Page 202 of Kissing the Villain

He cupped the side of my face. “Your mom will pay for what she did to you.”

I felt a spark between us, an instant connection that made my skin sizzle with heat. “What’s happening between us, Marcello?”

His eyes held mine. “I don’t know.”

“We can’t keep doing this.” I blew out a deep breath. “Luca will end up killing both of us.”

“I knew it was you,” he whispered.

My chest caved from his confession, sucking the air from my lungs.

Be still, heart.

“Until tonight, I’d never fucked a woman without a condom.” He leaned his forehead against mine and groaned. “I wanted to know how you felt. Just once.”

He gripped his tie around my neck and pulled me to him. I remembered I was naked for the first time in twenty minutes, save for his tie and my thong. His breath ghosted my lips. He smelled like scotch and cigars mixed with the scent of clean linen.

“I won.” Marcello tugged on the tie, pulling it tighter around my neck. “Luca set the terms.”

“Is this really how you want me?”

Dropping the tie, he sat back, his eyes on my naked body. He licked his lips and ran his hand up and down my side. His thumb brushed my nipple, and then he tugged on it.

I cried out, a whimper on my lips. “Marcello.”

“Fuck, I love when you moan my name.”

“Marcello,” I whispered as he pinched the tiny bud again.

He smirked, his big hand cupping my breast, making me shiver from his touch. “If you were mine, I would never treat you like he does. I don’t care about the game. You don’t have to do this.” The pad of his thumb swiped over my painfully sore nipple. “What do you want, Alex?”

He gave me a second to speak, looking at me with those wide blue eyes. So beautiful. We breathed hard, lips parted. I attempted to talk, but nothing came out.

What did I want? No one had ever asked me. Not even Luca had given me a choice. Would I have a choice if I were with Marcello? Would things be different?

Luca hated my brother, while Marcello was his friend. He tried to help him, even if it led to his demise. And maybe he was the key to finding Aiden. I was so fucking angry with Luca. He deserved to deal with the fallout for tonight. What kind of asshole plays games like this?

We were a terrible combination, but my heart bled for him. He was the villain in my dreams and nightmares. Despite his idiotic games and all of his mindfuckery, I loved that asshole.What I felt for Marcello was a childhood crush compared to my feelings for my beautiful monster.

“I like you, Marcello,” I said, unable to meet his gaze because it killed me to reject him. “But I think we both know Luca has my heart.”

He sighed. “Yeah.”

Then he slid off the bed, giving me a nice view of his muscular back. Marcello walked over to the dresser and sifted through the contents of his drawer. I caught the black Rolling Stones T-shirt he threw at me and slipped it over my head. The cotton smelled like clean linen and his spicy aftershave.

Marcello sat on the bed beside me. “I knew this would go nowhere,” he admitted. “Even after your grandfather gave you a choice. But I don’t regret the time we’ve spent together. Under different circumstances, I could have made you happy.”

“You do, Marcello. It’s just that things are different for us. You remind me so much of Aiden.”

“I’ve become his replacement,” he guessed.

“Yes, but it’s not that simple with us.” I patted his hand resting on my thigh. “Think we can be friends?”

His eyebrows lifted, a sexy smirk on his lips. “After what we just did?”

“I need you, Marcello. But not in the same way as Luca.”

Marcello nodded. “Yeah, we can be friends.”

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