Page 47 of His Vicious Desire

I avoid his eyes as everyone takes their places, and the obviously crying bride is walked down the aisle.

After a ceremony filled with tears and the bride being prompted for every response, I’m in the reception area.A six-piece orchestra plays in the corner of the huge room.I’m pointed to the table where Sandro and Luca are.There are place cards designating who should sit where, no one pays attention to them and sits where the fuck they want.

I’m beside Sandro, with Bianca on his other side.Luca is beside her, with his longtime girlfriend clinging to him.

Luca shakes his head.“I fucking hate weddings.How soon before I can get the fuck out of here?”

“I’m thinking we have to wait until after dinner, which they aren’t serving for half an hour.They got to take pictures or some shit.”Sandro sighs.“Like that’s going to go well when her face is so swollen from crying the photographer will have to be gifted to fix that shit in editing.”

“It’s so sad,” Bianca murmurs low as she sips on her water.

I don’t dare look her way.Dario is staring a hole into me from across the table.With the women at the table, we can’t talk family business, but we talk the business of the casino—who is staying at the hotel, how many guests are expected for the weekend, and plans for the upcoming week.

After dinner, I’m heading back to the table after using the restroom.The plan is to dip the fuck out as soon as I get close enough to Sandro to let him know when I’m stopped by a small hand on my arm.

The woman is extremely tall, thin, and has had too much liquor.“Hey, gorgeous.Want to dance?”

I stare down at her hand until she finally understands and removes it.Once she does, I look into her wide blue eyes.“No.”

Face red, she shrugs and moves on.“You don’t have to be so rude.”

I’m almost back to the table when I spot Bianca on the dance floor with Johnny Rigetti’s kid, Johnny Junior.A wannabe with no self-discipline and a too-pretty face.

Sandro is seething.His eyes meet mine before they go back to Bianca on the dance floor.Fuck.I see the question, the plea, and want to ignore it.Nothing good could come from my getting close to her.Not a fucking thing will come from it but my death.

Except, I can’t.I can’t ignore it.Jaw tight, I make my way to Bianca.His hands are too damn low on her back, inches from her ass.The growl comes out of me without permission.“Sit the fuck down, Johnny.”

Johnny is spooked.He wants to argue.But he looks from me to Bianca and is smart enough to disappear.

Chocolate eyes are melting up at me.“Did yougrowlat him, Gaetano?”

I refuse to acknowledge the warmth flooding my chest at her saying my name.Or maybe it’s that she’s all of two feet from me, and all I have to do is take one small step to feel her body against mine.“That dress is too damn short,” I mutter.“And he had his hands on your ass.”

“He did not have his hands on my ass.What does it matter to you, anyway?You were busy with the giant woman who has fake tits, by the way.”

Her bottom lip is out, and I would give my right hand up to find out what the lip tasted of—is it the cherry of her red lips, or is it the redemption of my black soul?Jealousy is in every line of her sexy as fuck body.Good.I love knowing she’s jealous.Love that she hates the idea of anyone touching me, the same way I hate the idea of anyone even looking at her—man or woman.

“The woman didn’t interest.I told you once that a body like yours makes more money than a skinny chick—I said it because I spent it.”

Those chocolate eyes blink fast.“You pay for…”

“I don’t pay a woman to come.I pay her to leave.It’s simple: little girls like you think about things like holding hands or spending time with each other.Those things don’t interest me—ever.”I say the words harshly, needing her to understand them.Even if she weren’t my best friend’s little sister, she still wanted things I couldn’t give her.I couldn’t be what she deserved and needed.

It works.She flinches as if it were a physical blow.Her jaw works, then suddenly chocolate melts up at me, and her smile is so big it stuns me.“Then it’s a good thing that Johnny does like the idea of spending time together.He asked if we could spend time together after the wedding.I think I’ll go make sure he has my cell phone number.”

With her chin up in the air, she turns to leave.It happens without me thinking.My hand wraps around her wrist and yanks her up against me.Fucking hell, I can’t breathe at how amazing her body feels against mine.

It isn’t those big eyes melting, it’s her whole body as she grins wickedly up at me.“Itfeels,”her hips bounce against mine.“Like you’re a liar.”

From the corner of my eye, I see Sandro frowning at us, and I’m brought crashing down to earth.“You don’tfeelanything.”I grind out the words.“Not a fucking thing.”My hands on her hips keep her in place as I take a big step back.“Do you understand me?”

Blinking back tears, “I don’t understand?—”

“Your brother will kill me, Bianca.Have you ever known your brother to not keep a promise?He saved my life, and I turned around and saved his.But that doesn’t matter if I’m the one who could keep him from breaking a promise he made to your mother on her deathbed.So you don’t feel anything, Bianca.There’s nothing to feel.There can never be anything to feel.”

Bianca

“There can never be anything to feel.”The words haunt me all day and into the night.

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