People stare at us and whisper while Silas sits across from me, completely unfazed.
He doesn’t notice any of it, or if he does, he simply doesn’t care. Since we sat down, he hasn’t taken his eyes off me. I have on a tight black dress and by the looks of it, he approves.
He has this way about him. The ability to make you feel like you’re the only person in the room.Hell, the only person on the planet.When Silas looks at you, nothing else exists. For better or worse.
I take a sip of champagne and tell myself not to get carried away.
This is the man I have sex with.
Not a man I could ever be with.
There’s a big difference between the two, and I need to remember it before I do something stupid like develop feelings for a Mafia kingpin who could fuck my life up on a whim.
Been there. Done that.
But it’s hard to keep my head straight when he’s looking at me the way he is.
Oh hell, the bubbles must have gone to my head already.
“You’re staring,” I say, bringing my glass to my lips to hide my flushing cheeks. I don’t feel equipped against him in a setting like I had this morning. For some reason, I feel more unnerved, like he’s studying me more than usual.
“I am,” he says in a low, rich voice.
“Any particular reason?”
“Several.” The corners of his mouth lift. “All of them indecent.”
I take another sip of champagne. I’m not used to this kind of treatment because it’s not something I indulge in. I’m only used to talking in manners of sex.
I slide my heel along his inner thigh underneath the table. A guttural noise escapes him as he grits out, “You’re mistaken if you think I won’t take you in front of all these people.”
“Here I thought you’d make me ask,” I say dryly.
He leans in toward me, his hand dropping to grab my foot beneath the table. “My cock is fucking hard right now.”
My body flushes with desire and need. Fuck me, can we even make it through a dinner without wanting to rip one another’s clothes off?
I bite my bottom lip as I lean in slightly as well, pressing my foot against the chair between his legs intentionally. “Is this date like a masochist foreplay situation? To see how long you can last without ripping my clothes off?”
“Among other things,” he says, his voice dripping with tension.
“Like?”
“Would it interest you to know that I have every intention of sharing every single one of them with you? But that’s dessert.” He leans back, and I can’t help it. I laugh. Wow, he really is trying the wine and dine.
“You really are a charming son of a bitch, aren’t you? Do you really think you are so charming that you could seduce me here in a room full of people? I thought you worked best in the dark.”
He leans forward until I can smell his cologne, and dear God, this man should come with a warning label. His gaze drops to my lips, then lifts back to my eyes. “With a body like mine, I don’t mind it being on display. Make no mistake, I could make you come right here and now.” His voice is barely more than a rumble. “But you will do it for me. Touch yourself.”
My breath catches, and my pulse hammers in my throat. I search the dimly lit room. It’s atmospheric, but people can still see. Yet when I look at him, I see the challenge in his gaze. One that I’ve always struggled to back down from, which has become damning.
I sigh, acting uninterested, and flick through my phone. I can feel his gaze on me, curious as I hit send. This is what I enjoy most about Silas: the push and pull for power and control. The game of dominance and the magnetic inability to keep our hands off one another.
His phone lights up on the table, and before he can look at it properly, I lean forward with a wicked smile, and his eyes darken. “How about instead of putting on a show, you pay like a good boy and beg to take me home.”
His gaze flickers to his phone, and I nod toward it, encouraging him to look. When he does, the subtle pounding of my heart begins to silently beg for his attention. It’s a photo of my tits I took earlier, with him in mind.
“I touched myself shortly after taking that photo, thinking of you,” I purr, and his gaze slices toward me, almost black, as he lifts his hand, silently summoning the check.
