I got up, the shirt falling to my knees once more, hiding my nudity. But my legs were sticky and my core still throbbing from my release.

Maddox sat up slowly. “Won’t you return the favor?”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Why don’t you ask one of the pass-arounds to do it for you?” Despite the harsh note of my words, the idea that Maddox could get it on with another woman didn’t sit well with me. He pushed into a sitting position, his jeans tented. Remembering the piercings and his sinfully sexy body I felt compelled to get on my knees and do what he asked, but my pride kept me in place. He took a cigarette out of his packet and pushed to his feet, looking as if he didn’t care. He shrugged and sauntered over to the door. “Suit yourself. I know just the right girl to suck my dick.”

A hot ball of fury built in my chest. “If you do this—” I seethed, not sure what I was going to threaten him with. We weren’t a couple so I couldn’t break up with him. We were nothing except captive and captor, which made the situation all the more ridiculous. I didn’t have anything I could blackmail him with.

“Then what?” Maddox asked, turning with a satisfied grin, as if my reaction had been his plan. Had he tricked me into an emotional outburst?

I couldn’t believe him. I shook my head in disgust. “I don’t care. Do what you must. For all I care you can let all the old ladies…” I wanted to say something crude to match him but the words stuck in my mouth. “…have their way with you.” I finished lamely, and my face heated.

Maddox’s smile broadened, becoming so smug I wanted to strangle him with the gold chain around his neck. “Have their way with me?” he echoed, all teeth and smugness. “Suck my dick is what they would do. Can’t you say the words, Snow White?”

“Unlike the women you choose to do your bidding, I have some style.”

“Oh, you got style and plenty of arrogance to match it. Don’t you feel hypocritical bashing those girls when your pussy’s still wet from my magic tongue.”

He had a point but I couldn’t admit it. “They chose this lifestyle. I got kidnapped. Nothing is my choice.”

“Riding my mouth with your pussy like a fucking rodeo rider was your choice, princess. Your cream on my tongue’s proof of that.”

As often as his crudeness turned me on, just as often it annoyed me.

“That’s what experts call Stockholm Syndrome,” I muttered, hating my cheeks for heating further because I felt caught. Even if I was telling myself that this was part of the plan to get Maddox on my side, so he’d help me escape, I enjoyed our physical encounters too much to blame it on strategy. I felt wanton, sexy, and naughty in a way Giovanni had never allowed. I felt freed from shackles that had weighed me down more than I’d realized.

“Bullshit, Snow White. Don’t insult my intelligence and definitely not your own goddamn backbone. You’d never let some shitty syndrome determine your actions. I doubt anyone or anything could ever force you to do anything you don’t want.” He paused. “And you want me. In your prim society life, you’d never be allowed to get nasty with someone like me, but now you got the chance and you took it greedily with your perfectly manicured fingernails.”

He was right. I wanted him. I felt freed of the rules of the Famiglia for once. This was a lawless zone. Whatever happened while I was being held here, I would never be blamed for it.

This was cowardice, not wanting to risk living the life you desire.

His eyes trailed the length of me, making me feel hot all over again. “You don’t even have to say it. I know you want nothing more than to get even nastier with me, to really unleash the sexy vamp you hide behind that Snow White face.”

His grin became even dirtier. “Aren’t you curious?”

“About your genitals?” I said sarcastically.

Maddox laughed, a deep bark I began to like way too much. “Not quite the words I would have chosen, but yes.”

“No, thank you. Curiosity killed the cat.”

His smile widened. God, a smile had never made me feel as if my insides were being lit on fire.

He reached into his jeans and freed his length. I couldn’t look away even though I wanted to do it. But the piercing in his tip captured my attention and didn’t let it go. He flicked his thumb over the shiny piece of metal repeatedly as he rubbed his tip.

I stepped closer. “You’re really going to do this in front of me. Don’t you have any shame?”

“No shame whatsoever, Snow White. But if you’re so concerned about my dignity, give me a hand.”


Tags: Cora Reilly Sins of the Fathers Romance