“You need to leave, my angel.”
“I’m here with friends.”
As he took a deep breath, his attention is drawn away, his gaze more menacing than before. “Do as I say, Cassidy. You don’t want to be here. Go to your hotel and lock the door.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s what you need to do.” His tone was insistent, gravelly. I watched as his pupils became more pointed, his jaw tighter than before. “And do so now. Do not come back here.”
“That’s not fair, Valentin. While I have no illusions as to what we are, I least deserve to know why,” I demanded, snapping my hand around his arm.
I thought for certain he wasn’t going to answer, but when he did, I hadn’t expected the words that flowed from his succulent lips.
“Because if you don’t, I won’t be able to hold back. I’ll be the man who ruins you, stealing what’s left of your vulnerability and innocence, tossing it aside as if it never meant anything to me. If you don’t, you’ll regret the day you came into my world, spiraling out of control as I spread your long legs, fucking you until I’m finally sated. And I can guarantee that won’t be easy or quick.”
His words were stark and cold, the whispered tone full of aggression and desire, weaving a passage of blind need deep into my psyche. He pushed me against the wall with enough force I was jarred, yet the stark craving remained.
“Valentin. I just…”
“Get on your plane and forget I exist. Because if you don’t, I will never. Let. You. Go. I’ll break you into a thousand pieces. I’ll require you to scream out my name time and time again until there is nothing else you crave but my touch, my taste. Do you understand me, sweet angel? Do you know what I will do to you? I will shatter your world by dragging you into mine.” His anger remained like a beacon of ugly light, his furious expression illuminated by the harsh neon light. Heat continued to erupt from his body, his words echoing in my mind, the vibrations of the moment of raucous sex lingering in my core.
Valentin wanted me to hate him and at that moment I did. I loathed that I’d wanted him. I was furious that I’d given a damn for even a second.
He pulled away without another word, heading out of the bathroom, leaving me aching and cold.
My mind was fractured from his calculated words, a slight entrance into a soul blackened from years of extreme violence and treachery. I was floored, incapable of processing the depth of his desire.
I held my arms for a few seconds before pressing my hands down my dress, struggling to make sense of what had just happened. Why was he so concerned? I took several deep breaths, then rushed outside, trying to see where he’d gone. I caught a single glimpse of him. What the hell had just happened?