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)
“Are they all like this?” I ask, trying not to sound incredulous, but this has been one hell of a day already.
“More or less. I’ve been gone for a while and I guess my mother did some updates in my absence, but I never really cared what my place looked like anyway.”
“Your parents live here too?”
“A few houses down. My sister Laura’s nearby, and my brother Davide and his wife, Stefania, are over there. Only Elena and her husband live away from the oasis.”
“One big, happy family.” I accept my glass and take a long drink.
“I was thinking…” He trails off and pulls me against him. I look up into his face as he leans down to kiss me softly. “Before you answer, think about it.”
“Think about what?” I already don’t like where this is going.
“You should come stay with me.”
I put one hand on his chest. “Angelo—”
“For a little while. You can still work at Cage. I won’t stop you. But at least when you’re not working, you’ll be safe, and I can put that security detail on your sister instead.”
I blow out a breath. “You’re just trying to get me in your bed some more.”
“Yes. Absolutely.”
I take another drink and he lets me go when I wriggle away. I pace across the room, thinking about it. This is a beautiful place and we’d have plenty of room—but there’s still a voice in the back of my head telling me to be careful.
I have one goal. Anything else is secondary. Help Serena, get her sober, get her away from Cage and from Tommy. I don’t know how staying here will help that. If anything, it could make things harder.
Though I like the idea of diverting more resources towards keeping her safe.
“I can really keep working at Cage?” I ask, crossing my arms, glass held near my face.
“I won’t stop you, but I will keep making it clear that you aren’t safe when you’re there.”
“I’ve never been safe at that place.” I look away from him and close my eyes.
For so long, I’ve put Serena’s needs before mine. I sacrificed a lot working at Cage—opportunities, time, my freaking dignity. I did it all for my sister, and now, for the very first time in almost a year, I’m thinking about doing something for myself.
It feels wrong. Like I’m betraying her. But doing this won’t necessarily mean she’s in a worse-off position. If Angelo says I can keep going to Cage then I believe him. I don’t like being away from my apartment, in case Serena needs me for something, but it’s not like she couldn’t just call. Or come here.
“I’m not saying no.” I hesitate, trying to find the right words. “I mean, I want to, but it’s just—” I gesture at him. “You’re asking me to move in with you, and I don’t even know what we’re doing.”
I feel stupid and needy, but if I’m going to make an enormous decision like this, I have to know what he’s thinking. I don’t want to be some whirlwind affair that ends the second he gets sick of me—it’ll break my heart, and that’ll only be worse if I’m living in his house with him.
Saying all that leaves me too vulnerable.
He comes closer. His head tilts to the side. “You know what we’re doing.”
“I know, we’re having sex, but—”
“You think this is just sex?” His eyebrows raise. “Are you telling me that’s how you see this?”
“No, I just mean—” Frustration bubbles up. I feel my old habits break through. “You’ve been too busy fucking me to actually say how you feel.” It’s too sarcastic and I didn’t mean to put so much bite behind those words.
But it just makes Angelo smile. “I like when you snap at me,” he says.
“Great, keep acting like this, and you’ll get plenty of shit from me.”
“I’m not just fucking you. I’m not inviting you to stay with me in my house because you’re only some toy to be filled and pleasured at my whim.”
A shiver runs down my spine. “That wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.”
He touches my cheek and kisses me. “I want this. I want you in my life. I’m not sure exactly what that’s going to look like because everything’s up in the air, but I know that when it settles, I still want you here.”
My heart’s racing and my head’s light. I feel that strange spinning sensation like his house is on a fault line and we’re tilting into the abyss. “I want that too.”
“Good. I won’t rush you. Think about it and take your time.” He kisses me again. “All I ask is that you spend the day with me.”
“It’s going to be hard to think with you distracting me all the time.”
“Good. Remember what I said before? I have a lot of surfaces that haven’t been tested with you yet.” Another, deeper kiss. “Or you can go back to your apartment if that’s what you really want.”