Page 19 of Hot-Blooded Killer

“Let’s keep it simple and private, save the show for public consumption.”

“Your call,” I say again. I glance out the window at the desert landscape stretching away into darkness. I don’t mean it. There’s no way in hell I’m waiting until the wedding night—not if I have anything to say about it.

We pull into her apartment garage, and I get out of the car.

“You don’t have to walk me to my door,” she says. “Gino can escort me.”

I glance at her bodyguard, a muscular, attractive man about my age. One of Rossi’s men.

“I’m sure he can,” I say dryly. “By that’s a rumor I don’t want to get around about me. My father—” I have to fight to keep my voice from cracking when I say the word, “—taught me how to treat women right.” I give a significant pause. “And I intend to treat you very well.”

Her eyes widen at my words, but she nods. “Suit yourself.”

We make our way to the garage elevator and are silent all the way to her apartment door.

The far-too-attractive Gino opens the door and checks out the apartment. “All clear,” he announces, stepping back into the hallway and taking up a post several feet to our left, between us and both the elevator and the stairwell.

He stares straight ahead, his hands clasped in front of him, deaf, dumb, and blind to anything he might see or hear—except, of course, what thinks his boss should know.

He’s a good Mafia soldier. If he didn’t belong to the Rossis, I might consider poaching him for our team.

But Gia’s right—her father's men are deeply loyal, by all accounts.

Well, then. I’ll give him something to report to Rossi.

Gia steps into her apartment and turns, one hand on the doorknob. But I follow her inside, so as soon as she faces me, she comes up against my chest.

She lets out a little squeak and tilts her head back to stare up at me. I reach out both arms and step in closer, so she’s caught between my legs and arms and I’m caging her against the entryway wall.

She freezes like one of the small kangaroo rats in the desert outside Vegas—as if by not moving, she can somehow escape my attentions.

I dip my head toward hers, and unconsciously, she tilts her face up toward me.

At the last minute, though, I slide to one side, whispering in her ear. “One good night kiss,” I say, my breath fluttering the curls along her neck. “Surely that won’t hurt. Or break your rules.”

Another shiver goes through her, and I smile even though she can’t see it.

“One kiss,” she agrees, her voice raspy.

I slide my hands down her arms, thread my fingers through hers, and lift her hands above her head so she’s completely pinned against the wall.

She exhales, and the sound is shaky.

Slowly, I lower my mouth to hers, allowing my lips to brush across hers, once, twice, before I claim her mouth with my own.

Gia melts against me, her breasts pressing against my chest, every bit as soft and pliable as I had imagined she would be.

I slide my tongue against the seam of her lips, urging her to open them, and she gives little sigh as she does.

Then our tongues are tangling, the heat of her flowing into me, my desire for her surging through my body and into my cock. I press it against her, and she whimpers into my mouth. I feel her pulling on my hands, and I let hers go. She drops her arms down around my neck, her fingers tangling through the hair at the nape of my neck. She throws herself into the kiss completely, her whole body responding to me just as I had hoped it would.

My hands slide down her back and cup her ass. She tilts her hips toward me, and it’s all I can do not to pick her up, carry her into the bedroom. Fuck her hard.

Make her mine now.

But my plan is to ruin her, and at the last minute I remember.

The best way to do that is to seduce her completely.

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