Page 38 of Until You Break
A fraction more pressure at the back of his neck and his jaw obeyed, lips parting on a breath he tried to swallow.
“Good,” I murmured. “Remember how easy that was.”
We reached the landing. He jerked free, one last, pretty, hopeless lunge, and I caught him again, palm hard at his throat, thumb grinding under his jaw until his breath stuttered. I bent close enough for him to taste the threat in my voice. “You climb these stairs because I allow it,piccolino. You breathe because I want to hear it. Fight me again and I’ll have you on your knees here, in front of every shadow listening.” His pupils flared, fear and fury tangled, and I smiled slow. “That’s it. Burn hotter. I’ll enjoy putting the fire out.”
I shoved him the last steps, until his back met the heavy oak door at the end of the hall. My thumb pressed harder under his jaw as I bent close, voice dark with promise. “From now on, this is where you sleep. My room. My bed. You don’t leave it unless I decide you do.”
The latch clicked shut behind us, sealing him inside.
CHAPTER 13
EMILIO
The door clicked shut.
His words from the hall still rang in my skull.
From now on, this is where you sleep. My room. My bed. You don’t leave it unless I decide you do.
The lock seemed to echo them, sealing me into the promise.
Damiano didn’t move back. His hand stayed flat against my chest, holding me in place like I was an object he’d set down exactly where he wanted it. His gaze dragged over me, deliberate, unhurried, as if he was cataloguing every weakness he owned now.
Owned.
The lamp burned above us, too bright for my comfort but not enough to show everything. Shadows clung to corners, deep enough to keep the places I had harmed myself hidden. I prayed he wouldn’t notice the scars. If he did, I knew he would use them against me, another chain, another shame. He saw my tremor, my flush, my resistance, but not the truth under my sleeves. A mercy or a cruelty, I didn’t know.
His rings glinted in the lamplight, white-gold crest catching on the pale skin of my collarbone where his hand pressed.
“You make me burn already,” he murmured, voice low and edged with hunger. “Mine.”
The thought shot through me. I was married. His rings on his hand, mine on my finger, two circles binding me to him in a trap I hadn’t chosen. I wanted the light dim, shadows to hide in, but he had left the lamp bright on purpose. To make me see. To make me seen.
Then his fingers slid to the lapel of my jacket.
“What are you?—”
He stripped it off in one clean pull, tossing it to the chair. His gaze dragged down the line of my chest and shoulders, lingering with a hunger that was equal parts threat and worship. His hand skimmed down my side like he was testing the shape of something already his.
“Built finer than I thought,” he said, low. “And all mine.”
I caught his wrist. “You don’t get to touch me like this.”
He leaned in, his mouth brushing my ear, his breath warm and steady. “I do. I always do.”
The second layer went slower, shirt buttons undone one by one, his knuckles brushing my skin each time, leaving a trail of heat.
My jaw clenched nearly to pain, my body trembling, shame blooming higher with every button. He mocked me in clipped tones, savoring each inch.
“Look at you, already shaking,” he murmured. His hand lingered over the plane of my chest, fingers grazing lightly. “Skin soft. You smell good. Beautiful, and all for me to ruin.”
My face burned. “You’re disgusting.”
His smile curved like a blade. “And you’re getting hard.”
I bit down on my lip so hard I tasted copper, trying to kill the sound rising in my throat. But when his hand brushed lower, my body jolted, and a moan cracked loose anyway. His eyes lit,merciless. “Even silence betrays you,piccolo. I don’t need your words. Your body begs for me.”
I opened my mouth to deny it, but he kissed me instead, slow, filthy, coaxing the fight right out of me. His tongue slid against mine, tasting, claiming, until my shoulders went loose and my mouth stayed parted. Spit slicked my lips when he pulled back, his thumb smearing it over my chin with deliberate cruelty.
