Page 29 of Taken By the Mafia King
His eyes gleamed with something I could only describe as pride, which made me even more furious with him. That initial terror I’d felt in his presence evaporated and was replaced by pure, burning fury.
If I died right now by his hand, would that be so bad? Death now could spare me pain later.
“Jim is just a teacher, like me. He teaches PE for God’s sake. I hate you, Killian. I’ve never hated anyone more than I hate you. I’d take Gabriele de Luca over you any day!”
He ran his tongue over his lower lip. “Is that so?”
“Yes,” I bit out, but the words wobbled on my tongue. Of course, I wouldn’t take Gabriele de Luca over anyone, including Killian. Not after what he’d almost done to me. I closed a door on the memory of him on top of me.No. Don’t go there.
“I don’t believe you,” he whispered as he slowly began to close the distance between us.
I held my ground as long as possible before my body reacted and moved back a step without my permission. “Why am I here?”
No one had ever answered that question.
“Because you are a prize,” he said in a hoarse whisper that sent a shiver over my skin. “And I’m not the only one who wants you in my possession.” He pressed me against the wall, caging me in with his hands on either side of my head.
I was reminded of the sheer attraction I felt to this man as his scent hit me and his breath tickled my cheek.
“Yourfriend,” he rasped, “thought he could come here and take you from me.”
I shivered, closing my eyes as his mouth hovered just above my ear.
“What I did to him was nothing,cara mia. It was nothing compared to what I wanted to do to him, knowing he thought he had some claim to what ismine.”
Oh, I’m in serious trouble.
There was no earthly reason why I should have been aching for this demon of a man right now. He’d be the death of me, one way or another. I would never be the same after this, afterhim.
I wanted to hate him. I thought about ripping him to shreds with my nails until he bled like he’d made Jim bleed.
But even worse, he’d made me admit a truth I’d been burying deep, deep down and never intended to admit to feeling, not even to myself.
I want to be here.
Only because there was a real possibility Killian would haunt me for the rest of my life if I didn’t at least get to taste him.
I’m officially losing my mind,I thought dimly.
“You did good.” His warm breath fanned my neck. “He seemed almost convinced you wanted to stay.”
“What would you have done if I’d told him the truth?”
“I would have killed him in front of you. He couldn’t have known what you are, and who your father is, and lived.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and swallowed, opening them again to find him looking down at me. His hand came to a rest above my chest, his thumb gliding down the column of my throat.
His touch was firm but gentle. I swallowed again involuntarily and met his gaze. Why did I suddenly want to thank him for helping me save Jim’s life?
That’s what this had been. Jim would have continued sniffing around and he’d have run into trouble somewhere, talked to the wrong people and gotten himself killed and dumped in the Atlantic Ocean or buried in a shallow grave.
Merciful.
I wouldn’t have thought that word could ever be tied to the Mano Della Morte.
“Why do you want to keep me here?” I asked. Notneedto keep me butwant.
He didn’t answer. Maybe it was the way my blood thrummed in my ears that knocked me off balance, or the way his thumb continued to brush over my throat, but something snapped inside of me, and all I could think about was his mouth on mine.Now.
