Page 16 of Hostile Secret
The pressure of his sturdy physique pinned against mine confuses me to the point my skin sizzles. An inexplicable arousal swells between my thighs, the embarrassing heat of it raising the temperature.
“Why would you do that?” I swallow hard when he slowly licks his lips, causing me to stifle a girlie groan. “You’ve already made it clear you don’t want me around.” I purposefully snarl to disguise the unruly pulse thrumming in places it shouldn't.
His muscles go rigid. A glimpse of something unlawful moves across his expression. “Perhaps I’ve reconsidered the arrangement I made with Dré.”
My nostrils flare as I try to suppress my panic. “What do you mean?”
“Behave yourself, niñita.” Dark pupils engulf his irises as he stares right through me. “Or you’ll find out who I really am.” Giovanni exhales a controlled breath.
“Are you actually threatening me?”
Fear crashes into this unnatural craving I have for him. I squirm, doing my best to find a weakness in his stance, helplessly hitting the solid wall of muscle only to meet his unmovable strength.
“Get the hell away from me. I’ll call Dré and figure out something else––.”
His hand is around my throat before I can finish. He tilts his head to the side as he squeezes ever so slightly, watching intently as my eyes widen.
“Too late. You walked in here of your own free will. And I don’t care for anyone else’s rules, but my own. If you continue to disrespect me, I’ll wait until you’re old enough to repay the debt you owe me for this bullshit.”
I take a quick breath when his mouth pauses before mine. In the electrified seconds of silence, I’m almost certain he’s going to kiss me. My belly flips and a wicked shiver runs the length of my spine.
Instead, he calmly studies me like a new oil painting he’d randomly bought for his lair and decided he didn’t have a spot for it after all.
I strain against his palm, my own fingers plucking at his in a pathetic bid to let me go.
“Shouldn’t your brother repay the debt? He’s the one who’s forced us together.”
“You’re the one who’s in my home, not Dré.” Giovanni’s voice is deep and gravelly. “And he’s occupied with his pregnant wife. So you’ll obey me, niñita, because I’m the only one in this world who can protect you…” He releases me before taking a measured step back. “… from me.”
Long fingers dive into the thick hair on top of his head and then he stalks to the door, slamming it shut behind him on his way out.
My heart hammers in my chest when the sound of a lock turning echoes in my ears. Rushing forward, I twist the knob and pointlessly batter the lacquered wood.
“Giovanni!” I yell. “You can’t lock me in here.”
6
GIOVANNI
I need to stay the hell away from her.
Energy flows through my body, its charge more powerful than the forks of lightning splitting the night sky beyond my window.
A fierce blaze of light temporarily illuminates the bed I’ve been lying in since I’d delivered a tray of food to India, who was inconveniently semi-naked again having just stepped out of the shower.
Fuck this arrangement.
It took every shred of my restraint not to rip the towel off her killer curves and fuck the woman face down on the floor. And that she is—a beautiful young woman who’s every bit a sexual temptress.
The way she’d stared at me when I set the tray on the bed felt like I’d been hit in the balls with a stun gun. And when a slippery tongue unintentionally wet her lips, it blew my mind.
Whether India knew what that simple act would do to my dick or not, she had followed it with silence rather than thank me for supper, all the while keeping her spine flush to the wall.
Thank fuck.
Sparks fly when we’re too close.
Once I’d left her to eat alone, l spoke to my housekeeper and spent time in my private quarters, taking care of my normal life.
