Page 79 of Lies like Rubies, Part Two (Savage Jewels)

“Bastards, the three of you,” she said, but her eyes smiled as I straightened out her dress, then slipped around the counter to wash my hands. She stood straight, and I examined her critically. I could see a hint of red skin under the hem, but nothing that would really embarrass her.

“Gorgeous,” I repeated, returning to her to run my hands up her sides until I could pull her back against my torso and tuck her head under my chin.

Dante squeezed between her body and the counter and brought his head down to nip her earlobe. “What a slut you are, wearing nothing but your dress and your shoes.” He dangled a thick gold chain in front of her face. When she reached up to look at the pendant, she smiled, slow and sweet, taking my breath away with her joy at the gift.

Just like her collar, it was heart-shaped, with the word “kitten” engraved on it. Unlike her collar, it was from Tiffany’s. He carefully undid the toggle, then draped it around her neck, closing the clasp in front. “Nothing but your dress, and your shoes, and a collar,” he said, smiling possessively.

We didn’t bother letting Sofia repair her lipstick or her hair—we had plans for her in the car too. When Lorenzo followed her into the backseat, yanking her into the middle and strapping her in there instead of the passenger side, she eyed him curiously.

He hiked one of her legs over his, so she was wildly,obscenely, displayed to Dante and I through the rearview mirror. Fuck, she was stunning.

Dante adjusted the mirror, not at all subtly, so he could see the glistening pink of her pussy as she blushed, wide open to our hungry eyes.

“Sit, kitten. Stay,” Dante muttered, as he slammed on the accelerator and peeled out of the parking place.

I turned in my seat to watch Lorenzo stroke his fingers up and down her thighs. “Look at you, open and displayed for us like the sweet slut you are, wet and begging for our cocks, for our tongues, for anything we want to give you,” I said, meeting Sofia’s eyes.

She moaned and her pussy clenched around air, the sight of her flexing and moving absolutely fucking enchanting. And that collar.Fuck.Out in public with our collar on her. I knew it wasn’t a collaring ceremony, and she hadn’t agreed to shit in the long term. Iknewit. But I still fucking loved the symbolism of it.

Lorenzo slid a finger through her folds, and she threw her head back with a throaty whine. “Lorenzo, please,” she gasped, drawing his face to hers for a kiss.

“Hands behind your head, love.”

Impressed by how easily Lorenzo uttered those words to her and how sweetly she obeyed him, bringing her hands up behind her head and clasping them together, I watched with delight as she quivered in her seat while Lorenzo teased her until she moaned with need.

He slid his fingers into her, fucking her slowly, as she lolled her head back against the seat. Dante took the curves of the city at a breakneck pace, flicking his eyes between the road and our beautiful slut in the back seat.

Thirty seconds before we pulled onto the busy street in front of Baldino’s, Lorenzo tapped her knee. “We’re here.”

With a whimper, Sofia slammed her knees together. Lorenzo shoved his fingers in her mouth and she frantically licked them clean, sucking on them until both of them were short of breath.

“Damn, woman,” he said softly.

She snatched her purse off the floor and fixed her face. Nothing could hide how wide and tremulous her eyes were, or how flushed her cheeks, but she could repair her makeup and put order to her hair.

By the time she’d straightened herself out, I was at her door to offer her my hand as she gracefully swung her legs around and exited the car. Her fingers wrapped around my arm had me feeling some kind of way, my chest puffing out with pride that this beautiful creature was holding onto me.

“ZioLuciano!” Sofia exclaimed as we entered the restaurant. At this late hour, the restaurant was packed, hungry diners squeezed around tiny tables.

“Come,principessa, your table is ready,” he said, gesturing to the four of us. We wound our way through the cramped tables, murmurs and whispers following us. Good. Word had gotten out.

32

DANTE

Our gorgeous littleslut pressed her knees together under the table, embarrassed, miserable, and turned on. Grandpapà Baldino had opened the restaurant decades before, serving generations of Russos and their territory. Luciano had transformed the restaurant into a popular spot for the mafia and tourists alike. Increasingly, the restaurant filled with patrons not associated with the mob and their quiet chatter hummed in the evening candlelight—the better to tease our deliciously nervous kitten.

When the teenage waitress brought the menus, Nico grabbed Sofia’s before she could open it.

“Who takes care of you, Sofia?” he asked, tracing a finger along her collar. Nico had suggested giving her something to remind her of our ownership out in public—I’d expected her to balk, but she was slowly sliding into comfort with the roles Nico had assigned us.

I chuckled softly as the two of them stared at each other in a battle of wills. I might have dominated Sofia first, but Nico had slipped into our lives and stealthily rearrangedthem to suit his own notions of what our family might look like. And he’d held us together with grim determination ever since, balancing my penchant for cruelty with his own brand of sweet domination.

“You do, Nick,” she said, twisting her lips. “But I’ve been eating at Baldino’s since I was a baby, and I know what I like.”

Lorenzo leaned in from across the table, twining his fingers in hers. “So have Nick and I, sunshine. And you eat like shit when we’re not around to make sure you get your damn vegetables.”

“What happens if I don’t eat my vegetables?” she asked, mischief dancing in her eyes.

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