Page 24 of Bound to Him

“Viola?” I turned and looked through the window. My eyes immediately found Olivia, who happened to be looking at me. “Yeah, I can stand her just fine.”

I held eye contact with her until she looked away again. Christ, she was all over the place. I knew that this was a complicated situation, but she was driving my dick fucking crazy with all this back and forth. I had to know what was going through her mind. Did she want me or not? Because she only needed to say one fucking word, and I would fight every single Romano and their cartel friends to the death just to be able to sink into her, at last.

When we eventually walked back inside, Olivia wasn’t at the girls’ table anymore. I looked around, not finding her. Before anyone would notice my absence, I slipped into the corridor and leaned against the wall outside the restrooms. It wasn’t long before Olivia appeared, smoothening her hair as she walked out. I stepped out of the darkness, cutting her off.

“Ciao, tesoro.”

She gasped in fright, then sighed with frustration. “Huxley!”

“Yes?” I smiled, licking my lips.

“What are you doing here? What do you want?” She looked over my shoulder, making sure no one was coming. I looked back, then put my hands on her shoulders and shifted her around the next corner that led to the back storeroom—where we sometimes took guys who needed a shakedown.

“I want you, is what I want.”

She tried to look irritated, but I could hear the tremble in her sigh and see the goosebumps flare across her skin. I touched her cheek with the back of my fingers.

“Huxley, this is not happening—”

“Yes, baby, the way my name sounds on your tongue is so—”

“Huxley!” she urged, and my smile grew wide.

“You know you’re only making it worse, right?”

“Making what worse? You’re the one—”

I took her hand and placed it on my dick. Her eyes became wide as saucers when she felt the hard-on she was inspiring. Her chest heaved as her breathing grew heavy.

“You make him grow every time you say my name.”

She closed her mouth and pulled her hand away, apparently composing herself. I waited.

“Look, we can’t do this.”

“Do what?”

“Skulk around in corners, kissing and touching!”

“But we haven’t even kissed yet. Not tonight, anyway.”

Her cheeks grew red, and she avoided my gaze. I put my hand against the wall behind her, then gently guided her face to me with a finger. We stared into each other's eyes for what felt like a full minute, so I took my chance and kissed her. The finger I had on her chin slid up to become my hand cupping her face. Her soft lips felt like pillows and tasted like red wine. Immediately, I felt her muscles relax and heard the smallest of moans escaping her mouth, just like the other night. My eyes closed, and the entire world around us faded away—that was, until she pushed me away. No, shoved me away.

“What the fuck?” I asked, stepping back and searching her face.

“I said, we can’t do this!” She looked pissed, and her hair practically whipped me in the face when she turned and pushed past me to head back into the restaurant. Only, I stopped her before she could, with a firm grasp on her upper arm.

“Can we get this straight, first?” I said darkly. She stopped and looked back at me. “You don’t want this?”

My heart felt like it was beating out of my chest, in anger or hurt, I didn’t know. But everything rested on what she would say next, and that was a position I’d never found myself in before. Not with any woman or man.

Her confidence wavered, giving me hope, but she clenched her jaw, shook her head, and said, “No,” while looking me dead in the eyes.

It felt like an actual knife in my gut. I let go of her arm, and she walked away.

So, she doesn’t want this. Clearly, I was imagining things, or she was lying through her teeth. But either way, whatever this was, was clearly done. I ground my teeth together and fell back against the corridor wall.

Aside from feeling offended—because I wasn’t used to hearing no from any woman, ever—I felt a different feeling in my gut than I was used to. That knife stabbing me again and again, each time I played her answer through my mind.

---