Page 35 of Devil Mine

Indecipherable moans and cries fall from my lips as he brings me closer and closer to the edge of a cliff I didn’t even see coming. He’s careful to avoid touching my clit, knowing one brush of his thumb would make me come apart. He curls his fingers inside me and brushes against a soft spot that has me seeing stars.

I’m right there, right at the edge about to crest past that delicious pause before I tumble off the side of the cliff when he abruptly pulls his fingers out.

I sag against him, my legs giving out. Ragged breaths rip from my throat as I try to make sense of what just happened. I’m frustrated and unfinished but I can’t scream at him for not making me come when I was screaming at him for touching me in the first place. I peer up at him from below my eyelashes to find his gaze already trained on my face.

“You don’t get to cum until you’re legally mine.” Arousal makes his voice throaty and hoarse.

“That’ll never happen.”

His hard cock is still pressed against me, throbbing with need. His eyes drop to the stubborn set of my lips and his pupils dilate once more. He reaches between us and with two fingers, spreads my arousal across my lips.

I’m mid-gasp when he bends his head and claims my mouth. Shock freezes me. Then, slow, unexpected electricity sizzles sharply through my body when our lips touch.

Cinnamon explodes on my tongue, the remaining spiciness of his candy making me dizzy. He tastes like darkness. Like blood spilled and bad decisions. He wraps a hand around my nape and angles my face up towards him. The other digs into my hair and grips it tightly. His tongue parts my lips and dives into my mouth. He doesn’t ask, his strokes tentative and beguiling. No, he takes with a dominance that steals my breath away.

The softness of his lips is in stark contrast with the assault of his tongue. He wars passionately with mine, conquering it like he conquers everything else. This kiss has the gravitational pull of a black hole and I’m sucked in with no hope of escape. Distantly, I’m aware of one hand leaving me, of feeling cold metal against my skin but not even registering that I should be afraid, and then my own hands are free.

He licks the arousal from my lips. A moan of pure male satisfaction leaves his throat and hits me between my legs, reigniting the still frustrated spot. He bites my lower lip at the same time as I feel pressure on my hand, distracting me, and then he rips his mouth off mine. Desire makes him look almost unrecognizable. His chest rises and falls angrily as he pulls in ragged breath after ragged breath.

“Keep telling yourself that,” he growls, voice roughened by lust.

I don’t even know what he’s saying that in response to. The kiss has wiped my memories of any prior conversation and stolen the breath from my lungs.

“Be a good girl for me,amor,” he says. “I’ll be back to take you soon. For good this time.”

He’s gone before I can say or do anything, slinking off and disappearing into the shadows with an ease that shows how dangerous he is. He leaves me with a dead body, blood on my lips, and raging arousal with no outlet.

The haze of lust recedes quickly with his departure. The sobering realization of everything that just happened hits me in stark color.

Looking down at my left hand, I find a massive twinkling diamond occupying the better half of my fourth finger. He slipped it on when he freed my hands and kissed me, and like a lust-struck fool, I didn’t even notice.

I stare at the diamond and see it for what it is.

A life sentence as the wife of a criminal. A life metaphorically — and potentially literally — collared to someone I despise. A life where I’m no more in control than I am now, where fear and violence reign.

A life that is not my own.

In the end, I was right.

The devil in my nightmares did come for me.

So I do the only thing that I can think of, the only thing that makes sense to me.

A decision that’s both logical and emotional.

I run.

???

PART Two

Chased

Chapter Thirteen

Thiago

I’m at my home in Knightsbridge, working with Arturo on ironing out the latest contract with Blackdown when Marco walks in. Immediately, I know he’s bringing bad news. I can tell by the look on his face that whatever it is he’s about to tell me, I’m not going to like it.

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