Chapter 31 #3
My father chuckles coldly. “Clever. But…our deal stands, Michael. I don’t want to speak of such topics when I have just announced my upcoming nuptials.
But…” He inhales sharply. “My nephew is still dead. And this is part of the price your family must pay to secure our future bloodline. It’s not negotiable. ”
Anger curls in my gut, and I rise to my feet, excusing myself to the ladies’ room. My feet are moving faster, my lungs releasing a heavy breath while I rush down a long corridor leading God knows where.
But I don’t care. I just need to be far away from everyone, and far away from him. I find the nearest wall and throw my head back, shutting my eyes, not knowing what I want.
Except I do. And it scares me. Irrevocably terrifies me to want him the way I do.
Iseult Marino.
It did sound good. Too good.
The way he holds me. The way he kisses me. Touches me. It’s not just physical. It’s deeper. And that’s the worst thing of all.
“What are you doing here?” The possessive rumble of his voice has my chest heaving, wanting his hand around my throat, his mouth on my lips.
“Leave,” I whisper.
But he only moves closer, and my heart? It beats, over and over like the pounding of hail against the windowsill.
“I asked you a question, Red.” Only a few feet remain between us.
“And I chose not to answer.” I take in his rugged masculinity, a few strands of his hair falling across his forehead in the most alluring way.
Those eyes…they drink me in, like I’m the taste of whiskey he so desperately craves.
“Does it make you crazy to imagine me fucking your sister? Being inside her?” He’s in front of me now, gripping my jaw while his teeth grit. “Because it makes me homicidal to imagine you with someone else.”
He drops his mouth nearer, lips stroking mine with a low growl. He looks both ways as he opens the door behind me, and with a quick pull, he drags us inside.
With both palms around my hips, he throws me up against a pool table, his eyes aligned with mine, his brows snapping tightly. “We can tell him tonight. We can tell your father we want to be together.”
“Are you insane?” A nasty laugh rolls out of me. “First of all, I never said I wanted to be with you. This is just sex!”
Lies. Awful lies. Because I want him. I want him so badly. And I hate that I do.
He groans with a deepening of his voice. “You fucking liar. I don’t know why you’re denying this, but I won’t let you.”
“Oh, yeah? And what are you going to do about it?”
With a low, raspy chuckle, his hand wraps around my throat, fingers biting deeper. He pushes my body across the pool table, forcing his chest into mine. His hard muscles pin against my body, until he’s molded across every inch of my heady flesh.
My pulsing need for him spirals until I grow dizzy with lust.
“He will disown me.” My voice falls. “I can’t tell him.”
“We can try.” He pins his forehead to mine. “I want you, Red. I’m not willing to let you go.”
The deep baritone of his voice swells through the room and into my heart. No one has ever wanted to fight for me before.
“You don’t understand,” I try to explain for what feels like the hundredth time. “My father doesn’t tolerate disrespect, and doing what we’ve been doing, it’s disrespect to the family. He’ll throw me out of the academy and out of this family.” I release a ragged sigh. “I’ll have nothing, Gio.”
He stares at me with understanding, pitching back a drop. I force my eyes shut, knowing there’s no way to get out of the hole we made. I have to find a way to end it, as much as it kills me. Between my father and the thing with Bryce, it’s for the best. We were always meant to be temporary.
“Go!” I shove at his chest. “Leave me alone. You don’t mean a goddamn thing to me, do you understand?”
But he doesn’t move. He doesn’t so much as breathe. He stands there like a statue, his eyes fastened to mine, tearing me from the only things I once thought I needed: my job, my family. But now? I need him too.
He shakes his head, his chest rising and falling with taunting breaths.
“Be with her!” I push him off once more. “Be with my sister. It’s what you have to do.”
“I’d rather die.” His fingers snap tighter around my throat, refusing to let go.
“Now you’re being dramatic.” My words fill with emotion. I despise it, yet I can’t help it.
“Wanna see dramatic?” His lips stroke the corner of my mouth.
And before I can do a thing about it, he kisses me, soft, yet with a passion rivaling madness. Like a beautiful melody that beats and forces you to listen.
And with every brush of his lips, it’s as though he’s saying, I want you, and this is how much.
His fingers twine into my hair, mine scratching up his back, wanting to feel his warm skin against my flesh.
“You’re mine, Iseult,” he reminds me, his lips glistening as he returns to ravaging my mouth.
He sucks my tongue, rolling his hips into me while this insatiable need curls inside my core.
But a sudden, loud knock has us both jumping upright, our eyes scanning the outside of the glass door.
“I’m leaving.” I quickly fix the hem of my dress and rush for the door, not sure where else I have left to go.