Page 37 of Taken By the Mafia King
Francesco chuckled behind me and blew out his breath. “Let me know when you’re done throwing a hissy fit and I’ll take you back inside.”
I walked further down the driveway, seeing how far he’d let me go before intervening. The cold, wet pavement bit into the soles of my feet and rain pelted the top of my head. I started shivering, and I wasn’t sure if it was anger, frustration, worry for Tommaso and myself, or a mix of everything, but I scrunched my shoulders and pulled my belly in, preparing to scream. To let it all out. The fear. The anger, pain, confusion, lust—all of it. It had been building and building inside of me, and now that release was right at my fingertips, I faltered. The scream died on my tongue.
Weak. Coward.
I’d never be free of Killian. Not for a second. Even if he let me go, his touch would haunt me for the rest of my life.
Because, despite it all, I wanted him.
Francesco’s deep voice cut through my thoughts. “I think you’ve had enough air.”
I turned around and glowered as I stomped back to the house and glided past him on a phantom wind.
“Where’s the kitchen?” I began to ask, but he took me firmly by the arm and marched me back to my room like I was a kid throwing a tantrum and needed a time-out.
This time the door slammed shut and was locked in place.
I fell into bed and curled beneath the covers, trembling with a cold that had seeped into my bones while I’d been outside.
How had I ended up here? How had my life taken such a turn?
I brushed my fingertips over my lips, imagining the featherlight touch belonging to the man who’d started to plague my dreams.
I fell asleep thinking of him, so I dreamt of him too, of what could have happened if that kiss had turned to more.
His hand grazed over the curve of my hip, then under my robe where his heated touch warmed my skin.
In my dream, I shivered from the way his fingers felt against my sex, not from the cold, bitter night air. His lips explored my throat, finding out how sensitive that tender spot right behind my ear was, and how it made me tremble with desire.
I gave him anything he wanted, everything I had. If Killian Ricci claimed me, he would be my first. And when he killed me, which I knew was inevitable, he’d be the only man to ever touch me and know my body in a carnal way.
With every passing day I lost more of myself to the Mano Della Morte.
And to be honest?
The flame he’d lit inside of me burned in such a delicious way, I didn’t mind at all.
What did that say about me?
CHAPTER 30
KILLIAN
Another glass of whiskey hadn’t washed the taste or feel of Sera’s lips from my own. A third glass hadn’t done much to ease the dull ache in my chest whenever my mind drifted from her to Tommaso and our ill-fated night.
Ill-fated in so many ways. Sure, Giuseppe had been sent what I hoped he’d consider a valuable message.Fuck with me and get fucked.But it had cost me, too.
Tommaso had almost paid the ultimate price. We’d already lost one of our men, his body now being prepared for burial. I ran my fingers through my hair as I thought of the funeral that would take place within the next week. He’d been young, as young as Mikey and just as green with a gun.
His mother would be cared for, for the rest of her life, I’d make sure of it. But her heart would be forever broken.
I sucked in a breath and stood, stumbling a bit until I found my footing. I left my office and walked through the dark house, lingering for a moment in front of Tommaso’s room.
Instead of continuing to my own room, I found myself drunkenly climbing upstairs to the winding, crisscrossed hallways on the upper floor. Delaney hadn’t breached my thoughts in a long while. I walked past her door. Silence.
It was three in the morning, quiet throughout the house, as I moved through the darkness and rested my hands on either side of Sera’s door. It had been an hour since I’d fucked up and kissed her like I’d wanted to. I’d tangled my fingers in her thick, silky hair and felt her tongue glide over mine. Had I been a younger, more inexperienced man, I would have taken her fully right then and there.
But I had some control, and I knew where this would lead if I let it go any further.
