Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107706 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107706 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
With a last glance at her sleeping form, I extinguished the lights and closed the door. My phone vibrated in my pocket. Instantly, I wondered if someone had found out. I doubted Santino had let anything slip, but you never knew who might have noticed something at the party and immediately told Dante to better their position. I relaxed when Marco’s name flashed across the screen.
I took the call.
“Where the fuck are you?”
“I had to leave.”
“Leave? Why? What the hell, Danilo? I organized this fucking party for you so you could have one last hurrah before you’re bound to one woman forever. Don’t tell me you went off with that blonde chick. Since when do you let a pussy make you forget your best friend?”
“Careful,” I growled, out of instinctual protectiveness. Of course, that raised Marco’s alarm bells.
“What’s going on?”
“I can’t explain now. I need sleep. We can meet tomorrow afternoon.”
“All right, but you better have a good explanation.”
“And you better stop grating on your boss’s nerves.” I ended the call without another word. I dragged myself downstairs, despite the bone-deep tiredness. Carlo was waiting for me in the living room in front of a roaring fire. “Had a cozy night while my fiancée could have been kidnapped, raped, killed?”
Carlo shook his head. “Santino is Dante’s man. I thought he was trustworthy.”
“He obviously isn’t. And neither is Domingo. I don’t care if Pietro thinks he’s good enough to protect Sofia. Until the wedding, you won’t leave her side. Understood? I don’t give a fuck what kind of drugs you have to take to stay awake, but you’ll watch her wherever she goes, or I’ll cut your fucking balls off.”
Carlo nodded. I would have given Domingo a piece of my mind as well if he weren’t Pietro’s man.
A car pulled up in the driveway. Carlo’s hand immediately went to his gun, but I knew who it was. Confirming my suspicions, Anna and Santino entered the house. Santino was holding Anna’s arm in a tight grip as if she were a toddler about to storm off. She looked like one in her strange doll outfit.
“Where is she?” Anna demanded. Did she think I would answer to an order from a spoiled girl?
I turned to Santino. “Make sure your ward doesn’t wake Sofia. She needs to rest. They can chitchat tomorrow.”
“What did you do to her?” Anna hissed, trying to free herself from Santino’s grip but he didn’t release her.
“Go to bed.”
“Tell me what happened, or I’ll tell my father—”
I narrowed my eyes. “What? That you tricked him into letting you attend a party? That’ll go over well.”
“That you dragged Sofia away and did God knows what with her. He’ll punish you. He won’t stay mad at me for long.”
I smiled. “She’ll be my wife soon. Nobody will punish me. And maybe you’re right and your daddy won’t be mad at you . . .” I looked at Santino. “But he’ll be fucking furious at your bodyguard. I can already imagine the public dismemberment. So, unless you want to be responsible for your bodyguard’s very painful death, you’ll go to bed like the good girl you always pretend to be.”
Anna peered up at Santino’s face. He was stone-faced, but his eyes were burning with fury. At me, definitely at her, and probably at Dante for making him a spoiled kid’s bodyguard when he’d loved being an Enforcer so much.
“Good night,” I snapped and headed upstairs toward a vacant bedroom, glad to get some rest. It had taken considerable effort not to lose it completely in front of Anna and Santino.
I undressed, clothes but before I stepped into the shower, I caught the hint of pink on my cock. I turned on the water and let it wash away the proof of my transgression. “Fuck.”
I’d never really considered Sofia in a sexual way, not even after she’d flashed her boobs at me. I hadn’t allowed myself to think of her sexually, but her body had called to me tonight. I’d wanted her. Deep down I still wanted her. This had been a too short taste of something I wasn’t allowed to have until our wedding. After tonight, I doubted Sofia would feel the same way. A horrible experience like that wouldn’t make her eager for sex.
I closed my eyes, shoving those thoughts aside.
I’d messed up often in the past, and now I needed to figure out a way to make it up to my fiancée. Problem was my pride. It had always been and would always be a problem.
I woke on top of the covers. At first, I wasn’t sure where I was, then everything came crashing down. The party, my flirting with Danilo, the sex . . . almost sex? I wasn’t even sure what to call it.
The slight soreness between my legs reminded me of whatever it had been, and with it came the humiliation, sadness, and again this small flame of anger that steadily grew in my chest. I pushed myself into a sitting position. I was in my bedroom in my family’s lodge. Relief flooded me. Danilo hadn’t taken me to Minneapolis. I wasn’t worried about how I’d be punished; I was terrified about worrying my parents, about causing them distress when they had suffered enough already.