Devil You Hate (The Diavolo Crime Family 1)

I gently climb out of bed and study her. She flays herself out when she sleeps like the entire bed is hers. In the middle of the night, she curled up on my chest like a small animal seeking shelter and warmth, and I didn’t stop her. Instead, I kissed her forehead and watched her sleep. Watched as she took comfort in my presence instead of wanting to stab me with something or back talk me. It often takes hours for me to fall asleep, and even when I do, it’s only for a few hours at a time. With her in my arms, I slept more than I have in years. I don’t want to think that it’s her that helped me, but it’s hard to deny.

With one final glance at her peacefully sleeping body, I leave her in my bed and go to the bathroom to get ready for the day. One steaming hot shower later, and I feel revitalized. Wrapping a towel around my waist, I step into the bedroom to grab clean clothes and find that she’s rotated onto her side, the blankets curled up underneath her, one thigh spread over the top lump like she wants to open her thighs around a lover’s legs. Fuck. Her shapely thighs wrapped around my head as I eat her for breakfast, lunch, and dinner play out in my mind. It takes all my carefully cultivated discipline to walk out of my bedroom to head into my office.

It still smells of sex, and I’ll never be able to look at my desk again without seeing her on top of it. I don’t look at where I fucked her last night, but I open the windows to let the chilly morning air refresh the room before Sarah stops in with my breakfast.

I focus on the paperwork and the plan Soo must have left on my desk during the night. It’s a stack of papers as thick as my thumb. Each page shows the men and women who are attending tonight’s auction. Also, where their allegiances lie and how to sweet talk them. I’ve never been the sweet-talking type, but I’ve learned in order to finish this mission.

The thought of revenge, finally, after so many years, seems like a hazed dream. Something I’ve wished for over and over is finally within my grasp. And I can’t let whatever I feel for Celia jeopardize it. I’m a big enough man to accept I have feelings. How can I not when she’s everything I want in a woman? So giving of herself, even to a monster like me. It doesn’t matter though, she’s going up for sale, and then I’ll come down on her family and tear it apart—blood for blood. There’s no other way. In the end, at least I’ll have spared her an untimely death. At least with putting her up for auction, I’ll have saved her. I don’t know what the future holds for her, but maybe she will escape her new owner?

She’s stubborn enough to succeed. That’s if her mouth doesn’t get her killed. The mere thought of her dead, of her flesh bruised, and her eyes vacant of life sends me into a mental tailspin. Red hot rage bubbles in my veins. I want to kill anyone who ever harms her, even if I have no right to.

I can’t think of it. Can’t think of what’s going to happen to her. When she is gone, she’ll be gone from my mind as well. It’s the way it has to be.

As if she knows that I’m thinking about her, she comes tiptoeing into my office wearing one of my shirts, an impish grin on her face. She is the image of beauty, sultry and intoxicating. Her dark curls hang down past her breasts, her hard nipples poke under the fabric, leaving little to the imagination. I want to suck one of the hard peaks into my mouth and finish what I couldn’t earlier by sinking my cock deep inside her. No! Conflict rages inside me like a battle scorn country caught between good and evil.

One thing is certain though, the second she walked into this room, I could feel her. Like she’d straddled my lap and left me panting in her wake.

Once the image enters my mind, I wave my hand at her to approach. “Come here, stellina. I want to touch you.”

She crosses the room with her chin tucked, as if she isn’t sure how to act today. I draw her into me and lift her over my legs, so her thighs rest on either side of mine.

“Good morning,” she whispers.

I cup her ass and drag her into me, wishing her naked skin slid across mine in this position. “Go get some breakfast and then go back to bed. You’ll need your rest. I rode you hard yesterday.”