“Enough.” He crushed his mouth to mine.
My teeth found his lip, and I bit.
Forcefully.
A feral, ragged sound rumbled in his chest. He only kissed me harder. I was breathless. I tried to push him away, but my fingers curled around the cotton of his shirt. The moment I tasted copper, though, I reared back, spluttering. Maybespitting a little. Vincenzo swallowed thickly, taking my kiss and his blood down his throat.
My pussy clenched. “Why are you even here?”
“I’ve missed you.” His thumb swiped a bead of blood off his lip. “I couldn’t stay away.”
I was not cracking under those words. I wasn’t caving! “You’re delusional.”
His chuckle was dark. Humorless.Frightening.“I like being around you.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t like you.” I had to say it. I had to put it out there, or else it was quite possible that it wouldn’t be true. “I don’t even know you!”
Vincenzo surged forward with a growl. His fingers wrapped around my throat, and he partially lifted me off the ground, his body forcing me back. My feet scrambled for purchase, but a second later, I was bent over the top banister.
“Since you think I’m a monster.”
I gasped.
“Yes,” he snarled. “I heard that. Let me show you what monsters do.”
With his other hand, he tugged the soft sleeper shirt down my shoulder, ripping it at the neckline. The material scraped against my nipples. I would have moaned if there was enough air. As it was, the little I had was trying not to scream as the wood rail dug into my spine.
The moment my chest was bare, Vincenzo cupped one of my breasts. He roughly kneaded the flesh, letting up on the pressure around my throat at intervals to allow me to breathe. Control—iron, dominating control. He had it. He was in charge.
The mixture of pressure from his hands was intoxicating.
Pleasure thrummed through me as spots danced across my vision.
Vincenzo bent over me, forcing me to lean further off the edge. “I’m going to remind you what it means to be mine. How good we are together.”
His fingers let up, and I scrambled to hold onto his arm, so I didn’t fall back.
“Don’t,” I choked. “I don’t want to remember.”
“Yes, you do.” His lips skated along my jaw. “I wanted to give you space, but it seems you’re actively working against that. So here I am. You played your cards. You showed up in my city; I’m not going to let you escape.”
He spoke with certainty. As if I’d summoned him.
Had I?
No. He’d been the one lurking in the shadows. Haunting me, following me. I didn’t even know he was around. I couldn’t be the one who initiated this.
I tried to shove his arm, but he held my throat more firmly.
My pussy clenched in response as the oxygen was cut off.
Grabbing my sweatpants, Vincenzo tugged them off. He used his knee to push them further, stepping on the crotch seam to remove them completely. Lifting me, he turned me onto my stomach.
The railing hurt.
But not enough to distract me from the sudden loss of his touch around my neck. I gasped and jerked as the dizzying sight of the dark foyer, the inky, bottomless pool of shadows, swam before me.
With his hand around my hips, he took some of the weight, which only pushed me further over the banister. Before I could scream, his hand slid between my legs. “Look at that. You knew I was coming for you. This pretty, bare pussy is soaked.”
