Born in Blood Collection Volume 1 - Cora Reilly Page 0,215

for you to bleed out like a pig after I cut your dick off. How about that?”

I used the moment to ram my knee into acne guy’s balls. He cried out and dropped to his knees. I probably shouldn’t have enjoyed it as much as I did.

Matteo raised his dark eyebrows at me. “Wanna have a go at this one too?”

I didn’t need to be told twice. Instead I landed a good kick and sent the second guy to his knees as well. Both guys looked up at Matteo with fear-widened eyes, ignoring me completely.

“Fuck off before I decide to cut your throats,” Matteo said.

They scrambled off like dogs with their tails between their legs.

“Do you know them?” I asked.

Matteo sheathed his knife. He didn’t look as drunk as he’d seemed at the party. Maybe it had all been for show. A quick glance around made me realize that we were alone in this part of the house, and from the way my heartbeat quickened and my stomach fluttered, I knew this really wasn’t a good idea.

“They are the kids of two of our soldiers. They aren’t even Made Men yet.”

Inducting them into the mafia probably wouldn’t turn them into nicer human beings. “I could have handled them myself,” I said.

Matteo scanned my body again. “I know.”

That wasn’t the answer I had expected, and I wasn’t entirely sure if he was pulling my leg or not. “It’s funny how you can act like a knight in shining armor one second and the next you’re encouraging your brother to sexually assault my sister.”

“Luca doesn’t need encouragement, believe me.”

“You make me sick. All of this does.” I turned and stalked away but Matteo caught up with me and barred my way with an arm against the wall.

“Your sister will be fine. Luca isn’t cruel to women.”

“Is that supposed to reassure me?”

Matteo shrugged. “I know my brother. Aria won’t get hurt.”

I searched his face. He seemed serious. I wanted to believe him but from what I’d witnessed, Luca was anything but a kind man. He was brutal and cruel and cold, and I wasn’t sure if Matteo’s definition of not being cruel to women matched my own.

“I really want to fucking kiss you,” Matteo said in a rough voice, startling me.

My eyes widened. He didn’t move, just stood in front of me with his arm propped up against the wall and his dar eyes boring into mine. We weren’t engaged, thank God, so speaking to me like that was more than inappropriate. Father would have gone nuts if he’d heard. I should have been anxious, embarrassed at the very least, by his words, but instead I found myself wondering how it would be to kiss someone, to kiss Matteo. The girls in my class had all kissed and done far more already. Only Aria, the other girls from mob families, and I were sheltered from the outside world, always guarded by bodyguards. How would it be to kiss someone forbidden? To do something a good girl didn’t do?

“Then why don’t you?” I heard myself say. Alarm bells went off in my mind but I ignored them.

This was my choice. If we weren’t who we were, if we hadn’t been born into this screwed-up world, if Matteo wasn’t a Made Man and a killer, maybe then I could have fallen for him. If we’d met as two normal people, then maybe we could have become something.

Matteo moved closer to me. For some reason I backed away until I bumped into the wall, but Matteo followed and soon I was trapped between cold stone and his body. “Because there are rules in our world and breaking them has consequences.”

“You don’t seem like a for rules.” I wasn’t sure why I was encouraging him. I didn’t want his attention. I wanted out of this fucked-up world and its fucked-up people. Getting involved in any way with someone like him would make that impossible.

Matteo smiled darkly. “I’m not.” He reached for my face and slowly raked his fingers through my hair. I shivered at the light touch. I didn’t even like Matteo, right? He was annoying and arrogant and never knew when to shut up.

He’s like you.

But my body wanted more. I grabbed his vest, my fingers crinkling the soft material. “Me neither. I don’t want my first kiss to happen with my husband.”

Matteo let out a quiet laugh and he was so close that I could feel it more than hear it. “This is a bad