Page 58 of Dangerous Men (Fortune City Mafia #1)

SYDNEY

With just a single finger and the tip of his tongue, Sebastian shatters my entire world.

Something terrible shifts inside of me. And when I finally come back down, collapsing back against the table, knocking several books to the ground, I know nothing will be the same.

And that terrifies me.

I think Sebastian knows it, too.

He pulls himself to his feet, staring down at me. I’m horrified by how wet his face is, his lips glistening in the low light of the stock room, covered in evidence of my body’s betrayal.

As the final bit of pleasure eases from me, everything else comes crashing down. I feel unbound, untethered from reality.

Sebastian leans over my body, sliding his finger over my lips.

“Lick it clean,” he orders.

Wordlessly, I obey. I suck the finger into my mouth, tasting myself on it.

Tasting every terrible, dirty thing he said to me .

Tasting what started in the alley when Viper touched me. Tasting a truth I desperately want to escape.

Because he’s right.

I’d loved it. All of it.

What is wrong with me?

The sob shudders through me before I can stop it, and before I know what’s happening I’m crying, eyes screwed shut, curling in on myself. All these years, I pushed myself into this tiny box of what I thought I needed to be, and within weeks, these men completely unraveled all my work.

Sebastian snatches his hand away like I burned him, taking a quick step back. When he reaches for me again, his touch is soft. So gentle and soft.

“Sydney?” he asks, wiping the tears from my face. “You’re okay, love. I’ve got you. Talk to me. What’s wrong, what?—?”

“Go,” I tell him, through the sobs. “Please, just… just go, Sebastian.”

He hesitates, not sure what to do. For once his face is an open book, all his emotions laid bare. And I hate him a little for it, for finally showing some vulnerability.

“Sydney, I…”

“Leave!” I sob.

“Okay,” he says gently, taking another step back and holding up his hands as if in surrender. He looks destroyed. “If… if that’s what you want me to do. I’ll… I’ll go.”

He waits, like he’s expecting an answer.

I don’t give him one.

For a long time after he leaves, I just lie there, curled on my side on the table, trying to understand what sort of monster they’ve unleashed into the world.