Page 39 of Blood and Lies (A Twisted Duet 1)

Slowly, he traced his fingertip down my spine, and I fought the shivers that threatened to spread throughout my body. I didn’t know why his touch had so much power over me, but I was determined to fight it. If I surrendered to it, it would mean the end of me.

“You did well tonight.” His finger dipped, tracing all the way down the hollow of my back. This time I couldn’t stop my body from trembling from his touch, the brief determination evaporating like mist in front of the sun.

I closed my eyes. “I don’t care whether you think I did good or not.”

His finger started upward again. “I’m sure you don’t.”

“And you were wrong.”

“About what?”

I glanced over my shoulder. “About me craving pain.”

“Oh, I wasn’t wrong.”

“Then why couldn’t I handle the pain from Vico’s lashings? Why did my body give in?”

His fingertip reached the nape of my neck then slowly descended again. “Because he wasn’t the one. Your body doesn’t respond to him.” Abruptly, he gripped my hip, his fingers digging painfully into my flesh, and I gasped softly. With that pain came a bright flare of desire that shot straight through me all the way to my core, and I felt my body’s need for something—for him—getting stronger.

He leaned closer, his beard brushing softly against my cheek. “Your need for pain, for pleasure, is rooted to your deepest, darkest desires that can’t be met by just anyone.”

Then he was gone, leaving my skin hungry for more. I didn’t dare turn around when I heard him shuffling behind me. I couldn’t. My body was on fire, and it wasn’t because of Vico’s belt. It was because of Castello’s touch. One simple touch and he managed to turn my body against me. So easily he affected me, igniting that craving I’d carried around inside me for so long. This man who seemed to have one goal, which was to destroy me, had the power to bring my body to life with nothing more than a simple stroke of a fingertip. Not only was he the devil of my Hell, but he had the demonic power to wake my most carnal desires, leaving my body aching and my mind in chaos.

I had to try harder.

“You’re wrong about me.” My voice lacked conviction, my body recognizing the lie in every word.

“I don’t think I am, Tatum.”

I sensed him before I felt him. His scent surrounded me, his heat enveloping me. The air around us was laden with desire, the tension making it almost impossible to breathe right. The second he pushed his naked body against my back, I whimpered from the contact.

So much heat, so much desire…so many unwanted feelings, it felt like I was floating in a cloud of confusion, contradictions surrounding me like a threatening thunderstorm.

Once again, my mind and my body were battling a war deep inside me, a war that threatened to break down every stronghold protecting me from succumbing, to surrendering to the one man whose sole purpose was to destroy me.

“Tell me, Tatum. Tell me your body isn’t responding to mine.” He flexed, and I felt his cock push against the hollow of my back. “Fuck knows my body keeps responding to you, no matter how hard I try to fight it.” He moved, pushing me toward the shower. “Every time my cock gets hard around you, I curse the desire that burns in my loins. I hate the need that consumes me whenever I come close to you. I abhor the lust that pulses through my body every time I goddamn look at you.”

His words, his voice, the feel of his naked body against mine were all working together, guaranteeing a landslide win for my body, my mind not standing a chance.

A few more steps, and he had successfully coaxed me into the shower, and all I could think about was how I didn’t want him to leave, how I didn’t want him to pull his body away from mine. I loved his heat yet hated the way my thighs clenched. I relished the feel of skin against skin but despised the way his touch electrified me. He…me…us, whatever was happening between us was an extreme paradox as we hated and desired at the same time.

The water that came down on us was hot, but not as hot as his body searing my skin.

He kept pushing until my front was pressed against the wall of the shower. He placed his strong arms on either side of me, cocooning me, his heat surrounding me completely.

I was slipping. I was slipping down to the deepest parts of Hell by allowing my body to overrule my mind. This was all so goddamn twisted, sick, and wicked…exactly what I’ve always wanted, and fighting it seemed all the more impossible.

God, I hated myself. Maybe I deserved Vico’s lashings. Maybe I deserved to be killed by the Fattores—by anyone, for that matter.My body, my soul was too wicked to go unpunished, which was probably why my fate had brought me here, to meet my ultimate demise.

Then you might as well give in and let out the warped desire since you’ll die soon anyway…

“Tell me your body isn’t on fire for me right now, Tatum.”

“Castello…”

His hand dipped between me and the wall, and for the life of me, I couldn’t stop myself from shifting my body, pushing harder against him, allowing his hand to settle between my legs.

I gasped and moaned at the same time he dragged a finger through my slit.

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