Amadeo stands in the frame as the door vibrates from its collision against the wall. He looks at me. Then at his brother.
I stand between them, staring up at Amadeo’s face alight with anger. He’s slow to drag his gaze back to me, allowing it to move to where his brother had just touched me. Does he know? Can he see the ash left behind by Bastian’s burning touch?
“Dandelion. There you are.” His tone sounds much more casual than his face looks. He closes the door behind him and locks it. He smiles, and I glance behind me to find Bastian straighten and fold his arms across his chest.
“I was…” I stumble over my words. “I—” Bastian moves behind me, then. I am flustered as his big body presses against mine and glance back, confused. When I turn to Amadeo, he steps toward me.
“Brother, what were you two doing?” Amadeo starts, eyes on me. “She looks guilty as sin.”
“Didn’t mean to start without you, but I couldn’t help myself.” Bastian’s hands circle my wrists and draw my arms behind me. “Not when I saw all the pretty diamonds. So many gifts.”
Amadeo brushes my hair back from my shoulders, smiling down at me.
“Let me go,” I say weakly, twisting my wrists, which Bastian keeps firmly in his grip.
“I didn’t want you getting distracted by their brilliance,” Bastian continues.
Amadeo’s hand comes to my throat, fingertips gently tracking the plunging neckline of my gown much like his brother just did, leaving me shuddering for breath as he picks up the pendant.
“She is distracting,” Amadeo says, and he may be looking at me, but the brothers are having a conversation between themselves.
I’m… well, I don’t know what I am. All I know is I should be repelled. I should want to escape. But all I can do is watch as Amadeo’s calloused hands move up to trace my collarbones, then slip under my hair to where the dress is tied at the back of my neck.
“As brilliant as the diamonds, even.” He tugs on the silk, and the top of the dress falls open, the pieces of silk making up the halter simply slipping down over my breasts, the dress only staying on because the waist is fitted.
Amadeo steps back, takes in my exposed breasts, then lifts his gaze over my head to Bastian.
“But I haven’t lost sight of the endgame, brother.”
I swallow hard, dragging my gaze from where I’m glancing down at my bared breasts, at the pendant hanging between them, up to Amadeo. To the reflection of us in the mirror beyond his shoulder. Two hulking men. Me between them.
“Let me go,” I say weakly.
Bastian shifts my wrists into one of his hands and uses the other to lift my hair so when he leans his face to mine, his mouth is at my ear.
“No,” he breathes, then drags his nose along my neck as he inhales deeply. “Amadeo,” he says.
Amadeo raises his eyebrows as Bastian snakes his hand around and cups one of my breasts. I let out a whimper, squirming. I need to get away from them. Get out of here. I need to do it now before this goes any further. I cannot feel the things I am feeling in the deepest parts of myself with my kidnappers.
Bastian plays with my nipple. He’s so close I can feel his heat at my back, my neck. Smell his aftershave and the whiskey he drank.
“You know I have an eye for these things,” he continues as Amadeo tilts my chin up to meet his eyes. “And I’d say our little Dandelion is aroused yet again.”
“Is she? Why am I not surprised?” Amadeo asks.
I swallow hard because I know what they’re doing. What comes next.
“The dress is perfect. I chose it with a purpose, did you know that?” Amadeo asks me.
I shake my head.
“Not only because I knew you’d be perfect in gold.” He steps even closer, takes the flowing silk into his hands. The dress has a slit almost to the waist straight down the center. It’s designed so it wouldn’t open that far when walking or sitting but now, what Amadeo is doing.
“Stop,” I cry out as he spreads the dress open to expose my thighs, the panties, a caramel lace slip of cloth that would barely be enough for an eye patch.
“Now that’s nice,” Bastian says, making a show of peering down over my shoulder. “What do you think? Am I right?” he asks Amadeo.
I close my eyes and turn my head away when I feel Amadeo’s hand on my inner thigh.