Captivated: A Mafia Romance (Carfano Crime Family Book 6)

~ Chapter 3 ~

Cassie

With my back to the club, I roll my neck and reach up, grabbing the pole in front of me. I stretch up and arch my back like a cat, then slowly weave my hips from side to side while moving down into a squatted position. Swirling my hips, I pop back up with my ass in the air and then spin around, slowly sliding up the pole until I’m fully standing.

I raise my eyes to find my first victim of this stage set’s seduction, and instead, am met with a pair I’ve already fallen victim to.

I grip the railing in front of me – frozen.

He’s here.

Why is he here?

He’s staring right back at me, and I know he knows it’s me with the thundering look of anger covering his handsome face. This mask isn’t fooling him.

Nico Carfano.

The man that blew my goddamn mind and back out for three days straight. The man that had me seeing stars. The man that left my throat raw from how many times he had me screaming. The man that gave me everything and nothing at the same time, with no promises for anything past the weekend.

We had a no-strings-attached deal, and we both honored that.

Then why is he looking at me like that? And why is my heart beating double-time and my stomach knotting up at him seeing me like this?

Nico’s lips move as he says something to the security guard beside him. His face only grows angrier, and he says something again.

I haven’t moved an inch and his eyes haven’t left mine.

The manager of the club joins them and Nico says something to him that has the man wide-eyed and rubbing the back of his neck. But he nods and starts talking into his earpiece.

The security guard that was by my stage moves away and starts going around to every table, urging those sitting to stand and leave.

I look back to Nico and see he’s watching everything I do, and the corner of his mouth tilts up in a devilish little smirk that has my stomach knotting further.

What is he doing?

The music cuts off, and as the club slowly empties, a few of the customers put up a drunken fuss, but security has no problem pushing them out the door.

Four men are beside Nico now, and they look over to me before quickly looking away when Nico says something harsh in reply. I can see it in the set of his mouth.

Oh, that mouth of his. I know it has the capability of saying and doing the dirtiest things, and right now, seeing him use it to command people to do what he wants… It has my pussy throbbing at the memory of him commanding me to get on my knees, to get on my stomach, my back, on the counter, against the windows, the tiles of the shower, and everywhere in between.

Fuck.

My knees shake and my elbows buckle as I lean forward so I don’t collapse to the floor in a puddle of need.

I don’t let men affect me like this. I use them for what I need and then I’m done. I don’t get attached unless I want to. Before that weekend I spent with Nico, of course.

I followed the rules we made.

I kept it at three days of fun.

I knew he was going back to his life in New York City and I was staying here in Atlantic City to finish my last semester of college.

He’s made studying quite difficult, though. Every time I had to focus on what the professor was saying or what I was reading, I’d hear or see a word that had my mind connecting it to Nico, and then I’d be lost in my head for a while until I realized what I was doing and snapped out of it.

One weekend with him, learning every inch of each other’s bodies and what drives the other absolutely crazy, and I’ve been ruined. That was all it was meant to be, though. That’s all it was – carnal fucking lust.

At least, I thought so.

The music is turned off and the club empties, allowing me to hear my heart pounding wildly in my chest.

He’s going to hear it. He’s going to know.

The manager comes back and says something else to Nico, who nods and replies, which has the manager quickly ushering out all the employees, too.

Before I can think of what I should do, and before I can get my legs to work properly to find my way out too, we’re alone in the club.

Just Nico and I.

Just us in this big empty club.

Alone.

“Were you hoping no one would recognize you with that mask?” he asks, taking the three steps down into the VIP pit area. I nod, and he pulls a chair from one of the tables and turns it so it’s directly in front of the main stage. “You want to dance? Come and dance for me, Cassandra.”

His tone leaves no room for argument, and apparently all my body needed was for him to say my name and command me to do something in order for me to be able to finally move.

I step down from the stage and walk over to the set of stairs across from him. His eyes follow my every move. They’re like two dark flames burning every inch of my skin exposed to him – making his mark.

He’s tattooing me with his gaze.

I still remember the feeling of him tracing my tattoos. With his fingers first, and then his tongue. He loved them. And now he’s giving me his own tattoo that’s adorning me in invisible ink of his own pattern.

With it being just us here, my usual confidence steadily comes back to me with every step until I’m the girl I was with him that weekend. The girl who saw what she wanted and took it without shame.

It was the most intense experience of my life.

I knew with his brother dating my best friend, I’d maybe eventually see him again. I didn’t think it’d be so soon, and especially not here, like this.

Nico pulls out his phone and dials a number. “Is everyone gone? Did you leave yet? … Turn the music back on and then leave. Lock the door behind you.”

He slips his phone back into his pocket and leans back in the chair, spreading his legs. Those long, muscular legs I already know I fit perfectly between while on my knees.

The music turns back on, and Nico rubs his bottom lip with his thumb. “Dance for me, Red.”

His deep voice vibrates through me and settles in my core while his eyes take me in from head to toe and back. He has a full, unobstructed view of me now that I’m front and center before him.

Red.

He called me that in the club when we first met. We were dancing, and with his arms snaked around me, he tugged on the ends of my hair and whispered in my ear, “Come up to VIP with me, Red. Let me see if you’re just as fiery off the dance floor.”

My God, I was so fucking turned on. Everything he did and said that night had me in a hazy trance that made me want more and more.

I still want more.

“Closer” by Nine Inch Nails starts playing through the sound system, and I feel the music like it’s a part of my blood. A part of my heartbeat.

Each hit of the beat has me loosening and becoming the Cassie I was with him.

I can be her again.

I can show him everything I know and be the girl who captivates his attention from the stage.

I want his eyes on me.

I want to feel them watching me while I seduce him and he can’t touch me while I do so.

Licking my lips, I wait for the first line of the song to begin, and I walk around the pole. On the next line, I slither my hips from side to side, moving down the pole as I go. I circle my hips and thrust them forward twice when he sings, “I want to penetrate you.”

Nico shifts in his seat and I slide back up the pole, rolling my head and tossing my curls around.

On the first, “help me,” I circle the pole, lift myself up, and do a corkscrew spin, loving the feeling of being off the ground. On the next, I flip over into a spinning chopper. And on the third one, I hook my leg around the pole and spin down into a hand stand and spread my legs into a split.

Bending one knee, I swing down to my knees with my back to Nico and pop up onto my toes – legs spread and bent forward.

As the chorus approaches, I grip the pole and swing backwards, dropping to the floor on my knees again as he sings, “I want to fuck you like an animal.”

I slide my arms forward with my ass in the air and circle my hips before spreading my knees apart and thumping my hips against the stage twice.

Arching my back, I stretch my hands out all the way in front of me and lift my feet in the air, circling them, and slowly sliding down to the floor until I’m lying flat. And when the same line repeats, I make my legs like a number four and hump the floor twice before swinging my leg around so I’m in a split.

I grab the pole and lift myself up, sliding my toes together until I’m standing. And when the song says, “closer to God,” I jump onto the pole and swing around in a split and then flip upside down and twist my calves around the pole – spinning with no hands.

Grabbing ahold again, I kick down to the ground and walk around the pole, needing to give Nico the best show of his fucking life. No matter who he’s seen on this stage, or any other, he’s going to remember me up here.

I keep my eyes on him with every move I make, and watch him as he clenches his jaw, fists his hands on his thighs, and spreads them again, trying to adjust himself.

A slow smile spreads across my face. I’m enjoying teasing him.

Nico’s eyes fall to half-mast and he rubs his thumb over his bottom lip. Knowing he’s turned on, it fuels me to go harder and sexier, and I lose myself in the moment.

When I’m down on my knees again, I crawl towards him, and at the end of the stage, I spread my knees apart and arch all the way back so my head is touching the floor.

I slowly drag myself back up, and when I snap my head forward, I’m met with the man who’s haunted me nightly, standing right in front of me.

I freeze.

Our eyes are locked, and his are ablaze with desire.

I know he still wants me.

I can see it. I can feel it.

He cleared the club out the moment he saw me so no one else would see me dance. He wants me for his eyes only, and for the moment, I can give that to him.

I want him again as much as his eyes are telling me he wants me. I want to tease him until he breaks, though. I want to show him what he’s been missing.

I want to feel like I did when I was with him before. Like a pretty princess who’s being worshipped and debased at every available moment.

On my knees before him, we’re almost eye-level, and I reach out, wanting to touch him. But I can’t yet. Instead, I push myself away and slide towards the pole. I reach back and grab it, spinning around and up onto my feet again.

Nico remains standing at the end of the stage in a stance that can only be described as powerful and dominant. He’s a man who gets his way and knows he’s going to again now.

He crooks his pointer finger, beckoning me back to him, and once again, I obey without hesitation. Even when I’m up here, in control, he still has power over me.

I walk back to the edge of the stage and Nico grabs my wrist. He pauses for only a moment to caress my inner wrist with a back-and-forth swipe of his thumb before pulling me from the stage.

My breath leaves my lungs as I’m flung against his chest, and his other arm bands around my back while my legs instinctively wrap around his waist.

“You only dance for me now,” Nico growls in my ear – his control waning.

Nico walks us backwards until we reach the chair he was sitting in and he sits us down. Every part of me is screaming to agree with him, but I can’t. I’m dancing here for a reason.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do,” I counter, and he grips my chin, bringing my face to his.

Nico’s eyes are hard as stone. His hands spread across my back and slide down to cup my ass, pushing me against his hard cock.

I let out a soft moan and he presses his fingers harder into my ass cheeks. “You only dance for me,” he repeats, harsher this time.

“You’re too late,” I tell him, and he grunts, not liking my response.

Nico glides a finger up my spine, around my ribcage, between my breasts, across my collar bone, and back down my spine. I shiver in his arms and he grabs the ends of my hair, pulling my head to the side.

I gasp in surprise, and he trails his nose up the side of my exposed neck. He plants a kiss beneath my ear and I sigh. “I’m right on time, Cassandra,” he says roughly.

Nico tugs on my hair again, this time pulling my head straight back, giving him the access he needs to run his nose down the front of my neck to plant a kiss in the hollow of my throat.

I bite my lip, holding in a soft moan, and Nico drags his nose up to my other ear. “Let me hear you purr like the pretty little kitten you are.” He pulls the bow loose that’s holding the front of my corset together. “You know I know how to make you purr.” His hand on my ass squeezes me. “Let me hear you.”

He kisses my ear again and bares his teeth, scraping them across my skin before biting down.

My moan is instant, turning into a mewling cry for more when he swirls his tongue around where he bit to ease the pressure.

“That’s it, la mia rossa piccante,” he whispers in my ear. “You’re a good little kitty, aren’t you?”

“Mmhmm,” I hum, moving my hips against him.

Nico cups my pussy, pressing on the fabric that’s separating us. “Now let me make this little kitty purr until my hand is covered in your sweet cream.”

“Please,” I say shamelessly, moving my hips to try and get him closer.

“You know I love when you beg, Cassandra.”

Nico pulls my panties to the side and hooks his fingers through the holes in the fishnets I have on underneath.

He doesn’t touch me yet, though.

He pulls his fingers away instead, but I can feel them trembling with the effort of not touching me.

I slide my hands down his chest and grip his shirt. “What are you waiting for, Nico?”

“That,” he growls. “For you to say my name.” He captures my lips with his in a searing kiss that has my mind wiped clear of everything but him.

Nico’s long and thick middle finger slides right inside of me and I moan into our kiss, biting down on his lower lip, which has him groaning in return.

I love that sound. It’s sexy and feral.

I bite harder to hear it again, and he adds a second finger inside me and presses his thumb against my clit in response.

I tear my lips from his and my head falls back to let out a throaty moan. He was the last man to touch me, and my hand and vibrator don’t come close to this. To him.

Sliding my hands back up his chest to cup the sides of his neck, my inner muscles clench around his fingers, and I ride his hand.

“That’s it, la mia rossa piccante. Ride my hand like the dirty little kitty I know you are. Use me.”

I pry my eyes open and meet his dark ones. They make me feel alive, and it feels like he can see past every fa?ade I’m wearing to the real me.

“More,” I demand, and he adds a third finger – spreading them out inside me. I shudder and fall onto his hand, fully taking his fingers inside of me.

The moan that leaves me is a half scream, and Nico is quick to loosen the ribbon holding my corset together. Tearing it apart, his hot mouth latches onto my taut nipple.

I cry out, my nails instinctively digging into the nape of his neck as my pussy flutters around his fingers.

“Nico,” I moan, and he sucks my other nipple into his hot, wet mouth. “Nico,” I moan again, and he curls his fingers towards him inside me and swirls his thumb around my clit.

I’m almost…

“Let me see those eyes.” I blink to clear the blurriness and focus on his brown eyes that are glowing like hot amber under the lights in here. “Come. Now.”

Holding out until he says those magic words, my body listens like it’s been trained by him. Like it only works for him now.

Damn him.

Fuck him.

I’m in pure fucking bliss and angry simultaneously, and I don’t know why.

I press my forehead to his, and while I ride the waves flowing through me, Nico reaches up and unties the ribbon of my mask. That clears the fog pretty damn quickly, and I pull back, seeing the smug look of victory in his eyes.

My anger flares and I scramble off his lap. I do it too quickly, though, because my legs are still Jello from the earth-shattering orgasm he just gave me. I stumble back in my too-high heels until I crash into the stage.

Nico’s smug look spreads into a grin that has my pussy contracting and throbbing for more. “Where are you going, Cassandra?” he asks. “You don’t want me to see you? You want me to only see you like this? A stripper?” His gaze travels the length of my body. “Is that it?”

“Fuck you,” I spit out, clutching my corset together with one hand.

Pushing off the stage, I walk as fast as I can to the dressing room, ripping off the stupid cat mask as I go. I’m not his pretty little kitty who does as he says.

Shit! Ow!

I forgot about the pins I had in my hair to keep it in place.

Oh well. The pain is helping to keep me level-headed and angry. Who does he think he is speaking to me like that? I don’t care who he is. Him being a Carfano doesn’t mean shit to me.

I know men like him. I grew up with them. And I’ll be damned if I ever let one make me feel inferior.

I can feel him following me, but I ignore him. In the dressing room, I take off these stupid heels that are slowing me down and shove them in my bag before throwing on my sweats to cover myself.

I turn and see Nico leaning against the doorway. His face is devoid of emotion, but his eyes are speculative. I narrow mine and turn away from him to shove my hair products and makeup bag into my duffel. I slip my feet into my shoes and beeline for the back entrance I came through earlier tonight.

“Are you running from me?” he asks, amusement dancing in the notes of his voice.

“No,” I say forcefully, gripping the strap of my bag tighter. Nico follows behind me, but it isn’t until I’m outside that I remember I don’t have a car anymore and need to order a rideshare.

“Shit,” I mutter under my breath.

“Where’s your car?”

Instead of answering him, I pull my phone out and open the app.

“Did you drive it here?”

“No,” I clip, annoyed that he wants me to explain myself.

“I’ll take you. Come on.”

“No.”

“Cassandra,” he says, and I pause, finally looking up at him. “You’re not taking a taxi from here alone. I’ll take you home.”

I look back down at my phone. “There’s a car five minutes away. I’ll wait.”

Growling, Nico grabs my phone from my hand and my bag from my shoulder, and starts walking towards his car.

“What the hell are you doing?” I yell after him.

“Get in the car, Cassandra.”

“I don’t need your help, Nico.”

That gets him to stop and turn back. “I’m taking you home. Get in the car.”