Page 41 of Mafia Obsession

“Your valet let me in. He told me to wait in your office,” I manage.

“This is not my office.”

“I realized that too late. I’m sorry.” My pulse spikes.

“No.” He presses warm fingers against my mouth. “You’re not sorry. You were curious. About me. About who I am. What I…like.”

The finger traces my lips, our eyes locked. Then he drops his hand.

“I didn’t mean to?—”

“Yes, you did.Admit it.”

“Okay. Yes, I was curious. It’s all so…much.” I swallow, very aware of how close he is.

“I’m…a lot. I’m too much for you, Lourdes.” He steps closer, reaching past me. The rope comes loose in his hand with a smooth motion, the coil settling against his palm. “This isn’t for you.”

I lift my chin, forcing myself to hold his gaze. “Are you a Dom?”

The corners of his mouth curve up slightly. “Not in the traditional way. But I do keep a woman under contract from time to time. Not to spin my wheels with sex games. I keep them to have someone to fuck. That’s it.”

“Oh.”

“Have you ever been tied up?” he asks. “And fucked while restrained?”

The question makes white spots form in front of my eyes. “No.”

Something shifts in his expression.

“Good,” he murmurs. “A woman like you… Your first time should be done right. With a man who can give you what you need.”

My breath stutters.

“It’s not meant to hurt,” he keeps talking. “It’s meant to release control. To give yourself over to someone. To…trust that man.”

He brushes the rope lightly against my wrist, the texture surprising me.

“It’s softer than I expected it would be,” I say.

“It still leaves marks,” he continues, his voice raspy. “To signal to others who you really are. And who you belong to.”

“It doesn’t feel how it looks,” I say before I can stop myself.

Ares watches me as he speaks, his gaze sharp and intentional. “You’d look beautiful tied up, though. Wrapped inmyrestraints. Waiting formeto fuck you.”

My stomach tightens. “Do you have a woman under contract now?” I ask, my voice softer than I intend.

He goes still. For a moment, I think I’ve pushed this too far. If that was possible. All I did was innocently wander inside here. He’s the one who turned this into a game.

“No,” he finally answers.

“Do you…need one?” I hear myself asking.

Everything about Ares shifts into a colder expression. Controlled. All the heat has drained from his eyes. I crossed a line.

“Ineedyou to leave,” he says. “Before I do or say something that I can’t walk back.”

My heart is still racing, my skin still too warm, and now I don’t know what to do with any of it.