Page 35 of A Game So Reckless

I don’t typically have any patience for pride in other people. I strip it from men as easily as stripping skin from muscle, muscle from marrow. Seeing it in her should infuriate me.

And it does, sort of. It’s just that the fury seems to manifest solely in my dick. My shaft is tight and throbbing. Like my body thinks I can somehow fuck the ferocity right out of her.

Christ, maybe I can. And suddenly, it’s all I can think about. Valentina sopping wet and sobbing, submissive and shaking beneath me as her pussy swallows me to the hilt.

Virgin pussy, based on what she just said about her father and never even kissing someone before.

Fuck.

The shudder of need that goes through me is so sharp, so aching, that I have to hold myself back from grinding my dick on her belly like a pathetic teenager. Thirty-three years old and this is what this proud little Titone has reduced me to.

I want to hate her for it. For making me want her. For making me feel like I’m losing control.

For forgetting that I kissed her.

My fraying brain chooses that last point to focus on, and suddenly I’m convinced if I just kiss her again, punish her with my mouth so that she’ll never be able to say she doesn’t remember, then this will all go away. Like lifting a curse, simply by retracing my steps.

Escaping the siren by going back to the beginning of our story.

I wrench my finger from her mouth.

And then I crash my lips to hers.

Her head jerks forcefully back, skull slamming the wall. Her cry of pain and surprise allows my tongue entrance, and I seize the chance, because I’m Darragh fucking Gowan and I didn’t get where I am in this world by letting opportunities pass me by. I take ownership of her mouth with my tongue while my hands take ownership of her body. Hair. Waist. Breasts. My thumbs slide in demanding circles around her nipples, and before she can stop herself, she’s arching into my touch.

That one tiny, little movement. That wordless bend of her spine towards me.

And I feel like I’m coming undone.

Maybe she feels it, too. Maybe she’s afraid. Or maybe she’s suddenly remembering just who it is who’s kissing her, who’s touching her this way. Because a second later there’s a bright spark of pain along my lower lip, and I can’t taste that strange Titone sweetness anymore. It’s overwhelmed by the sharp tang of yet more of my own blood.

The little animal just bit me.

I pull back, breathing so hard it’s like I’ve just run here. Her pupils are blown, her lips swollen and wet, nipples hard.

I shove myself away from her.

“Get the fuck out of my building, Valentina.” I wipe blood from my mouth as she hastily grabs her shoes and purse from the table. “The next time you come here with another man, he’s leaving in a body bag.”

Chapter18

Valentina

“You weren’t gone long, amore!Ah!” Mamma cries as I step into the foyer. “Why are you soaking wet again!” She tightens the belt on her red silk robe. “Don’t tell me there was another fountain to fall into!”

“No fountains.” I tell her. “The fire alarm and sprinkler system went off.”

Mamma’s well-groomed eyebrows rise. She covers her mouth with her hand and shakes her head before murmuring, “Dio mio. Don’t tell Elio.”

Elio’s got issues with fire. Can’t really blame him, after the fire that ripped through his childhood home in Sicily. It killed his mamma – my aunt Florencia – nearly killed Curse, and gave him all those painful scars.

“It’s fine, Mamma.”It’s not fine.“There wasn’t a real fire. Someone just pulled the alarm.”

Someone. Me.

“This does not sound like a good place for you to be going,” she frets, following me into the kitchen as I open the fridge and grab a bottle of sparkling water. No more booze for me tonight. That vanilla vodka was enough. Apparently just that small amount was enough to completely fuck up my capacity for decision making. At least aroundhim.

Spitting in Darragh Gowan’s face. What the hell was I thinking?

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