Chapter 12 Alessio
ALESSIO
Fuck.
I didn’t mean to let that slip. I was so damn frustrated watching her freeze up while those Devil’s Brood assholes tore the place apart.
When I saw that biker grab her, every instinct I have screamed to rip his throat out. But I was too far away, hands full of my own problems. If she’d just run backstage like everyone else with half a brain...
Now she knows I remember her.
It was better when she thought I was an asshole who’d forgotten her. That was supposed to keep her at arm’s length. Make her hate me enough to stay away.
So much for that plan.
“Okay, yes.” I scrub my hand down my face, feeling exposed. “I remember you. But it doesn’t matter. It’s not happening again.”
She jerks back like I’ve slapped her. There’s fire in those grey eyes now, anger blazing hot enough to burn. But underneath it, I also catch something that looks like pain.
Shit. I don’t want to hurt her. I just need her to stay away.
“Are you serious?” Her voice is pure venom. “I don’t want it to happen again.”
She crosses her arms, which pushes her tits up in a way that makes my mouth go dry. I force my eyes back to her face, but the damage is done. Blood’s already heading south.
“You know what?” She snaps at me. “You were right before. We shouldn’t talk.”
I should take the out and walk away. But I’m still pissed about her freezing up during the fight, and I can’t let it go.
The image of her just standing there, frozen while chaos erupted around her, keeps replaying in my head. What if Matteo hadn’t been able to get to her in time? What if one of those bastards had hurt her?
“Let’s not get distracted by ancient history, sweetheart.” I keep my voice steady, controlled. “You should have gone backstage when the trouble started. What were you thinking, just standing there like that?”
Fire flashes in her eyes again. She gestures at my torn, bloody shirt. “Maybe I should ask you the same thing.”
She’s got a point, but that’s different. I can handle myself. Watching her stand like a deer in headlights while those animals tore up my club...it did something to me I don’t want to look at too closely.
I roll my eyes. “Go get dressed. The club is closing early.”
The remaining customers have been clearing out since the fight ended. Nothing kills the mood like a bar brawl.
“Come to my office after you’ve changed,” I tell her. “I’ll walk you out to your car. For safety.”
For a second, I think she might refuse. Her chin tilts up in that stubborn way that makes me want to kiss her and shake her at the same time. But she just shrugs and heads to the dressing room.
In my office, I strip off my jacket and start working on my shirt buttons. The blood’s made the fabric stick to the wound, and I bite back a curse as I peel it away. The cut’s jagged but not deep. I’ve had worse.
Much worse.
Nina appears in the doorway as I’m digging through my desk for the first aid kit. She takes one look at the gash across my chest and makes a soft sound of sympathy.
“Jesus, Alessio. That looks painful.”
The concern in her voice unsettles me. It’s too warm, too close.
She disappears into my bathroom without asking, emerging with a damp hand towel. “You didn’t have any washcloths.”
Before I can protest, she’s right there, close enough to touch. Close enough that I can see the gold flecks in her grey eyes as she starts cleaning the blood away.
My breath catches. Every nerve ending comes alive as her fingers brush my skin. It’s just first aid, nothing sexual about it, but my body doesn’t give a damn about logic.
What is it about this woman? She draws me in like no one else ever has. Something about her gets under my skin in a way that terrifies me.
She moves with gentle efficiency, cleaning the wound before reaching for the antiseptic wipes. The sting makes me hiss, and her eyes dart to mine.
"Sorry." She examines the cut more closely, her brow furrowing. "This should probably get stitches."
“It’s fine.” The words come out strained.
She leans in close, breath feathering my chest, and it’s the first time in years I’ve wanted the pain to last. If it means she keeps touching me, I’ll take it.
When she smooths the bandage over my chest, her touch is light. Careful. But I can see the way her pulse jumps in her throat, the slight tremor in her fingers.
She’s not unaffected either.
“I know you were lying,” I say, my voice low. “What we had that night... it wasn’t a disappointment.”
She takes a step back, but there’s nowhere to go in my small office. “Yes, it was.”
Her eyes give her away, dropping to my abs before settling on the obvious bulge in my pants. She’s remembering too. How good we were together. How she came apart in my arms.
“Liar.”
I push away from the desk, and she backs up until she hits the wall. I follow, caging her in with my hands braced on either side of her head. Not touching, but close enough that I can feel her breath on my lips.
“You think I don’t remember how you felt around my cock?” My voice is barely above a whisper. “How you squeezed me when you came? You were so fucking tight, Nina. So wet.”
Her breath hitches. Her pupils dilate.
“The way you said my name when I made you come...” I lean closer, my lips almost brushing her ear. “You can lie to yourself all you want, but your body remembers.”
Something shifts in her expression. Her gaze drops to my mouth, and then she’s reaching for me, her fingers curling into my shirt as she pulls me down to her.
I crush my mouth to hers, and she melts into me like she’s been waiting for this as long as I have.
Her lips part for my tongue, and I take everything she’s offering.
Her taste explodes across my senses, sweet and addictive, but it’s the familiarity that guts me—like no time has passed since that night.
My hands fist in her silky hair as I deepen the kiss, pressing her back against the wall. Her body is warm and pliant against mine, all soft curves pressed tight against me. My chest screams in protest, but the pain barely registers.
She moans into my mouth, her nails digging into my shoulders. The sound goes straight to my cock, and I can smell that faint vanilla scent that clings to her skin.
I’m harder than I’ve been in years, harder than I was even that first night.
This is insane. This is dangerous.
This is exactly what I swore I wouldn’t do.
The thought cuts through the haze of lust. I tear myself away from her, putting the width of the room between us before I do something we’ll both regret.
The familiar panic claws at my chest. This is how it starts. You let someone in, you start to need them, and then they walk away when the reality of your world becomes too much.
Nina’s panting, her lips swollen and her cheeks flushed. She looks thoroughly kissed and absolutely beautiful, and I want nothing more than to go back over there and finish what I started.
Instead, I yank open my office door like the coward I am.
“Keith!” I bark at the first bouncer I see. “Walk Nina to her car. Make sure she gets there safely.”
I don’t look at her face. Can’t. If I see the hurt there, I might do something stupid. Like apologize. Like admit that walking away from her is the hardest thing I’ve done in years.
Nina doesn’t say a word as she follows Keith out. But I feel her disappointment deep in my bones.
I tell myself this is the right thing to do.
But as I watch her disappear into the night, one thing becomes crystal clear:
My Temptress is going to be the death of me.