Page 31 of Where the Wicked Reign

“I need to focus on expansion. And ourwarcontinuing while I’m trying to do that would take time away that I can’t afford. Besides, it was going nowhere.”

“Interesting. Not the business excuse, but that last part.”

“It’s not an excuse.”

“You stopped because you were frustrated. You wanted it to go somewhere. You wantedusto go somewhere.”

“There is nous.”

His lips quirked. “You have no idea how wrong you are about that.” When I moved to counter that, he used his hold on my throat to suddenly shove me against the wall. As my back jarred against it, he crowded me, slapping both hands down either side of my head, then leaned in, his hot breath fanning over the side of my neck. “I held back to give you time. You weren’t ready three years ago. You weren’t ready to admit to this thing between us,orto admit to your base desires.” He nipped at my ear, sending a shock of sweet pleasure through me. “You’re just as sick and twisted as I am.”

I turned my head away from him and the far too appetizing sensation of his warm breath fanning over my skin and his invigorating minty scent enveloping me. It was hard enough to deal with him all up in my space as it was, without that adding to the headiness of it all too. “Get. Off. Me.”

“Look me in the eyes, as you utter those words, and I will.”

His easy offer surprised me, and it had my gaze unwittingly snapping to his.

I opened my mouth to speak the words.

I meant to.

I really did.

But all that fire blazing back at me, the heat from his body, that hard muscle fitting so deliciously against my softness and bringing back memories of that night in the restaurant, had me yearning for a whole different outcome.

Of course, it had all been what he’d intended.

“You’re a manipulative bastard.”

“When necessary, absolutely.” He fisted both his hands in my hair. “Now, give me your hate, Caterina.”

“Devil fucker.”

“That’s right. Give me it all,” he said, tugging at my hair and making me wince at the bite of pain.

It was doing more than that.

The slight pain was calling to that twisted side of me.

His continued pushing and playing was sparking both fury and the need to rise to the challenge in me.

And him being up close in such a teasing and tempting way was a constant assault on my control, chipping away at the thick walls of denial I’d erected around myself since the night we’d collided in such a carnal way atIl Forno.

The denial that I’d wanted him then, that I’d needed it to go further, that it had gotten me off in a way I’d never felt before to be subjected to that depravity, to experience that kind of unleashing that I’d always denied myself—andtomyself.

I fucking snapped, smashing my arms up and out, dislodging his grip on me. It ripped some of the strands of my hair out in the process, which just served to fire me up more, and then I slammed my hands into his chest, propelling him onto the bed.

With him stunned into inaction, he laid there staring out at me, and I took full advantage of it, leaping on top of him, then ripping his shirt open, buttons flying every which way.

The moment my fingers touched his chest, it cut through his shock and he lunged up, then yanked my belt from my robe. He shoved it off my shoulders, his eyes darting from my face, to my breasts, to my thighs, unable to keep his gaze steady because he was so overcome.

He’d hoped for the best, that he’d get what he wanted from me, but at the same time, he clearly hadn’t expected it to actually happen. He thought I’d run again or retreat into denial.

Not this time.

With everything going on, the stress of the expansion, this fucked-up thing that my father was involved in and the fact it was impacting me and also on me to stop it, then Nico showing up here tonight while I was so affected by it all… I needed a release.

So. Fucking. Badly.

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