Poisonous Kiss: A Dark Mafia Arranged Marriage Romance
Poisonous Kiss: Chapter 16

What. The. Fuck.

Still in the cab, I stare across the street to where Trevor has just dropped Gabriel off.

…in front of Club Venom.

You sneaky fucking asshole.

Okay, we’re not really a couple. And I refuse to call the feeling surging inside of me “jealousy” because—well, I’m just not.

But real relationship or not, I think I do get to be pissed off, since Gabriel went out of his way to go all alpha on me about the way my “extracurricular activities” had to end now that we’re playing house.

Especially because those bruises were from my “extracurricular activities” with him and him alone. I haven’t really dated in years, not counting something miniscule like the time I made out with Felix from work for like four whole minutes.

And don’t even get me started on the fact that when Gabriel and I did…what we did…at Venom last time, it involved something I swore I’d never, ever do again.

Not after before.

And yet, it happened. And it wasn’t just because Gabriel’s obnoxiously attractive. It wasn’t just the thrill of “playing with a stranger”.

It was because he hit every single button I have. He tapped into dark places inside me that I barely know how to find myself.

And now here he is, back at Venom, probably looking for some other plaything.

Fuck. That.

I’m about to step out, when I stop and glance down at myself. I’m in yoga pants and a hoodie, which I doubt is remotely on the Club Venom dress code.

Shit.

I’m about to admit defeat when I remember something, and a wicked idea slips into my head.

“Sorry,” I smile at the cab driver. “My bad. I actually need to go to the Dolce and Gabbana store on Fifth Avenue.”

I use Gabriel’s black Amex card that he gave me to buy the wedding dress to make another purchase. This time, it’s a short black chiffon dress, matching heels, and black lace lingerie, in a transaction so rapid it makes the sales associate’s head spin.

Then I’m in another cab, heading back to Venom.

There’s a different concierge working the front desk tonight. But she happily supplies me with my mask and wig from last time, along with another red and gold bracelet.

My pulse races, the thrill of danger mixed with uncertainty why I’m even here pounding in my veins as I make my way into the club.

Same as last time, the sheer eroticism of the place instantly has my skin tingling.

Just inside the first room, I jump back a little bit when I almost walk right into a couple. The man has his partner pinned with her face to the wall as he fucks the hell out of her from behind. His muscled hips loudly slap her ass as he mauls her breasts with one hand and grabs a fistful of her hair in the other. I take in the look of pure ecstasy on her face before I keep going, not wanting to look like a creep.

In the main lounge, I’m momentarily breathless as I take in the orgy already unfolding in the center of the room. In particular, there’s one gorgeous brunette in the middle of one of the large beds surrounded by five muscled men, all taking her at the same time.

Holy shit.

She moans and writhes, lost in pleasure as the five of them take turns filling and fucking her in every conceivable way, grunting as they pound into her.

I gulp, something hot teasing down my spine as I meander through the room. I pull my eyes away from the orgy, scanning the room for Gabriel as I walk over to the bar and order a vodka soda. I only get one sip down my throat before a voice behind me both chills me to my soul and turns my core to molten fire.

“We meet again, kitten.”

My heart literally stops for a second. My entire body jolts as Gabriel’s deep, dark, sultry voice rumbles into my ear.

Instantly, I know this is happening.

Yes, I could run. I could even walk, and I doubt he’d tackle me or anything. But the thing is, I don’t want to.

I want what we had last time again.

Badly. And somehow, it’s even more exciting that he doesn’t realize it’s me.

There’s a part of me that fumes that he’s told me I can’t fuck around…not that I even want to…but, apparently, he can. And I’m even more pissed that if he was so inclined to blow off some steam, he ignored the option of the woman he’s going to be fucking marrying, who happens to be right down the freaking hall from him at home.

But I also sort of get it. Emphasis on sort of.

This is his thing. And when he’s here, he allows himself to “be” this other version of himself. The polar opposite of the straight-laced, level-headed, golden-god lawyer.

Here, he gets to be the dominant beast.

And that’s what I want him to be, tonight, with me.

I shiver as I turn to face him. At the last minute, I make sure my face is lowered just a little, so he can’t stare directly into my eyes. He might not have recognized me before, when I was merely his employee. But things are a bit different now.

“Tell me,” Gabriel growls in a voice that sends tendrils of heat over my skin and makes my thighs clench, “do you want to play again?”

I hesitate. He wanted me non-verbal last time. But if this time is different, and he expects me to speak, things aren’t going to go well…

I merely lift my shoulders and tilt my head.

Instantly, Gabriel surges into me. His hand wraps tight around my throat, sending my pulse through the ceiling as heat pools between my thighs.

“I don’t do maybe, kitten. I do yes or no. Nod or shake your head. Do you want to play.”

My skin is on fire as I find myself nodding my head yes.

A low growl rumbles in his throat.

“Are you sure? Last time was merely an appetizer.”

I nod my head harder, my pulse racing.

“Good girl.”

Fuck.

He takes my hand and leads me out of the main area. We walk down a hall, past doors just like the one we entered last time. But Gabriel keeps walking, turning first one corner and then another before we finally stop.

When he opens this door, my heart leaps and naked fear drags its claws up my back.

What the fuck…

This door doesn’t lead into a private room. It leads to stairs, descending into darkness. Instantly, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, my heart thudding in my chest. A voice in my head screams at me that I’m a broken, fucked up psycho for still standing here instead of running away as fast as I can.

“This way.”

Shaking, I let Gabriel lead me down the stairs and into the inky blackness, closing and locking the door behind us. He flicks a switch on at the bottom, illuminating dim floor lights set into the perimeter of the room.

My heart skips another beat.

We’re in a basement, almost an elegant dungeon, with clean stone walls, tall, beamed ceilings, and a polished hardwood floor. This room is much larger than the private room last time, stretching away from the bottom of the stairs, which look to be in the corner of the big space.

The only furniture I can see is a single dark brown leather couch and a wooden table with a couple of ominously large black briefcases on it, all shut.

I swallow as I begin to step forward, walking in some random direction because I feel I should. Then I stop when I feel Gabriel walk up behind me. I shiver when his hand slides over my hip and moves around to my front, lazily and yet possessively stroking my skin through the gauzy dress. His fingers dip, and I gasp when they plunge deep down my front.

He stops before his fingers get more than two inches past the waist of my panties. The sudden halt leaves me breathless, my nipples taut and straining against the lacy bra, and my arousal coating my thighs in seconds.

Gabriel leans down, his breath teasing against the side of my neck.

“We’re going to play a game, kitten…”

He moves back, and I hear the rustle of his jacket being undone followed by the sound of it hitting the floor. Then he’s walking around me in a slow, methodical circle, unbuttoning and removing his dress shirt.

That gets tossed away, too. I drop my gaze to his body, my face heating as I slide my eyes over his impossibly perfect torso. The chest muscles that could be carved from marble. The corded, powerful shoulders and arms. The honed abs and delicious v-lines of his hips delving into the waist of his dress pants.

Fuck. Me. Apparently Gabriel’s as focused on honing his body as he is in every other facet of his life.

He kicks off his shoes, stopping his walk only to slip off his socks.

What the fuck have I gotten myself into?

I gasp when Gabriel, now wearing just his slacks and his mask, walks slowly around behind me and swats my ass, hard. Then he does it a second time. He moves to my front and my gasps turn to yelps, my body jolting as he reaches out and pinches one of my tight nipples through the dress.

“In this game, you’ll be my little fuck toy, same as before.”

Swat.

He spanks my ass again, harder.

“But this time,” he growls against my ear from behind. “I don’t feel like being given my prey.”

He walks around in front of me, his eyes burning darkly as he strolls behind me once again.

“This time…” I shiver at his nearness, his lips brushing my earlobe.

“I want to hunt.”

My head literally swims. My pulse turns cold as ice as the reality of what he just said hits me.

“To be clear, kitten, you’re going to run.”

Holy fuck. Holy fuck. Holy FUCK.

Sometimes, fantasies are nothing like what you imagined when you attempt to fulfill them. Sometimes, the reality is a sour disappointment. But sometimes, the reality is a thousand fucking times more thrilling, more heart-stopping, more everything than the fantasy ever had a prayer of being.

“If you make it back to the stairs, well, the game is yours. If you don’t…”

In the dim light, Gabriel stops in front of me, a dark, psychotic smile twisting his lips beneath his black, gold-fanged mask.

“I’m going to use you. I’m going to fuck you, hard. I’m going to play rough. Do you understand what I mean by that?”

My throat goes dry.

My tongue slips out to wet my lips as my nails dig into my palms.

My chin nods up and down.

“Do you truly understand. And before you nod that pretty head again, know that this is the last time I’ll ask. After this, the only way this stops is if you use the safe word. Tonight’s safe word is broken. Now,” he rasps, still in front of me. “Nod if you understand all of that.”

Holy shit.

My chin moves up and down.

“Do you have any limits?”

Nod your fucking head, you absolute fucking idiot.

My head shakes side to side.

Gabriel smiles lethally. “Really?” I bite back a shudder of terror mixed with pure lust as he leans close.

“Let’s. Find. Out.”

He prowls behind me. I swear to fuck I can feel the incinerating dark heat of his eyes scorching my skin.

“I’d lose the shoes, kitten.”

I shake when I hear his pants hit the floor. And when he prowls back in front of me again, my pulse skips as my eyes land on the obscene tent in his boxers. As I see the bulging, swollen head of his cock straining against the cotton, with a wet mark rapidly spreading across it.

Like he’s already coming. Like he’s leaking his cum, ready for me.

Hungry for me.

“Now…”

He’s behind me again. I gasp sharply, my heart clawing its way up into my throat as the lights go out completely.

“Run.”