Page 100 of The Devil's Pawn

“You’re always beautiful,” he tells me, kissing my temple. “I like the way you look right now. All messy, cheeks flushed.”

“Messy? Oh my God. I look messy? Maybe I should go back home and put my hair up.”

I tried to get my strands to cooperate after what we did, but it was no use. My straightened hair now appears to be a wavy mop.

He curls his arm around my hip, pulling me to his side. His bicep is rock hard, flexing beneath his long-sleeved cobalt t-shirt. He looks so casual, yet insanely sexy. Dante is the type of man who can pull off any look flawlessly, like he’s always meant to wear it.

We’re almost to Dom’s—only a few feet away—when he stops, turning me so we face one another.

His thumb tips up my chin. “You need to stop doubting yourself, baby. You’re flawless. Not just to me. To everyone.” He places a hand against the side of my neck, his thumb gliding past as he leans over and kisses me tenderly, dousing me in the power of his words. “And I like you messy. Dirty. Knowing it’s me who made you that way.”

Heat slithers up my body, bolting right into my core. My pulse quickens, caught up in his smooth gaze.

“Now let’s go and eat,” he continues, his voice turning hushed and gravelly. “So we can get back home. I’m going to double the number of orgasms you had earlier.”

“Impossible.” My eyes widen as we continue on our way and make it to the front of Dom’s house. “There’s no way I can do that.”

He knocks, flashing me a lopsided grin. “I can’t wait to show you just how wrong you are.”

The door flies open, and Chiara’s annoyed expression greets us.

“What the fuck, guys?” She plants a hand on her hip, her brows raised. “You couldn’t let us know you’d be late?”

“I’m sorry,” I say, closing my arms around her in a tight hug, and she returns it.

Her eyes dart from me to Dante as we separate. Dom walks over from behind her, tipping his chin up in greeting.

“You know…” Chiara announces, closing the door. “We need to let each other know when we don’t show up on time. We kinda have people that wanna kill us, in case anyone forgot.” She fakes a smile. “So maybe the next time you two wanna fuck each other’s brains out, send your girl a text, ’kay?”

My face instantly flushes.

“I didn’t say we—” I try to finish, but she holds out a hand.

“Girlfriend, please. Your hair and those cheeks gave you away.”

“See?!” I turn to Dante. “I told you I should’ve gone back and fixed my hair!”

“We all fuck, cuz,” Chiara throws in. “I’m just glad he’s doing it so well.”

My cheeks burn. “Can we stop talking about my sex life? Please?”

Dom shakes his head with a deep smirk, and I grow even redder.

“Oh, hey.Nowit’s a party!” Enzo bellows with a beer in one hand and Joelle curled around his other.

She’s almost as tall as him with her high-heeled strappy shoes and a tight, knee-length black dress. Her eyes are as blue as the clear sky on a summer day. She runs a hand through the front of her long, wavy strawberry-blonde hair as she separates from Enzo and comes over to me.

“Hey, Raquel.” She reaches for a hug, one I willingly give her. “I’m so glad to see you again.”

“You too.” I smile warmly.

She’s on a whole other level of beautiful. I feel inadequate in her presence, but she seems nice and down-to-earth, so it’s hard to hate her, even if I wanted to.

“Come on, guys. Let’s eat,” Dom says, making his way to Chiara and tightening an arm around her hips. “I’m fucking starving.”

The way he said that as he gazed at her has me thinking he wasn’t simply talking about the food.

Dante is back beside me, kissing my temple.

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