Beauty and the Barracuda by Nikki Winter Page A

gesture? Nyssa slowly nodded.
    His jaw clenched and he placed his forehead against her own. “Do you honestly believe you’re the only one between us who can’t concentrate when the other comes near? Do you have any idea how much restraint it’s taking me to not bend you over this desk? Every single day from the moment I met you has been spent in agony. Every single smile, every single laugh, every single blink leaves me devastated .”Sansone’s palms went from the desk to her hips. “You’re running because you’ve somehow talked yourself into thinking you’re the only one between us who’s struggling with the choice to leave our relationship in limbo.”
    She opened her mouth to deny that and he placed a fingertip against it. “I know you, Nyssa. Lying to me is like trying to lie to your own reflection—impossible. You think whatever’s happening now doesn’t scare the fuck outta me? Every second of every day this week has been spent wondering where you were, what you were doing, if you were eating breakfast because you enjoy skipping that for reasons I still can’t determine.” Cupping her jaw, he placed his lips to her ear and whispered, “It was spent wondering if you’d been fantasizing about me the way I had been about you; wondering if you were stroking what should so rightfully be my pussy with my name on your lips.”
    Fu-huck. If she exhaled any harder, she was going to hyperventilate. Nyssa restlessly moved from one foot to another. Rubbing her thighs together just right might ease the steadily building tension he’d placed there.
    “Why’re you moving so much, cara ?”he queried.
    Nyssa drew in a sharp inhale.
    Sansone’s hands roamed to the hem of her skirt, playing around the edges.
    “Is there something wrong here?” One finger tapped just the inside of her thigh and she bit down on her bottom lip so hard she tasted blood. There was no more logic. No more sense. No more sanity. He’d stripped her bare without ever really touching her, and Nyssa was on the edge of falling head first into the abyss that was Sansone Sultana.
    “Is it because you’re wet?”
    Oh, God. She shook her head quickly.
    His brows flicked upwards as he gave her a distinctly devilish grin. “I think you’re lying to me.”
    “I’m…I’m not.”
    He stepped completely back, glanced at the locked door and commanded quietly, “Sit on the desk and pull your skirt up to your hips. I want to see for myself.”
    Sweet baby Jesus…
    ***
     
    “Sunny—”
    Was I not clear?” Sansone interrupted. “Do you not understand that you no longer have any control here?” He stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his slacks to keep from grabbing hold of her and nodded toward the closed door. “Out there, you reign, but in here, I do. Nod if you understand.”
    She looked as though she were about to argue, but whatever she saw in his eyes stopped her words. Nyssa gave a simple nod.
    “Good. Now do as I told you.”
    Clenching his jaw, he watched her fight the desire to run, to get out of his presence as quickly as possible. Sansone had no idea what had shifted in him between Saturday morning and now but it happened the moment he’d come home from dinner at his parents’ and found his car parked in his driveway with a note on the windshield informing him his keys were back on the hook in his foyer. He’d wanted to find her then and make her explain why she was treating him like a stranger. However, his momentary frustration turned into cold determination as the days went by and she remained hidden away from him like a rabbit in its burrow.
    Sansone was completely done with swallowing down the need to have her with him. Too many minutes, hours, days had passed where he’d bit the inside of his cheek and watched her amble past him like he was a simple wall fixture. There had been too many times where he stopped his tongue from spilling out everything he’d ever wanted to say to her from the moment her palm