Page 18 of Dirty Little Sins

"Vincent, what are you doing?" I finally found my voice even if it was edged in a modicum of the panic going on inside me.

"I already told you." He emerged from the closet and to my shame I nearly swallowed my tongue at his appearance. He'd finished dressing in an all-black suit with a dress shirt that matched. But it was the tailored fit that seemed to highlight and outline every muscle of his body that kept me entranced. And he had a lot of muscles to look at.

He'd been similarly dressed the night we'd met. My visceral reaction had been much the same then too. Big, tall and strong he exuded a kind of power that I rarely encountered around other men. That aura had weakened my knees the first time and I had a feeling if I'd been standing now, I'd feel exactly the same way.

While I was lost in my memories and the weakness of my reaction to this man, he'd managed to unclip my handcuffs from his bed and reattach them to a short lead he kept tightly gripped in his hand. The sight of which finally jolted me out of my stupor.

"Seriously? Have you lost your mind or something? Undo these things right now."

To say the leer he aimed at me unnerved me would be a massive understatement. That look had so many possible connotations I didn't even know where to start. I also had to admit that the shiver working its way down my spine might have been laced with fear.

"I don't think so, babe," he said with a low timbre added to his voice. "I don't trust you not to run away again and I can't have that. Not this time."

I scoffed. "I didn't run away so much as I walked away from a nightmare as quickly as I could. Two totally different things. Besides, where am I going to go? I have to finish this stupid job of catering your ridiculous party so I can get back to the real work of opening my restaurant."

He smiled, but I doubted it was meant with even the slightest amount of humor. As I glanced around the empty room with no obvious escape but the door he stood firmly in front of, I finally realized how far over my head I'd gotten.

Still...

I had no plan to take this treatment lying down.

"Since this is my party as you so eloquently stated, that means I get a say in what you need to do and right now I need answers from you more than I need food."

I blew out an exasperated breath. I could see that arguing with him was going to get me exactly nowhere. It seemed I had two choices here. Indulge his demands and answer all of his questions or I was going to have to make a scene here in the hotel to get my way.

Both options sucked.

"I still have a reputation to curate here in Vegas. If you have important people out there in your suite then I NEED to do my job."

Something dark flashed in Vincent's eyes the minute the words came out of my mouth, but I didn't have time to react before he jerked the chain still tethering me to him and pulled me into his arms.

"Stop stalling. If this dinner is that important to you then I suggest that instead of arguing with me you start cooperating. I have all the time in the world and am willing to do anything to get what I want from you, Zia. Can you say the same?"

I swallowed thickly as my pulse raced and my throat thickened with my visceral reaction to this man. I didn't want to admit it, but there was still something between us that made me hesitate when with anyone else I would have flayed him open with my vicious use of the English language by now.

I mean I had a reputation. In my kitchen, I could take down men like him with ease. The arrogant ones who always thought they knew better than I did. And I wasn't going to take this from him either.

"Fuck you." Sure it was meant to be vulgar and direct. Unfortunately it came out breathless and a little weak.

"Oh, don't worry. I intend to. And with great pleasure just as soon as you beg me to."

I rolled my eyes. "Men. You are all the same. You're arrogance is ridiculous."

He tightened his hold against me and canted his hips so that his massive erection pressed between my legs and caused me to gasp. I know my face flamed red as well. And I wasn't even going to think about what else sparked hot.

"We are not all the same, but you already know that, don't you?"

This was the part where I was supposed to push him away and put my foot down. Yet, I didn't. Not because I couldn't, but because I didn't want to. A part of me hated him for what had happened because of our affair in Italy, but a stronger part of me longed for how he made me feel.

His need for me to acquiesce to his demands was a heady sensation that filled my mind and pushed everything else to the side.

I was losing ground and fast. Changing direction became imperative or I was going to give into something so primal I really didn't want to think about it.

"Is this really what you want? How you wanted this to go?" I asked, attempting to turn the tables on him. "We both know the chemistry that exists between us, but forcing my body to react to yours doesn't mean I've given you consent."

He didn't immediately respond, but I noticed the slight tightening of his jaw and the slow intake of breath that let me know I'd hit him right where I'd expected. Vincent had a dark streak a mile wide, but he'd seemed hell bent in Italy to make sure I understood I had a choice in everything and only when I gave him what he wanted of my own free will could he proceed.

"Under normal circumstances you'd be right. I don't desire to take you against your will. But these are no longer normal circumstances. That ended when you disappeared in Italy without so much as a word." He leaned his head down and moved his mouth close to my ear. Close enough that his warm breath fluttered across my skin as he spoke the next words. "Don't make the mistake of underestimating how determined I am to get what I want. I haven't gotten to where I'm at in my life without crossing a few lines that normal civilians won't touch. I will get my hands dirty if the ends justify the means."

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