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It wasn’t that he hadn’t suspected it. It was the thing that made his desire for her dangerous. That she looked at him with those sweet virgin’s eyes. With a level of adoration that he didn’t deserve.

No.

Because she thought he was some kind of hero because he had taken care of her and Alex back when they were young.

He was no hero. He was discarded, misused, violent and selfish. The only good thing he had ever done was protect them. The only good thing he had ever done was attach himself to them, but it didn’t change him. He had still been robbing people to feed them. Had still taken jobs he had known were illegal for years, and had done so to help fund the start-up of their business, and if Alex or Esme had any idea they would…

They had stayed much better people than him.

He was proving that now.

And she was proving to be everything he had feared.

She didn’t think she wanted him.

Standing there, with his hand on her throat, he could feel her pulse begin to race.

“What?” she asked, breathless.

“I was afraid you would say that. Because you know there is no walking away from this now. Unless you tell me what you want is a sweet romantic evening with a man who will lie to you. Who will tell you that he could fall in love with you. That he wants to make you his princess. That he wants to buy you roses and champagne. Do you want those things?”

She blinked. “What woman wants lies?” Her voice was a whisper.

“Many. Because it makes all of this feel palatable. You can tell yourself that it’s going somewhere. That it’s going to be a romance. I’m still going to leave. And I don’t know how to be gentle. I will not offer you words of romance. But I will make you come.”

He could feel her swallow, could see the fear in her eyes. But it wasn’t the kind of fear that one saw in the eyes of a prey animal staring down a predator. It was the sort of fear he had seen in the eyes of his underground fighting opponents. All bullshit gladiator games put on by the local crime syndicate. He had never been a part of the syndicate, but he had certainly let them pay him.

Many men were afraid of him. And they should be. But they still stepped up to the challenge. And that was the sort of fear in her eyes then. Of someone who knew she was in danger, but wasn’t going to turn away from it.

A fool.

A beautiful, little fool. One that he wanted no small amount.

You have been denied plenty. Have this.

That was a dangerous voice that lived inside of him.

And he was going to give it what it wanted.

Give them both what they wanted, for now. But God, it would leave her wounded in the aftermath.

“Show me.”

Chapter Three

She couldn’t believe this. She couldn’t believe it was actually happening. That Adonis had approached her, and that it had turned into…this.

That he had promised her pleasure.

That he…that he wanted her. Did he? Was it the dress? Was it really that powerful?

Were men that basic?

She wasn’t sure she cared.

The way that he was holding her was just so perfect. Dominant and firm, and it was everything she had ever wanted from him.

She didn’t have the words for it. She had a few, maybe, but it was transformed into the same formless thing that had existed inside of her since she was a teenage girl.