My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 74

But as she slid her hand up to the back of my neck, pulling me inches from her face, those rules felt like paper in a fire.

And right now, she looked like a forbidden fruit, and I was starving.

“I can’t do it,” I told myself, even as my thumb traced the line of her jaw.

But then she reached down and grabbed my wrist, pulling my hand from her neck and pressing it flat against her heart. She arched her back, her small black top straining against her skin.

The sheer wrongness of it made my head spin.

The heat in the room was unbearable. I felt the sweat break out on my forehead. Every inch of my skin where she touched me felt like it was on fire. I wanted to push her back onto the velvet and lose myself in her.

Fuck...

She is my stepsister.

Stepsister.

Sister...

What the fuck was wrong with me? A day ago, I hated the very air she breathed. I wanted her gone. I wanted her out of my sight. And now, here I was, shaking because I wanted to devour her.

I leaned in, my nose brushing against hers. I could feel her lips trembling. I was a man of iron, but she was the magnet pulling me apart.

"You have no idea," I whispered, "You have no idea how close you are to never leaving this room."

My eyes dropped to her mouth, watching her lips part, waiting for me to take what I was forbidden to touch. Suddenly, the wall Vincenzo had built between us was crumbling. My hand slid into her hair, pulling her head back just an inch to give me the perfect angle to ruin her.

Then, the world exploded.

A violent pounding rattled the study door. I froze. Gianna’s eyes stayed shut, a soft, confused whimper leaving her throat as the spell broke.

Ciro looked from me to the couch, where Gianna sat slumped, and he swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing.

"Boss, wait," he gasped, holding up a hand. "It’s not what it looks like. She wanted to go. I was just—"

I didn't let him finish. I reached down, grabbed the front of his shirt, and hauled him off the floor until we were eye to eye. The darkness in my soul, the part of me that enjoyed the hunt, finally had a target that deserved it.

"You brought my stepsister to a hunt?!" I hissed, my grip tightening until the fabric started to tear. "And then you drugged her. You put your filthy hands on my family."

I felt the power in my own arms, the urge to snap him in half like a dry twig. Behind me, I could hear Gianna’s soft, drugged giggling.

"We let you walk through our halls. We let you sit at our table and hang around our blood. And you thought that meant you could suddenly fuck our women?"

I shook him once, hard enough to make his teeth clatter. I didn't want to hear him talk. I didn't want his excuses or his lies. I wanted to see the light go out of his eyes. I wanted to feel his bones give way under my grip.

"What were you thinking of doing, Ciro?!" I snarled, "Why the fuck did you bring her here?! Why the fuck you put a pill in her mouth and a ribbon around her neck."