I’m suddenly at a loss for words. My own damn family is sitting there at that giant table in the middle of the restaurant. And not only that, but Lex and Anne are there too. All generous smiles on their faces while they talk to each other like everything is all fine and dandy. Like they forgot they literally let me walk down the aisle to marry a monster to pay for a blood debt.
Fuck.
I’m frozen in place against this wall, wondering if I should attempt to run, but I know Luca brought his guards, and they must be right outside this front door.
I never thought I’d actually see my family again and definitely not at some frivolous dinner with the De Vos family. But I guess I can’t look a gift horse in the mouth. At least now I get to talk to Jasmine and see how she is.
So I take in a breath to gather my courage and make my way over there.
But the second I step beside Luca, holding my breath because I’m looking straight into my father’s eyes, Luca grabs my hand and pulls me in for a kiss.
Not a kiss on the cheeks or the forehead.
No … a full-on kiss on the lips.
And not just any kiss … a daring, coaxing, completely overwhelming and dominant kiss that says, “you belong to me and no one else.” It’s an all-consuming kiss so powerful that it makes my knees wobble and my heart rate shoot up as I struggle to stay put. The kiss makes it impossible for me to focus on anything other than his lips on mine, and everything else seems to disappear.
Until he takes his mouth off mine again, and all I’m left with is an insatiable hunger for more.
The moment seems to last an eternity as his dark, intense eyes gaze down at me while he holds me tight, the smile on his face only growing at the sight of my swollen, red lips, my blush giving away just how badly he’s got me under his spell.
Only when he releases me from his grip and greets my family and his do I realize this was our first real kiss since we got married.
And it was all to show me off to our families.
To tell them … she’s mine.
My hand instinctively reaches for my tingling lips.
Did it even mean anything?
Why do I even care?
When my father finally notices me, the conversations grow quiet, and all eyes are on me. My train of thought is interrupted by his booming voice.
“Jill. I’m surprised you actually came.”
“Of course she came,” Luca says as he pulls out a seat for me. “She’s my wife. She needs to learn the business.”
Lex snorts. “I thought you just wanted her as a toy.”
His toy.
Dangling from the ceiling.
Licking his barbell.
The mind-blowing kiss.
It all flashes right past my eyes, distracting me so much that I’ve stopped moving.
“Lex,” Anne hisses, poking him under the table.
My mother clears her throat. “Let’s not sour the mood.” The smile on her face reminds me of the Wicked Witch of the West. “Jill. Just sit. It’s fine.”
I clear my throat and attempt to get over the obvious attempt at character assassination by Luca’s father.
“So how are the newlyweds doing?” my father asks as Luca sits down beside me. “Enjoying the married life?”
“It’s only been a few days,” Jasmine says.
“More than enough time before the honeymoon period ends,” Lex says, snorting.
“Honeymoon period?” I mutter, confused.
“It means you hate him now,” Jasmine explains.
A-ha.
“Father, don’t you have a toast to do?” Luca says as the server quickly pours us some drinks.
Lex clears his throat. “Right. To new contracts, renewed partnership, and new beginnings.” He holds his glass high, and the rest of the family tips their glasses, and even we play along.
“So how is business going, Lex?” my father muses. “I’ve heard you guys have gone through a transition of sorts. Is that true?”
Lex coughs while holding a napkin close to his mouth. I don’t know why, but the way Luca looks away has me suspicious. “Yes, I think it’s about time my son took over. I’m ready to start enjoying the riches of life.” He chuckles, and so does the rest of my family, and it all feels awkward as hell.
“Sounds like you amassed quite a bit of wealth from all our ventures,” my father says.
“Can’t complain,” Lex responds.
“Exactly,” my father says, and it’s as if someone lit a fire on top of a frozen lake. That’s how chilly the room gets.
Lex stares him down. “Wouldn’t have done it without all my connections, of course.”
My father sighs. “Of course.”
I breathe a sigh of relief. These two have been at each other’s throats ever since Liam … passed.
“Well, I’m so glad our families are together again,” my mother says.
I can’t help but wonder what things would’ve been like if I hadn’t gone to the De Vos house to talk to Liam. If I hadn’t …
Anne clears her throat. “Apart from my son, of course.”
I grab my glass and quickly chug down the drink, but it’s too much, and I cough up some of the liquid.
“Oh, honey, you’re making a mess,” my mother says, patting me down with a tissue, but when she’s done, she grabs my wrist, and whispers, “Stop embarrassing me.”
“What did you just say?” I reply.
“Is there a problem?” Luca raises his brow at both me and my mother and butts in so much she releases my wrist just because of the way he stares her down. “If you have something to tell my wife, you can tell me.”
“No, there’s no problem at all,” she says, laughing it off. “I was just telling her how proud I was of her.”
Liar.
“She looks gorgeous.”
“You can say it to my face, you know,” I say.
“Did you buy this then?” My mother raises her brow at me.
“No. I bought the fabrics,” Luca says.
“See?” my mother sneers.
“She made the dress,” he quips.
She looks mortified, and it is quite honestly the best thing I’ve seen all night.
“And I’ll buy her a thousand more of these fabrics if it means you’ll finally see your own damn daughter for who she is.”
My mother isn’t the only one who’s flabbergasted.
The entire table has gone silent from Luca’s comment, but he doesn’t seem at all bothered.
In fact, the smug grin on his face only grows.
“Let’s order some food. I’m hungry.” He rubs his hands together, and for some reason, I can’t stop staring at the veins in his arms. “Server!”
There’s no time to respond to anything going on as the server comes to take our orders, and everyone continues to pick their dish and order more drinks like Luca didn’t just try to one-up my mother in front of me.
I can’t keep up.
“Thanks for taking her off my back,” I murmur sideways.
“My pleasure,” Luca responds, and for some reason, that word makes all my sensitive bits tingle.
I don’t think he meant it in a civilized way.
Not that this dinner is any kind of civil.
“How are you doing?” my sister suddenly asks, breaking me from my thoughts.
“I’m fine,” I lie. I don’t want her to worry.
She grabs my hand, and it forces me to look at her. “Tell me the truth, Jill.”
I shake my head. “I’m fine. Honestly.”
“You don’t look fine. Is Luca treating you okay?”
My lips part, but I don’t know how to respond.
“If he’s hurting you, I swear to God, I’ll—”
“You’ll do what, Jasmine?” Luca suddenly butts in, making me hyperaware of the fact I can’t say anything to her without there being consequences.
But she refuses to back down. “She’s your wife.”
“Exactly,” he rebukes, narrowing his eyes. “Mine.”
The way he says that last word, like he doesn’t just own my hand but my entire fucking soul and body too, makes goose bumps spread on my body.
“Treat her right,” Jasmine says. “Our family won’t accept any less.”
“Oh, I’ll treat her right, don’t you worry about that,” Luca says, picking up the knife off the table to play with it, and I can’t help but notice the way he looks at her. “But it almost sounds like you’re jealous, Jasmine.”
I quickly grasp his hand and make him look at me. “Please.”
“Please what?” He raises a brow, his hand tightening up under my grip. “Take her too?”
My eyes widen. “You wouldn’t.”
He leans in and whispers, “Try me.”
“You wish,” Jasmine tells him, snorting.
“Stop this, both of you,” I intervene, trying to push both of them away. “I didn’t come here to start a fight.”
“Tell that to your sister,” Luca replies, running his fingers through his dark, luscious hair.
“He just came here to show you off and pretend everything is fine,” Jasmine retorts, folding her arms.
Luca picks up his glass and takes a big sip. “So what if I did?”
He smashes the glass down as both of us gaze at him. I’m flabbergasted he’d admit that out loud. “Now pick the meat,” Luca suddenly says.
“Huh?” I mutter, completely confused.
For a second, I wonder if he means … his meat.
He points at the menu in front of me. “The steak is juicy.”
“Oh,” I reply, trying not to laugh.
“What?” he asks, taking another sip of his drink.
I try not to look at him, but he makes it terribly hard with the way he looks at me, like he wants to lick every inch of my body just to show me I’m his. “Nothing.”
His eyes narrow. “What’s so funny?”
“It’s nothing, really,” I say.
He puts down his glass and slides his hand under the table. When his fingers curl around my knee, I freeze. “Tell me, Jill.”
“I told you it was nothing. I was lost in thought, that’s all,” I answer.
But his hand only keeps sliding farther up, and up, and up underneath my dress. I shudder in place when he gets closer and closer to my panties until it becomes hard to breathe.
“Go on then. Pick your dinner,” Luca says, focusing solely on me.
But as I point at the steak he mentioned, his hand slides across my panties, and I struggle not to whimper in front of my entire family.
Fuck.
“That one, please,” I say to the server when he comes to take the menu again.
Luca leans in, and whispers, “Good girl.”
But he doesn’t stop.
In fact, he only presses down harder, pushing his finger against my clit, and I gasp in response.
“What’s wrong, darling?” my mother says.
My eyes widen as I struggle to breathe. “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong.”
I laugh it off, but all I can feel is the heat rising behind my cheeks as Luca begins to circle my clit. I can’t bear to look at him because I know he must be sporting that same greedy grin again that gets my heart fluttery and my pussy clenching.
But when he touches me like this, how do I resist?
“Jill is just very excited for the … meat,” Luca muses, flicking my clit like it’s the most normal thing in the world to do when you’re out to dinner with your family.
“Meat? Didn’t you say you were going vegetarian?” my mother quips.
My lips part, but I can’t respond because Luca slid aside my panties and swiveled right across my pussy.
“I … I …”
“She’s changed her mind. It’s been three years,” Luca fills in for me. “She missed the taste too much.”
He’s playing with me. Not only physically but mentally and emotionally too. And judging from the smirk on his face, he’s enjoying this way too much.
And oh God … I hate that I am too.
Because the way he swirls around in my panties should be forbidden.
Why is he doing this?
Why now?
I have to stop him.
I nudge my legs together, but he swats them open with ease, pinching my clit so hard I have to bite my lip to stop a squeal from coming out.
“No denying me, bunny,” he whispers into my ear. “Don’t make a sound. Don’t let them see just how badly you like to be owned.”
“Don’t do this,” I whisper back, but it’s so hard when he’s touching me in all the right places.
And when he shoves a finger inside, I literally gasp. “Your wet pussy wants me to.”
I struggle not to react as the waiters bring in the plates filled with food one by one while our families are talking around us like they don’t notice a thing.
Luca swirls around inside, spreading my wetness all over before continuing to build the pressure on my clit. “That’s it, bunny. Let go of all your inhibitions.”
“What if they see?” I mutter back.
“They won’t if you don’t let them,” he says with a grin.
My father cuts up his ribs into pieces he can pick up, my mother slices into her fish with a delicate hand, and my sister is silently chomping on her beans while I’m trying to maintain my composure. Luca’s steak stew arrives now, but he keeps on playing with me like it comes easy to him. With one hand, he grabs his fork and stabs a piece of potato, stuffing it into his mouth, while his other hand continues the onslaught between my legs.
The more he eats, the more he gets fired up.
Especially when my food arrives.
Everyone’s eating their food and happily chatting like nothing’s going on. But as far as they know, nothing is going on. And I don’t want them to know. The thought of them seeing what Luca is doing is killing me, but when I look at him, I know that’s exactly why he’s doing it.
Fuck.
“Jill, I thought you liked steak?” Mom asks. “You’re not hungry?”
I gulp, trying not to react as Luca increases his pace, almost as if he’s deliberately trying to make it harder for me to respond.
Am I hungry?
Yes. No.
Not for food.
Hungry for …
Him.
I turn my head, my body shaking as our eyes connect. Desire builds inside, and I’m struggling to even breathe. All I can think about is that finger swirling around my most sensitive part while his hard-on is probably bursting out of his pants, and all I want to do is reach for it and play with him like he’s playing with me.
His dark, lusty eyes lure me in as he fingers me so good I swear it feels like I’m going to die at this table right here right now.
I can’t focus on anything, let alone cutting that steak sitting right in front of my nose.
Luca is flicking my clit like he’s on a mission to make me …
Oh, no.
I can’t do that here.
I can’t. It’s impossible. It’s immoral. Everyone’s watching. Everyone will know. I can’t, it’s—
Too late.
I gasp as the orgasmic waves fill my body with heat and desire, and all thoughts of food go out the window. And as I sit here, toes curled and nails digging into the table, the tiniest of moans still manages to escape my mouth.
And all eyes are on me while mine struggle not to roll back into my head.
Oh, God.
Everyone saw.
Everyone heard.
