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I was left alone with Duran. He pushed his hands in his pockets and stalked toward me until he stood on the opposite side of the windowsill.
“You still want me,” he observed.
I drew myself up. “I’m not into guys who kidnap women and imprison them in their houses.”
He took a few steps closer and leaned forward until his mouth brushed my ear. His body smelled masculine, like fresh soap and cigars. “What about ones who pleasure you until you pass out with exhaustion? I recall that happening.”
I pulled back and straightened to face him. He stood head and shoulders above me, his body much larger than mine. “That was before.”
“Before what?”
“Before I found out you’re a criminal,” I said. “I saw what was on your laptop and regular people don’t deal in things like that.”
“Good thing I’m not regular people,” he said. “So it’s completely permissible.”
I took another step back from him. His presence was overwhelming and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to hide the reaction my body had to him if I let him get too close. There was a long moment where neither of us spoke and he watched me with a narrow, perceptive gaze from his spot against the windowsill. His hands rested in his pockets and one leg was crossed over the other; the picture of nonchalance.
“Iris Scavo,” he said, almost as if he were chewing over the words.
“How do you know my last name? I didn’t give it to you,” I said. “I guess when you’re rich like this, you can just invade people’s privacy.”
He smirked. “I had an inkling before we slept together, but I figured it out on the ride here.”
“Why?” I glared. “And don’t make it sound like you slept with me. You didn’t.”
“Why is your virginity so important to you?” He cocked his head. “If you’re saving yourself for your husband, you’re doing a piss-poor job at it. But then, that’s how most of the good girls do it around here. Not technically sex unless you take it in the pussy.”
His words cut me, although I wasn’t sure why I cared. I dropped my gaze and blinked rapidly, trying to stop the tears from welling up. He was right to condemn me for being loose and defying my family’s conventions and I couldn’t help but feel I deserved his scorn.
“Jesus, don’t cry,” he said.
I ran my hand furiously under my eyes. “How can you expect me not to? You kidnapped me and dragged me here to God knows where. And now you’re shaming me for doing something that you did with me.”
To my shock, he moved across the window and pulled me against his chest. He was warm against my stiff body and I could hear his heartbeat thrumming beneath his ribs. The hand at my back was firm and calloused, scratching gently against my dress.
“You’re not kidnapped,” he said. “Like I said, I pretty much knew who you were before we got in bed together because your father works for my brother. I know Edgar likes to keep work and family life apart, but you have to know he deals in stocks for people like me. Do you expect me to believe you know nothing of organized crime?”
I pulled back and wiped my eyes again, the flow of tears abated. “I know some of the other mafia families, but my father wanted to keep me out of that world. I wasn’t supposed to ask about his work,” I said slowly. “But I thought his job was legal. How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
“Because I’m going to take you home when you were expected and your father will invite me in for dinner and we’ll probably go into the library after to talk business,” he said. “And your mother will be all in a flutter to have Duran Esposito dining at her table.”
I gasped and he smiled. I’d grown up knowing Piero Esposito as the underboss, a charismatic and ruthless man who moved easily in a wide array of social circles. They gave enormous amounts of money to the hospital my mother volunteered at and there was even an entire wing named for them. Before his death a few years ago, I had seen photographs of Piero Esposito with the likes of the mayor of New York. Duran was right in saying it would have been a dream come true for my mother to host any member of the underboss’s family in our home.
“Well,” I said lamely. “It’s no wonder your house is this nice.”
“Thank you, it is nice.”
“But why did you kidnap me?” I asked, my anger returning in a rush. “Why not just tell me who you were and avoid all of this? You scared the hell out of me.”
“Because you are a nosy girl who needed taught a serious lesson.”
“Oh, I suppose you’re the one to teach me then?”
He crossed his arms across his broad chest and his eyes raked over me, from my feet to my head. “I’d like to,” he said, his voice husky. “And you’re lucky it was me you decided to spy on. Any of my men would have given you the punishment you clearly never got. And there are better things you could be doing with that mouth than running it constantly.”
I rolled my eyes, disgusted with him. “Are you always this horny?”
“Yes,” he said, shrugging. “And you’ll be back, wanting it again soon.”
