inhale gets a whiff of sweat swirling around me and my sexual lust dissipates. The cacophonous odors of liquor coating the floor with a hint of blood taint the air. There are too many scents familiar to the life I left behind as a mafia princess in New York. They all churn my stomach.

The sound of several guns cocking and readying to fire practically snap me out of my drug-enhanced stupor. I turn to see Antonio’s bloody hands, one holding Frankie by the shirt while the other hovers over Frankie’s bleeding nose. Three men stand in front of the door with their weapons pointing at Antonio.

I immediately dive in front of Antonio, shocking everyone in the room.

“Now, you can’t put hands on amadeguy and think you’re walking out of here.” One of the gun-toting men spits as he points his weapon at us.

“And you think putting your hands on the sister of a Don is any more forgivable?” I snap back at the men.

I get up, with Antonio standing firmly behind me and his hand hovering near the small of my back. Frankie grimaces and writhes in pain on the floor.

“Don’t.” Natalie whispers to me with urgency from a few feet away.

I try to keep my voice firm, unwavering, but my mouth feels pasty, and my teeth are numb. “I am Gemma Marzano, sister of Don Sebastien Marzano. This asshole on the ground drugged me and attacked me. My fiancé was simply coming to my defense. If you want to start a war, fine. But Antonio is protected by my family.”

Laughter comes from behind the three men holding guns. A bulbous man with wiry hair clinging to his pale scalp in a horseshoe pattern steps in front. He’s obviously the one in charge.

The man’s words are nonchalant as he asks, “What is the darling baby sister of a New York City Don doing inmyclub, then?”

“It’s my fault,” Natalie speaks up. “We wanted a night of fun without her brothers watching our every move. Her, um, fiancé, came to chaperone and made sure we stayed out of trouble.”

That’s my bitch. I never need to tell her when or how to lie to keep our stories straight.

“It’s funny that you say Antonio here is your fiancé, but in all these years of treating the Dacosta family, he’s never once mentioned a bitch.” The man retorts.

Antonio steps in front of me, pulls Natalie behind him to my side, and speaks confidently. “Why the fuck would I tell any of you guys about someone I care about? So, you can drug her, hold her hostage, and do god-knows-what to her? And for the record, I never worked for Vito. That’s my guy, Ronan. He works for the Dacosta family. I don’t owe any of you assholes an explanation about my sex life.”

“Fuck, I didn’t know who she was. I thought she was just another stuck up bitch. I only meant to loosen her up.” Frankie groans from the ground, pinching his bleeding nose and holding the side of his head.

The bulbous man rolls his eyes, glares at us from head to toe, and shifts his attention to Frankie to scold him. “This is how you behave in my place on opening night?”

“Don Verducci, I swear I didn’t think—” Frankie tries to speak.

“That’s your problem! You never fucking think!” The man in charge snaps.

Antonio turns to me and hooks a finger under my chin. “Look at me, Gem. Are you okay?” he asks. His green eyes seem to dart all over my face checking for damage. God, the care in his gaze has my mouth willing and ready for him to claim it. Or perhaps, I should go for it. Now’s the perfect moment to reenact the last time we were face to face.

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