Page 52 of For the Gods' Sake

Adrian bent, dropping the crate on the floor. Exposing me to a prime view of his suit pants pulling taut against his well-sculpted ass. When he rose again to his full height and turned, all humor fled my body,chased away by his dark expression. “Are you trying to get me undressed?”

Yes. “If it means I can find out what you’re hiding, then yes.”

Adrian narrowed his eyes on me, his gaze dipping to my throat. Like he could see the rapid gallop of my pulse against my skin. He leaned in, just enough that I sucked in a breath. “Liar.”

The challenge struck true. Adrian just didn’t know I liked to fight dirty. “You mean to tell me if you knew I was hiding tattoos under my clothes, you wouldn’t want to see?”

His jaw hardened, the image taking shape. I leaned closer, lifting my chin towards him. “If I had tattoos on my back? My ribs?” I lowered my voice to a whisper. “My hips?”

The lights flickered and I smiled, full and bright and right in his face. He fucking deserved it.

“Thought so,” I said, stepping away from him to take some much needed reprieve. “When you feel like taking your shirt off, just let me know.” Because I couldn’t help it, because I was a hopeless moth to the flame where breaking his control was concerned, I winked at him as I turned back to the walls of the cellar.

I spied some expensive, perfectly aged bottles on a high part of the rack and rose up on my toes to try to reach for them.

“That’s enough,” Adrian growled next to my ear, pulling me flush to his chest. He kept me pinned to him, like he was scared of what would happen if he let me go, as he pulled four bottles off the high rack, dropping them into the empty spaces of my crate.

I was rendered slack-jawed while he took absolutecontrol over the situation, calling for one of Jason’s workers to take the crate and coordinate with my security to take it back to my house, then taking a step back and dragging us through a portal onto the cobblestone of a quiet Roman street.

My hair fell in windswept curls around my shoulders, my limbs tingling.

And Adrian felt solid, strong, and unaffected at my back. Every inch of his chest was pressed against my back, only his hips pulling back. He bent down, brushing my hair away with his nose. “Just a reminder not to test me.”

“Reminder received,” I said breathlessly. Even though I had absolutely no intention of heeding his warning. Not when teasing him made fireworks spark in my chest.

“Now,” Adrian said, stepping away from me and straightening his sleeves. “Let me feed you.”

He could do whatever the fuck he wanted with a stray curl hanging down over his forehead.

“Where do you want to go?” I asked, taking in my surroundings to figure out what part of Rome we’d landed in. I recognized the street, close to some of the main temples dedicated to the gods, including Juno, Apollo, and Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt.

Also conveniently home to one of my favorite bakeries in the city. I immediately jumped on my feet, clapping my hands together and a smile broke apart on my face. “Oh, I could kiss you right now,” I exclaimed passively.

Adrian stepped close, his eyes blown slightly wide. “That a promise?”

My breath stilled. “Very funny.”

“I’m not that funny, Reyna.” The words were hard, but before I could process what his tone was implying, Adrian said, “Lead the way.”

“What?” I asked, slightly confused.

“We are going wherever made you smile like that.” Adrian’s tone left no room for disagreement and he clamped his hand over mine, pulling me out of the alley we flew in. It was short work to drag him a few turns.

And even more efficient for him to storm into the small bakery, nearly scaring the wits off the poor man working the front, and placing me in front of him with a crisp command to get whatever I want.

I was proud of myself for keeping my voice steady, instead of letting the quiver racking my limbs through. If only Adrian knew how much his calm domination twisted my stomach into a knot.

And by the time we were standing outside, positioned in perfect view of people passing but still tucked away in a private corner of the square, Adrian allowed his curiosity to flare.

“Is your father the only reason why you stormed my house and forced me to let you raid Dionysus’s warehouse?”

I turned my eyes from two young girls who did a comically dramatic double take when they spotted us to find him staring at me with unabashed interest. “First of all, I believe I asked—”

“Demanded.”

“Askedyou to take me on a date.” Adrian crossed his arms over his chest, like he was willingly letting me win. “Then you asked me if I had any special requests. I said I wanted to drink. Then you took me to his cellar.”

Adrian wrapped his hand around my wrist, bringingthe cornetto he bought for me up to his lips and taking a clean bite. Once he swallowed, he said, “I brought you to the god of wine’s warehouse to have your pick of whatever you wanted. I believe what you mean to say is thank you.”

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