Page 69 of Lies like Rubies, Part One

I exhaled sharply, turning the question over in my mind, trying to think about how I could answer it in a way that would give Adam the information he needed.

“You’re thinking too hard, Sofia,” Adam said, pushing back from the table.

“That’s because you’re asking the wrong question,” I snapped. “Who cares if I trust him with my life? I have very little control over it, as you know. But you know what I do trust him with? I trust Dante withLizzie’slife.”

The words blazed out of me, shocking me with their truth.

Adam dropped back into his chair.

Dante relaxed and smiled warmly at me, his expression softening unexpectedly. When he squeezed my knee, the rough calluses on his fingers scraped over my bare skin until his burning touch absorbed my entire focus.

Adam and his associates nodded at one another, conversing silently, and then Adam leaned forward. “You have my agreement, in principle. We can hammer out the numbers over the next several weeks. The Columbians won’t be pleased to lose the contract.”

If Dante knocked a percentage off their purchases, he could appease the Columbians while cutting them out of the Yorkfield market. Idly, I wondered if he had plans to replace the supply of drugs they were running with their shipments to Adam.

“A toast.” Adam’s colleague poured a final round of baijiu, and the four men raised their glasses. “To new friends.” I raised my teacup, to Dante’s amusement, and turned the conversation to more mundane subjects.

Hours of drinking later, my eyes drooped, and sleep threatened. Dante took pity on me when I couldn’t hold back a yawn any longer. As he thanked Adam for his hospitality, he stood, shaking hands with all the men at the table. To my surprise, the men also offered me their hands to shake.

Dante couldn’t keep his damn hands off me as we walked to the waiting car. The moment we were inside, he rolled up the partition and dragged me against him for a deep, drugging kiss.

As he plundered my mouth with his tongue, he tasted of spice and alcohol. “Fucking brilliant, kitten,” he said, unzipping my dress and dragging it down my arms, revealing the lace of my bra.

He didn’t bother with finesse, burying his face in my breasts, licking and nipping at my nipples through the lace until I moaned wantonly. He’d never touched me like this before, like he wanted to, like he couldn’t get enough.

Straddling him, pushing my dress up to my waist, I worked at his belt, as desperate as him. Wet heat enveloped a nipple—he’d shoved the lace of my bra down, sucking on the taut bud until I jerked my hips against him, seeking relief for the pressure he built in my core.

“Fucking yes, kitten,” Dante said as I finally released his cock from his pants. He pushed my panties aside, running a finger through me and finding me soaking wet. “Condom in my wallet,” he gasped as I ran my hot center against his length, desperate for friction and completion. I fumbled in his pocket until I found the wallet and slid out a condom. He took it from me, covering himself. I sank down on his cock, throwing my head back at the twin sensations of pain and bliss as he filled me.

His hot mouth moved from breast to breast, sloppily licking and sucking on me as I adjusted to his size, fully impaled upon him. “Are you ready, kitten?” he rasped, finally. Instead of answering, I rolled my hips, eliciting a moan from him. His fingers dug into my ass. “Fuck, woman.”

I cried out as I moved up and down, setting a steady pace that brought me higher and higher, pleasure winding through me as I rode him.

“No, sweetheart,” he said, “Like this.” Then he met me stroke for stroke, pounding up into me with his hips, hitting that gorgeous spot inside me that made my eyes cross. I keened wildly, overwhelmed by the bliss he drew from me.

“Touch yourself, kitten.”

I reached down between us to stroke my clit. When he savagely bit my nipple, I screamed, and pleasure careened through me, primitive and out of control. My muscles tightened around him as he yelled my name and exploded inside me.

Breathing hard, I collapsed on top of him, covered in sweat, unable to put a coherent thought together. Dante’s arms curled around me, drawing me tight against his chest. He trailed his fingers up and down my back as we caught our breath together. I lay my cheek against his shoulder, my lips against his neck, shuddering with the aftershocks of our intense lovemaking.

His embrace tightened, and I sank into him, softening against his chest as he held me.

Dante pushed a button on the door beside him and gave the driver my address.

I reared back in his lap, searching his eyes, not understanding why he didn’t want me on my knees in his apartment, crying, embarrassed that I wanted to be there.

“No?” he asked. Amusement curled one side of his lips into a lopsided smile as he gently arranged my clothing, pulling up the lace of my bra and straightening my dress before dragging the zipper up my back.

When I would have moved off his lap, he pushed me to the floor of the car. “Clean me up, kitten,” he ordered, with none of his usual cruelty. I stared at him from my position on my knees. His eyes were dark as he stroked his fingers through my blonde hair. I squeezed between his legs and took off the condom, dropping it before I took his cock in my mouth, licking and lapping him until he was clean enough to tuck into his pants.

Dante played with my hair as I arranged his clothing, before hauling me beside him on the seat. I straightened my skirt and ran my fingers through my hair before giving up and taking it down out of its previously elegant chignon.

I combed my fingers through it, then braided it. His expression inscrutable, Dante handed me my overnight bag. Grateful that all I had to do was traverse the lobby once I got back to my building, I repaired my makeup the best I could. To my surprise, Dante yanked me against him and wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

“Your father’s a fool, kitten, if he doesn’t see your worth,” he said, playing absently with the seatbelt where it crossed my shoulder.

Sighing, my heart a hot mess from the maelstrom of emotion that coursed through me after yet another mind-blowing orgasm with Dante. “This from the man who puts me in a cage and threatens to plug my ass with a tail?”

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