Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Angelo stops pacing and looks at me. His gaze is hard, intense, almost painful. “Tommy won’t touch you. I swear he won’t.”
I look up at the ceiling. “That’s not the point,” I say, blowing out a breath. God, this man’s possessiveness is sexy, but also a pain in the ass. “Serena’s the issue.”
“I’ll take care of her too.” He resumes pacing. “No, we can do this. We’ll play up the fling aspect. We’ll make him think this is sexual between us, like I’m totally obsessed with you and can’t help myself. Then you’ll use that against him.”
I rub my face with both hands. “This’ll never work. He won’t believe it.”
“Why not?”
“Because, look at you.” I gesture at him then point to myself. “And look at me. You’re rich and powerful. You can bang any girl in the city you want. Why the heck would you be into someone like me?”
He steps toward me, and I am very intensely aware of how small my kitchen is, and how much space he takes up.
All the air gets sucked from my lungs when he brushes his fingers across my arm. “You don’t think I could be into you?”
“I just mean, I don’t know, it doesn’t feel, you know, believable.” I’m stammering. One touch and this man’s got me puddling. Holy hell, this is really bad.
“You’re a beautiful woman, Claudia. There’s a reason Tommy puts you in that cage. Half the men in the club can’t take their eyes off you when you’re up there.” He leans in closer. “It drives me fucking crazy.”
“Serena’s the pretty one,” I say, feeling miserable and thrumming with lust. “I’m just the hard worker.”
“You don’t see yourself clearly at all, baby.”
I chew on my lip. The way he’s staring at me, I wonder if he’s right. Because he’s definitely looking at me, he’s definitely seeing me.
“If we do this, that means we’ll have to flirt. We might even have to go up to a room again.”
“That won’t be a problem.”
“What if it’s a problem for me?”
“You came in my lap last night, baby.” His hands press against my hips. My breath hitches in my throat. “You think you can’t act like you want me? You’re breathing hard right now. You look like you’d rip off your clothes and let me lick, suck, and fuck every inch of your gorgeous body.”
I stifle a groan. He’s absolutely right about that.
“This is a risk,” I whisper. “If I screw it up. If Serena gets hurt—”
“I’ll kill Tommy if it comes to that.” His jaw works and one hand brushes across my cheek and rests in my hair. “I don’t want to do that. It’ll be extremely inconvenient for me. But I will to protect you and your sister.”
“You’ll kill him? When this is all over?” Hope blossoms in my chest. I never really thought we could get Serena away from Tommy, but if he’s dead—
He nods slowly. “That’s part of the plan. That doesn’t bother you?”
I put my hands on his chest and stare into his eyes.
“Fuck no, it doesn’t.”
I get up on my toes and kiss him.
He seems surprised. For a half second, I linger there, lips on his, wondering if I just crossed a line and screwed up and totally misread this situation—
But then he crushes me back with a hunger, lips parting, tongue invading my mouth, and god, that’s a kiss, that’s a kiss to wipe away all other bad kisses. It’s better than the one in room 33, better than the kiss I dreamed about early this morning. He kisses me like he needs me, like if he doesn’t get to taste me, to touch me, he won’t wake in the morning. And the only reason he wants to wake is to taste me some more.
All the lines are blurred. We’re having a fake sexual relationship, but it’s also very real. I’m working for Angelo, but I’m also working for Tommy. I’m doing this for my sister, who doesn’t actually want to be free.
I’m trapped in this situation. And all I really want is to keep kissing this man.
I whimper when his hand grips my hair. I want him to keep going, to undress me right here in my kitchen and show me what it would feel like to have his skin on my naked body.
But instead, he stops and pulls back, breathing through his nose like a bull.
“Why are you stopping?” I ask and I hate myself for saying it.
“Because if I don’t, I’m going to be here all night, but I have a job to do.” He’s gritting his teeth. “Fuck. I have to go.”
Pathetic. So pathetic. He’s already making excuses to ditch me. I nod a little as he steps back and try my best to gather what dignity I have left. “I get it. This was last minute. And hey, we’re just faking the whole sex thing, right?”