Chloe’s big blue eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t think.” I wanted to burst into tears, too. This wasn’t the person I wanted to be. This wasn’t the future I’d dreamed of. I was selling myself so that she could have that future.
Instead of reassuring Chloe, I looked at her mother, whose face froze in horror at the confrontation between me and her daughter. Tina babysat Sofia and I when we were kids. Was she looking at her daughter and imagining the same dark future for her I’d found? I hoped not.
Exhaling sharply, I returned my gaze to the table. Cormac’s gaze was heavy, as if he were assessing me anew. Liam’s was warm, not with the heat of desire, but with pride. “I could just gut her for you, Ginevra,” he offered.
I choked back a laugh, appreciating the moment of levity. Then I met his eyes and realized he wasn’t kidding. “No, Liam, I don’t think that’s necessary.”
In an unexpected gesture of affection, Cormac took my hand in his, running his fingers over my knuckles. “Your enemies are our enemies,” he said. “We are the only ones allowed to call you a whore.”
I triedto push my legs back together, grateful for the long table cloth that hid what was going on beneath. God, after that little outburst, the last thing I wanted was to prove to the room that they were right, that Iwasnothing better than a slut for these beautiful, commanding men.
Underneath the table, Rian held my knees apart, kissing each of them before working his way back up the insides of my thighs, nipping and nibbling until I soaked my panties in anticipation. The rough scrape of his unshaven face sensitized my skin as he approached the apex of my thighs, dragging a gasp out of me as I clenched Cormac’s hand where he still held mine on the table.
I flushed, my face turning bright red, and I was grateful my back was to the dining room. As tucked away as we were in this alcove, I was still visible, and this wasn’t what I wanted.
Rian shoved my thighs open until I was completely bared to him, my position making me feel wanton and powerful, despite his intention to demean me. I could only imagine what the rest of the dining room thought as I trembled in my chair.
Cormac’s grin was wicked. “You okay?”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to do this right now.”
“We don’t care what you want, darling.” Cormac lifted one elegant shoulder in a shrug but didn’t let go of my hand as I dug my nails into his fingers, struggling not to visibly react to Rian’s illicit ministrations.
Fingers danced their way up my inner thigh, sweeping along the seam of my lacy panties before pulling them aside and pressing into the slit of my aching core. I bit back a moan and closed my eyes before tears could leak out, humiliated at how easily my need overcame my good sense as I shifted my pelvis toward the source of my debasement.
“Please,” I whispered, not sure what I was asking for.
Despite my plea, a finger slipped through my wetness, proving how turned on I was. Even though my cheeks flushed with painful embarrassment, I didn’t move as Rian explored my soaking core with his fingers, running them up and down my folds, teasing my clit and at my entrance.
Our waiter looked at me with worry as he set down our plates, observing my pink cheeks and the faint sheen of sweat on my forehead. “Are you okay, Miss Russo?”
I nodded, but couldn’t formulate a verbal response as Rian thrust a finger inside me.
“She’s fine,” Liam said with a grin as the waiter arranged our plates on the table. “She’s just trying to process some things.”
“Exactly that,” I breathed as Rian plunged a second finger inside me. I tried to pretend everything was normal, like I wasn’t being finger fucked under the table. Rian scissored his fingers as the waiter walked away, stretching me before establishing a punishing rhythm.
Shit. I wasn’t able to swallow the whimper that escaped me as I sat, my upper half rigid in my seat. I clutched at Cormac’s hand, desperate not to show any sign of the intense pleasure Rian stoked in me from under the table.
When he pulled my panties out of the way, then buried his face in my pussy, licking everywhere his fingers had explored before, I threw my head back, arching my spine before I remembered where I was.Shit, shit, shit.I bit my finger, trying to keep silent as he teased and licked my clit at the same time that he slammed his fingers in and out of me.
I fought against the bliss coursing through me. Exhibitionism was not my kink, and I wanted to hide myself in shame as Rian manipulated my body. Yet, I didn’t get up and storm out. Instead, I did my best to control my ragged breathing as he drove me higher and higher. I held my hips still despite the instinct to jerk them against his face and force him to give me the friction I needed to dive over the cliff.
“Not eating, sweetness?” Cormac asked me, his eyes fixed on my lips as I bit down on them to avoid the moan threatening to spill out of me.
Frantically, I shook my head. When Rian took my clit into his mouth and sucked hard, ecstasy shot through me. I could no longer hold back the throaty sob that forced its way out of me as my limbs seized and I tumbled into a powerful climax. Rian continued to lap up my juices as I shuddered through the aftershocks of my orgasm. When I finally stilled, I felt a cloth wipe over me before he gently straightened out my panties. He pushed my legs together, dropping kisses on my thighs and my knees as he pulled my dress back down.
Barely holding in my tears of frustration and embarrassment, I set my elbows on the table and buried my face in my hands.
By the time I looked up, Rian had rejoined us in his seat. I expected to find cruelty in the men’s eyes, but only saw heat and a deeper, more intense emotion I wasn’t ready to examine. I took shuddering breath after shuddering breath, willing my body back under my control.
When I couldn’t stop shivering, Cormac took off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders. “Eat, gorgeous,” he murmured in my ear. “You’re dropping from the adrenaline. Get some carbs in you, okay?”
He stabbed his fork into my gnocchi and lifted it to my mouth. When I didn’t open my lips, he whispered, “C’mon, sweet Ginevra. Let me take care of you for a moment.”
Nodding at him, still unable to speak, I parted my lips, and he slid a forkful of food into my mouth. I didn’t know how to handle these men who swung wildly between wicked degradation and sweetness, alternating stark humiliation with delicious temptation.
16