The Marriage Debt (De Vos Mafia #2)(31)

Luca’s hand slides down my chest between my breasts, making me painfully aware just how little control I have … not just over what happens but also over my own damn body.

“You demanded I gave you a name,” I retort. “I wish I never did.”

A sudden pinch to my nipples is so hard to ignore, but I try my best to swallow the squeal.

“Because you kept insisting you weren’t a virgin.”

I close my lips and look away, unable to face him because I know the truth.

He leans in to whisper into my ear. “You lied, didn’t you?” I shudder. “You are a virgin.”

He grabs my other nipple too and twists it. “C’mon, bunny, admit it,” he whispers in my ear. “Admit it, and maybe I’ll go easy on you.”

“Please …” I mutter.

“Please what, Jill? Don’t hurt your friends? Hmm?” he murmurs. “Maybe I should go over to Easton now if you don’t tell me the truth.”

“No, don’t!” I reply. I can’t let them get hurt. “Fine. Yes. I am a virgin.”

I hate saying it out loud. I hate the gravity of these words.

But I can’t keep lying. It’ll only end up hurting more people.

But now that it’s out, my entire body starts heating up at the thought of what he’ll do to me now that he knows.

Now that he realizes he was the first to touch me.

The only one.

Oh, God.

I can feel him smile against my ear. “Good girl.”

I wish it did nothing for me. That it didn’t make my heart thump. That it didn’t make me whimper. That it didn’t make my pussy clench.

But I’d be lying, and every lie I tell is one he’ll make me pay for.

When his hands leave my breasts and my skin comes in contact with the cold air, tears well up in my eyes.

Suddenly, he tugs at the ropes, and my body is lifted only to be pulled down again all the way to the floor until I can finally stand. The weightlessness did a number on me as my knees immediately buckle. But Luca is there to catch me before I fall, his hands wrapping around my body like a sweet embrace from the devil himself.

“Whoa … easy there,” he says, his hand steady and strong against my shivering cold back. “Lean against me.”

I shake my head but do it anyway because the only other choice is to fall on my ass and hurt myself.

“It takes a few minutes to adjust.” He caresses my back like I’m some kind of pet to him, and it confuses me so much.

One moment, he’s evil incarnate, pure danger, and then the next, he’s delicate with me.

This duality in his personality messes with my head.

My body floods with warmth from the sudden kindness, and it only brings more tears to my eyes.

“Why are you doing this?” I can’t help but let the words slip out.

“Because good girls deserve a reward for telling the truth.”

I sigh against his shoulder as he caresses me, wishing this moment wouldn’t end. If he’d been like this since the start, since we first met, maybe I wouldn’t have been so … bitter.

I sniff to stop the tears from flowing, but some still manage to run down my cheeks.

He leans back and looks me in the eyes. “Can you stand?”

I nod as he pushes back gently.

“Stay still.”

He slowly undoes the ropes around my wrists and chucks them in a corner like they meant nothing to him. Then he moves down to my ankles, removing the bar that kept my legs spread too until I’m free again. But he doesn’t remove the collar, and I don’t know how to feel about that.

He stands again and focuses solely on the red marks where the fiber of the rope edged into my flesh. “We’ll have to take better care of that next time.”

Next time? There’s gonna be a next time of being tied to the ceiling?

Oh, God. I hope not because the last time already did a number on me. If that’s going to happen more … I don’t think I can handle all the ways he could make me come.

His hand suddenly touches my face, breaking the spell. I’m completely frozen when he strokes my cheek with his ringed fingers and picks up my tear with his thumb.

“Why are you crying, bunny?”

I grind my teeth, refusing to tell, refusing to show.

He tilts his head and throws me a dominant look. “Tell me.”

“I never wanted to tell you I’m a virgin,” I say, my hands turning into fists because of how upset I am at myself that I couldn’t keep it a secret.

He grabs my chin. “It’s cute that you thought you could keep that a secret from me.”

My eyes narrow, and I sneer, “I’m not a piece of meat you can buy. My virginity shouldn’t matter.”

He leans in to whisper into my ear. “Nothing matters more to me than being the first to claim you and make you come.” His hand is suddenly down between my legs, forcing me to remember how good it felt when he touched me there. “Because I’m going to be the last.”

Something about that statement makes me suck in a breath and hold it.

Good God.

What has this man done to me?

“You already claimed me,” I say, my words almost choked by my own breath faltering.

“Not every inch.” He cups my pussy and presses his middle finger onto my clit. “But I will. Don’t worry, bunny. When I do, you’ll definitely know.” He groans, the sound making me wet as he circles his finger. “And I can’t fucking wait to be the first to fuck this pretty little pussy and fill it to the brim.”