Page 68 of Untamed

“You were walking around that club tonight,” he says, voice molten, “dressed like you just walked out of every man’s fucking fantasy… like you didn’t know exactly what you were doing.” Those dark eyes drag over my lips. “But you did.”

I can’t speak. Can barely swallow.

Then comes the final blow, soft, dark and inevitable.

“Volevi la mia attenzione, amore?”You wanted my attention, love?

The words slide over my skin like silk and steel.

He dips even closer, breath hot against my parted lips.

“Adesso ce l’hai.”Now you have it.

She doesn’t say a word. Doesn’t breathe a single sound.

She just stands there, chest rising, lips parted, eyes wide, while my words hang heavy between us like thick smoke in a locked room.

Volevi la mia attenzione, amore? Adesso ce l’hai.

I take her in. Every inch of her. And fuck, she has no idea what she’s doing to me.

No idea what it costs me to stand here and not touch her. Not push her up against this door and drag that pretty little gasp from her mouth just to see if she’d beg me to stop... or beg menotto.

My fist flexes to stop myself from reaching out and brushing her hair away from her face. I almost cave….I swear to God, I do.

And that’s when it hits me.

That voice. Her voice.

“I want it to be monumental…”my eyes drift to her soft pink lips. “...like we’ll die if we don’t give in and taste each other.”

She’d whispered those words to Bianca. Thought no one was listening.

But I was. And now it’s lodged so deep in my skull I can’t claw it out.

Monumental.

Like we’ll die if we don’t give in and taste each other.

And right now, all I can think about is how close I am, how close we are, and how if I moved evenone inch, I’d be her first.

Her first fucking kiss.

The first person to taste her lips.

The credence of that makes my blood feel like fire in my veins.

No, Ares, stop fooling yourself. It’s not and will never be you. Remember who you are, what you’re raised to be. The darkness in you will only taint her.

I clench my jaw and step back.

One inch.

Two.

Cold air rushes between us, and I swear it nearly chokes me. Because if I stay, I won’t stop. If I stay, I’m going to ruin her in ways neither of us will come back from.

It feels like I'm tearing off my own skin, but I force myself to do it. I create the space between us, willing my breath to steady. Then I meet her gaze, locking eyes with her as I slam the door on everything I was about to do.

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