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Her grip was warm and firm. Instead of shaking her hand, I raised it to my mouth, running my lips over her knuckles. She jerked her eyes to mine, then smiled crookedly and nodded.
Cormac pulled her in for a kiss, ignoring the stiffness in her shoulders as he brushed his lips against hers. Her eyes were wide, and her cheeks were flushed when she stepped back from him.
Liam chuckled and accepted her hand to shake, winking at her. His talent was putting folks at ease. It didn’t make him any less of a psychopath, but it did help grease the wheels of our relationships.
“Hand me your phone, princess,” I said. I added our numbers as everyone else filed out of the room. She held out her hand for my own and quickly entered hers too.
I followed everyone else out through their maze of a house. Patti and Antonio made small talk with us, our lawyers, and their kids. Ginevra hadn’t joined us, but after the shock of the last hour, I wasn’t surprised. As Cormac and Liam walked out the front door, I turned on my heel.
I wasn’t sure where the impulse came from, but I followed it right back to Antonio Russo’s study. Warm light peaked through the crack of the open door. I opened it further, just in time to see Ginevra throw a glass of whiskey into the wall, swearing to herself. The glass smashed against the wooden paneling, tinkling as it shattered and fell to the ground.
She dragged her hands over her face, her shoulders tense and tight. I debated my next step—seduction or control? When she turned and saw me, her eyes large and trembling with unshed tears, her breath hitched.
As she fought to restore her composure, I strode toward her, wrapping one arm around her waist and cupping her jaw with the other. I searched her liquid brown eyes for a hint of her emotional state and found nothing, just a faint curiosity, as if she were waiting to see what I was going to do next. I drew her face to mine, brushing my lips over hers. The kiss turned cruel as I sought to devour her, to conquer her. She tasted like fucking citrus and sin. Our lips battled fiercely for dominance as I pushed her backward across the room.
When the backs of her legs slammed into her father’s desk, I reached for her wrists and pulled them behind her back, grasping them together with my left hand. I wrapped my right hand around her throat, my thumb pushing hard against her pulse point.
She froze as I pressed my body against hers, her breasts smashing against my chest as I arched her backward over the desk, forcing my way between her thighs. I smiled, enjoying the fear she couldn’t hide when I tightened my fingers around her neck.
I lowered my lips again, brushing them against hers, gentle and careful, a sharp contrast to the tight hold I had on her body. She trembled against me, but didn’t struggle as I savored and nipped at her lips. I pressed open-mouthed kisses up her jawline and under her ear.
“Ginevra,” I murmured as I stroked my thumb up and down the front of her throat, caressing her soft skin. “I think you’re out of your depth.”
She gazed at me through eyes cloudy with lust, then pushed forward to capture my lips in hers, testing whether I’d resist the movement with my hand around her throat. I allowed her sweet exploration, rubbing her tongue against the seam of my mouth until I opened it to let her inside. She delved into me, taking her time, despite the lock I had on her wrists and her neck. To my surprise, I let her.
When she finally slowed the movements of our lips, she looked up at me through her long lashes, amused. “Are you sure about that, Rian?”
I watched her in silence, my hand still clutched around her throat, her lips swollen and bruised from my attentions, her cheeks flushed, and her breathing ragged.
She furrowed her brow. “I’m glad you came back, in any case. We didn’t talk about our whirlwind romance, which is going to be necessary if you want to convince the other families this marriage is genuine.”
“Let me take you out tomorrow. Somewhere visible.”
She nodded. “Somewhere on my father’s side of town. Baldino’s for brunch? I’ll make the reservation.”
I released her, unwilling to examine my reluctance to let her go. “I’ll pick you up at eleven.”
3
GINEVRA
Cheryl picked up her phone on the first ring. “Gin! Love! How are you? How is Yorkfield?” Cheryl’s bubbly voice and love of pink hid the sharpest legal mind I knew. We met on opposing sides of a venture capital deal for my first start-up, and had been fast friends ever since.
“Babe, I need your help,” I said. “You’re never going to believe what I’m about to do.”
Cheryl laughed. “Love, my clients are Hollywood starlets and tech entrepreneurs. I promise you can’t surprise me.”
I took a deep breath. “My father is Antonio Russo. I’m taking my younger sister’s place in a poly marriage with Irish gangsters, and I need you to review the marriage contracts and the prenup to make sure that the protections for my business and my family’s security are airtight.”
My friend was silent on the other end of the line.
“Cheryl?”
“Okay, Ginevra, you win. You did surprise me,” she said, a smile in her voice. “Send me what you’ve got. I’ll take a look. But doesn’t your dad have a consigliere or something? Isn’t that a mafia thing?”
I sighed. “I need someone to look after my interests, not his.”
I opened up a group text with my brand new boyfriends.
