Page 30 of Venomous Vows

It would’ve been the changing point for us then—maybe—if he had kept his damn mouth shut.

“Does this make you hard, Adrian?” I ask, inching closer to him because my hand itches to swat across his damn face. “Do youlikehaving control over everyone? Does it make you sleep better knowing that you’re the head of some stupid mob that has power over this town?”

“My stupid mob is going to get your sister back,” he retorts matter-of-factly as he watches me erase the space between us. “I’d say it’s working in your favor.”

“It is,” I agree. “But you’re making me want to make your life a living hell for the next couple of years.”

“You can do whatever you want,piccola diavola.I’m up for the challenge.”

Is he?

I’m sure he’s dealt with worse than me. Actually, I bet I’d be a blimp in his timeline. Adrian has more important matters to deal with than me and my need to keep my freedom.

Yet, it’s not going to keep me from having it.

“You need to lay off,” I command with a lift of my chin. “There’s no love here.”

My soon-to-be husband doesn’t flinch and barely bats an eye. “You don’t need to keep reminding me, Elena. I remember exactly who you are.”

It is what it is.

But I don’t understand why he’s doing this to himself. I meant what I said about there having to be other women. It doesn’t make sense that Adrian would settle with someone like me. Someone from his past who loathed him with every inch of their being and beyond.

“There has to be another way,” I mutter. “I can be your cook at your home. Free pastries for a year. Do you need a secretary or something? Because I can be that.”

“Do you have any experience?”

No.

“Yes,” I lie. “I just type up…whatever it is you need.”

“And manage my calls, of course.”

Does the mob call a lot? I would assume short and vague text messages with today’s technology.

“Absolutely.” I nod. “You a coffee drinker? I can do that, too.”

Adrian moves and I don’t expect it to be forward. I’ve already eaten up most of the space between us and it causes me to have to crane my neck up further to meet his face. “I quite like the idea of you waiting on me hand and foot. But I prefer the idea of getting between your thighs and experiencing what you taste like while my name is spewing off your lips. I wonder how hard it would be to get you to break for me,piccola diavola.To chip off some of that sourness for me and see if I can turn you sweet.”

What in the world is he saying right now?

“You’ve been drinking.” Those words flee my lips without a second thought because Adrian is getting crazier and crazier with each passing day.

“Why don’t you come over here and find out?”

I don’t smell liquor on his body. Just this leather and lavender scent coming off him that’s intoxicating as all hell. If you take away the past and what Adrian and I have been to each other, you get this enticing specimen of a man who appears like he’d devour you in three seconds.

Nonetheless, I’m privy to his tricks. I’ve fallen for them before.

I won’t be falling for them again.

“The last time I followed your instructions, I ended up in a closet for hours with your sock in my mouth.”

Adrian continues to stare at me as if what I said was the weather. “It was to keep you away from the drug dealers my father had downstairs. They dabbled in sex trafficking as well.”

No, he didn’t.

However, I can’t confirm or deny that.

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