“Gorgeous,” he mumbles under his breath.
Fuck. Why can’t I stop this blush from turning my cheeks red?
I wish I could say those words do nothing for me. But I’d be a liar.
No one has ever said the words he says to me or treated me the way he has.
And I must always remember that.
“What do you want, Luca?” I ask.
He stares at me, his eyes haunted with questions I don’t know the answers to. “You know what I want.” He taps his lips with his index finger. “Kiss. Me.”
I shudder from the thought. Not because I’m repulsed by the idea, but because it goes against every fiber of my being to show him an ounce of affection.
I know what his kisses can do.
I’ve felt it firsthand.
But kissing him back? That means love. And I don’t dish that out easily.
“No.”
His brow rises. “It’s just a kiss.”
“It’s never just a kiss,” I rebuke. “I will never want you.”
His jaw tenses, and his fingers tighten into a fist. “I don’t care if you want me,” he spits back. “All I care about is destroying your family and making the world mine.” He steps closer again, planting a single finger underneath my chin to make me look up into his eyes. “And if you don’t give me what I need, I might as well go grab someone else who might be more eager.”
His eyes flicker with greed, and I don’t have to ask to know what he’s thinking.
The one thing that escaped his grasp.
My sister.
Chapter 10
Jill
* * *
Tears well up in my eyes. “No.”
He wouldn’t.
But the dead serious look on his face tells me differently.
I immediately sink to my knees with my hands locked in front of me like a beggar. “Please don’t take anyone else … I’ll do it.”
He tilts his head and moves his shoe closer to my body. “Do what?” he rasps.
“Everything. Anything you want.” It comes out in a single breath and stings like a knife to the heart. But what other choice do I have? “I give in.”
It’s silent for a moment as I stare at his shiny black shoe, wondering where the hell he’s been that’s made him so enraged. Because there is clearly more behind all of this than he’d ever tell me.
But maybe, if I give in, he’ll slowly show me more of his weaknesses, allowing me to take advantage.
“Up,” he says, his voice dark, heady, like he’s both angered and lusty at the same time, and I recognize the feeling all too well.
As I stand again, he stares me down, only to move to his drawer. He pulls out a rope, which makes me swallow. My eyes search the cabinet, hoping to find anything I can use to defend myself if I need to. A letter opener. And I can’t stop looking at it, hovering closer, and closer, and closer, my body trembling with every inch as I reach for it and—
BANG!
I tense up and stop all motion as the bullet grazes the cabinet, flicking the letter opener off, leaving smoke and a burnt edge of wood in its wake. When my eyes find Luca’s again, they are filled with amusement.
“You want me to be rough?” he growls. “You got it.” He tucks the gun back into his pocket and waltzes toward me like it was no big deal he shot a gun mere inches away from me.
He pulls a long bar with straps from the drawer and comes closer, bending over right in front of me.
“Spread.”
He tugs my legs apart and secures the straps around my ankles while I’m frozen in place. Next, he throws a bunch of ropes around my waist and wrists. It doesn’t process with me what he’s doing until it’s too late. Until he’s tied up my wrists and my belly and attached it to a pulley from the ceiling hooks.
“What are you doing?” I mutter.
Without warning, he tugs the rope, and I shriek when it lifts me into the air. He ties the rope around two hooks, securing my body so my wrists are above my head, my waist is locked in place, and my legs are spread far apart while I hang parallel from the ceiling.
Luca
* * *
I look up at her dangling from the ceiling, her legs spread wide, exactly how I like it.
It’s not the first time I’ve tied a girl up. I’ve always enjoyed trying out the extremes, see how far I can go and how far they can bend …
But none of those times were with Jill, and I have to admit it’s beyond thrilling to see her like this.
Tied up and slowly spinning while every orifice is open to me and ready for the taking.
I circle around her to take a look from every angle, taking in the view to memorize it fully for my spank bank. I’ve never seen a more appetizing sight than this one, not even in all the fantasies I had about her, and I’ve had plenty.