Capo Dei Capi (Secrets of the Famiglia Part 1) novel Chapter 20

I want to keep my attention on his chest, but my chin lifts up to face the harshness of his masculine face.

“Dance with me, Aliyana.” He doesn’t allow me an answer as thick fingers wrap around my naked flesh as the music plays. A familiar tune, causing my eyes to widen in recognition. My heart races in assumption. He knows me.

“You were there, but...” My words die as his eyes boil me alive with an intensity so unravelling to my minuscule mind I forget to inhale.

He cups my elbows and pulls me closer toward his heat. The dark gaze of a killer, never leaving mine.

He bends his head.

His nose right next to my own. Flesh to flesh, breath to breath.

Rough, thick fingers restrain me. I breathe painful gulps of oxygen. I don’t take shallow gulps, no I take big chunks of air. My chest expanding and contracting. He must notice it, but all he does is slides me deeper toward him. Closer but still not close enough.

“Balla con me, Mezzosangue.” Dance with me half-blood.

He doesn’t wait for me to reply as Nina-Simone sings feeling good. Marco’s hands travel, gingerly down my arms. Sure, secure fingers touching my pulse.

Warm, rough hands engulf my dainty ones. Taking my left hand, Marco places my palm flat on his chest. I have always felt short and invisible around people, but here, now, with this mad-man, I am so much more.

His warming hold leaves my own as his fingers spread across the bare part of my back.

Flesh to flesh.

Breath to breath.

I move my left foot to take a step back, away from his temporary prison of seduction. I inhale a lungful of air, hoping to leave this. Whatever ‘this’ is. He is too much.

Marco uses my escape-move to dip me down.

An intense frown mar his features as he brings me up again, and digs the tips of his fingers in the flesh of my back.

This is sinful, and not the way it was supposed to go. He is not the one.

But like a succubus, born to lure you into its temporary will, I am only a human being held by a demon whose wants right now is all I can think about as the music plays on.

“Dance,” He whispers, and I finally surrender to the devil who holds me under the night sky.

My feet move as the song plays on repeat, my body releasing itself, coming alive at this moment. My eyes sealed as my body's awareness remains heightened by every touch Marco Catelli places on my skin. I surrender to him. His breath, hot against my cheek as he draws me closer to his tall form. His leg rubs against my own. The soft satin of my dress grazing the pebbles of my breast as his arm persists pressing against my erratic beating chest. Every sense intensified as I close my eyes taking it all in.

His scent- rich, spicy, and earthy. The small pokes from his jaw against my soft skin, rough.

Is this belonging? A sinful promise? Or is it a stolen moment by two people who are wrong together, meeting in a perfect setting, that the who's no longer matter, but the where, is an ideal match, lined up into one small paragraph of your life? A sudden occurrence meant to last for just a moment, even if the people don't match up.

Because that is what it is, a magical place, surrounded by roses, but him and I, there is nothing right about us. Why does the thought sound like a lie? As if he senses my mind's corruption, he tightens his hold on my back, eliciting a small gasp to leave my lips.

The strength of his leg sends shivers along my spine when he slides his thigh between my own, millimeters from the part of my body inflamed by him. This all feels like a dream. Something is at play tonight because, in our world, I know this doesn’t happen without repercussions.

A forbidden moment, a wrong turn, always has deadly consequences.

Forgive me, father, for this sin.

As Marco Catelli dances with me, I wonder, what is the extent of his crimes. Is it coincidence when that ring that makes him who he is, scratches my cheek as his knuckles brush my face?