Page 51 of Toxic

"To what?"

"Sweetheart," I admit then dart my eyes back to the road, speeding up and zooming past another car.

"I'm not your sweetheart," she quietly states.

I chuckle. "Keep fighting me, Bridge. I'll punish you all night until you confess your pent-up love for me."

"Jesus. Are you ever not arrogant?"

I ignore her question. "Yeah, that's what you need. Hours upon hours of being punished."

She huffs. "I'm not your child, Dante."

I veer off the expressway, heading into the city. I glance over her body again, and my dick twitches. "No. You're not. Which is why you'll take my punishment and submit." I slow down and stop at a red light then turn toward her.

Blue flames practically jump from her orbs, searing into me. "The last thing I'll ever do is submit to you."

I reach for her chin and hold it firmly in my palm. Her eyes widen, and my pulse increases. "This denial you want to indulge in isn't going to last, dolcezza. If I have to fuck you into submission every day, I will."

Her hot breath hits my forearm and tingles race up it. A horn beeps, tearing me away from her nervous stare. I release her then return to maneuvering through traffic.

"You're the only woman who's sat in that seat and not freaked out over my driving. Minus the school zone issue," I add.

She shifts in her seat, turning toward me. "You drive like Finn. Sean, too, but especially Finn."

"Sean's cousin?"

"Yeah. He's in prison."

"No. He got out," I inform her.

"He did?"

"Yeah. Killian mentioned it."

"Oh. Well...yeah, I guess his sentence would have been up," she comments.

I almost ask her what's going on between her and the O'Malleys and why she made the decisions she did, but I decide to hold off. Instead, I declare, "I'm glad you don't scream while I drive."

A laugh escapes her lips. It's music to my ears. I've always loved her laugh, but I haven't heard it in years.

I question, "What's so funny?"

"I don't know why, but I just imagined Eva sitting here, screaming at you in Italian with her hands flailing all over the place."

I groan. "You nailed that scenario down. Annoyed the fuck out of me."

Bridget laughs some more. "Do you remember when she dropped a little bit of your mom's tiramisu on her dress? She freaked out and had to change. You could barely even see it. Her dress was black."

"Don't remind me. She was so high maintenance."

"She looked perfect, even with chocolate on her. I was the one who was a mess. My boobs were leaking from breastfeeding Sean. All I could think was that she would hate having kids."

"You weren't a mess. You were beautiful as always," I state.

Silence fills the car. I pull up to the entrance as close as possible, get out, and toss the keys to the valet. I've been here enough that he knows my protocol. My Porsche is to stay in their sight at all times. The only reason they would drive it is if an emergency vehicle needed to park in my spot. No one is to touch it.

I open the door for Bridget, help her out, then slide my arm around her waist.

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