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But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more. HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, “THE LITTLE MERMAID”
You can’t ever count on a man, but you can always count on the poison that will kill him…or whatever that saying is.
“That’s what my best friend back home calls my little concoctions—potions, like I’m some witch here to steal your soul.”
“Do you keep your name from them too, or am I special?”
“You’re a man, honey. I’m afraid there’s nothing special about any of you.”
Grinning, I step closer, and the space between us hums like a string being plucked until it vibrates a deep, dark note. “Sounds ...
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That’s the thing about grief, I guess. It steals the air from your lungs just as you’ve finally figured out how to breathe.
“Watch your mouth,” he says slowly, his New York accent coming through strong, dropping the r and elongating the vowels. “You won’t disrespect yourself to me.”
“Because for that one day, my momma loved me out loud.”
I want you to pick something because I can tell that memory of you and your mom, it’s a good one. And I want to be a good one, too.”
“How about I pick something for you instead?” I bargain.
“It’s a deal.”
“That’s it?” I cross my arms. “You folded just like that?”
“Sure, if it will make y...
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If it will make you happy. I don’t know if anyone has ever said those words to me. It’s dangerous how much I like the way it feels.
Enzo. There she goes with my name again, and fuck, it sounds good rolling off her tongue. I want to hear her say it again. Moan it. Scream it.
Because fuck her if she thinks I’ll allow her to disappear with another man on her arm when she came here with me.
“In a different life”—I bend until my mouth is centimeters from hers—“I would do anything to make you mine, and I’d bring you any person who’s wronged you and make them beg for death at your feet. All you’d have to do is say the word.”
“I don’t need to know who you are,” Enzo continues. “I’m a Marino. If I want you dead, that’s the way it will be.”
“I can take care of myself,”
“I know. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should have to.”
If we give in… It’s wrong. Even if I can’t stand Aria. Even if it feels like he’s the only person on earth who has ever understood me. Even if he’s the only one who cares. He’s not mine, and he won’t ever be.
“Well, sometimes what we want doesn’t matter.”
“Sometimes…it feels like you’re the only thing that does.”
“I’m not going to fuck you,” I repeat. “Because when I do, I’m going to take my time, cherishing every single inch of you, drinking up your cries and drowning in your moans. Tell me you understand.”
“You need me to take care of you,” I correct. “To put you first. I won’t let you turn this into a one-night stand. Not when it’s more, and you know it. Now, take your hand, play with that pretty little pussy, and make yourself come.”
“In a different life,” I start, my voice shaky from the restraint of holding myself back, “I would be on my knees, feasting on you every day for the rest of our lives.”
“In a different life, it would be you on my arm, and you I’d get to marry. And I’d take you home and fuck you in our bed, sinking my cock so deep inside you that you’d never get me out.”
“In a different life…” I pause, emotion suddenly clogging my throat. “I’d love you out loud.”
She’s a vision. She’s everything. But she’s still not fucking mine.
In a different life… But in this one? I’m bound by the Mafia and a woman I’ll never love.
“I’m going to kiss you. And I promise it will be the best one of my life.”
“How do you know?”
“Because it’s with you.” And then I capture
“I know you’re used to taking control, to having everything at your beck and call, but when it’s us, I want you to relax and let go. Let me take care of you. Can you do that for me, baby?”
“Now what?” she murmurs against my face.
“Now we get you cleaned up, I take you back out there, and I show you how good we can be in this life, not a different one.”
“So this whole time I felt chained to a life with a woman who saved me, and it was…you? I should have been chaining myself to you.”
“Enzo, fuck me.”
I lean over her, my stomach flipping and cock jerking with the need to obey her command.
