When Villains Rise (Anti-Heroes in Love 2)

“Yeah, Boss,” his second-in-command called from the rear of the main cabin where he was doing something on two computer monitors.

“Get out,” Dante ordered.

Without another word, Frankie powered down his application and got up. He shot me a sly wink before turning on his heel and disappearing into the back room.

Suddenly, my mouth was entirely parched.

I watched wide-eyed as Dante uncoiled that massive frame from his seat, straightened his cuff links idly, then moved across the space between us to loom over me. I could see the bandage taped beneath his left collarbone through the white shirt. Frankie had stitched up the bullet wound, but the sight of it scoured through me. He’d taken that bullet for me. Put his entire life at risk for me. That such a powerful man would gamble his kingdom and livelihood for little old me made me feel nothing short of a queen.

His eyes pinned to mine, he bent his torso to brace both hands on my armrests, effectively caging me into my seat.

My heart raced with a curious mixture of fear and excitement.

It was Dante’s unique charm that convinced you he might as easily kiss you as kill you.

“Perhaps it would help if I reminded you why it is you gave up everything you know to be with me,” he purred in that rich, dark voice I wanted to eat off his tongue like dark chocolate.

I was aroused, there was no denying it. A second pulse beat between my thighs, growing more and more insistent. My nipples were pebbled beneath my silk camisole despite the heavy cashmere cardigan I wore over it. The airplane air was cool, but every inch of my flesh itched with heat.

Yet, I felt nervous, awkward and almost irritated.

I wanted to play this game of seduction, but how in the world did I compete with the raw sexual magnetism of this man?

I felt when I had spent so many years quelling every emotion.

I trusted that, the feeling.

Even if I was wary of where it would take me.

So, I sucked in a bracing breath and raised my hands to slide my fingers around his warm neck into the short hairs at the back of his head.

“Show me,” I told him, barely above a whisper. “But I don’t need reminding. I could never forget why I left it all behind. I could never forget you.”

A growl worked through his throat as he dipped down to capture my mouth in a savage kiss. It was all tongue and teeth, a dance of ownership. I didn’t back down to his possession, desperate to show him how much I wanted to possess every inch of him too.

“Kissing you is the sweetest agony,” he murmured against my damp lips as one big hand moved to my throat. The feel of him collaring me that way should have been deplorable. Instead, it felt like the most exquisite necklace, one I wanted to wear with pride forevermore. “I never want to stop kissing you at the same time if makes me hungry for more.”

“Don’t stop,” I implored him, fisting my hands in his shirt collar so I could tug him harder against my mouth. “Kiss me.”

“Oh, I intend to spend the next hour doing just that,” he promised darkly even as he pulled away from me.

A noise of protest rose unbidden in my throat. He chuckled at me as he dropped to his knees before my seat and moved close, forcing my thighs wide apart to accommodate his bulk. A little shiver of discomfort tangled with desire and moved through me.

Instinctively, my hands moved to stop him as he reached for my cashmere lounge pants.

He quirked an eyebrow at me, his expression entirely unamused. “Elena, do not try to keep me from your beautiful figa.”

My beautiful pussy.

A blush poured down my front.

“I-I don’t really like it when…when people do that to me,” I admitted awkwardly.

“Why the hell not?”

It was a good question, but it was also one I didn’t want to answer. Dante didn’t know about Christopher. He didn’t know that I’d been groomed and used by him for years then finally, in the end, flat-out abused by the man.

He didn’t know every time a man tried to go down on me I had Christopher’s voice in my head telling me it was dirty.

Sensibly, I knew he had been hypocritical and most probably wrong. He’d forced me to fellate him often enough.

But I still couldn’t shake the anxiety that seized me as Dante gently brushed my hands away and tugged at my pants. I held my breath so I wouldn’t strike out at him as the fabric moved down my legs and off. He tossed them blindly over his shoulder then shocked me by placing his right cheek against the inside of my thigh. His hot breathe wafted over my silk covered sex.