Page 39 of Velvet Sin
Don’t let him.Grow a fucking backbone.Of all times for me to hear Dante in my head, but it worked, shaking me out of my stupor.My shoulders rolled back, and I narrowed my eyes.“Clearly, you didn’t spend your free time brushing up on your manners, or you wouldn’t show up here unannounced.I have nothing to say to you,” I concluded.
“You sure about that?”His lip curled into a sneer then he looked me up and down in a way that made me feel undressed, completely exposed, even though I was fully clothed.I resisted the impulse to cover myself.
“I amabsolutelypositive.”
That was when he did it.How did I never see him for who he was before?I couldn’t count the number of times he had barged his way into a room, brushing past me like I was nothing.He wasn’t physical about it.There was no violence, but it was a violation.
“Get out of here!”I scrambled to put myself in front of him before he could reach the sofa.It took putting my hands on his chest to stop him.“I swear to God, Cameron, don’t make me call the police.You don’t belong here.”
“Look at you.”He scoffed, shaking his head.“All high and mighty all of a sudden.Like I didn’t see what you were doing in front of all those people.”
Don’t let him do this.He doesn’t have the right.I knew that was true, but it didn’t help.My heart was beating a million miles a minute, and the way he was looking at me with those clear, green eyes was enough to make me doubt everything.Every choice, right down to our divorce.I couldn’t trust myself.I always made bad choices, didn’t I?He always said so.
His mouth twisted in a smirk.“Exactly,” he concluded with a smirk.
That word.The coldness in it.His casual dismissiveness.As usual, he was right.He always had to be right.
I shoved as hard as I could, which meant he only stumbled back half a step.It was his mouth falling open that gave me strength.“Last time I checked, Cameron, we were in the same club that night.Last time I checked, we are divorced, and we’re never getting back together.You have no claim over me anymore.”Just saying the words made me feel taller, stronger.“You can’t stand it, can you?Just like you can’t stand the sight of me being pleasured by somebody in a way you could never, ever hope to in a million years.”
Something ugly flashed across his face.Scary.I went too far.The thought raced across my mind in time with the step he took toward me.“What did you just say, you stupid slut?”he whispered.
My reflexes were too slow.He had never done anything like it, so the last thing I expected was the way he lunged with a wild light blazing behind his eyes and a flush staining his tanned face.I stumbled backward, hitting the coffee table with the backs of my legs and falling onto the couch.
I squeezed my eyes shut, throwing an arm up over my face.
Before he could lay a hand on me, a wild animal burst into the room, grunting and snorting as it hurled itself against Cameron and knocked him into the far wall.Trembling, I lowered my arm in time to see Dante haul Cameron to his feet from the ruins of my cheap dresser.“Come on, motherfucker.”He snarled, gripping Cameron’s shirt collar in one fist and cocking back the other.“You wanna dance?Let’s fucking dance, prick.”
The sound of fist meeting jaw was horrifying and exhilarating.Cameron’s head snapped to the side, but he recovered quickly, shoving Dante away.“My lawyer will love that,” he panted out as blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
“Will he?Might as well give them more to love.”Dante charged headfirst, ramming Cameron’s sternum before delivering an uppercut that turned his legs to jelly.He dropped to his hands and knees, gasping for air, and a snarling Dante pulled back his right leg like he was about to kick.
“Don’t!”I barked from the sofa, no matter how much I would’ve loved to see him do it.“It’s not worth it.”
When Dante turned to me, his teeth bared, his chest heaving, I wished I hadn't said anything.It was like getting in the middle of two rabid animals.
Something cleared behind his eyes.His stance loosened along with his hands.“Fine then,” he grunted out, taking Cameron by his shirt collar and his waistband and practically dragging him from the apartment.Not that it took long, as small as the space was.
I could barely take a breath, and I wasn’t the one who’d been fighting.Somehow, my shaking legs carried me to the open doorway so I could stare down at the pathetic heap that was my ex-husband.“Don’t you ever show up here again,” I warned.“Next time, I’m calling the cops.And if you even think about dragging my name through the mud, remember that goes both ways, you bastard.”
Nothing had ever been as satisfying as slamming the door and flipping the lock.
At least, nothing up to that moment because the next thing I knew, Dante had me in his arms, and it didn’t occur to me to break free.“I told myself not to come, but I was already on the way, and I couldn’t take another minute worrying about you,” he explained while his hands ran over my body like he was checking to be sure I was in one piece.“Did he hurt you?”
“He didn’t get the chance.”But for the first time in years, I understood that he might have.Very easily.That was when the shaking started—once realization replaced adrenaline in my system.“Oh God, he wanted to hurt me.”
“He won’t now.Never.”Holding my face in his hands, Dante stared deep into my eyes, and I let him.Just like I let myself sink into his touch, let him back me up against the door.“He is never going to hurt you.I am so sorry there was ever a question of that.”
“You hurt me, too,” I pointed out.I had to.I couldn’t betray myself.
His face contorted in pain.“I know.I was such an asshole.I didn’t mean to, I swear.I wasn’t thinking.It’s not going to happen again, ever.Please, don’t make me spend every day for the rest of my life worrying whether you’re all right.Let me be with you so I know for sure.”
Touching his forehead to mine, he whispered, “Don’t ask me to forget about us.”
I was too overwhelmed to speak.It was a good thing he kissed me when he did.I could let that do the talking for me, and I did, winding my arms around his neck and pulling him close, kissing him hard until I couldn’t breathe.
He pulled down my pajama shorts and panties, fumbling with his fly and a condom while we kissed, moaning into each other’s mouths, a sound that deepened as he drove himself inside me.
“Oh God…” I whispered, caught up in the moment, in him, in the way he fought for me.
