Page 82 of Torn By Fate

Her declaration struck like a lethal blow. Instinct took over; my hands clamped around her wrists, trapping them firmly at her sides as I pushed her back against the wall. Her body collided with the plaster with a heavy thud, and the sound ignited a dark, primal pulse through my veins.

“Never is a long time, Princess.” Never was indeed a dangerous word to speak to a dangerous man because we always saw it as a challenge.

“Do you want to know what I think?” she spat out softly, her voice dropping into a deadly, intimate cadence. “I see a man who cares nothing for my survival, only his bruised ego. I think you care more about your pride. About the fact that someone tried to kill your wife and that makes you look weak, vulnerable. It hurts your pride that you couldn’t prevent it, and that eats at you, because Adrian Salvatore doesn’t fail.”

She was inches away, so close I could catch the golden flecks in her hazel gaze, close enough that her sweet vanilla scent enveloped my senses completely.

“Is that the pathetic narrative you chose to believe in?” I murmured, my voice deadly quiet, though a storm raged beneath the surface. My jaw clenched as anger fired through my blood. “You truly believe I hunted you across almost four continents and slaughtered men merely because my pride was wounded?”

“I put a bullet in your chest. I know your ego bleeds.” Her eyes flared with pure defiance, her quickened breaths fanning hot against my skin, and I could feel the hammering of her heart, like a trapped bird against her ribs.

“Quite the opposite, my sweet wife,” I drawled. “Your murderous attempts are very… entertaining. It turns me on, and I’m starting to think it turns you on too. Verbally sparring with me. Provoking me. Testing my restraint. You enjoy getting on my nerves, wife.”

Her jaw tightened, her lips thinning. Ah, she didn’t like being called out.

“You crave chaos,” I continued. “It makes you wet, knowing how much I want you. Knowing how much I lack control when it comes to you, how unhinged you make me. You like the idea that I still get so painfully fucking hard for you even when I’m aware that you wouldn’t hesitate to put another bullet in me.”

“Let me go,” she hissed between her teeth.

“Never.”

Her eyes flared at my refusal, at the same word she had spoken to me before.

I released one of her wrists only to slide my hand down the length of her thigh, hoisting her leg up and locking it securely around my waist before she could process my intention.

The friction pressed her softness flush against all the hard ridges of me, and a sharp gasp caught in her throat as anger instantly dissolved into a thick, heavy tension.

“Adrian…” Her voice cracked, half protest and half what I liked to believe was surrender.

Damn it all to fucking hell, I couldn’t hold myself back any longer.

I was no fucking gentleman.

I kissed her. Hard.

My mouth claimed her, brutally, smothering her protest beneath one long, possessive, punishing kiss. Every drop of restraint I’d maintained shattered completely.

Her resistance lasted only seconds before her lips parted, yielding to the savage hunger of my tongue. The sound that escaped her throat, a broken, desperate moan, undid something inside me, shattering my remaining fragile sanity.

I gripped her second leg, lifting it up so she was anchored entirely against the wall as her arms locked around my neck, her fingers tangling frantically in my hair. Maybe to push me away or maybe to draw me deeper. I wasn’t too sure anymore.

I didn’t know where she began and where I ended.

I didn’t know if she was fighting to push me away or fighting to control the kiss.

It turned ravenous—a clash of teeth and tongue, the taste of her consuming me like a dark addiction.

My hand snaked beneath the hem of her shirt, palm gliding over the warm skin of her abdomen.

She arched against my touch, her hips rolling into mine, and the teasing friction almost drove me to the edge of madness.

“God, Serafina,” I growled into her mouth.

Her response was vicious, her teeth sinking into my lower lip, breaking the skin. The sharp tang of metallic copper filled my mouth, igniting a dark, feral possessiveness in my veins.

I shoved her panties aside, my fingers impatient. She matched my desperation, clawing at my pants, her fingers clumsy against the belt until her hand finally cupped my aching length.

“Take me,” she demanded, her voice ruined and breathless. “Now.”