As it turned out, that Aquinas guy had a fascinating upbringing. Who knew that eight hundred years ago politics were mob-like? This prince ruled here, that duke ruled there. They fought. The old timer’s mom had her family kidnap her own son and tried to make him sleep with a prostitute—
An amused voice broke the stillness. “This is a magical ball, and you’re over here in the corner…reading.”
I screamed.
My terror echoed through the vaulted halls. Adrenaline spiked my veins with a turbulent fever.
That reaction only made the monster laugh. “Cazzo, my sweet cherry, the noises you make.” Nico stepped out from the shadows. He wasn’t wearing his mask. “We haven’t had the chance to really see what music those sweet lips are capable of making.”
Breathing hard, the reality returned to focus. I must have jumped to my feet, because I was standing in front of the dark prince. He tipped my chin with his knuckles.
“You scared the livin’ daylights out of me!” I wheezed as he brushed the pad of his thumb under my lip.
“My apologies, baby,” he murmured, continuing to touch me. “But I was done watching you.”
I bit back a gasp as a wicked thrill raced through me at the thought of being watched by this monster.
Nico grasped my wrists and pulled me toward the bookshelf. “Hold this.Tightly.”
I swallowed past the heartbeat in my throat. The fright he’d given me, and the fact that my veins still burned from the scare, made my skin tingle.
“Tighter, Rae,” Nico murmured as his touch grazed my sides.
My knuckles turned white as I gripped the metal shelf.
“Good….” The tip of his knuckle brushed over the smooth skin of my belly.
Bless the birthday girl and her idea to make this dress a two-piece.
“When I saw you gliding down the stairs, my heart stopped,” Nico confessed, slipping the tip of his finger under the edge of the skirt.
I rolled my eyes. “It did not.”
Reaching up, Nico brushed the curls over one side of my shoulder. He leaned down and blew a hot breath over my skin. “Are you calling me a liar?”
“Hearts don’t work like that,” I muttered.
“Then explain why mine only seems to beat for you?”
A shiver rattled down my spine. I couldn’t help it. His words were knives, and he wielded them with delicious precision.
I relished the sweet pleasure as they cut away the walls around my heart.
Gently, Nico tugged the invisible zipper open and drew the skirt down my bare legs. He let out a soft whistle of appreciation when he noticed my little secret.
“Did you do this for me, cherry-bomb?” he mused.
Turning my head, I caught the hungry way he studied me. “For your eyes only.”
He bent. The prince of the underworld, on his knees…for me. Each hand rested on my outer thighs, and he pressed a kiss against the sensitive skin on the back of my legs.
I made a mental note to regularly forgo wearing underwear.
Nice pushed my thighs wider and cupped my pussy possessively. “Mine.”
My insides clenched, and liquid heat pooled between my legs. Nico stroked me, making me whimper when he slipped a finger inside.
“Yours,” I breathed.
