Page 38 of The Devil's Secret

“I can't believe I had feelings for you!” She paces around the foyer while I lean against the door, arms folded over my chest. She bumps into the small table in the middle, almost knocking the sculpture there, too pissed to pay attention. “All this time, I thought you were a good man.” She huffs, and damn, it’s sexy as hell. “But you’re like every other guy who’s gotten good at hurting me.”

She pauses, finally staring my way, brows frowning, her face so damn sad. I just wanna hold her.

“Wait.” My mouth deepens into a calloused smirk as I lift a finger in the air, treading over to her. “Hold up.” She doesn’t resist me when I curl my arm around the small of her back, and tip her chin up with my knuckles, needing her eyes, needing all of her.

“You had feelings for me?” I raise a single brow with a snicker.

She scoffs with a roll of her eyes. “Of course I had feelings for you, asshole.”

Damn. Dante was right. I do have it bad.

In all this time we’ve been apart, I haven’t been able to get her out of my mind. She was all I thought about. All I wanted. I imagined her telling me that guy meant nothing, that what we had was real. But it’s all bullshit, isn’t it?

“There’s that damn word again.” I drop my hand from her face. “But we’ll address your dirty mouth at a later time.” I clutch her tighter with both arms, our chests slamming, my lips dropping, almost brushing past hers. “We have more important things to discuss, like your so-called feelings.” She pants, her frayed breaths cruising over mine.

I stare down into her lust-filled gaze, wanting to kiss her so damn bad. I fight the depravity climbing up the walls inside, to stop myself from doing just that.

“So those feelings,” I whisper. “Were they before or after you were fucking your boyfriend?”

She sucks in a sharp breath, her features bending with a scowl as she pushes her head back, teeth biting into the softness of her full lower lip. But it only lasts a moment, the harshness now back on her face.

“Never mind all that,” she fires. “Let me go.” As she fights my grip, I hope she realizes it’ll do her no good. My palm fastens firmer over her hip, a smile sliding to my mouth.

“What the hell do you mean never mind?” I inch my face closer, narrowing a sharp gaze. “Never mind that you were playing games with me? That your pussy was riding my cock, while another man’s dick was actually inside you?”

My hand climbs up her spine until it sinks into her soft waves, fingers twining, pulling, yanking back hard until her jaw is parallel to my lips. I suck on her skin, biting until she squirms, fighting the moan set deep in her throat.

“Do you know how fucking insane that makes me? How badly I want to pin you up against the wall and fuck him out of you until all you know, all you feel, is my cock?”

My other palm slides to the front of her neck, rough calloused fingers enclosing around the delicate flesh. I shouldn’t touch something so soft, so damn beautiful. But here I am, doing it anyway.

“I’m not yours. I never will be.” Her voice wavers, like a flame, igniting what we could’ve been.

I miss the woman I had at the club, the one she was when we were alone. She was real then. It couldn’t have been a lie.

Fuck! I don’t know what to believe anymore.

She doesn’t realize how much she meant to me. How significant my feelings for her were, considering I never felt that shit for anyone before.

“What will you do to me, huh? Don’t you realize I can’t stay here?”

“Why not? I’ve got everything you’ll ever need. And unlike some others, I’m not trying to kill you.” I lower my lips, brushing them over her throat, inhaling her scent as she breathes heavily. “I’ll do my very best to make sure your stay at Casa Enzo is tolerable. More or less.” The chuckle comes from deep in my chest as I look back at her, finding her gaze turned to a narrowed slit.

I grin. Wider. I’ve realized I like fucking with her a little too much. The harder she glares, the harder my cock gets. I’m a depraved fuck, aren’t I?

“Just let me go,” she snaps. “I’m nothing to you. If Faro doesn’t know where I am, he’ll kill someone I care about. If that ever happens…” She shoves at my shoulders. “I’ll kill you myself!”

“Such a big threat from a woman in your position.” I ease my hold on her. “Who will he kill? Maybe if you tell me something true for once, I can actually help you, which is all I ever wanted to do, Joelle.”

She sneers. “Why the hell should I trust you? We know nothing about each other.”

“We could. If you were ever honest. Who was that guy at the club you were…” I can’t even say the damn word.

“I told you. My boyfriend.” She pops a hand on her hip, a brow arching. “Now, are you going to let me go or not?”

“Sorry, baby, but you’re not going anywhere. Better get comfy.” I wink, not really believing she’s got someone to save. Once a liar, always a liar.

“Fuck you!” she snarls.

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