I snorted. That wasn’t something I was going to admit. Retracing my steps, I emerged in the back of the store, where the meat counter and sandwich area was. “Aren’t you taking this stalking thing to another level?”
“It seems that way.” Vincenzo leaned against the domed cooler, packed with cured meats. “Why else would you pay a locksmith to make an emergency visit to your house?”
That had been at the crack of dawn, the first thing I’d done after waking up with sore muscles reminding me of the nocturnal intrusion.
“I upgraded the security system too,” I said with a hint of smugness.
The way he studied me had my breath catching in the back of my throat.
“I know.” Vincenzo ran a white cloth through his fingers. A kitchen towel. “But you’re not going to get rid of me that easily, fiore.”
“Clearly,” I muttered. I should hate that. But seeing so much of him, so frequently, was making me all confused. He’d left me to sleep a mere eight hours ago. “What do you want, Vincenzo?”
That fierce brown gaze darkened. “You. On your knees. Confessing your sins.”
I choked. My hand smacked against my chest, and I gaped. “Excuse me?”
He continued to stare, silent and steady. An immovable presence I wasn’t going to escape. At least, not escape any time soon.
Might as well play along.Lust fired through my veins. “You’re dreaming.”
“Am I?” The corner of his mouth quirked up. “Should we test that theory?”
“No!” I planted my hands on my hips.
Vincenzo pushed off the cooler and strode forward. There was no point running. I wasn’t in any real danger. But that knowledge didn’t tame the rush in my veins. The flight or fight instinct kicked into overdrive as he prowled closer.
When he was five feet away, he slowed the next step and arched a brow.
He knew me. Knew that I wasn’t going to stand there and take it.
I shoved the display. Boxes toppled down, tumbling over his path. Several hit his head as he lunged.
But I was already sprinting in the other direction. With a breathless scream, I made it to the backroom. There had to be an exit somewhere. I scrambled through the boxes and flat carts, my heart hammering wildly.
“You’re not escaping,” Vincenzo called out. “Not this time.”
“Don’t you have anything else to do except stalk me?” I called back, but I wasn’t sure I wanted an answer to that.
What he said sent a rush of unwanted delight through me.
“There is nothing I’d rather do than chase you, fiore.” He was close. I felt the energy of his body, the heat, the raw masculine power, right before his rough hands snatched my waist. “Because when I catch you, I fuck you.”
“Enzo!”
But he was already lifting me in the air.
I crashed into a pile of empty boxes. Not hard. Nothing dangerous. As I squirmed about, trying to right myself, his hands clamped around my wrists. Hauling me to my feet, something metal flicked. And then the cuff was around my right wrist.
“Enzo, what the hell?” I shouted.
It cinched around my left.
Pulling me back a few feet, Vincenzo lifted my hands and draped the center of the cuff over a hook that dangled from the ceiling by a chain—why there was a hook and chain back here didn’t seem important right now. He grabbed the length, pulling the chain so my arms lifted high. My feet were still on the floor, but my arms hung suspended over my head.
Triumph glittered in his eyes. “Now, I’m going to punish you for changing the locks.”
“Why?” I insisted. “It was a perfectly natural thing to do!”
