Page 60 of Empire of Seduction

Maggie

I kept walking.

I hurried through the busy kitchen, past the office. My only thought was to get away. I needed the cool air to clear my head, to help my brain come back online. That motherfucking asshole! Picking up women in my bar! The logical half of my brain was telling me I had no right to feel jealous or hurt. Vito was a one-night stand, not my boyfriend.

But I wasn’t feeling particularly logical right now. I was angry and hurt and yes, fucking jealous.

How could he flirt with some random woman under my nose like that? And only minutes after he’d been pissed that Carlo might be flirting with me! The absolute nerve. Men were theworst. This was why I avoided relationships. When you cared, you gave people the ability to hurt you. I preferred to use men for sex, then move on.

The cool air met my face as I pushed through the back door, but I welcomed it. I couldn’t fucking do this anymore. MaybeI should leave. Go to Catanzaro and stay with Val and Luca. I could?—

A body grabbed me from behind, jolting me to an immediate halt. I knew exactly who it was. “Let me go, you asshole!”

The door thumped behind us as Vito pinned me up against the brick wall, his fingers wrapped around my wrists. “You go too far, bella.”

I struggled in his grip, trying to get loose, but he held me firm. “Let me go.”

“I’m not married.”

He growled the words in my ear, so it took me a second to process them. Of course, I already knew this, but I couldn’t believe he was admitting it.

“Did you hear me? I. Am. Not. Married. I’ve never been married.”

We stood there, both panting, his chest pressed to my back, the heat from his body sinking inside my bones. I tried to twist away, but he held me there, helpless. I cursed into the stone—a useless sound of frustration. Then I spat, “I know.”

He wasn’t expecting it. His muscles locked as his grip tightened for a fraction of a second, then he relaxed. “Michael told you.”

“Yes, he told me—like you should have, you dick.”

He grunted deep in his chest and his hips ground into my ass. I could feel his cock, not totally hard—but not totally soft, either. My heart thumped hard and fast, his proximity making me dizzy, and all the need and want I’d been suppressing these last few days came rushing up like a giant wave. Desire, warm and thick, rolled through my veins, settling in my breasts and clit, and the fight drained out of me. I softened under him, defeated.

He must’ve noticed because his grip on my wrists eased, and he dragged his nose down my temple, right along my hairline.“You are driving me crazy,” he whispered. “I want to fuck you all the time, every second, and it’s turning me inside out.”

He did?

“Why?” I choked out. “Why wear a wedding ring when it means nothing?”

“It’s easier. I don’t need to worry about a long-term commitment when women think I’m already taken.”

My hips eased back a fraction, sinking into his crotch, eager for more of him. He pushed forward, letting me feel the full hard length of him. His thick shaft lodged into the crevice of my ass like it had a right to be there. I gasped, then said, “That’s reprehensible.”

“Because I am reprehensible. I’m a killer, a monster. It’s the life I’ve chosen and any woman in her right mind should run the other way.” One of his hands released mine and traveled a slow, tortuous journey to my hip. “You’re so fucking sexy. Your ass and legs . . .cazzo madre di dio.”

God, his accent. Hearing him speak Italian was like someone injected a drug into my veins. Wetness pooled between my thighs, my knees shaking with the fever building under my skin. “Just because I want you doesn’t mean I don’t still hate you for taking over the winery.”

“I know, baby. But you can hate me and still let my dick give you the best orgasm of your life.”

My body was on board with that plan. We were in our own little world outside in the dark, the kitchen a distant hum in the background. Still, I wasn’t sure I should. “If I do, it doesn’t mean anything. I want you to go back to Toronto and leave the winery alone.”

He began curling his fingers, gathering the fabric of my skirt in his fist, and air hit my thighs. His erection sawed between my cheeks. “Let me have you once more. I’m salivating for you, bella.”

Damn, he made it impossible to resist him. I supposed once more wouldn’t hurt. Maybe I could purge him from my system after that.

I slid my free arm around his neck, arching my back. “From the front. Please, Vito.”

He released my other trapped hand and turned me to face him. His hooded eyes settled on my face, his skin taut with arousal. I snatched his leftover half-tie and shoved him against the far wall. His back hit the brick with a thud and I lunged at his mouth, sealing our lips together and thrusting my tongue inside. He pulled me closer, his lips sliding over mine again and again, his hand grabbing my hair as if to keep me in place.

He didn’t need to worry—I wasn’t going anywhere.

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