Because touching you again would be a mistake. Because every time I have you, it gets harder to remember why this arrangement exists. Because I’m supposed to be protecting you, not corrupting you further.
“Miami was…” I search for the right words. “A lapse in judgment.”
“A lapse in judgment.” She repeats the phrase as if it tastes bitter. “Is that what you call the best sex of my life?”
The admission hits me in the chest. “Kasimira?—”
“Was it bad for you? Did I do something wrong?”
“Christ, no.” The words come out rougher than intend. “It was perfect. You were perfect.”
“Then why?—”
“Because perfect doesn’t last in my world. Because women who get too close to me end up dead or broken or both.” I drag a hand through my hair. “Because you deserve better than a man who kills people for a living.”
She’s quiet for a long moment, studying my face. When she speaks, her voice is steady.
“Don’t I get to decide what I deserve?”
“Not when it comes to this.”
“This?”
I gesture between us, at the electricity crackling in the space that separates us. “Whatever this is becoming.”
“What if I want it to become something?”
“Then you’re being naive.”
The words are meant to push her away, but they only make her step closer.
“You know what I think?” she says, tilting her face up to look at me. “I think you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared of anything.”
“You’re scared of me. Of how I make you feel.”
She’s right, and we both know it. This slip of a girl who survived two years with my monster of a son has me completely undone. She makes me want things I gave up on decades ago—peace, companionship, a future that doesn’t end in blood.
“You should go back to your bedroom,” I tell her.
“Should I?”
Instead of leaving, she moves close enough to touch if I wanted to.
And God help me, I want to.
“Stop looking at me like that,” I warn.
“Like what?”
“Like you want me to fuck you against a priceless work of art.”
The crude language makes her pupils dilate. “Maybe I do.”
My control snaps.
I back her against the wall beside a Caravaggio worth five hundred thousand dollars, my hands framing her face as I capture her mouth with mine. She responds immediately, her arms coming up to circle my neck as she melts into me.
