Page 28 of Devious Kingpin
The. Fucking. Wedding. Ring.
Opening my mouth, I couldn’t find my voice. For the first time in my life, I couldn’t find words for this pain-in-the-ass man.
“Cat got your tongue, wife?” he asked, amused.
He threw back at me the same words I gave him when I first met him. This was the reason Dante and I were like fire and gasoline. Somehow he always knew how to pour just the right amount and create a raging inferno.
“There is no way I’d ever be drunk enough to marry you,” I hissed. “I refuse to believe it.”
He was on his feet the next second and stalked toward me, ignoring the mess and discarded clothes all over the hotel room. Instinctively, I took a step back and my back pressed against the cold wall. He took another step forward, his three-piece suit brushing lightly against my chest, and rested his hands on the wall above my head.
The look in his eyes changed from amusement to pleasure-soaked intensity and satisfaction. Pure, unadulterated heat. My pulse whooshed in my ears and a tremor rolled across my skin. Inhaling his scent had been doing things to me since the moment I fell into his arms. Literally.
The closeness of his body had the most peculiar impact on me every damn time. I fought it for two years. At every turn. Instead of easing, the reaction became worse. Like a fucking rash refused to go away.
“We were both drunk enough to marry each other,” he drawled with a dangerous note in his voice. “And we’ll bear the consequences. Together.”
I couldn’t find enough air to breathe. His voice resonated warmth, a thoughtful rumble so close to my mouth I could taste it. What was wrong with me for Christ’s sake? He was practically threatening me and my body melted.
A sanity check was needed.
“I told you two years ago, I don’t want to marry you,” I breathed, while heat pulsed in my core.
“And I have told you I’d never give up.” Then his lips touched mine, softly, only a whisper.
“I’ll run,” I rasped, but my stupid body worked against me. It arched off the wall and pushed against his hard, lean body. I needed more. So much more. Yet I knew it wouldn’t end well. At a certain point, my panic would kick in. Except, in this very moment, it was nowhere to be found.
Only desire. Only need.
“If you run, Juliette, I’ll chase you.”
It was a vow. A promise.
Just as he had vowed he’d never give up on me. Not until we were married.
His lips pressed against mine, then nipped my bottom lip. The graze of his teeth moved a desperate noise up my throat. My breathing was erratic, and instead of pushing him away, my fingers gripped his suit and pulled him closer. He drew on my lips softly, first the top lip, and then the bottom. Need vibrated through me, humming and buzzing, burning everywhere we touched.
I arched against him, feeling an incredible heat beyond his expensive black suit. He licked inside of my mouth, then sucked on my tongue. Heat, tiny pricks of heat, consumed me from the inside out.
He pulled back and said in a rough voice, “Promise you won’t run.”
It was one goddamn weakness I had. I always, fucking always, kept my promises. He was using this burning desire between us against me because like a weak woman, I uttered those two words that would bind me to him.
“I promise.”
The pressure of his mouth on mine was rougher. More possessive. Wetter than before. His kisses must have been some kind of dirty, carnal sin once upon a time. A blaze seared through me as I drew my blunt nails down the length of his back. He growled low in his throat, and the slow glide of his mouth roughened. Dante pressed his hard-on against my lower stomach and that was when I froze.
The blaze was extinguished and turned into a frozen tundra.
Fear was a paralyzing bitch.
CHAPTER14
Dante
Juliette’s body froze. Her breathing sped up. Panic entered her expression.
I took a step backward, giving her space. This reaction was the last thing I expected from this woman. Trouble. Fight. Argument. Passion. All of it, yes.
