“And you.” Dad shifted his attention to me, and his scrutinizing gaze had me feeling two feet tall. “Antonio is your older brother and the one who will be in charge of this family one day—yourfamily. You have made no secret of your qualms about being a part of this family, but you have no goddamn choice. You are a Valenti, and I expect you to act like one. Is that clear?”
Biting the inside of my mouth to keep myself from crying—because my dad had a way to make you feel guilty even when you did nothing wrong—I squared my shoulders.
“Crystal clear,” I bit out. “Talking about respect, why don’t you ask your oldest son what I just did for him…because Irespecthim.”
I grabbed my purse and stomped out of the restaurant without glancing back. My palms were sweaty, my heart was racing, and I was pissed off.
My dad would never understand. He was the boss, a man who never had to listen to anyone. On the other hand, I had to make peace with the fact that my dad and brothers would always rule my goddamn life.
Even after everything I had to endure with them, I still put them first. I lied for my brother, and now I wasn’t sure whether I was pissed at myself for doing it in the first place. What I did know was when I saw Lorik, my heart stopped, and my body, mind, and soul called out to him. It was painful to look at him and not be able to feel his touch, his kiss, his warmth. My body and my soul were screaming out to him like I needed him to survive. My heart splintered into nothing but dust as I stared at him in the restaurant, wanting nothing more than to run into his arms, yet knowing it wasn’t possible. It was the worst kind of agony wanting something you couldn’t have, needing something you knew could never be yours. If only I had been strong enough to deny my attraction to him from the start, it never would have gone this far, and my heart never would have been dragged into this mess.
It was just another sign I had the tendency to fuck up. If I had stayed away from Detective Stone in the first place, I wouldn’t be walking around with a giant hole in my chest. But I was a natural-born rule breaker—which was why I’d probably be haunted by shit for the rest of my goddamn life.
On my way to my car, I reached into my purse and pulled out the keys. I had no idea where the hell I was going, but I had to go somewhere.
Just as I switched off the alarm, a hand wrapped around my elbow, pulling me around the corner. My heart lodged in my throat, and I yelped as I was shoved back first against a cold, hard wall before staring up into Lorik’s angry, blazing eyes.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he growled.
I tried to pull free. “Let go of me.” But his grip on my elbow was too strong, and he had his other hand flush against the wall above my shoulder.
“Not before you tell me why you’re lying.”
Even though I was pretty pissed off and didn’t appreciate being hauled around a corner and pushed up against a wall, there was a part of me that relished the feeling of having him so damn close. His touch was engraved red-hot onto my skin, forcing me to suck in a breath, and my stomach was doing backflips.
I lifted my chin, meeting his glare. “I’m not lying.” I continued the ruse, pretending I was convinced he was oblivious to my deception.
His pupils dilated, and his eyes turned black. “You and I both know you’re lying.”
“And how exactly can you prove that?” I challenged, bringing my face closer to his, witnessing his gaze move to my lips and back up to my eyes.
He loosened his hold on my arm, and my skin mourned the loss of his touch.
“You were with me Saturday night, princess.” He lightly rubbed his knuckles across my jaw, his eyes following the movement. “Don’t you remember?” he whispered seductively, and that familiar sizzle of undeniable sexual attraction instantly surrounded us.
It was such a subtle, gentle touch against my jaw, yet it ignited an ardent desire blazing inside my belly.
“Remind me.” My hips shifted, an ache gradually building between my thighs.
His hand slipped down my neck, his thumb tracing across my skin before settling in the hollow below my throat.
His eyes turned to dark swirls of mischief and determination. “Fine, I’ll play.” He traced a finger along my collarbone, causing goosebumps to erupt all over my skin.
“I remember you eagerly slipping out of the little black number you were wearing, forcing me to watch you play with yourself.”
I whimpered when I felt his other hand on my waist, his touch scorching my skin.
“You drove me to the brink of losing my goddamn mind when your hand disappeared beneath your panties. And when I tore your thong to shreds, pushing my cock between your legs, you made the most amazing sounds. Right then, I knew I could listen to your moans of pleasure every minute of every goddamn day.”
His words spread through my body like wildfire, and my legs weakened while I struggled to clench my thighs.
“Don’t you remember how wet you were for me, princess? How needy your body was, those greedy hips trying to coax my cock inside you when I wasn’t ready to give it to you yet?”
His hand on my waist started to travel down over my hip, making its way down my thigh. I was so overwhelmed with sensation that I struggled to breathe normally.
“Tell me you remember when you wrapped your legs around me, giving me permission to fuck you bare. When I impaled you with my cock and you begged me to keep still while your body adapted to the feeling of having a real man inside you.”
God, I remember.I remembered all of it. I remembered how my body was on the edge of bursting into flames. How the pain and the pleasure mixed into the most intense decadence my body had ever experienced and threatened to burn me into embers of desire.