He brought his face right to hers. “We don’t have time for your anger, so put a lid on it.”
Even though it was dark, he could see enough to know her face had turned red, and suddenly she was wriggling and kicking with even more fury and calling him every expletive under the sun. In moments, he’d twisted her flat onto her back, pinning her beneath him.
Niccolo had been living with the memory of the last time Georgia had been pinned beneath him for four months. It was a memory he’d tried his damnedest to eradicate, but just as he’d tried to rid his mind of all memories of her, it had been impossible, and now it was taking all his control to tune out that this was Georgia beneath him, her hot breath breathing fire on his face. The danger they were in meant there was no time for any indulgence other than escape.
Wrists secured to the side of her head, he hovered his face an inch over hers. “Georgia, that’s enough. Now calm down.”
Still wriggling and bucking as best she could when practically every inch of her was trapped, the beautiful face he’d carried everywhere with him contorted with rage. “I’ll calm down when you get off me, you cheating bastard.”
“I never cheated, and I’ll get off you when I know you’re not going to smash something else on my head.”
“The only thing I want to smash is your testicles with my knee. Ihateyou.”
“I know you do, but right now we don’t have time for your hate.”
Incandescent with fury, she lifted her head as if to headbutt him, but there was no headbutt, and any retort went no further than the tip of her tongue, for suddenly their mouths found each other, their lips coming together and fusing in a hard, stormy exchange of saliva and tongues that practically melded their faces together. No sooner had Niccolo’s senses responded to his body’s unwitting lead than he felt a sharp pain in his bottom lip, followed a moment later by the taste of blood.
She’d bitten him.
His head reared back. His fury now matching hers, he glowered down at her, wondering where the hell this Tasmanian Devil had come from.
But Tasmanian Devil’s didn’t turn their face away from your anger and burst into tears, and when an instant later you released your hold on their wrists, they didn’t let you slide an arm around their waist to lift them upright, and they certainly didn’t throw their arms around your neck and start sobbing into your chest.
Not knowing what the hell to do, Niccolo did the only thing he could do, which was to hold Georgia tightly to him and let her sob her emotions dry.
He could smell the faint scent of her shampoo and feel her voluptuous breasts meshed to his chest, and closed his eyes, willing all the sensations ravaging him to disappear.
He hadn’t believed she would be here. He’d been certain the whole thing was a trap; would never have come if Georgia’s apartment hadn’t been in darkness. He’d been a beat away from getting out of his car to knock on the door when he’d noticed the car parked across the road opposite her front door and the two bulky figures sat in it. Intuition had told him to keep driving, but he still hadn’t fully believed what Rico had relayed to him in his voicemail.
Goddammit, he should be in Switzerland by now. All the plans he’d made had gone to hell. He needed to get Georgia out of this apartment and get her to safety before the Espositos caught up with them.
Niccolo’s failure to marry their precious princess Siena meant everyone he loved was now in danger. As he only truly loved his brother and Dante, and they both had the finances and means to take care of themselves, he’d escaped the wedding having convinced himself that the only realistic target for the Espositos wrath was himself. He’d never thought for a moment that they would go after Georgia. He could only assume it was because their relationship was relatively recent that they’ddecided to target her. Whatever their reasons, the bastards were using her as a means to flush him out.
He didn’t love her, of course, but he’d cared about her once, deeply, something the Espositos knew damned well. When Niccolo had agreed to marry Siena, Lorenzo had made it crystal clear that if he continued seeing Georgia, he would need to make her inferior status clear. The world needed to know Siena came top of any pecking order.
Unwilling to call time on such an intensely satisfying affair, Niccolo had made Georgia an offer he’d been certain she would jump at. He’d offered to buy her apartments in both Florence and London, to pick up all the bills and pay her an allowance that meant she never needed to work again. The response to his generous offer had been his first glimpse of Georgia in Tasmanian Devil mode.
When her tears had quietened, he said, “Listen to me. We’ve already wasted too much time. We can’t stay here. It isn’t safe. The Espositos are coming for us. We need to leavenow.”
She sniffed and disentangled her arms before wrapping them tightly around her breasts and edging away from him. Throwing him a look of pure loathing, she said. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Dio, how pig-headed could one woman be? “You have two choices,” he said roughly, getting to his feet. “If you want to live, then come with me. If you want to take your chances with the Espositos, then stay. That’s it. Those are your choices.” And if she chose the latter option, he would forcibly remove her from the apartment. Either way, Georgia was going with him whether she liked it or not. He would just prefer to do it without having to throw her over his shoulder. The noise of their fight meant the police had probably already been called. If she went back into Tasmanian Devil mode, the whole neighbourhood would hear and report an abduction, and the last thing he needed was tohave the police on his tail while the Espositos were hunting him. Anyone who thought the police could help against Italy’s most powerful and dangerous family was a fool.
Through the growing moonlight, he watched a host of emotions flitter over Georgia’s beautiful face before she gave a sharp sigh of resignation, no doubt remembering everything he’d told her about the people currently hunting them.
“Fine.” Her tone was as mutinous as her body language. “But just so you know, I’m only coming with you because I have no other choice.”
“Do you think I’d be here if there was any other choice?” he demanded. “Now get your stuff together – we leave now.”
Georgia treaded down the dark stairwell behind Niccolo and wondered if this was really happening, if she really was creeping out of a stranger’s flat with Niccolo in the dead of night, fleeing from the family he’d so cruelly thrown her away for. Everything that had happened today…
She could scarcely believe he was really here.
Part of her longed to wake up; the part of her trying to convince herself that this was all some pregnancy-related dream. Nightmare.
Maybe if she didn’t have the taste of Niccolo in her mouth, she could believe it.
Where that kiss had come from she would never know; knew only that it had been another extension of all the emotions that had been consuming her in that moment.
