Under Pressure [IAD Agency] (Siren Publishing Classic)

trapped by those intense amber eyes, eyes so much like Bella’s but with a hard edge that reminded her of a large jungle cat honing in on his prey. With his long dark hair and stubble on his face as if he hadn’t shaved for a few days, he looked dark, dangerous, and definitely yummy. It had been years since she had last seen Salvatore Moretti in the flesh, not that she hadn’t thought of him with frightening regularity.
    “Lizzy?” Those amber beams moved down slowly, taking in every inch of her body then moving back up. A slow smile spread across his face. “Well, well, little Lizzy has grown up.”
    “It has been about five years actually. It seemed I was never around when you came home to visit,” Liz replied coolly as she fought to hide her reaction to his blatantly sexual perusal. She rose from her stool to greet him, gasping as she was hauled up against is massive frame in a hug that brought her own body against his.
    Pulling back swiftly, Liz pushed her hands onto his chest. When he didn’t release her, she pushed again until he let go. She took to her seat, struggling for composure, hoping that he would not see the signs of how affected she was by the contact with his hard body.
    Sal frowned when she pulled away so quickly. Waving toward the back, Liz stammered without thinking. “Bella is going to be so happy to see you.”
    “Bella? She’s here? She’s visiting from New York this weekend?” Sal glanced around the room, craving the sight of his little sister as Danny visibly started to fidget and Finn blanched.
    “Oh…umm, yeah. She’s here. She’ll be back in a moment.” Liz’s eyes darted to Danny and Finn as she rushed on. “She’s just in the back. Um…bathroom. She’ll be back in a moment,” she repeated.
    Danny stayed silent, Finn’s body tensed up, but Sal barely noticed. Unable to wait and before anyone could move, Sal started off heading down the hallway toward the back of the bar.
    “Oh shit, this is not good. Fuck, this is so not good,” Finn kept repeating, with his eyes closed.

Chapter Eight
     
    Jason pulled up short once he reached the end of the hallway, stopping next to the fire exit in the far back. His eyes had gone to liquid mercury, flashing silver in the dim lights as Bella just stood there, still staring at him in shocked surprise.
    “I didn’t peg you for that kind of girl, Bella. Do you always fuck and run? Or did you have a husband or boyfriend to get back to?”
    Bella gaped at him, astonished at what he had just said, before spiraling into utter black fury. “What? You…you bastard, how dare you?” Rage blinded her as she did something that she had never done before in her entire life that shocked her to her core. Her hand flew to his face and slapped him with a force surprisingly strong for her petite frame that had his head snapping to the side.
    Jason had let his head move with the force of her slap since he regretted his words the moment they had left his mouth. He slowly turned his head back to her. Horrified at what had come out of his mouth, he still couldn’t stop himself as anger had him pressing on.
    “What was I supposed to think with you leaving like that?” Ice all but dripped from his cold British tone. “If you just wanted a quick shag, you could have just said so. I would have been obliging.”
    “Screw you, you asshole!”
    “Oh, but you did, sweetheart. And I wasn’t done with you. I’m still not done. Are you going to deny that you wanted me? Are you going to deny that I made you come so hard you were screaming? Am I so wrong to be pissed at the way you ran out? Bugger it, you ran!”
    To his horror, tears ran hot from her pain-filled eyes as she tried to frantically break herself away from his grasp, but he held tight in his unyielding yet gentle hold.
    “Let me go…you, you…It wasn’t like that. Oh God…” she cried.
    Her tears broke him. Christ, he was an asshole.
    He didn’t deserve her.
    He needed to touch her.
    Jason was overcome with a sense of possession he had never felt before. Mine , was all he could think. He wanted this woman as his. Gone were the suave moves he was known for, gone was any sense of normalcy. He was in unknown territory. His chest hurt with the emotions crashing through him like a violent storm. Bloody hell, her tears were hurting him . No longer capable of holding back, he pushed her up against the wall and took her mouth with his, wanting to erase the pain he could see in her