Page 76 of Venomous Vows

“Go back inside, Adrian. I was just coming to pick up Zane.”

“For what?”

“He said he needed a ride.”

“He has a hundred men who could’ve driven him home, so try again.”

My brows pinch. “I’m telling the truth.”

“You haven’t told the truth since the first day we reconnected,piccola diavola.If you want me, all you have to do is say it.”

I tsk off his delusion, even though Adrian sparks something in me that fucks me up inside. “I’m never gonna say that.”

“Suit yourself,” he replies with a shrug. “I’ll just make it happen myself.”

With ease, he captures my wrist and yanks me forward, almost making me fall to my knees in the cool water.

My spine is slammed against the curved stone of the fixture decorating the fountain and he’s on me like he can’t bear to stay away.

“Put me out of my misery,” he mutters over me, keeping my wrist still in his grasp. “Make this go away,piccola diavola.”

The back of my head tilts against the hard surface I’m against and I can’t help but gape at him. “What do you want, Adrian? This makes sense now.”

“What does?”

“The marriage and the party. I wasn’t looking to ruin it. There’s no hard feelings.”

“That’s not what your eyes said,” he counters. “Or your body. It’s in your head. You’re fighting off your attraction for me. The way I could make you feel. The life I could provide for you while allowing you to keep your own. The things I could give you,piccola diavola…let me in.”

I swallow and push myself up further against the thing I’m leaned up on. “I’m not stupid, Adrian. You want power. All of it.”

“You’re not wrong,” he agrees. “But I can be swayed.” My body relaxes a bit at the deep octave of his voice and the way it softens against me. “Who has the real power here?”

“You.”

“Why don’t you think before you talk?” he exhorts with a pinch in his brows. “You always needed to have the last word.”

I roll my eyes and remain silent.

“Well?” he stresses. “Don’t go easy on me now.”

“What do you want from me?”

He bows forward, hovering his face over mine when his green gaze falls to my lips. The smell of sage fills my lungs and his eyes flick back up to mine. They’re tender and calm, something he wasn’t a minute ago. “You know what I want. The question is…how much are you going to fight me on it when I finally just take it, Elena?”

My lips part to fend him off, but that’s when he seizes my mouth with his and drives his tongue inside.

I’m so taken off guard that all I can do is allow him to continue. To mold my body against his and permit this craziness to happen.

Adrian’s palms find my ass and begin kneading the flesh there. Water continues to fall, hitting the back of Adrian’s neck, but I’m safely underneath it but still semi-soaked.

My leggings are peeled from my waist before Adrian hooks the back of one of my knees and lifts it to remove the fabric.

We’re outside and my first fear is someone finding us with my whole ass out of my panties, but when his fingers graze over my core, it’s already a forgotten thought. A heated need fills my stomach and I’m torn between shoving him away or giving myself what I need.

What I’ve always been curious about.

Adrian taking me doesn’t mean he owns me. He can work on getting that out of his head ASAP, but he won’t. It doesn’t matter how he conjures and forms it into his head, I’m always me and he’s always him.

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