Page 1 of The Devil's Demise

PART I

DOMINIC & CHIARA

CHAPTER1

CHIARA

FIVE AND A HALF YEARS LATER

“Are you here alone?”a man asks from behind me, his voice crackling in between the exploding music.

I twirl my red straw around in my virgin strawberry daiquiri, crossing one leg over the other. My thigh-high boots tug around my knees as I lift my drink and take a sip, completely ignoring him.

“You look too good to be drinking all by yourself.” His lips are dangerously close to the curve of my ear, and the timbre of his tone is smooth, yet deep. Just what I like in a man. “How about I join you?”

Without waiting for a reply, he takes one of the swivel stools beside me, waving over the bartender and ordering a whiskey neat.

I continue to ignore him, my gaze transfixed on the mirror above the bar ahead. His eyes capture mine through it, and something in me catches on fire—that familiar knotting in my gut, the tensing and throbbing of my core.

My tongue takes a leisurely swipe of my lower lip as I hold his attention, and he doesn’t dare waver.

His hand slides across the bar, all the way to mine, his fingers brushing over the top of it.

“A ring, huh?” he drawls, looking right at the side of my face as he swipes across my glistening six-carat diamond.

“That’s right.” My response is cool, indifference slinking between each word, the complete opposite of the desire swirling within me.

“And where’s this husband of yours?” A crooked smirk captures the corner of his mouth as he faces me.

I can make out the hunger beating within him through the mirror. His fingertips graze the top of my hand, just enough to send tingles shooting down my body. This shouldn’t turn me on as much as it does, yet here we are, and I’m enjoying the fuck out of it.

“He’s off running his businesses.” I don’t dare look right at him. It'd be too much, too intense. “He’s quite the busy man.”

“What kind of husband leaves a pretty thing like yourself all alone? Especially at a place like this?”

It’s then that my eyes flick to meet his, unable to stop from glancing at the face of this quite attractive man. I’m not at all ashamed to admit my gaze wanders down his dark blue button-down, admiring the material showcasing the thick ripples of the muscular form he conceals underneath.

Even in the dim lighting, I can easily make out the hills of his large biceps and his toned shoulders. I try not to stare, but my eyes are suddenly drifting down his chest and to the abs hiding beneath.

Another devilish smirk lines his sinful mouth, and I pull in a deep breath, attempting to quiet the vicious way I want him.

Would he take me bent over this bar for all to see?

A shuddered exhale escapes my heavy lungs. Immediately grasping my drink, I drown in a long, cold sip, needing it after that visual.

His eyes scan over the top of my hot-pink strappy shirt that my tits are nearly spilling out of. When his gaze tiptoes back to my face, I pop a brow, my lips curling with a tiniest of smiles.

“Like what you see?”

“Very much.” His chest expands as he drags a heaving breath, those eyes pinned to mine. “Your husband is a lucky bastard.”

My toes curl within my high heels and my core clenches, wanting what I shouldn’t.

Needing it.

My attention returns to the mirror as I pick up my drink, downing almost the entire thing and practically slamming it back on the counter once I’m done.

“So, what brings you to a place like this?” He throws another question at me.

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