Page 31 of Lies like Rubies, Part One

Damn.

“Sofia?” a soft voice asked from beside me. I looked up, only to discover that class had ended, and I was still staring into space. Professor Campbell slid into the desk beside me. “Are you okay?”

Everyone was asking me that lately.No, I am not okay.

“Yeah, of course. I’m fine, just distracted.” I smiled and gave him an excuse I knew would make him back off. “Family stuff, you know?”

He frowned. “Have you given any more thought to accepting the job in New York?” A boutique investment firm had offered me a job based on Professor Campbell’s recommendation.

“I think I’m going to take it,” I blurted out, surprised at myself. I’d hesitated to accept it, fearing my family’s wrath, but now, with Lizzie’s future on my mind, I needed to get out of Yorkfield. It didn’t solve the short-term Sergio problem, but it would give me more freedom in the future.

“Youthinkyou’re going to take it, or you’re going to take it?” he pressed me. That’s why he was my favorite professor, constantly pushing me.

I slid my laptop into my bag, my fingers brushing over the gun I once again carried everywhere. “I think I’m going to take it.” I met his eyes. “It’s complicated, Professor Campbell. You’ve lived in Yorkfield your entire life. You know how my family is, and you’ve met Lizzie.”

He laughed heartily, his smile taking over his entire face. “Lizzie was a joy to have in my office when she was a baby, and you had questions about your freshman courses. She’s a joy whenever you have to stop by after the campus daycare closes. Lizzie isn’t the problem.”

No, the problem was that I lived in an apartment owned by my father, drove a car owned by my father, had a credit card my father paid without showing me the statements, and didn’t even have a bank account in my own name.

Not that I could get a job here, anyway. I asked my father when I needed cash for something I wanted my family to know about. Otherwise, I had to request cash back at the grocery store.

Moving to New York would be complicated but worth it if it gained me my independence.

However, nobody was allowed to complain about my family but me. “I’ll keep thinking about it, okay, Professor?”

The itchy feeling in the middle of my back returned as I left the classroom. The hard grip of my gun comforted me as I wrapped my fingers around it inside my bag. Even if I couldn’t use it outside of a life-threatening emergency, its presence calmed me. God, what if the events of the last few days had turned me paranoid?

13

DANTE

I couldn’t stop obsessingabout Sofia and the filthy things I wanted to do to her. When Sergio visited her earlier this week, my visceral possessiveness and fury surprised me. And Sofia’s reaction to the kid who’d betrayed her was a fucking delight. For a moment, I imagined sweeping her and Lizzie away from this life, spending hot days and long nights of hedonistic pleasure together at my Sicilian estate, then discarded the thought. My purpose in Yorkfield was to destroy Sergio, and she was the perfect tool.

When the doorbell to my hotel suite rang, my body tightened in anticipation. Indulging this fixation tonight wouldn’t make it go away, only give me enough breathing room to back off and make rational decisions instead of thinking with my cock.

I’d broken women before—wives of targets, mistresses of business competitors—but none had filled me with eagerness like Sofia Russo did.

She stood outside my door, luscious and elegant in a black sheath dress and heels. Lustrous blonde hair fell across her shoulders, gleaming in the warm light of the hotel room. She’d dressed up for me. That idea appealed more than it should have. I ran my eyes over every inch of her body, letting the silence draw out as we stood.

She clutched at her tote like a lifeline. Maybe she wasn’t as cool and collected as she wanted me to think. Impatience thrummed in my veins.

I motioned for her to enter. She watched me out the side of her eyes as she walked into the suite, unable to hide the tremble in her hands as she brushed past me. Her floral scent filled my nostrils, and I breathed deeply, giving in to the addiction I knew was coming.

She stood in the center of the common area, trembling like a rabbit before a lion, an expression of polite blankness on her face. I’d replace that icy mask with tears soon, but in the meantime, “Strip,” I growled at her.

“Where should I put my bag?” she asked, sliding it off her shoulder, her voice calm.

“Drop it.”

It hit the ground with a thump. After kicking her heels aside, she reached under her arm and unzipped her dress, peeling it off and dropping it on the floor beside her as she stood before me in sultry lingerie. A sapphire blue bra framed and lifted her breasts like dessert at a fucking buffet. Lace panties barely covered anything, and a garter with stockings drew my eyes down her mouthwatering legs.

I soaked in her beauty for a moment, letting her wonder if I’d insist on stripping her all the way. As I prowled in a circle around her, I admired the jewel tones of the fabric bisecting her ass and the curve of her breasts framed in lace. From behind her, I gathered honey-colored tendrils in my fist. A shuddering breath escaped through her plump lips, followed by a gasp when I yanked her head backward. “I said strip.”

She nodded like the good girl I suspected she desperately wanted to be and raised her hands to unclasp her bra. My grip tightened in her hair, but she ignored the pain as she tugged away to lower her panties and roll her stockings down. She hadn’t protested once, not even an involuntary squeak when I yanked on her hair.

A minute later, she stood before me, completely nude. My cock twitched. I traced my eyes over the stretch marks on her stomach and breasts, the fullness of her hips, and the gentle arc of her stomach.

Fucking gorgeous.

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