“To do what you did! It’s my—”
Her voice faltered as I released the tie of her robe, throwing the thin silk to the floor in a heap. Resisting was futile, and she knew it.
We were so connected that if my heart exploded in my chest, we’d die in each other’s arms.
Her hair was still wet, and two fat ribbons of water ran down her skin. I used my tongue to reverse their trails, from the inside of her breasts, around the entire soft flesh, taking each nipple in my mouth, feeling her contract as I did. For as thin as she was, her breasts were full, the perfect shape and size.
“It’s your what, Scarlett.” She didn’t answer. Couldn’t. So I did. “I have every fucking right. Tell me why.”
“Because—because I’m yours.”
“I have every fucking right,” I repeated and then took a few steps back. Allowing fresh air to soothe the burn between us, though the ember never died. It only idled until we kindled it and lost control once again. I was painfully hard, dick in midair between us.
It took a few minutes for her to recover. She blinked herself back into focus, angrier than before—for denying her, for the entire night. Something else was there too. Fear.
“You almost killed thatman!” She stood up to her full height. “After the third punch, Brando! You are so damn strong! He had had enough, but you kept—you kept it up! That was fun for you!”
Fucking right, an inner voice said. She seemed to hear it—it was loud enough to show on my face. But it wasn’tthatmanshe feared for, it was me. Scarlett always worried about my soul, and she took all of my sins to her heart, as though her light could drive out the darkness. When it came to her, there was no darkness in this world frightening enough to stop me.
Her love was the driving force behindme.
Finally, I found a long sleeve top and a pair of training pants. I stuffed a beanie into my pocket. I slipped on a pair of socks and shoved my feet into a pair of tennis shoes.
Scarlett followed me out a few seconds later, dressed in thick pajamas, watching me look for the pod or whatever she called it and my damn earphones. During my training, I usually preferred to focus, to clear my mind, and I couldn’t stand to listen to music. But I needed something to drown out everything else, more noise to equalize the static.
“Where would that have left me, Fausti?” She opened the first drawer to my bedside table, holding all of the wires out to me. “If you would’ve killed that man?”
I took the pod and earphones from her, stuffing those into my pocket too.
“You would’ve been—” she continued.
“With Luca.” I turned to face her. “Yeah. But I resigned myself to that life years ago. I knew it was only a matter of time.”
“A matter of time?” she hardly got out. “What do you mean?”
“You,” I pointed at her.
“Me?” Her mouth fell open.
“Yeah. You. T. R. O. U. B. L. E.” I spelled the word. “Definition: Scarlett Rose Fausti.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” She slammed her hands onto her hips.
“You dance like you do—something that was supposed to stay between the two of us—and every man who sees you becomes wicked.” I touched one temple. “You charm them—make them go a little insane. It’s not your fault, somehow you were born that way, but I’ll be damned if I allow another man to covet what’s mine.”
She swallowed hard. “Oh, I see.” Her voice came out soft.
“You don’t leave this house without me.” I turned to go, but she stopped me.
“That’s not what I was going to say,” she said.
“Explain.”
“You would’ve been taken away from me was what I was going to say.” She waved a hand, almost as an afterthought. “I wasn’t even thinking of Luca.”
I left her alone in our room, fearful that my heart might explode from a mixture of anger and uncertainty.
* * *
