Images intruded on a loop. Enzo as I remembered him: shirtless, with dark eyes that always saw too much of me and a thrilling smile. Enzo with tears in his eyes the first time he told me he loved me. The hunger that always burned dark in his eyes and flushed his skin when he wanted me. The echo of old desires stirred, persistent yet unwelcome.
I shifted, something restless and uncomfortable stirring just beneath the surface. My hand slipped under the blankets and into my panties, where I was soaked and swollen from just thinking about him. My back arched as my fingers began to move against my slick clit before diving deep. Enzo was right there, hovering over me with a sexy, teasing smile.
“You come when I tell you to,” he commanded.
I smiled, arching into my touch as he talked dirty to me, reminding me how much he loved it when thoughts of him soaked my panties. I was so close that every muscle strained toward pleasure, reaching for that elusive orgasm.
A low, mechanical hum tore through the night air, and it wasn’t my vibrator, which still rested inside my suitcase. My eyes flew open and I sat up straight, heart pounding as I glanced around my dark room.
The only thing I knew for sure was that the sound didn’t come from inside the bedroom. I got out of bed and tiptoed to the window, where moonlight had washed the grounds in a soft, silver light. I squinted to bring the faintest details into focus across the expansive lawn.
The hum was still there, and it was mechanical, not organic.
Every single nerve within me snapped to attention, and I looked closer, desperate to find the source of the hum before I overreacted.
Before I went someplace I shouldn’t.
Chapter 12
Enzo
The knock was quick, quiet, and urgent. I was on my feet before the sound finished echoing, already reaching for the door. I pulled it open without hesitation.
Serenity stood there.
For half a second, confusion set in. On the heels of that confusion came arousal. She wore a long, silky nightgown that showcased her curves. Those thin straps that rested against her shoulders and the way the fabric clung to her like the devil himself was behind it set my blood on fire. Her hair fell in loose waves around her shoulders, and her nipples were unmistakably hard beneath the thin material. I thought she was here for me. For us.
Then I looked at her eyes.
Big and blue like usual, but they were also wide and alert. Filled with fear. Her lush mouth parted like she’d just finished a race, but then I heard it—the way she said my name. “Enzo?—”
“What is it, Ren?”
She didn’t answer. Instead, she grabbed my wrist and pulled me down the hall before I could ask again. Her grip was tight and urgent, all business despite the way my eyes kept focusing on hergorgeous ass. There was no hesitation. No embarrassment. Just a grim determination.
Her room was dark, lit only by the moonlight that spilled through the window. It smelled like her: clean and warm with just a hint of sensual femininity. It was like being transported back to the past, and when I spotted her rumpled bedsheets, tossed back as if she’d exited her bed in a hurry, my throat went dry.
Ren wasn’t focused on those details, though. She tugged me so close to the window my hip hit the sill. “Listen.” She pointed to the sky just outside the window, one long finger to her lips.
I went completely still, and that’s when I heard it.
The low mechanical hum was steady and controlled, too fucking precise to be natural and too quiet at this time of night to be anything other than deliberate. My body turned to ice the way it always did when threats edged a little too close. “What the fuck is that?” I whispered.
She shook her head, leaning so close to the window I thought she might fall through it, and my hands went to her hips. “No idea,” she answered breathlessly.
I reached just past her to the red phone on her nightstand and picked it up. Seconds passed like hours until one of the guards picked it up. “What the fuck is this?”
There was a long pause, and then the voice was low and calm. “Drone, boss. Routine perimeter sweep.”
My shoulders lowered a fraction. “This late?” Were they trying to scare the fuck out of everyone?
“This is the best time for surveillance,” he replied in a serious tone. “If someone was watching you, this is the best time to get onto the property.”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “Yeah, right. Thanks.”
“Sorry to alarm you, Boss.”
“No worry,” I assured him and then ended the call and placed the phone back onto the receiver, steeling myself before I looked at Ren again.
