Page 25 of His Nephew's Ex
“Doesn’t it?” His thumb traces the rapid pulse in my throat with devastating gentleness. “Because from where I’m standing, your body is telling a very different story. Your heart is racing, your pupils are dilated, and you’re looking at my mouth like you’re remembering exactly how it tastes. And you’d like to devour it again.”
I am remembering, God help me. And the memory is driving me slowly insane with need I don’t understand and can’t control.
“Answer the question,” he commands softly. “Have you been with anyone else?”
“No.” The admission slips out before I can stop it, honest and raw. “But not because you told me not to. Because I haven’t wanted anyone else.”
The satisfaction that blazes across his features is primal, possessive, absolutely devastating. “Good girl.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Why not? It’s what you are when you obey me.” His other hand comes up to cup my face, tilting my chin until I’m forced to meet his intense stare. “And you will obey me,stellina. In all the ways that matter.”
“Like hell I will.”
“We’ll see.” He steps back abruptly, leaving me cold and bereft against the window. “I’ll handle the threats. Within forty-eight hours, the messages will stop and whoever’s behind them will understand the consequences of touching what belongs to me.”
“I don’t belong to you,” I protest, but the words sound hollow even to my own ears.
“Keep telling yourself that.” He moves to his desk and picks up a business card, extending it toward me. “When you’re ready to stop lying to yourself, when you need what only I can give you, call this number. Day or night, I’ll answer.”
Ah Lori, I think to myself, you now have a fucking Mafia Lord as a call boy. Well done.
I take the card with trembling fingers, noting the heavy cardstock and embossed lettering. No company name, no title—just a phone number in elegant script.
“What can you give me?” I ask, though I’m afraid of the answer.
“Everything your body craves. Every fantasy you’ve been too afraid to acknowledge. Every dark desire you’ve discovered since I touched you.” His smile is pure sin wrapped in expensive fabric. “You’re awakening to yourself,stellina. To the passionate woman underneath all that careful control. And when you’re ready to embrace her completely, I’ll be waiting.”
Between us, his promise throbs like a heartbeat—mine or his, I can’t tell. The card becomes an anchor in my shaking hands, though I’m not sure if it’s keeping me afloat or dragging me under.
“I should go,” I whisper, though every cell in my body is screaming at me to stay.
“Yes, you should.” But he makes no move to escort me out, content to watch me struggle with the magnetic pull he exertswithout even trying. “Before I decide that you’ve been good long enough to deserve a reward.”
“What kind of reward?” The question slips out before I can stop it, breathless and needy.
His laugh is dark honey, rich and intoxicating. “The kind that would leave you ruined for any other man.”
I flee then, practically running for the door before I can do something spectacularly stupid like ask for a demonstration. Behind me, his laughter follows like a caress, and just as I reach the threshold, his voice stops me cold.
“Stellina?”
I pause without turning around, every nerve ending on fire.
“If you thought the first time was good,” he says, his voice carrying the weight of absolute promise, “the next time will be even better. Now that you’re ready to be thoroughly fucked.”
The crude words hit me like a physical caress, making heat pool low in my belly despite my best efforts to remain unaffected. I don’t trust myself to respond, so I flee through his mansion like the hounds of hell are nipping at my heels.
But as I drive away from his estate, the business card burning a hole in my pocket, I know with terrifying certainty that it’s not hell I’m running from.
It’s heaven. Dark, dangerous, absolutely devastating heaven that promises to consume me completely if I’m brave enough to let it.
And God help me, I’m starting to think I am.
9
Simeone
