Page 22

Against my better judgment, I listen to my gut instinct. She had so many chances like today, but she stopped me from getting blown up even though it was her doing.

“I prefer to lay you in a fucking bed of calla lilies and take you there until we forget we could never be together,” I confess and slap her gun away.

It drops to the floor, clanking with the knowledge that we have lost the battle with desire.

Cupping the back of her neck, I pull her up to me and slam my mouth on hers. Just like I imagined, her mouth tastes like paradise and demise, poison masked as honey.

I am too far gone to care that each kiss will bring me closer to death. Nibbling along her plush lips, her arms cross over my neck, giving in to the kiss with the same frenzy and ardor. Parting her mouth, I dive right into her sweet taste, our tongues engaging in a passionate kiss. The world disappears while I try to satiate a need I doubt will ever be quenched.

My desire for this woman is uncontainable, bursting out of me. It makes me want to possess her—body, heart, and mind.

My need for her grows with each swipe of my tongue. When she moans, I wave the white flag in front of my biggest temptation—the biggest mistake of my life I could never regret.

Everything in her is tailor-made to make me lose my mind. From her sensual scent, something floral with notes of vanilla, amber, and sandalwood, to her body that melts into mine and that untamable and unapologetic personality.

“What the fuck is it about you, Luciana?” My voice sounds gruff with frustration, hoarse with too much desire, unfamiliar to my own ears.

She scratches her nails along my chest, deep enough to leave marks. Fuck, if that doesn’t turn me on more than anything else.

“You like danger too much.”

“No, I think I like just a particular brand of danger.”

And then the talk is over. I crush my mouth against hers, kissing her again, devouring her sounds of pleasure. My hands slide along her silk top and matching panties. She’s not leaving this room without getting fucked. If it were up to me, she’d never leave my sight and bed ever again.

“I like you more in a dress.”

“And I’d like you more dead.” She huffs through kisses.

“I guess neither of us is getting what we want.”

Lifting onto her toes, she bites my lip. “You’re arrogant and insufferable beyond measure.”

Gripping her hair in a fist, I pull her straight to my front with no way of escaping me. I nip her jaw, licking my way until I reach her mouth. Then I trace my tongue along the contour of her lips, which elicits a tremor from her.

“You have a thing for me, Luciana.” I click my tongue. “Denying it will only make me want to prove it.”

“The talk is over.”

Isn’t she a jokester?

I shake my head, moving forward, pushing her backward toward the bedroom.

When her legs reach the edge of the bed, I ease her onto it. “The game is over. It’s time to surrender.”

It feels as if I am no longer in control of my body. All the years of celibacy, of me vowing not to let a man touch me, dissolve—the frail threads holding me together unraveling. They fall, landing at his feet, powerless, just like me.

His eyes burn with a hunger that ignites mine. When I fall on my back onto the bed, I don’t move and barely breathe, held captive by this desire, making me lose my mind. I don’t know what is happening to me, but I’ll die if he doesn’t alleviate this ache that has been steadily growing into something so powerful it’s inescapable.

“Fuck. I have never seen someone so beautiful. You bewitch me,” he rasps.

No wonder he so easily pulls me into his intricate web of sinful promises. No good will come of this passion sizzling between us.

Enzo wraps his hand around my throat, giving it a lightsqueeze to signal that he’s the one in charge. The desire becomes unbearable—a fiery ball of lust rolling through my core.

He could snap my neck, yet I trust him to show me the world of carnal pleasures I’ve denied myself. His heady scent envelops me. I hold on to him with my fingers digging into his arms for support, even though he is the reason I tiptoe on the edge of an abyss waiting to swallow me whole.

His face lowers, and when his mouth covers mine, I don’t care about anything else but this exquisite feeling of his soft yet firm lips pressing into mine. His tongue spears my lips and conquers me with each swipe and nibble, making me delirious with want, craving more, everything.