Page 45 of Lies like Rubies, Part Two (Savage Jewels)

“I need to forget,” I said, staring straight ahead, my heart pounding a million miles a minute, terrified that Nick would reject me as Lorenzo had, not ready for a sexual relationship with me after what happened, still keeping me on a ridiculous pedestal when what I really wanted was to roll in the mud. “I need you to play your games with me until all the darkness fades away.”

Dante stared at us from the doorway, his eyes black and hooded with longing. I wasn’t ready for that, not yet. Iwanted to be. Wanted him. Wanted him to want me. But I couldn’t, not yet. I was too damn weak, too fucking traumatized still. And I hated it.

With a growl, he stormed over and gripped my chin between his fingers. “They’re not games, slut.”

The tender brush of his lips over my forehead almost undid me. No, I needed Dante hard and cruel, an instrument for justice and vengeance. He searched my eyes, his brow furrowed. He must not have found what he was looking for, because his lips twisted into a frown before he turned on his heel and walked upstairs.

Nick nuzzled the back of my neck, and tendrils of need wound their way through me, thorny and complicated, a counterpoint to the simplicity of this touch.

“Uncomplicated. No strings attached,” I said, knowing I was a liar, knowing that just as much as I needed to forget, I’d needed his father to convince the DA not to prosecute.

Nick hummed and skimmed his fingers up my arms to my shoulders, the gentle touch through the fabric of my sleeves sending gooseflesh dancing over my skin.

“Keep telling yourself that, Sofia,” he said as he nipped my earlobe. Heat warmed me, slow and steady, different from the fires from before, but no less devastating for it.

He guided me down a hallway and into a bedroom, sparsely decorated like the rest of the house. “It seemed presumptuous to prepare a dungeon for you here,” he said, punctuating his words with kisses over my shoulders. “Inappropriate, given the circumstances.”

“You’ll make do, I’m sure,” I murmured, nervous now that we were in his bedroom, the large four-poster bed in front of me. “If I can’t—” What if I couldn’t do this?

“Then you can’t. And we try another time, or we trysomething different,” Nick said, smoothing over my worries. “It won’t change the way I feel about you.”

My heart skittered to a stop, then started up again with a heavy thud. Before I could respond, he turned me toward him and enveloped me in a hug, pressing our bodies together as he rubbed up and down my back. “What’s your safeword?”

“Strawberry,” I whispered.

“I’m going to check in a lot, just to make sure, all right, baby?”

I nodded against his chest, inhaling his citrus scent and calming my nerves. “Not so much that you don’t make me forget, though.”

Nick laughed and tilted my chin up to meet his mossy-green eyes. “Baby, I promise, when my face is buried in your pussy, my lips wrapped around your clit, and my fingers deep inside of you, hitting your g-spot as you ride my face, you won’t be thinking about anything but me.”

I melted against him, focusing on the cadence of his filthy words, his hands reaching around to unzip my dress, callused fingers brushing down my arms as he pushed it off my shoulders.

“You’re so fucking beautiful, Sofia,” he whispered as my dress dropped to the floor. “Inside and out.”

My eyes shot to his as hot tears welled up in my eyes. I shook my head, not ready to face emotions deeper than lust this evening.

“No?”

I wasn’t ready for him to tell me how strong I was, how perfect. “I need you inside of me, Nick.”

He laughed quietly but stepped away from me, his eyes tracing a hot path over my body. I closed my eyes withshame as his gaze caught on the bruises, the cuts, the abrasions on my wrists and ankles.

“Don’t move. Don’t make a sound,” he instructed.

“And if I do?”

He looked at me, his feet spread apart, a slight smile on his lips as he pulled his belt out of its loops. I jumped and whimpered as it slapped my ass, gently enough that I felt only a slight sting.

“Don’t move, don’t make a sound,” he repeated.

I nodded and bit my lip, determined to do as he asked, shoving down my anxiety about whether he still wanted me, whether I was still worthy of his want and his touch. His hooded eyes dropped to my mouth, and I felt the full force of his desire for me.

He circled around behind me and unhooked my bra, his fingers hot brands on my flesh, before dropping it to the ground. He drew his knuckles down my spine, and I felt his fingers on my hips, drawing my thong down my legs, then guiding my feet out of it. He took off my heels, then stood up again, running his hands up my calves and my thighs along the way until he stood flush against my back and looped his arms around my waist to hug me from behind.

“How’re you doing?”

“Oh, I can speak now?”

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