Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36109 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 181(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36109 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 181(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Closing my eyes, I ripped my mouth from hers and pressed our foreheads together. “I’m not supposed to touch you, sole,” I rasped, my voice desperate with hunger. “So why the hell does it feel like you already belong to me?”
Gabriella whimpered, and the sound went straight to my cock. I gently squeezed her tits and rocked my pelvis into her. The little voice telling me to stop was almost gone, replaced with her sexy sounds and the pounding of my heart.
Then my phone chimed with a text, and it was as though a bucket of cold water was dumped over my head.
“Fuck!” I shouted in frustration as I instantly set Gabriella on her feet and backed away.
Shock washed over her face, and she blinked her glazed eyes, clearing some of it away. “What…” She shook her head and licked her lips, nearly breaking the resolve I’d grasped onto. “What just happened?”
“That shouldn’t have happened,” I rumbled as I built my walls up around me again.
“Why?” Gabriella whispered brokenly. “I know you want me.”
I rubbed a hand over my face before threading them both through my hair. Then I met her confused gaze and shuttered my eyes, locking away my emotions. “You were never mine to want.”
“Then why?”
I shook my head and gave her one last shred of feeling before I locked myself up tight. “That doesn’t stop me from wanting to keep you.”
7
DOMENICO
After that night, I was even more vigilant about keeping space between Gabriella and me. I even considered approaching Rafa about having someone else assigned to guard her. But not only would he want an explanation that I couldn’t give, every time I thought about someone else getting close to her—I saw red.
Gabriella didn’t seem to mind the distance, only interacting with me when necessary, which both relieved and chafed me. I shouldn’t want her to feel the same pain that I did, but the obsessed, possessive asshole inside me wanted to know she was still mine.
However, I was pissed about the dark circles under her eyes a week later. Rafa had given me shit over it, too. But when I reminded him that the only way to make sure she was sleeping was to be in bed with her, he changed his tune immediately.
“I think I’m going to head out early,” Gabriella told Aston when he walked into her office with a folder.
He set the packet on her desk, then frowned as he looked her over. I clenched my jaw so I wouldn’t tell him to keep his eyes to himself. “Is everything okay, chérie? You look like you’ve lost weight.”
Frustration bubbled under the surface as I thought about her lack of appetite lately. I’d noticed that she’d lost a few pounds as well, but she brushed me off when I tried to get her to eat more.
“I’m fine. I just haven’t been sleeping well.”
Aston’s gaze slid in my direction, but as usual, my eyes and expression were unreadable.
“Take all the time you need, Gabriella.”
“Gabbi,” I grunted before I could think better of it.
Aston and Gabriella both looked at me, his expression confused and hers hinting at irritation.
“He can call—”
I ignored Gabriella, keeping my eyes on Aston when I reiterated, “You call her Gabbi.”
His mouth curved slightly before he nodded and murmured, “Je comprends.” Then he turned back to Gabriella. “Take as much time as you need, chérie. Bonne nuit.”
He gave me a nod in farewell before leaving.
“Are you ready to go, sole?” I asked her softly.
“Sì.” She grabbed the folder Aston had dropped off and picked up two more before she stood.
“You need to eat,” I muttered as I waited for her to come around the desk and cross in front of the chair I was occupying in the corner of the room—facing the door.
“Stop babying me, Mico,” she snapped. “I have a mother and two older brothers, so I don’t need anyone else trying to control me.”
“Caring isn’t the same as trying to control you, Gabriella,” I corrected her.
“Fine. Then everyone needs to stop caring so much for me.”
“Being tired and hungry certainly hasn’t dulled that sharp tongue of yours, sole.”
Gabriella shot me a scathing glare, and I held back a smile. I much preferred her anger to no emotion at all. Yes, I was a hypocrite, but admitting it didn’t change anything.
We took the route from her office to the parking lot that went through the lobby so she could say good night to Gia, the gallery’s daytime receptionist.
“Buonanotte, Gia,” Gabriella said with a soft smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Gia waved brightly, her overly sunny disposition making me mentally cringe. “See you tomorrow!”
She was a nice girl, but she could be a lot to take. However, the people she greeted at the front always seemed to take to her, which definitely made them more likely to open their wallets.