Page 30

Dante

She felt sohot beneath my fingertips. Every curve of her body, every inch of her skin was smooth and soft.

If she wasn't Remo's, then I was making her mine.

My adrenaline was still in overdrive after watching my father hold a gun to her head. And that feeling had turned me wicked. My word had kept her alive.

I won.

I won her for another day, for another moment.

There was no way I could ignore how fucking hard that made me. To take on someone who could cut the lights out in one snap, and win . . .

It was a powerful feeling to hold someone's life in your hands, and I wasn't ashamed to admit I fucking loved it. I wasn't the good guy here, I was the keeper of need.

And I needed her for myself.

My entire body was reeling with fire and ice. Running a finger over her cheek, I leaned into her ear. “Tell me.”

“Tell you what?” Ivy's voice was soft and unsure as I loosened my hand from her throat.

“Tell me what you want.” Blowing hot air over her lobe, I watched the shiver scale her body.

Turning her head to the window, she stared at the black glass. “What I want doesn't matter. I'm never going to get it.”

“You don't know that.” Brushing the hair from her face, I twisted a thick lock into a tight spiral. “Do you want me to stop touching you?”

Her lids closed slowly, lashes fluttering as she thought about what I asked.

I liked that she had to think about it. It meant she wanted it even if she didn't think she should. There was a level of danger to my question, a thin line that she could easily cross and never look back.

But that's what was alluring. To want what you're not supposed to have, to have what you think is wrong.

I was the wrong.

I was so wrong it was only right.

“Tell me to stop and I will. Tell me not to touch you here . . .” Pausing, I slid my finger from her cheek to her shoulder. “Tell me not to touch you here . . .” Gliding lower, I dragged my fingertip over her nipple, just barely touching, but just enough pressure she knew where I was. “Tell me not to save you and to let you die in the hands of a man I can see you despise.”

Ivy's chest lurched, jumping as she inhaled an audible gasp. Licking her bottom lip, she bit down hard. Her eyes stayed shut, fingers gripping tight around the chain of the handcuffs.

“Let me give you something to help you relax, let me take your mind off everything for a second.” My finger slid down between her tits, circling her mound.

The urge to bring life back into the depleted eyes of this woman, whose face was filled with sorrow and body was damaged began to consume me.

Every move her body made I watched carefully. There was nothing there to tell me she didn't want this. I wanted to pleasure her, I wanted to give her a release that would help her calm down.

She had been through enough tonight, and all I wanted was to give her something good to remember.

Rubbing my finger up and down the fabric where her pussy was hidden, she pinched her eyes tighter. Ivy wasn't allowing herself to look at me, and I didn't like that.

“Open your eyes, Ivy. Look at me.”

Shaking her head no, her lip tugged in harder.

“Look. At. Me,” I demanded.

No wasn't an option.