Page 37 of Ruthless Vows
“Remember how you asked how something painful can make you feel so euphoric and alive? When you experience pain, your brilliant little body releases endorphins. And we know what endorphins do, yes? They get us high. Drunk on love and lust and fucking happiness. Those same endorphins block out our pain. They protect us from the shit that haunts us, kitten.” He pushes his hips into me and squeezes me tighter, bending down to whisper in my ear. “So which is it? Are you in pain right now? As my fingers prevent you from getting the oxygen you need? Or are you high? Have you relinquished that pain? What’s that pretty little mind of yours telling you?”
He licks from my earlobe up to the top of my ear before gently biting my skin.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, and it comes out as a whisper.
“Answer me.”
I can’t deny the desire pooling between my legs right now. But is it from seeing him again or the fact that my brain doesn’t know if him choking me is pain or pleasure? I don’t know.
“My hand looks good around your throat, angel.”
I glance at the door, or try to, knowing if we get caught together, if my father, Roberto, or Santiago sees me with another man, even if it’s an innocent conversation, Dante’s blood will be on my hands. They won’t ask questions. They are made men. They take what they want, and they do so without reason.
He finally lets go, running his hand down my neck before smoothing it over the fabric of my dress.
“What are you doing here, Dante?” I ask, my heart beating wildly while I feel the thunderous thumping of my pulse in my ears. “You can’t just keep showing up like this. You don’t understand—”
“I understand much more than you think I do.”
As if reading my earlier thoughts, Dante reaches over with his long, lean yet muscular arm, and with one simple flick of his finger, he engages the lock on the door. The bolt echoes throughout the small room.
My eyes widen as I shake my head. “Answer me. Did you justneedto see me again?”
“Does it matter?” He shakes his head as if he’s batting my question away. “Yes. I needed to see you. I risked my fucking life getting in here. The owner of this joint doesn’t like me too much. I had to get a bit stealthy. Luckily for me, the cameras just so happened to be down. I don’t know how… I guess someone tapped in and fucked with them.” He winks. “As I knew he would, the owner called his security company, and they came out. I just had to pretend to be with them, evenborrowinga shirt of theirs from a nice man I paid to get the fuck outta here, and I was let right in by a front-desk girl who was eye fucking the shit outta me.”
I’d love to do so much more than just eye fuck this man.
“I needed to see you again, Giana. I just can’t leave you alone.”
This gorgeous, sex-club-owning god is stalking me, and I like it.
There is something seriously wrong with me.
“This is more than just randomly deciding to show up to the place I volunteer and then sneaking into a restaurant, isn’t it? You’re stalking me, aren’t you, Dante?” I ask, feeling more myself than I have in a long time.
He’s intimidating, but not in the way my father or his men are. Not in the way The Blood Syndicate is. He’s intimidating because he looks like every sin I’ve ever dreamt of in the flesh.
Dante lets out a smooth chuckle before running one finger down my cheek and pushing himself into me. He’s got me backed up against the sink with not even a spare inch of space between his body and mine.
“Would you like that?” he asks.
I don’t know whether he’s joking or being serious at first, but his lips draw into a line, and his scowl tells me all I need to know.
“You call it stalking. I call it observing. Either way.” He shrugs. “I need more of you.”
His bold eyes size me up, dark brows drawn together. He grinds against me, cups my face, and claims my mouth. Every single dreaded thought of what my life is becoming shrivels up and disappears, and suddenly it’s just the two of us as he demands entry inside my mouth, his tongue tangling with mine as I moan, wordlessly pleading with him for more. He grows hard, his cock pushing against my stomach so forcefully I swear it's going to rip through his pants.
My body warms from his touch, with the weight of his body against mine, and I’m falling into fucking oblivion from his taste. Mints and liquor and lust and sin. He moves one hand to tangle in my loose curls, and the other trails down my body to my center. The same spot I’ve touched myself every night since meeting him.
“Dante,” I whimper as he bucks his hips into me greedily, telling me he wants this as much as I do.
A knock on the door startles both of us, and he quickly pulls himself away and places a finger to my lips. I ache to suck it into my mouth, to show him what I’ve thought about each night when I’m touching myself to the thought of his hands on my skin.
He removes his finger and backs up. I slowly make my way to the door, and he goes to stand behind it.
The moment I open it, my mother is questioning what’s taking me so long, why the door is locked, what my issue is. She’s relentless.
“What is wrong with you? Get out of there.”