Trigger (Pericolo #3)

by Kirsty-Anne Still

  I’m flattered that he seems to have noticed I don’t wear my whore label often. That left me incensed; his ignorance toward me and the job that was my only option for me. I love this upper hand I have over him. He thinks he has me right where he wants me, but I’m not some pathetically weak girl, as he seems to think.

  “Ryleigh?” he questions, his tone delicate, just like his touch to my jaw. It breaks me away from my thoughts, startling me back to reality to catch the sensitive hues of his green eyes watching me.

  “Yes?” I question. My meek response ignites an excitement in his eyes.

  "Are you a virgin?"

  "No," I snicker, seeing my comment dissatisfies him. I lose the mousy behavior and narrow my eyes at him. That tender moment lasted longer than I expected. "Is there something wrong with that?"

  "No," he comments, musing with a head shake. He rubs his jaw, issuing me with a grin of total amusement. Quickly, his eyes twinkle. "I'm just displeased I can't rip that away. It would've been the perfect starting ground for what's going to become of you... I’ll even rip away your pretty little soul last.”

  You can't rip away something someone doesn't have.

  “Have fun with that,” I tell him, my bravado winning. “I’m really not that easy.”

  “Don’t test me...”

  “I quite like how you get when I do,” I mutter and watch him closely. I smirk. Now that we’re behind closed doors, I don’t feel I have to hide my true intention. “I keep telling you to do your worst, and so far, you’re failing. It’s disappointing really.”

  I watch something fierce heat the green orbs of his eyes and his pupils dilate. I’ve riled him, hit a nerve, and I like that I can watch his reaction to me. The push and pull between us is exciting –the little threats and the promises to unravel one another.

  “Little wolf, I won’t be pushing this. Your demise will be a slow affair, believe me. I look forward to the day you give it all up to fall at my feet. For today, I’m still getting to know you,” he tells me. Leaning in to place his lips close to mine, he makes me wait for a kiss, but his eyes twinkle and he remains silent before me. He gives a little laugh, pulling away once more. "You see those panties you’re wearing?" he asks, his eyes dropping momentarily to look at my clearly overdressed body before looking back up. "When I’m done with you, they will be a tattered mess in my hand and that will only be the start. That’s where we begin this. By the end of today, you'll be putty in my hand, and it won't be me crying as I walk away."

  "Are you always this much of a fucking bastard to women who show you an ounce of interest?" I ask, wondering why he lures me in to set me up for a fall.

  He gives me that smug smirk. "No, I'm usually a lot worse, Ryleigh. For you, I thought I'd start the game off nice and slow."

  Cocking a brow, I feel my fury starting to build again. "So, this is all a game to you?"

  He laughs, chortling with irony. "Life is a game, cara, and you'll do good to remember that. Everything you get in life is all part of an elaborate plan. Either you play with what you have or you forfeit. I'm not one to back away from a good game."

  "I don't appreciate being part of your fucking game!" I bellow, my fever pitch emotions becoming wilder by the second.

  "You became my pawn the moment you laid your eyes on me." He brings his face closer to mine. His deep green eyes stare into mine, and although I'm unnerved, I do not cower. "So, you either let me play with you or you'll be playing with yourself to work off this sexual tension. The option is yours, my sweet, beautiful Ryleigh."

  In instinct, I raise my hand to slap him, but his reflexes are too skilled. He reaches out and grabs my wrist, stopping my palm from meeting his cheek in a beautiful assault.

  He chuckles again, shaking his head before laying that deadly gaze upon me. "You should've told me you wanted to play rough, little wolf."

  I huff on my frustration, tossing my head back in fury.

  “You are such a fucking asshole!” I tell him, his hand still carefully wrapped around my wrist. “You’re infuriating!”

  “Think of it as a quirk,” he tells me, winking. “At least I make you feel something for me.”

  At that, I slam both hands into his chest, forcing him backward. I slip out from between the desk and his rock hard body. I try to make a beeline for the door, but a hand wraps around my wrist. Twirling me on my spot, I’m dizzy enough not to realize he’s backing me against a wall. He pins me to the cold exposed brickwork, showing his power over me. His dominance is beautifully suffocating, and while I wait with baited breaths, panting on the ones I release, my body becomes unbidden. I fight the urge to allow myself to melt against him and tell myself I can’t fall too deep, too quickly. I beg my heart not to fail me now.

  “There’s no point fighting what it is you feel, little wolf,” he tells me, leaning in. “I have so many things planned for you, but this, right here, right now, is what I want. Tell me you want otherwise.”

  He’s met with silence – my silence. It would appear he takes delight in seeing me like this.

  “I’ve wanted to feel you this close to me for such a long time, Ryleigh. I’ve wanted to feel the curves of your body against mine, to be able to look you in the eyes, to greet you, but you tear away... every fucking time. You’re like the greatest obsession a man could ever fall addict to... and now I have you right where I want you.”

  “Maybe I don’t want you,” I whisper, admitting that in vain.

  He chuckles at my response, mockingly responding. “As I said before, Jackson doesn’t employ liars, so don’t start the lying game,” he tells me, inching forward. “Just give into everything you want to feel, Ryleigh. It might be your downfall, but it’ll be my greatest accomplishment. You can always say no to me.”

  And here’s where I lose.

  “No, I can’t,” I admit, whispering my words like a breathless litany.

  I clearly tell him all I need to, as he closes in on me. His fingers begin to hungrily wrap around my pants, pushing them away from my waist, taking my panties with it. He doesn’t remove them, just pushes them down my legs, and my heart starts to race at the thought of what’s to come. He doesn’t touch me yet, just leaves me vulnerable to his peril. My heart rate begins to speed into a pounding, one that reaches my ears, drowning out all other noises.

  “I know you’ll be as wet as I am erect, cara,” he whispers, his lips pressed deliciously to my ear. I feel his groin against me and gasp at the feel of his erection trapped in his pants. “Tell me you don’t want this. Tell me before we go too far.”

  My body thrums with endorphins, waiting for his touch, waiting for him to bring me ecstasy like no other man. I watch him, unable to tell myself to fight this feeling. I want to push him away, want to do as he says, but I can’t. I tell myself he’s no good, but in reality, he’s everything I need.

  “Do... your... worst,” I repeat my former words to him, replaying the sentence I keep using against him.

  Immediately, he cups me, his fingers pushing between my legs. As his fingers push through my folds, I hear him snigger in delight, clearly satisfied with how wet I am for him. Slowly, one finger pushes inside me, followed by a second, and my eyes flutter closed with the pleasure. He starts to use his thumb to tease my clit, rubbing the tip across and around my clitoris as he works me toward an orgasm. I feel it build, feel my body prepare, and I can’t hold back anymore. I give in to Dante, allow him to have my body, and soon he’ll draw his first orgasm from me.

  "Oh God," I breathe with difficulty.

  I feel him pause, the pad of his thumb still firmly pressed against my clit, but he starts laughing against my skin, moving his fingers ever so slowly to enter me.

  "Not quite, beautiful,” he tells me in a low, husky tone. "God’s not going to be helping you."

  Now, I laugh, breaking the moment down into pieces. My staccato breaths fall one by one as I finally look up at him. His fingers still pressed inside of me; I realize that I’m betraying mysel
f by allowing us to get to this point.

  “What am I getting myself into?” I ask, panting breathlessly.

  I know he’s dangerous. I know I’ve placed myself in jeopardy, but when you’ve lived a life like mine, you find that naïvety and irrationalities become one, combining with toxic notions to trick you. I’ve had more life experience than most my age, but I’ve never dealt with a man like Dante, one with such mystic and magnetic charisma. He’s dark and dangerous, but every time he looks at me, I feel like I am the only woman to ever exist. That’s all I’ve ever wanted – to fall for a man’s spell, to be needed, to be lusted after, and to have a purpose.

  He finally removes his fingers from within me, clearly taking note that I sobered quickly to the lust I had allowed to consume me. He orders me to pull my pants up, which I do without qualm. I wonder what’s happening to the Dante Valentino I heard stories of and met in the club. He didn’t seem like a man who knew what chivalry was, but he’s proven me wrong.

  “You could be my favorite adrenaline rush yet, Ryleigh.” His words quell my heart, slowing it down. “But I’m not sure I’ll be that for you. Once you know what I am, I know you’ll be like all the rest of them... you’ll fear me.”

  “What are you?” I ask him, my words begging to be told what it is he is. “Tell me.”

  Instead of answering quickly, his lips catch mine in a tender embrace. It’s not what I was expecting, but I find the fight to resist him futile; I’m lured back in as quickly as I fought to be free. I fear he’s distracting me, trying to take my mind off the question I’ve asked. But as he withdraws slowly, I see he’s ready. My heart calms to shallow beats as I feel like the way he kissed me was as if he was scared it’d be our first and our last after I hear the truth.

  “I have the blood of other men on my hands,” he whispers against my lips. The shock of his response stills me, leaving him time to allow his lips to start trailing my skin, his teeth biting into me. “You know what that makes me, little wolf?” He drags himself away, his olive eyes narrow upon mine. I know what he’s asking of me and I feel myself beginning to tremble. “Say it, Ryleigh. Tell me what I am.”

  “A...” I pause, driving my strength up from within. “You’re a killer.”

  “That’s right,” he remarks, smirking at me. “I’m a killer. I kill men, and I do it out of duty and out of honor. I do it for fun sometimes as well.” He releases a small mirthless chuckle of laughter. “Do you still want to be by my side?” He brings a hand up, touching my cheek with gentle ease, not with the hands of a killer. I close my eyes as his knuckles graze across my skin, setting me on fire with every stroke. “Now is your chance... you can run away now, or you can stay here with me and let me show you who watched you dance in the shadows for so long.”

  My heart pounds so fiercely it is a sonic boom in the vessel of my being. How could a man I knew was corruption incarnate make my entire body sing to life? He told me what he was. In black and white, he is a killer. In Technicolor, he is so much more, I’m convinced of it.

  “What’s it going to be?” he asks, pressing for an answer.

  I brace myself, square my shoulders, and narrow my gaze onto his. I even offer him a little smirk as I match up to him. I don’t draw away, nor do I fear him. My life was sculpted by people like him; I’ve wanted vengeance and what better way than to partner with a killer?

  “Do your worst.”

  He sniggers as I tell him my usual answer. It’s almost a catchphrase between us now.

  “That’s already started,” he says, withdrawing away from me. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

  “Don’t underestimate me,” I respond, lowering my tone. “You think you can intimidate me and scare me off. Just you wait, Dante. You haven’t seen me work.”

  “Very well, but you are opening yourself up to a whole new world, Ryleigh.” Now he changes, his hand falls so he can grip my jaw, forcing me to look at him, pushing me to fear him, but I don’t feel any terror. “I’m going to be the best worst thing you’ll ever meet,” he vows, whispering the words.

  “I look forward to it,” I retort, equally as low.

  I watch him draw back, his hand dropping completely. His eyes cast upon me and I notice that he hates being spoken back to with such defiance. I’m sure the fact I’m a female makes it worse. He thinks he knows me, knows what will break me, but I have a lot of demons that live within me, and I feel that he’s my only option to beat them out of my soul.

  Whatever that entails, so be it.

  “I told you already, Dante, I’ve met my nightmare,” I say, breathing steadily. “You’re not even remotely close to it.”

  I watch as he deliberates how easy I’m making this for him, but he’s disturbed as his phone starts to ring from his inner pocket. He doesn’t excuse himself, just answers with a snappy welcome. He’s short with his responses, his eyes never leaving mine, and he impatiently waits to hear what he needs to. When he ends the call, he lowers the phone slowly, only as a smile starts to grace his handsome face.

  “Now, your real job starts. Ready for the real fun to start?”

  I brace myself before him – adorn that strength that’s seen me through multiple dire moments in my life and force the tension from every muscle in my body. I even put a little sass into this. Placing a hand on my hip, I tilt my head, acting blasé to the moment he’s handing me.

  “Born ready.”

  7DANTE

  I wish I could've doused myself and cleansed myself of all things Ryleigh before leaving. Yet it was impossible. She was consuming and I didn't want to fight. I wanted to taste her, indulge upon her, and all I got was a measly finger fuck and a kiss.

  She tried in vain to resist, telling herself she was doing wrong, but every angel sins. We all crave the greatest temptation, but now, mine was the thought of her wrapped around my cock as I spent all night worshiping her, stealing orgasms, and ultimately ruining her for any other man.

  This wasn't about carnal desire and a quick fuck. I wanted her, all of her, and I wasn't going to be happy until I had Ryleigh Turner on her knees, dedicated to me, regretting ever giving me a second glance.

  “Where are we going?”

  Ryleigh’s voice breaks me from my concentration. I turn to catch a quick glimpse of her, and I see she still looks totally uncomfortable in my car next to me. She fidgets just as I divert my attention back to the road ahead and I smirk.

  “You’ll see.”

  “You’re an evasive bastard,” she mutters, her voice becoming gruffer with the building rage she’s feeling. I love how she’s unashamed to give me a bit of backtalk, that she doesn’t allow me to have all the power in this business arrangement we have. It’s refreshing. “You draw me in to just spit me back out.”

  “You’re still pretty much drawn in, Ryleigh,” I comment, my fingers wrapping a little tighter around the steering wheel. She doesn’t even know the half of what she does to me and she never will. “I’ve not decided when I’ll let you go, and right now, I’m pretty sure you won’t let go.”

  “How do you make that assumption?”

  I feel a grin begin to tug on my lips, but I don’t look at her. “Ryleigh, you had every intention of following me even without me being quite so willing. I feel like I made it easy for you.”

  “Yeah, if this is what you call easy,” she scoffs at me. “You’re leading the blind and enjoying every fucking minute of it.”

  “To be honest, I was enjoying what was unraveling in my office not so long ago, but as I told you before, you’ve only seen glimpses of what I do. This is just yet another part of it all.” I gave her a sideways look before I look back at the road. “There is a lot to me you’ll never learn.”

  “Likewise,” she replies, and I see in my peripheral that she’s defiantly looking at me. “You’re not the only one with a closet full of skeletons, you know?”

  “Oh, I know that,” I respond, understanding that notion. “I also understand a lot of people don’t
enjoy airing their closets out. That’s where you and I meet on a level playing ground. I know there’s a lot to you, Ryleigh, but that doesn’t matter much to me.”

  “Then what does?”

  She turns in her seat; I can sense she’s facing me fully with an inquisitive look. She’s focused her entire attention on me, and while I drive, I make her wait.

  “A lot,” I start to say, taking my time. “My family matters to me. We’ve seen a lot together and it’s my utmost importance to keep them safe and protected. Helping to safeguard what Jackson and Jodi have is important to me. Making sure little naïve girls like you get a good lesson is important to me.”

  She sniggers. “Here we go again.” Her chastised response cuts me, and she turns away. “You’re so sure I’m some naïve little girl that you’re actually blind to who I am.”

  “Well, who are you, Ryleigh?” I ask, feeling rage roar within. “Please, go ahead and fucking correct the error of my ways!”

  I hear her laugh again. “You can wait and see what I am. I believe the fun is just beginning.”

  I hit my brake, stopping midway down the deserted road, and turn to her. Now that I can force my entire attention upon her, I stare her down from the perch where she’s laughing hysterically.

  “Are you deaf or just stupid?” I ask her, anger flaring into my words. “You’re a bit of fun, something I don’t often have. I told you how you were part of a game to me. You enlisted this choice and I will give you the chance to leave, but that chance will go away. You wanted to be inquisitive enough to follow me to that fucking club and not leave then you’ll stand by my side and witness what is that men like me do. You’ll see how the other fucking half lives, Ryleigh. You’ll live, eat, and breathe my life until you can’t cope. You hear me?”