Page 35 of Liberated By Sin

“Do you know who that man is?”

“Someone who will pay my bills. That’s all the information I need.”

Santino stepped inside and slammed the door closed. I froze, meeting his reflection.

“Get out.”

“He’s Bratva—the kind in the business of selling sex, if you know what I mean.”

He couldn’t imagine how much.

“It’s just a lap dance, Santi,” I taunted, the nickname briefly making his eyebrows twitch.

“Amara, this isn’t a joke.”

A sudden rush of anger set my blood on fire, and I twisted around and leveled him with an accusatory glare.

“Is that what you told Cambri when Ivan requested a private with her three days ago?”

“I don’t know anything about that.”

I wanted to unleash the red-hot rage pumping through my veins, scream at the top of my lungs what that bastard had done to her, but I couldn’t blow my cover.

“Even if you had, I doubt you would have tried to stop her.”

“You’re not Cambri.”

Smacking the lipstick against the vanity, I stalked forward, needing to end this—to kill whatever he thought could happen between us.

“IamCambri. We’re all Cambri. I take my clothes off and shake my ass for money, too,Santino.” I swallowed the space between us, but he didn’t budge or seem fazed in the slightest. “I don’t need or want special treatment. So, if you’ll excuse me, my client is waiting.”

His fingers wrapped around my wrist, and he tugged me back. “You’re not going.”

“Careful. Because maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m not like Cambri.”

His dark gaze thinned, but instead of heeding the warning, he pushed closer.

“Is that a threat,preziosa?”

The whisper of a grin on his lips had my hands itching to reach for my blade. But I was fooling myself. And I knew it. “Do you feel threatened?” I challenged, nudging his chest.

Santino loomed over me in a way that made mequestion my sanity. I’d never felt the urge to climb a man the way I did at that moment unless I was about to slit their throat. God, I wanted to hate him, but I hated myself because I knew I didn’t. And when the tip of his nose brushed my cheek, I didn’t pull away.

“You scare me. I’ll admit that. But not in the way you think.”

“Sounds like I’ve got work to do.”

“Perfect.”

The air simmered between us. But neither moved an inch. Santino’s eyes on my lips forced my teeth to drag a corner inside my mouth. I could barely remember the hunger of wanting to be kissed, and I was mortified the thought had even crossed my mind.

“Get out,” I said from between my teeth.

His grin opened up, and he leaned in a second time, “Cosa mi hai fatto?”

I wasn’t fluent in Italian, but whatever he’d whispered into my ear caused a flush of wetness between my thighs.

Shit.