Page 71 of Vicious Heir

“You deserve so much more than enough,” Niccolò says and lets out a long sigh as he breaks eye contact.

It’s in this moment that I decide.

For some reason, this man standing in front of me cares. He cares about me and my life and my safety, and I may not understand why, but he keeps showing me. It’s more than spoken words and empty promises. It’s actions.

And the fact that I keep running from the only person who’s currently in my corner is on me and me alone.

“I’ll allow it,” I say. “I will allow and accept your protection.”

He smiles, closing the sliver of space that was between us. When he looks down at me, the only thing I feel is a hollow, desperate need. For him. A need I’ve been trying to avoid feeling since he told me he’d never touch me again.

“You didn’t have a choice anyways.” He grins, and I roll my eyes. “There she is.”

He grabs my hand, and I let him. We walk over to one of the tables, and nostalgia swarms in my veins when he lifts me up and sets me on the top.

“Can we just cut the shit? Just for tonight. For a little while. Walls down. You. Me. I give a shit about you, viper. I fucking do. Never intended to. Never wanted to get close or care about anyone, but I do. You’re a fucking force. And whenever I’m around you, it feels like I’ve met my match.”

His hands tangle up in my hair, and I nod, taking in a deep breath and trying my damnedest to let the walls I’ve built up come crashing down. The barbwire that sits around my heart fucking pierces the organ each time it pumps, and I will myself to let it all go.

Just for a little while, like he said.

“Seeing you tonight was fucking incredible,” he says. “You have a darkness inside of you, and it’s fucking addicting. I could watch you in your element like that for the rest of my life.”

His words strike me, and a lump in my throat constricts my breaths.

“I didn’t know a pissed-off woman was so enticing,” I say as he places his palms on my thighs.

A shiver rolls down my spine. I try my best to look and act unaffected, and suddenly the question that’s been on the tip of my tongue since we got in the car spills out.

“What did that man mean?” I ask. “You’re where good things go to die.”

He winces from the impact of my words, and my hands instinctively fly to his cheeks, cupping them and forcing him to look at me.

“What did he mean, Niccolò?” I’ll focus on anything other than the way this man makes mefeel. I need to focus on anything but that. So instead, I focus on the way his brown eyes bore into mine as I hold him in place, unrelenting.

Sadness flashes in his gaze as his stare narrows, and he shakes his head and grips each of my wrists, sliding my arms down until my palms rest against his chest.

“He meant what he said, viper.”

His voice. Even his voice is sad.

“I often wondered if Stefano knows how to tell the truth anymore, but he clearly does.” He pauses. “Because I am where good things go to fucking die. It’s why I told myself I’d never touch you. Just expected to be content watching from afar, but fuck… I don’t know how to do that anymore, Evelina.” He rolls his head back and looks at the ceiling, almost like he’s praying, although it feels like a stupid thought. “I would do anything to protect you from everyone else, but I’m too fucking selfish to protect you from myself.”

“Then don’t,” I say, the words leaving my lips without thinking as I reach up to trace the outline of his lips. A small part of me frays away as I give up an ounce of the control, relinquishing it to the man I was never meant to give it to. “Stop trying to protect me from the one person I don’t want protection from.”

35

NICCOLÒ

I’m fucking worthless when it comes to her, a goddamn pitiful excuse for a man.

But when she looks up at me with nothing but unfiltered desire in those green eyes of hers, I can’t deny her. How the fuck could I? I’m playing with the fucking devil himself, but I can’t refuse to give the woman in front of me what she wants.

“You’re playing with fucking fire, Evelina,” I tell her, needing her to be sure of what she’s asking for.

She smiles, her eyes so focused on mine that it makes me fucking dizzy.

She moves one finger slowly up the fabric of my crotch, teasing my hard cock just beneath the ghost of her touch.

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