Page 11 of Made to Sin

“You’ll die before you can blink if you space out in this room, sweetheart,” Luciano said, cutting me off from my thoughts. The deep resonance of his voice brought forth a gutting swirl in the pits of my stomach, making me tenser than I already was.

Some time between being stuck in my thoughts to now, Esmeralda was gone, and I was alone with Luciano.

“Don’t call me that,” I breathed, too starstruck to think of a smart response.

“Of course, sweetheart.”

I disregarded the jab and turned to leave. The goal was to get away from him, so I could regain my composure. Lady Luck had another idea. Like a messed up carbon copy of the first time we met, as I took my first step, my heels slid against the wood, and I came tumbling toward Luciano.

This time, I made the mistake of gasping, fully inhaling his intoxicating scent. I grew dizzy as the smell rushed up my nose and leaked into my bloodstream. This man smelled so good, I was tempted to ask him for the cologne, so I could get one for myself.

“This clumsy thing is getting old, Katarina,” he dryly said.

“You stepped in front of me,stronzo.”

His eyes narrowed at the insult, but they went back to their stoic disinterest as he straightened the suit lapels I wrinkled. Pushing past my opinion of his murderous character, he was quite a sight. In his black three-piece suit, he looked dashing and fitting for a mamma’s dream son-in-law. There was nothing out of place from his combed-back hair to the polish of his shoes.

Oh, how the bubble would burst when those mammas found out he was nothing like the gentleman he looked.

“Do you need something, or did you come to ruin my night yet another time, Luciano?”

“Where’s your husband?”

“Probably somewhere around here.” I wanted to add he was probably with some willing girl he found, but that would bring up a topic I had no interest in talking about. Instead, I feigned a polite smile. “Can I deliver a message?”

“No, but you can find him for me.”

I rolled my eyes at the unarguable demand and started walking the opposite way. What was with these men thinking women would just listen to them?

I didn’t get far. Luciano took the liberty to wrap his calloused hand over my wrist and pulled me with him. The hold branded me like a ring of fire, spreading mercilessly to the rest of me.

Instinctively, I tried to snatch my hand away from the fiery source. “Let me go, you brute!”

He stopped so suddenly, I almost bumped into him for the second time tonight. He remained calm, but displeasure vibrated off his body. “Watch your mouth, Katarina.”

I scoffed, not believing he would do something at such a public event. “Or what?”

“Or I’ll make you shut up.”

“Stronzo,”I mumbled under my breath.

I didn’t have a chance to finish the mockery as he continued topull me until we were hidden from the main room. The faint light that seeped through was barely enough for me to see his face, let alone how he was going to kill me. Still, I had trouble quelling my sarcasm. It was my response to everything and anything.

“Oh, look, a dim hallway, I’m so scared.”

I didn’t know why I was provoking an angry beast in a secluded area. My screams wouldn’t be heard over the event going on in the next room. Yet I held my ground, staring at him with pursed lips.

His eyes relit with the unruly flames from earlier and, in a flash, he had me pressed up against the adjacent wall. “I’ve been too lenient on your disrespect. Keep opening your mouth, and I’ll show you just how much of an asshole I can be.”

In a normal world, I was supposed to grow an aversion to him. But, in the Underworld where his hand was wrapped around my throat and the deep grate of his voice rang in my bones, I grewhot.

While my head might have disliked this man, my body was conflicted. He smelled too good, talked too smoothly, moved too confidently. Luciano was everything my body thought it needed.

“Careful, Katarina. When you look at me with those eyes, it tells me that you would enjoy it,” he drawled.

My mouth fell open at his crassness, but his face remained neutral like he was telling me the weather and not how much I would enjoy his punishments.

My inner voice told me I would. The small contact already made me feel an indecent need for the rest of him. Not to mention, he seemed like the type of man who wrung pleasure from women when he was punishing them.

---