Page 67 of Empire of Seduction

“Have you ever had a girlfriend?”

“Not since I was a boy.” I must’ve looked surprised, because he said, “It’s difficult to expect a woman to accept who I am and what I do, to trust her completely, without a wedding ring. I know others do, but I can’t. And a marriage in my world is for business, not pleasure. It will be strategic, not impulsive or romantic.”

“You called yourself a monster in the alley. Do you really believe that?”

“I’m certain of it. You’ve called me every name you can think of—and you’re not wrong. I can’t afford to be nice. My world doesn’t work that way.”

I couldn’t explain the sudden sourness in my stomach. Dipping into the spray, I chalked my feelings up to pity. Yes, I felt sorry for him. And that was all.

“Come here,” he said, and then his soapy hands were on me, cleaning my skin with a tender thoroughness that should’ve been impossible from such a violent man. His palms swept my shoulders and arms, then underneath. The sides of my breasts, up my neck. His eyes were lighter blue in the steam and he paid close attention to what he was doing, like he was enjoying this more than I was.

I waited as he retrieved more soap, my limbs heavy and useless, and then he started again, first on my breasts. He swirled and massaged, plucked at my nipples, molded them over and over with his wet hands. “I think they’re clean,” I whispered drunkenly, my eyelids weighted down.

Humming in his throat, his thumbs pressed over my ribs, his large hands spanning my waist. “So tiny, yet so strong,” he murmured.

Then his touch disappeared and I waited, too blissed out to move. When he returned his palms were slick with the soap again. “Open,” he said gently swiping between my legs. I obeyed and he brushed his fingers through my folds, cleaning me intimately. No one had ever done this but me, but I couldn’t bring myself to complain. I liked having Vito’s hands on me.

“Turn.”

So bossy. So hot.

I spun and pressed my face and palms to the wet tile. Vito began rubbing my shoulders, digging his thumbs into the sore muscles there, and I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. “Oh, my god. That feels so good.”

“Have you ever had a boyfriend?”

Right, our earlier conversation. “Once. Freshman year of high school. I thought I loved him—until I overheard him bragging to his friends about taking my virginity.”

Vito’s hands stilled, then resumed their massaging. “I hope you made his life miserable.”

“I punched him in the nose.”

Vito’s bark of laughter echoed off the tile before he kissed the back of my head. “I suppose I should be grateful you only punched me in the stomach, then.”

The confession bubbled up out of me. “It wasn’t the most mature way to handle it. I should’ve broken up with him and moved on. Instead, I internalized my anger and hurt, and slept with his best friend.”

“You are ruthless, diavoletta mia.”

“Men always bring out the worst in me.”

“I’ll remember that.”

He stepped back and gathered more body wash in his hands. I rested against the tile and watched as he began washing himself. Wowza, this man’s body. The water brought out every ridge and muscle, his olive skin glistening. He could have almost any woman on the planet. Why go to a strip club?

I decided to outright ask it. “Why visit a strip club, if you were so obsessed with fucking me again?”

“I was checking into something.”

His hand went between his legs to clean his balls, then his cock. He lingered there, in no hurry to rinse. I hadn’t seen many uncut guys, but Vito’s dick was an absolute prize. I would literally get nothing done if I had access to it whenever I liked. Absently, I asked, “Checking into what?”

“Do you want to stare at my dick, or do you want to ask questions about my day?”

“Can’t I do both?”

“No, bella. You can’t. Because your eyes on me gets me hard and I don’t feel like talking anymore.”

Sure enough, his cock thickened in his grip, the head emerging from the foreskin as he lengthened. It was mesmerizing. All thoughts flew out of my head. I could only watch andfeel.

Abruptly, Vito turned the water off. “Andiamo,” he said, pushing open the shower door. “I want to fuck you in my big new bed.”

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