Page 51 of The Cost of Corruption

For a moment, I couldn’t think.

I could only clutch onto him. To the table. Toanythingas I tried to steady myself.

But somewhere in my frantic grasping, my hand brushed against one of the empty wine glasses, sending it crashing to the floor.

The sharp crack of shattering crystal was enough to bring me back to my senses, and I remembered what I’d been trying to say.

“This isn’t your bedroom, Matteo,” I reminded him. “We’re in a restaurant.”

“But we’re alone,” he told me between swipes of his tongue. “That’s all that matters.”

Oh God, I wanted to believe that.

It was beyond tempting to close my eyes, switch off all rational thought, and completely give myself over to the moment.

But in the next heartbeat, a loud laugh from a passerby drifted in through the windowpane. A distant car horn followed. The muffled cough of a stranger clearing his throat.

While it was true that no one could see us, that didn’t mean we were truly alone. We were still street-level in the middle of New York.

“But people might hear us,” I whispered.

His laugh was as dark and sensual as everything else he did.

“There’s nomight,” he rasped against my neck, his kisses moving lower with every breath. “With what I plan to do to you,everyone within three blocks of this place will hear you call my name.”

“Matteo—”

“Yeah, just like that,” he cut me off with a growl. “Butlouder. Much louder.”

It was hard to think when he talked like that. His words had a way of shutting down all but the most feral parts of me.

And when he finally slipped the silky scrap of fabric that apparently counted as underpants in the secular world down my legs, it was impossible to do anything but feel.

“You’re already so fucking wet,” he purred against my ear. “All I have to do is kiss you, and your body instantly responds. Do you have any idea how sexy that is?”

I bit into my lip as his fingers explored deep into my body. Even if I’d wanted to, I wouldn’t have been able to open my mouth to tell him that this time, it wasn’t his kiss that caused that heated rush between my legs.

Just locking eyes with him had been enough.

Just the promise of possible pleasure with Matteo and the heat inside me began to flow.

“I can’t wait any longer,” he said. “I have to have you.”

The power of those five simple words hitched the breath in my throat.

How many times had I dreamed of hearing him say that? How many nights had I spent tossing and turning as this kind of fantasy played out in my mind?

Too many.

And yet, somehow, I still wasn’t ready for when he reached for the fly of his pants, popping the button and sliding down the zipper in one fluid motion.

Oh God. This was happening.

It was really…reallyhappening.

I closed my eyes, bit my lower lip, and tried to breathe.

But apparently, that wasn’t how it was done. Not with Matteo, at least.

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