Page 27 of Enemies in Ruin

The hurt is still there, though, and I need to let it breathe. I need to let him know I’m not cold steel like him. The wound is full of fuel and flame, and right now, it’s burning me from the inside out.

I want him to burn, too.

It’s at that moment the decision I was wrestling with crystallizes. Do I do my father’s bidding and manipulate an alliance with Luca when the time for doing so is clearly dead and gone?

He’s with another woman, for God’s sake.

Up until now, my response has been a lukewarm ‘hmm,’ an ‘I don’t know’ of epic uncertainty.

I want Luca. I always have. But I didn’t want him like this—the product of a calculated maneuvering engineered by my father. The puppet master.

Well, screw that.

If he can’t make the simplest of decisions about his fiancée, then my decision becomes very easy.

Luca Marzano will be mine because I’ll make him mine.

Without taking my eyes off his, I tip the bottle back and drink. It’s a tacit agreement. A silent yes.

Luca’s nostrils flare, and his mouth descends, his tongue licking out to twist against mine. He pulls the bottle from my hand and backs away toward the hall that leads to the bedrooms, his fingers already going to the buttons of his shirt. “Where’s your bathroom, crazy?”

I brush past him to lead the way into the bathroom and turn my head, glancing briefly behind me to catch his hungry gaze on my ass. Swallowing, I lean into the shower and turn on the taps, testing the temperature of the water as it gushes out hard and fast.

The wine bottle clinks against the counter, and I turn to see Luca drop his shirt. He pulls his belt from his belt loops with a sibilant hiss, his gaze unblinking. While I stare, he unbuttons and drops his pants and boxers, then toes his shoes off and kicks them and the pants a few feet away.

He takes his cock in his hand and strokes it a few times. Up. Down. My eyes follow the movement.

“One of us is overdressed,” he murmurs.

I don’t respond, chewing my lip instead.

“I can think of better things you can do with that mouth.”

I release my lip from between my teeth as he stalks across the tiled floor. His hand circles my neck, but it’s not tight; I can pull away if that’s what I choose.

I stay within the light grip of his hand, making my choice, and a faint smile crooks the corner of his mouth.

Jerk.He always did like being in control. And me…well, this was always the one place I kind of liked giving up that control. It’s part of the reason Luca and I meshed so well.

When he exerts a light pressure to my shoulder, I obey without protest, falling to my knees before him.

“Suck my cock.”

The command has my blood heating. Reaching out, I run a fingertip down the length of his shaft, hiding a smile at the hiss that escapes his lips. I dip my head, about to take his cock into my mouth, but at the last second go lower and engulf one of his balls with my lips, running tantalizing circles with my tongue around his sensitive flesh. He groans, gripping my hair, and I move to the other.

“Fuck me, but I forgot how perfect that filthy mouth of yours is.”

I release his flesh, looking up at him with a teasing look before I flick my tongue out and lick the tip of his cock. He closes his eyes and rocks forward as my mouth covers the top of his shaft, and I swallow him slowly, taking as much of him down as I can. He touches the back of my throat and starts to pull out.

“Enough. Get up.”

My hands grip his thighs, holding him firmly in place as I pull back and push forward again, taking him deep each time in a sloppy mimicry of the fucking we’ll be doing soon enough. He gives in, and his fingers tangle in my hair as he pulls my face into his groin, the familiar bite of pain anchoring me and sending a flood of arousal straight to my pussy. I flatten my tongue and hum around his cock, knowing the vibration in my throat drives Luca crazy.

He doesn’t give me the illusion of control for long. My mouth can get him off entirely too fast like that, and neither of us is in the mood for fast tonight. I need him to make it last and make it hurt…to take my mind off the fact that someone just tried to kill me but hurt my dog instead.

With a muffled curse, he pulls me upright. “Up.”

He watches, eyes hooded, as I strip swiftly, peeling away my camisole and shoving my panties down to my feet. My breasts sway, nipples pebbling, as I step toward him. I want his mouth on me.

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