Page 14 of Control (Dark Syndicate #1)

Daniela

When Remo Callegari focuses all his attention on someone, there’s not much you can do.

I’ve seen the powerful effect of his stare—the way it says so much with just one look—and I’ve come to hate it.

But now that he’s looking at me, my body doesn’t listen to the warnings from my brain.

I should run while I have the chance. I should hurry out of the room, fight him, or scratch him.

Anything to make him slow down or look away. But I don’t.

I want to see how this goes. I want to be the one he takes to the edge. I want to be the one he pulls into the storm, even knowing it will tear me apart. I want to feel what it’s like to be lost in that chaos, to be consumed by it.

And that thought makes me sick. Sick of myself. Sick of this whole fucking mess.

His expression is lazy, and his eyes struggle to stay on my face. Eventually, Remo glances down at my body and chuckles—a rich, low sound that shouldn’t be as addictive as it is. It is dangerous, like him, because it makes me want to stay. To listen. To hear him do it again.

“You have an amazing body, Dolcezza,” he says quietly, his eyes darting between my hardened nipples. Damn it. This isn’t supposed to happen. I hate him with every part of me, yet his devilish smile makes me feel hot and needy. “Would you ever disobey me again?”

“No.”

Remo isn’t surprised by my quick reply. In fact, judging from his dark and brooding expression, it seems he expected me to disobey him, just waiting for a reason to punish me.

Punish me. Shit. That shouldn’t turn me on, should it?

I’m sweating all over from the way he looks at me and the words he hasn’t said but communicates with his hard brown eyes.

Being punished by someone as ruthless as Remo should scare me, but instead, it excites me.

When he suddenly moves toward me and pulls me up against him, I can’t hold back the moan that slips from my lips.

I struggle for a few seconds to free my hands from his firm grip, but Remo doesn’t budge. Instead, he pulls me toward him with such force that I almost stumble forward, but he catches me with ease, as though I’m weightless.

My thoughts scatter, my body falls apart, but damn it, the man holding me hasn’t done anything to prove he’s capable of kindness, so why is how effortlessly he keeps me in his arms all I’m thinking about?

I can’t ignore the way his ruggedness hits me and the way his skin glistens under the dim light, his dark hair now looking softer with streaks of brown where the light hits.

A lock of it falls across his forehead, but he doesn’t bother brushing it away.

As I stare at him, I’m struck by the realization.

This monster in front of me is stunning.

But Remo doesn’t hurt me the way I thought he might. Instead, he presses me back against the wall, his grip tightening as he lifts both my hands above my head and holds them still.

“Remo, wait.” I try to shove him off, but he doesn’t move. I like to think my workouts have made me stronger, but standing in front of a man like Remo makes me feel weak. The more I push to get him to back off, the stronger he seems to get. “You’re hurting me. Please…just stop. Screw you!”

“Ah.” His chuckle is deep and mocking. “I was wondering when you’d use that mouth of yours to spit out nonsense.”

“Fuck you.”

“I’m going to enjoy fucking that mouth of yours, princess.”

He presses his body against mine, and I can feel the hardness of his cock straining against his pants.

My mouth drops open. He’s looking at me with hunger in his eyes, and I know the same expression is reflected in my own.

My goodness! His cock feels amazing, and I haven’t even touched it yet.

Ever so gently, Remo drops his free hand to my belly and runs his fingers from my navel to the waistband of my panties.

“I…I have a…boyfriend!”

His inspection pauses, but only for a moment. His voice is raspy when he says, “You don’t have to lie. I ran a background check on you, princess. You have no boyfriend. Haven’t had one in years.”

He’s right. There is no boyfriend, but letting someone as dangerous as Remo touch and use me like one of his mistresses feels wrong. I gather all my strength and push against him. This time, I manage to loosen his hold, but it’s not enough to get him off completely.

“I know you don’t really want me,” I mutter, trying to push away from him.

He doesn’t budge, his grip tightening just enough to keep me in place but not enough to hurt. The slight shift is enough to make me feel his presence all around me, suffocating, inescapable.

I try to wiggle out of his grasp, but he lets me slip just enough that I lose my balance and stumble forward. His laugh follows me, dark and mocking.

“If I didn’t want you, you wouldn’t have made it to this moment,” he says, his voice dangerous, the kind that sends a chill running down my spine.

He steps closer, closing the gap between us again.

His hand reaches out to steady me, but his fingers linger for longer than necessary as if he’s savoring the moment.

“Trust me,” he adds, his words like a promise. Or a warning. There’s something in the way he says it. Like he knows exactly what I’m thinking, exactly what’s running through my head.

I shoot him a glare, but it doesn’t faze him. His smile only grows, as if he enjoys the struggle. As if he knows I can’t escape him, no matter how much I try.

When he reaches for me, I raise my hands to defend myself. But he doesn’t care. His strength overpowers me, and he drags me to him.

My stomach lurches. And yet, there’s something inside me that can’t help but want this.

It’s like he owns me now. Like he’s already branded me and marked me with the same scar that runs through his own soul.

The need for power, the need to control, to destroy when it suits him, has somehow seeped into my veins.

I hate it. I hate him for making me feel this way.

“At this point, I think you should have figured that I’ll do whatever I want with you.”

Remo’s close enough to kiss me, but he doesn’t.

He doesn’t say anything for a while. He starts his silent inspection again, looking down at me, his eyes shining in the dark.

His long, pretty eyelashes catch my attention, and as I look up at him, I wonder what he’d look like if he were…

softer. He steps away, licking his lower lip like he’s savoring something. “I want you to take off my shirt.”

“I don’t—”

“It’s not a question, Daniela. Take off my shirt.”

The command is blunt, almost crude, yet it holds weight.

His voice doesn’t leave room for argument.

I know the kind of world he comes from. Remo Callegari is one of the most dangerous men alive.

He can break through me without a second thought, but he doesn’t.

Instead, he waits, making his demands clear, giving me a choice.

Still, it doesn’t make him any less of an asshole.

He’s not someone I should want, even though he’s undeniably good-looking.

It’s a sick kind of irony because here I am, standing in front of him, my body drawn to his like I’m some kind of magnet.

Every part of me is screaming to turn around and get the hell out, to walk away, but I don’t.

I know what he’s capable of, and yet…I want it.

I undo the buttons of his shirt and slide it off his shoulders to the floor.

With his chest bare and heaving, I step back to take him in.

His body is as stunning as his face. He’s lean and muscular, with a sleeve of tattoos on each arm.

His chest is smooth, but there’s a light dusting of hair that starts below his navel and disappears down the band of his slacks.

Arousal darkens his eyes as he runs his tongue over his lips, wetting them.

My body starts to react to this—his tongue gliding softly, the intensity of his stare, and the wild, burning need in his veins.

Remo touches my nipples, taking them between his fingers and twirling them. I let out a sharp, involuntary moan, which makes him smile. I don’t need to look down to know my nipples are rock hard, craving his fingers and mouth. When I meet his eyes again, I’m struck by the urgency in his expression.

“You like it when I touch you like this, don’t you, Daniela?”

My first instinct is to lie. I don’t want him to know the power he has over me. But as I search for the right words to push him away, my body comes alive, confusing me. “Yes, I do.”

I’m breathless. Remo hasn’t even touched me the way I know I can be touched, yet he’s managed to make me so incredibly wet.

He tears my panties away in one swift motion and buries his face in them.

I shiver with a mix of desire, hate, and a distracting curiosity about which feeling is stronger: the hate or the ache I feel right now.

The golden-brown of his eyes shines with desire as he looks down at me. “You smell like honey. I bet you taste just as sweet.”

I won’t pretend I haven’t been with men who fucked me roughly, but somehow, this feels different, like a first. “I want….”

“You want what, princess? My fingers inside you?” As he asks, he drags two of his fingers slowly across his mouth and wets them, his eyes never leaving mine.

Then, he pushes his wet fingers into me, and I let out a soft gasp.

He works his fingers inside me with skill, circling and teasing my clit with ease at the same time.

“Say it, Daniela. Say you want me to stop fingering your sweet, tight pussy. Just say it.”

“Oh God…ohh…”

“Daniela, tell me you’ll never disobey me again…

” There’s a warning in his voice when he growls my name, but I’m too focused on the way he drags his fingers in and out of me, first slowly, then faster.

I shut my eyes, but he wraps a hand around my neck and tilts my head up to look at him. “You’ll do as I say, you understand?”

No, I won’t. That’s what I want to tell him, but when I open my mouth, I can’t help but whisper, “Yes…yes.”

He pulls his fingers out and shoves them into his mouth to taste my juices. He moans against his fingers, and I grow even wetter. “You taste so damn good.”

Without another word, he kneels before me, hooking one of my legs over his shoulder. I glance down at him and swallow loudly when I see him kneeling as if in silent worship. I shut my eyes for a few seconds, trying to calm my racing heart, but he takes it as something more.

“You haven’t been touched like this before, Daniela. You haven’t been licked and bitten, and…fuck, you haven’t been desired like this.”

I realize he doesn’t ask. He already knows. Ugh, he’s such an arrogant jerk. “I hate you.”

“I know.” He laughs hoarsely and swipes his tongue over my clit.

I buckle under the weight of it, but he holds me in place, continuing to taste me.

It’s useless to resist him when he sucks on me with such wild demands.

“Don’t be shy or afraid to show me what you want, princess.

Push your hands into my hair…yeah, like that.

Use my mouth to please yourself. Yes, take it. ”

I do as he says, rocking forward and backward with my hands tangled in the softness of his hair. He sucks on me reverently while I rub against him, moaning like a mad woman. He knows my body and how to use it.

“Fuck…it feels so good.”

He pushes a finger into me, still licking and sucking me while his fingers work their magic. I’m shivering from the sweetness. When I feel my orgasm approaching with incredible force, I tilt my head back, but Remo stops and looks up at me. “No. You don’t come unless I tell you to.”

“But…but I want…I need to come.”

He speeds up his fingers, working me faster. “Then beg for it.”

“Please…let me come.”

“No, you have to do better than that,” Remo growls.

My body feels like it’s on fire, but Remo doesn’t relent. “Please…please…fucking let me come.”

Thankfully, he nods, satisfied, and runs his tongue along my pussy and pulsing clit. “Come on my tongue.”

And I do, coming fast and hard in his mouth. I still hate him, but it doesn’t stop my orgasm from hitting me like a freight train.

Remo stands while I’m shivering and breathing hard from the fiery release. His hands are rough when he pushes me away, nearly slamming me against the wall to face away from him.

“Remo…”

“Let this be…” He smacks his palm against my buttocks, and I let out a loud, strangled cry.

He smacks me again, harder this time, as if punishing me for forgetting what he only just told me today.

The sharp sting of pain races through my brain, but it’s not just pain.

It’s a desperate kind of pleasure. “… a warning of just what I’ll do to you the next time you choose to be stubborn. ”

Another smack rocks my body backward on impulse.

A tear escapes my eye at the pain, but then Remo begins rubbing the sting away gently as if he knows he just hit me a little too hard.

When he pushes his fingers beneath me to press against my folds, he lets out a low growl that reverberates deep within him.

“You’re so fucking wet again,” he groans. And that’s all it takes for him to slam his cock inside me. I don’t even know when he took off his pants. His thrusts are fast, deep, and burning, but he doesn’t stop.

My hips begin to move, matching his thrusts until we’re rocking together, chasing our orgasms. My body builds higher and higher, and I reach down to the top of my pussy and draw tight circles around my clit, my fingers thrumming over the sensitive bud.

“Fucking hell, your pussy is squeezing my dick so well, Dolcezza.” He throws his head back, his body stilling, and then he shudders when he bites my neck. “You belong to me, Daniela. Me alone, you hear me?”

“Yes…yes, I’m yours,” I moan.

Later, I’ll probably berate myself for agreeing with his words, but for now, I can’t seem to care. I just want him to fuck me without restraint. He pounds into me, growling with each thrust. “You’re so tight. Fuck, this feels good.”

“Please…don’t stop…”

We reach the peak together, the sounds in the room raw and unrestrained. Remo spills onto my skin. It’s messy, but I don’t mind. As he adjusts his clothes, his voice is distant, almost bored, when he tells me to clean myself up.

The coldness of his words cuts through everything that just happened, reminding me just how much I hate him.