Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 142939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
A gentle knock at the door has Antonio on his feet. He pulls it open before Angelica can knock again.
“Yes, my love?” He takes her waist and kisses her.
“She’s made her first pick for a date.” Angelica grins when he finally lets her go.
Needles prick along my spine. “Who?” I almost bark the word.
She shoots me a curious look. “The talkative one. Carson Falco.”
Her room is dark, and she’s in bed, but she’s not asleep. The light from her cell phone illuminates her beautiful face as she types faster than I even thought possible. Her brow furrows in concentration and worry, and she’s so invested in whatever messages she’s getting back that she doesn’t notice me until I’m standing at the foot of her bed.
She jumps and almost drops her phone, then recovers. “What are you doing in here?”
“What’s got you scared?” I get right to the point as I walk around to stand over her.
She clutches her phone to her chest, hiding it from me.
“Is it him?” I ask and point to the phone. “Because if it is, I’m going to take that phone and smash it right here, right now.”
“Him? You mean Falco? No!” She grips her phone more tightly.
“Then who?” I sit beside her, bracing myself across her by flattening my palm to the bed beside her hip.
“None of your business.”
“The one you met the other night when you snuck out?”
“No,” she says, but she glances away when she says it. So the truth is yes. Whoever she’s texting is the person she met when she snuck out.
“You need to tell me the truth. I can’t have you sneaking out again. It’s dangerous.” I lean closer to her.
She stays quiet for a long while, then asks, “Are you saying that as my brother’s associate or as someone who cares about me?”
“Why can’t it be both?”
She stiffens and turns away.
Wrong answer.
“Carina–”
“Go tell Antonio about me sneaking out. I don’t care anymore. Just get out of my room.” Her phone pings with more incoming messages.
I lean back and take a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “You chose a date with Falco. Why?”
She turns back to me. “Why do you think, Gilly? He’s a young, attractive guy with tons of money.”
I stare her down. She’s holding back, and if I’m right, whatever she’s failing to tell me is what had her spooked earlier, and it’s what has her feverishly texting whoever is currently messaging her again and again.
“Who’s on the phone, Carina?”
She stares up at me defiantly.
With a quick movement, I grip both her wrists and pin them above her head, then climb on top of her, the blanket separating us. Her phone falls to the floor with a soft thunk on the rug.
“Get off me,” she snarls.
“You and I both know I could take that phone and crack the password in under fifteen minutes.” I squeeze her wrists, then force myself to go easy. “Something’s bothering you. Tell me who you’re texting about it.”
“My friends are none of your business.” Her fierceness sends a jolt of need to my cock.
“Everything about you is my business!” I eye her mouth, and then I fuck up. I fuck up royally. Because I can’t stop myself from kissing her hard, from tasting the heaven that rests on her lips like honeyed wine.
She moans, her body warm beneath mine as I swipe my tongue against hers. She answers, kissing me deeply, arching against me as I lose myself in her. Just like I always do. I want her so badly that my brain misfires, my instincts taking over.
It takes all the strength I have to pull myself back, to sit up on the bed and take a deep, shaking breath.
We sit in silence for a while, her wall going back up brick by brick as I try to cling to reason, to duty, to honor.
“Carina, I only want to help you.” I sigh. “Just let me in.”
She leans over the bed and swipes her phone from the floor. With her other hand, she points. “The door’s over there. Don’t let it hit you on the ass on the way out.”
14
CARINA
Gilly sits there for a long moment, neither of us speaking. What else does he want me to say? I gave him his opportunity to tell me the real reason he didn’t want me to go on the date with Falco, but he didn’t take it. I don’t know what he wants from me. If anyone needs to get their shit worked out, it’s him. I’ve got enough battles of my own to deal with.
“Go out on a date with Falco, and I’ll kill him.”
That might actually solve my problem, but it’s really not that easy. I have no idea what the fallout for that would be, not only for Gilly but my brother. But I do know that it would not go over well with the other families.