Chapter 3 - Temptation
1020 Words
Alessia didn’t move.
Didn’t blink.
Didn’t give him the satisfaction.
So Luca decided to make her.
He leaned back into his chair and snapped his fingers once.
A dancer approached immediately.
She was stunning — long legs, silk robe barely tied, confidence practiced and smooth. She slipped onto Luca’s lap like she’d done it a hundred times.
Because she had.
Her thigh on his.
Her fingers trailed slowly down his chest, over the crisp white of his shirt.
Alessia’s spine stiffened.
Luca didn’t look at the dancer.
He looked at Alessia.
“Dance,” he said calmly.
The robe slid from the dancer’s shoulders.
Soft skin under red light. Slow movement. Controlled rhythm.
The music blasted — bass vibrating through the private room.
The dancer moved against him deliberately, arching, rolling her hips in slow circles, arching her back and letting her buttocks be all over Luca face.
Her hands glided over Luca’s shoulders.
He allowed it.
Allowed her closeness.
Allowed the illusion.
But his eyes never left Alessia.
“Does this bother you?” he asked casually.
Alessia crossed her arms tighter.
“You’re proving exactly what I thought.”
“And what’s that?”
“That you confuse attention with power.”
The dancer leaned down, whispering something in Luca’s ear. Her lips brushed his jaw.
Alessia’s stomach twisted.
Luca’s hand slid to the dancer’s waist — firm, possessive.
His fingers pressed just enough to guide her movements.
The dancer arched more boldly.
Slow.
Provocative.
Her body moving against his lap in a rhythm meant to tempt.
Alessia’s pulse spiked.
He was hard to look away from.
Hard lines. Calm expression. Complete control even in what he’s doing.
He tilted his head slightly.
“Look at me,” he murmured.
She realized she had been staring at his hand on the dancer’s hip.
Heat rushed up her neck.
“I am looking,” she said sharply trying to cool her mind down.
“No,” he corrected softly. “You’re watching.”
The dancer’s fingers slid lower, tracing the buttons of his shirt.
Luca caught her wrist gently.
Not harsh.
Not angry.
Just controlled.
“That’s enough,” he said.
The dancer froze.
He reached into his pocket, handed her a thick roll of cash without breaking eye contact with Alessia.
“Leave.”
She obeyed instantly.
The door shut behind her.
Silence.
Heavy.
Charged.
In control, a scene that showed it to her perfectly.
Alessia swallowed.
“You could’ve had her,” she said coolly. “Why stop?”
Luca stood slowly.
Walked toward her.
Unhurried and unbothered.
“She doesn’t interest me.”
He stopped inches away.
Close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from him — mixed with the faint scent of perfume that wasn’t hers.
His hand came up.
Brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear.
Slow.
Intentional.
“But you,” he murmured, voice lower now, rougher at the edges, “are standing in my club, in my world… jealous.”
“I’m not jealous.”
He leaned down slightly.
His lips almost touching her ear.
“Your breathing changed.”
Her heart slammed harder.
He was right.
His fingers slid down her arm — not indecent, not aggressive — just enough to make her skin spark.
“You don’t like the idea of another woman touching me,” he continued softly.
“And you don’t like that I don’t care.” She replied sharply.
He smirked.
“Oh, you care.”
His hand hovered at her waist.
Not grabbing.
Waiting.
Daring her to move away.
She didn’t.
That was the dangerous part.
“You wanted to make me jealous,” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“And?”
His thumb pressed lightly against her hip, drawing her half an inch closer.
It worked.”
The music below surged louder.
His hand slid to her lower back, firm but not forceful. Claiming without permission.
“You walked into my territory tonight,” he murmured.
“And you walked into mine at the gala.”
“Difference is,” he said softly, leaning closer, “I wanted you there.”
Her breath faltered.
His eyes dropped to her lips. Those lips screamed innocence and wanted to devour it not harshly but she begging for it.
He looked back to her eyes.
“You think I brought that dancer here because I wanted her?” he asked quietly.
She didn’t answer.
“I brought her because I wanted to see if you’d look away.”
She hadn’t.
His jaw tightened.
“You didn’t.”
For a moment, the atmosphere turned hot and he raised his hands and drew a thin invincible line from her cleavage spot to her neck.
Alessia could feel her body betraying her and her senses clouded. She was losing herself.
Luca held her neck not tight but firm to draw her face very close to his.
Her scent gave him a bulge that the dancer could not. “I shouldn’t do this now.” He repeated it over in his mind and let go of her neck.
He almost lost control.
Just slightly.
He almost kissed her.
Almost.
His forehead nearly touched hers.
“You still won’t kneel,” he murmured.
“Never.” She said with her breath heavy and scattered.
His eyes darkened.
“Good.”
His voice dropped.
“I prefer when you fight.”
His phone rang.
The shift was immediate.
He stepped back.
Cold again.
Untouchable.
He answered without breaking eye contact.
“Yes.”
A pause.
His expression hardened.
“Find him before she does.”
He ended the call.
Alessia’s stomach tightened. “Find who?”
Luca adjusted his cuff calmly.
“You should leave.”
“Why?”
He stepped closer once more — but this time there was no heat.
Only warning.
“Because the war you started tonight,” he said quietly, “just became real.”
And for the first time since she met him —
Alessia wasn’t sure whether she had walked into his world…
Or whether he had just pulled her deeper into it.
- Writer
