His brow lifts before he nods toward her.
Despite my anger, I follow his orders, and fuck am I glad I do.
Cirillo 07 is printed in copper right across the back of her black dress.
My chin drops in shock.
Lifting my hand, I push my hair back once more, rendered fucking useless by her very public display of ownership before I find Xander’s eyes.
He winks, before releasing both her hair and her body and taking a step back, basically handing her over to me.
Fuck… I… Fuck.
How the fuck can one five-foot-two woman render me so fucking useless.
Love makes you weak. Dad’s words flicker through my mind.
But fuck him. Fuck him and his stupid ideals for what a perfect soldier, the heir for this Family should look like.
Emmie doesn’t make me weak. She makes me stronger. So much fucking stronger.
She gives me something to fight for. A reason to keep going. A motive to be a better person.
“Fuck, you fucking slay me, Hellcat,” I mutter to myself, finally surging forward.
She’s just about to turn around when I get to her. My hands wrap around her hips and I pull her harshly back into my body, letting her feel exactly what her little stunt does to me.
“No other man should be touching you when you’re wearing my name on your back, Hellcat,” I growl in her ear, causing a violent shudder to rip through her entire body.
Resting her head back on my shoulder, her warm breath races over my neck as she shouts, “Maybe you should have got here sooner then, boss.”
A chuckle falls from my lips before I turn to look her dead in the eyes.
“I really hope you don’t have any plans for tonight, wife, because I’m not letting you out of my fucking sight.” My hand skims up her body, over her toned stomach, brushing over her breast, making her gasp with need before it finds its home around her throat. “Mine,” I growl in her ear.
“Less talk, more action,” she teases. “I’d hate to start thinking you’re not man enough to do the dirty in person.”
I bark a laugh. “I think we’re both more than aware that I’m man enough for anything, Hellcat.”
She shrugs as if she doesn’t believe me before suddenly dropping down my body.
A groan of desire rips from my throat as I catch sight of that damn near indecent football shirt that’s wrapped around her sinful body.
If I die tonight, I’ll go a very, very happy man. Blue balls and all.
21
EMMIE
Arching my back, I press my arse against his leg and stand back up seductively, my eyes catching with Stella and Seb’s, who are dancing together only a few feet away.
Stella winks at me before I’m at full height once more, and his hands land on my hips, finally spinning me to face him.
I knew the second he saw me. The tremor of awareness that ripped through my body was like nothing I’d ever experienced. Then the closer he got, the more my body burned for him. The more my entire being ached for him.
The only regret I have was not seeing the look on his face when Xander moved my hair and revealed exactly who owns me by showing him the name and number stamped on the back of the football shirt-cum-dress I conceded to wear.
I might not have wanted to come out dressed up like Theodore Cirillo’s number-one fan, but who the fuck am I kidding? I fucking am.
“Hey,” I say, plastering an innocent smile on my face as I drape my arms over his shoulders.
The heat of his large hands burn me up from the inside out as his fingertips dig into my arse with enough pressure that it makes my clit throb.
“Hellcat,” he growls. “You’re playing a dangerous game.” His eyes flick between my eyes and my lips.
“Oh yeah?” I ask, tilting my head to the side. “Why is that, Theodore?”
“Because you’ve just sealed your fate for good.”
His lips slam down on mine and I swear to fucking God, my entire body screams with joy.
His grip on me tightens even more, dragging me forward so our bodies are touching as much as possible, his hard length pressed against my stomach as his tongue invades my mouth.
He kisses me like a starved man and I’m the only thing that can keep him alive. His movements, his possession is almost violent as his tongue licks deep into my mouth.
It utterly consumes me, but at the same time, it’s nowhere near enough.
Everything around us ceases to exist, the music fades away, and the people vanish as we finally give into the bullshit surrounding us and just admit the truth.
This. Us.
It is happening.
It might be the worst idea in the world. We might be headed for disaster, but in that moment, I really don’t give one single shit about what might happen after the kiss, after this night finishes. All I know is that I never want him to let me go.
Releasing my hip, his fingers tangle in my hair before my head is ripped back and I mourn the loss of his lips… until they land on my jaw and he continues kissing as he works his way up to my ear.
“Say yes,” he breathes in my ear.
“W-what?” I stutter, my head swimming in lust and unable to focus.
“Say yes,” he demands again.
And despite my better judgement when it comes to this man, my lips part and I breathe, “Yes,” because I know, no matter what, that he won’t hurt me. And if he does, you can damn well bet that I’ve begged for it.
His hand finds mine and I’m pulled through the gyrating crowd.
One quick look over my shoulder and I find Stella laughing at me as she dances before Seb captures her lips and our connection ends.
Theo marches toward a set of double doors at the back, ignoring the short queue for the ladies’ toilet, until he gets to a door at the end which has a sign that says ‘Staff only’ on it.
“Theo, we can’t—”
A harsh tug on my arm cuts off my argument, and I quickly find myself pressed up against the door frame with his dark, hungry eyes boring down into mine.
“We have to,” he chokes out, his head dipping so his lips brush mine once more. “Right fucking now.”
The door beside me opens, and I’m pushed back into the darkness.
“Oh my God, this is insane,” I gasp, the emergency lighting above us casting enough of a glow that I see him stalking toward me like a starving lion would his prey.
My heart thunders and my core throbs, knowing what’s about to come.
“Theoooo,” I squeal when he grips the backs of my legs and my feet leave the floor.
My heart jumps into my throat as I fly through the air, totally at his mercy.
My back collides with a solid surface, and my knickers are dragged down my legs before my thighs are pushed apart and his head drops down.
“Oh my God,” I scream as his tongue collides with my sensitive, needy skin.
A satisfied growl rumbles deep in his chest, making the sensation of him licking at me that much more intense.
My head spins as he eats me like a starving man, and I realise that the desperation I saw in his eyes outside wasn’t his need to come, but his need to make me his. And something tells me that if I were to call time on this the second I come, he’d reluctantly walk out of here without getting his but with the satisfaction that I got mine.