Page 136 of Made to Sin

Almosttoohandsome.

It really was a shame for the world to be devoided of his looks. If anything, there would probably be heartbroken women on the hunt for me by the time the news broke.

Nonetheless, he chose to be on the unfortunate side of the law, and I was his executioner.

I ran a feathered touch down his extended arm and rested my palm on his knuckles. He tensed, the muscles of his broad shoulders stiffening ever so slightly that an ordinary person wouldn’t have noticed.

My eyes lit with a competitive delight at the idea of him being this easily affected. I grew braver, clasping my hand over his in an intertwining hold.

“Are you sure you can’t spare a few minutes?”

“I’m not your personal entertainment,” he dryly responded.

His indifference killed the mood, but he didn’t shake off my hand, so I persisted. “Then how about I become yours?”

I held in the cringe as I locked our hands off of the brass and slid in between his toned body and the door. The wood quietly creaked shut under my weight, trapping us both on the inside.

He gave me a lazy once-over, debating if I was worth his time. Molten itched at every inch of my body from his scalding assessment, and, despite every cell in my body wanting to shield away, I squared my shoulders and stood up taller.

“So? What do you say?”

His skeptical gaze came back to my face. “Why?”

I shrugged. “Fun.”

He wasn’t convinced, but I didn’t give him time to add to the doubt. Tugging him closer by our intertwined hands, I enveloped myself in his body heat and masculine scent.

He smelled nicer than anyone I’d been near, throwing my intentions off balance. For a split second, I closed my eyes and sucked in a breath, enjoying the euphoric haze of spicy sandalwood.

He let out a low huff of amusement, fanning my face with his hot, minty breath. “I guess a few minutes wouldn’t hurt.”

“Perfect,” I said, speaking more to myself than to him.

I pulled him over to the armchair I was previously at. He didn’t fight me, following to sit down as I perched on the side.

With a hand on his shoulder for stability, I used my free one to run a pointed fingertip against his faint stubble. “I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of meeting. I’m Alina.”

It would have been smarter to use a fake name, but it doesn’t matter. He would be dead before the night ended anyway. At least one thing in this conversation would be truthful.

“Alina,” he rolled, the sound more sinful than a name should.

A toe-curling chill racked my body, throwing me off-guard for the nth time today. Of course, the first person whom I had to resort to seductive means with was the most attractive person I’d ever come across. He checked every box on my list from his strong build to his aristocratic face.

Why couldn’t he have been someone I could stab when he was asleep? But no, the man was always on high alert.

The hit itself was a fool’s mission, and I was making it worse by setting myself up for embarrassment. If I didn’t care so much for my adoptive uncle, Carlo Moretti, I would have denied the hit as soon as I got it. But sinceZiopractically saved and raised me when I was abandoned on the streets, killing Dante Beneveti was the least I could do in return.

I dragged my nail a little harder across the consigliere’s jaw, leaving a white trail in its wake. “Do I get to know your name?”

“You expect me to believe you don’t know who I am?”

My drawing finger halted at the underside of his chin as I let out an instinctive scoff. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware I had to know every person who walked through the library door by name.”

He didn’t need to know that I knew way beyond his name, but the answer was goaded out of me. All the compliments he got for his looks must have gone straight to his head.

He raised a brow, either in shock or impressed by my bold remark. “Ah, I see now that it was quite foolish of me to assume.”

My finger moved on its own, resuming the glide on his jaw. “So will you tell me, or should we play a guessing game?”

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