A Dangerous and Cruel Love (Dark Mafia Romance Duet 2)

Fawn didn’t even hesitate. “I seriously wasn’t thinking about denying the truth, I mean, seriously, you’re, like, the bomb.”

The prince remained unsmiling.

She snapped her mouth shut. Right. Lesson learned. The prince didn’t like her sense of humor.

“Let’s start walking again,” the prince said after a moment. “Hopefully, a bit of exercise can cure your tactlessness.”

She fell into step beside him, mumbling, “Sorry.”

“No need to apologize.”

“I didn’t mean to make you sound completely unattractive to me.”

“And your tactlessness strikes again.”

Fawn cringed. “Sorry.”

“No need to apologize,” he dismissed casually. “You’ll do it again anyway.”

“I’m not.” Her lips pursed in determination.

I’m going to give her five minutes, the prince thought, before she puts her foot in her mouth again.

He was wrong.

Barely a minute had passed when Fawn blurted out, “How did you find me?”

The prince hesitated for a moment, but because he didn’t want to lie, he said finally, “I used the university’s CCTV system.”

She gasped. “You were stalking me?”

He glared at her. “I was not.” And he wasn’t, never mind if that was exactly what his friend Nathan thought as well. “I was only concerned,” he stressed. “Okay?”

“Okay.” But she slanted him a dubious glance as she spoke.

“Besides, it doesn’t matter how I found you,” he said irritably. “The important thing was that I was there.”

There was a moment of silence before Fawn said reluctantly, “That’s true. I did need you to be there.”

The prince glanced at Fawn warily. That was surprisingly tactful.

For once, the look on the prince’s handsome face was easy to read, and Fawn’s lips curved in a rueful smile. “I’m thankful, really thankful you came.” She swallowed. “If you didn’t, I’d probably…I wouldn’t have known what to do.”

She suddenly stopped walking, forcing the prince to stop as well. When she remained silent, her head lowered, he asked quietly, “What is it?”

Fawn’s fists clenched against her sides, and without meeting his gaze, she mumbled, “When I’m with you, the pain…fades.”

Ah.

“Look at me, Fawn.” He didn’t say anything else but instead waited patiently, knowing that she needed the time to accept that from here on, she could no longer run to Bennett when she was in trouble. Now, after the other man’s betrayal, it was Bennett she would be running away from.

When her eyes finally lifted to his, he asked simply, “Do you know why you don’t hurt when you’re with me?”

“B-because we’re friends?”

The prince smiled.

She smiled back.

Then the prince lowered his head, and before she realized what he was doing, he had already bitten her ear, whispering, “Friends don’t do this.” And his tongue licked the curve of her ear almost as if in emphasis.

She jumped back with a cry of shock, but the prince only shrugged. “You shouldn’t have done that!”

The prince only laughed. “I’ll do a lot more than that, and you’ll want me to do it.” He reached for her, and ignoring the way she stiffened, he tugged on a lock of her hair, rubbing the silky strands between his fingers.

His touch made her shiver, but still she forced herself to lift her chin, muttering stubbornly, “You’re wrong. I won’t want—-”

“You will,” the prince countered in a husky purr, “and I can even make you beg for it…because it’s how I’m going to make the pain fade.”

Her eyes widened.

“That’s why you don’t hurt when you’re with me, parthena mou. It’s because you’ve always wanted me—-”

“No—-”

“And it’s because you’ve never loved him as much as you thought—-”

“I’ve been with him for years,” Fawn cried out.

“Who the fuck cares? It’s about what he makes you feel, and the truth is, Bennett makes you feel nothing. If he had, then he would have been able to fuck you from the very first. But he didn’t. And yet when you’re with me—-”

“No!” She tried to cover her ears, but the prince swiftly lowered her arms back to her sides.

His gaze captured hers. “There’s no escaping the truth. I’m the one who makes you feel, Fawn. I’m the one whose company you only have to be in for a matter of minutes, and you’ll already be dreaming about how it feels to have me touch you. I only have to say a fucking word—-”

“How dare you!” Her voice shook, not from anger but from fear. He couldn’t be right. He couldn’t be!

“And I can get you to think about my co—-”

“Prince!” She found herself half-shrieking at him, unable to believe that their conversation could actually end this way.

The prince slanted an unimpressed look towards her. “Stop hiding from the truth. You want me—-”

“Stop saying that, please.”

“And I want you. I want you so much, my co—-”

“And that, too, please stop saying that—-”

“It’s just a fucking word.” The prince was torn between amusement and exasperation at the acute discomfort that colored Fawn’s face. “Why don’t you try saying it? Say co—-”

“Banana in your pocket,” she interrupted him rashly.