Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 80550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
She places the most sickly sweet kiss on my cheeks she could ever give. The kind a woman would give her husband after forty years of marriage. But I know there’s more hiding behind that kiss. Her lips shudder as they leave my skin, almost as if she has the greatest trouble holding herself back from taking more than she can chew. And my God, it makes me want to slam my lips on hers immediately. But I have to keep myself in check. A promise is a promise after all. I won’t force myself on her because I’m a goddamn gentleman.
“Good girl,” I say.
Her cheeks turn rosy red. And I like the look on her.
“Are you going to let me off the hook now?” she asks stoically. “Can I go?”
I throw her a glance. “You haven’t even eaten breakfast yet.”
“I’ve had a Danish and a slice of apple,” she replies.
“That’s not enough.”
“That’s not for you to ...”
I put my finger on her lips to silence her. Then I grab the fork she tried to stab me with and puncture a piece of melon instead. I slowly bring it to her mouth. “Open up, Tesoro.”
Her lips gently part, and I slide the melon into her mouth and onto her tongue until her lips close around the fork. I watch her swallow the piece of melon and lick my lips because everything she does makes me so damn hungry for more.
I pick up another and feed it to her.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” I reply. “I’m feeding my wife because she won’t feed herself.”
“Ridiculous,” she says as I shove in another piece of melon.
“Is it? A husband is supposed to take care of his wife, remember? And even if you are too busy trying to kill me to have breakfast, I’ll make sure you eat properly.”
I add another piece of melon just for the sake of it and watch the droplets of juice roll down her lips, tempting me to lick them up. God, her skin would probably taste like melon too.
I place the fork down and lean in so close she shudders and closes her eyes, almost as if she’s expecting me to kiss her. Instead, I whisper, “If you can prove to me you can behave and try not to kill me, I’ll give you more freedom.”
When I lean away again, she sucks in a breath and says, “Deal.”
Suddenly, Franco storms inside again, crushing our moment. “I’m sorry for interrupting, sir, but it’s important.”
“What is it?” I grumble as I step away from Stella.
“It’s the Agostinis. They’ve targeted one of your restaurants!”
My eyes widen. “What?”
Lucio. That bastard still can’t stop wrecking everything.
“Does he have a death wish?” I seethe.
“One of your men called and said he has taken one of the servers with him, a woman,” he says.
That bastard. “He’s trying to take someone else as payment.”
Suddenly, Stella grabs my arm. “You have to save her.”
Her sudden insistence makes me do a double take.
“I know what he’s like. You have to get her out of his grasp,” she adds.
I nod, then waltz off. “Franco, let’s go.”
STELLA
I’m left all alone in his giant mansion, and I stroll around to try to entertain myself, while his guards stare at me from every corner. I don’t know whether to feel safe or spooked by their presence. They listen to Matteo, but now that he isn’t here, how do I know for sure they won’t disobey his orders? How do I know they’ll keep me safe?
I avoid them as much as I can while perusing his house, pilfering through his library to find a book to read. I’m not allowed to have my phone yet, so things can get boring pretty quickly. When I’ve finally found something I want to read, an old copy of Wuthering Heights, I walk back upstairs and head into my own room, where there’s a guard stationed outside.
I nod at him and go inside, then close the door.
It’s locked from the outside.
I breathe a sigh of relief.
I feel safer here than out there with them all by myself. Leticia and Sarah have left the house to do some shopping, so I must be the only woman left in this godforsaken house.
I peel away the bandages that Matteo wrapped around my hand and look at the scab that remains. The wound healed quite nicely, but every time I touch my skin, I can still feel his hand running over it, giving me goose bumps.
Sighing, I sit down on my couch and open the book, but I keep reading the same page over and over again, while my mind has already trailed off. I wonder what Matteo’s doing now—if they’re hunting Lucio, or if they’re just trying to get that lady back home safely and out of their grasp.