Adeline whimpers and opens willingly to me, welcoming me in as she parts her lips. My tongue slowly dips in, thrusting and intermingling with her own. She tastes like mint from her toothpaste, and I can't get enough of the taste. My hands hold her in place as I devour her, wanting more and more until I finally break away to take a ragged breath.
She's panting too, her eyes wide with surprise and confusion. She liked that kiss as much as I did even though she knows deep down that she shouldn't.
My lips are wet and warm from that soul-searing kiss, and I can still taste her on my tongue.
Slowly, dark thoughts begin to flood my mind about germs and who she might have kissed before and how dirty their mouths might have been…am I going to get sick from kissing her…what if she's sick right now…or has some kind of disease…
I squeeze my eyes shut and try to block out the unwanted thoughts.
Needing some distance, I take a step back from her, but Adeline follows me. "Lucien," she whispers, reaching for me, her delicate, soft hand cupping my cheek.
But her touch is too much on my senses, which are already overloaded from that kiss; and I take another step back to break our connection. My entire body trembles, and I feel like I can't get enough air into my lungs.
Without saying another word, I grab my suit jacket and rush out the door, leaving Adeline standing there. Alone and confused.
CHAPTER 31
LUCIEN
(ONE WEEK LATER)
I TAKE A break from working and walk over to the large windows in my office overlooking the property. Grabbing a pair of binoculars from the windowsill, I peer into them.
Off in the distance, Adeline sits in the butterfly garden I had planted for her, reading. Her nose is always stuck in a book, and it's one of the many things I can't help but love about her.
I've been allowing her to explore the grounds near the mansion, and so far she hasn't broken any of my rules or my trust. Not even once.
I find myself longing for her smile constantly, longing for her affection. And I haven't been able to deny her a single thing she asks for.
Except for freedom, that is.
After our first kiss in the library and my anxiety-riddled brain went on overload mode, I've been taking things slow with Adeline, one day at a time. I haven't been able to kiss her again, but I'm determined to feel her sweet, soft lips against mine again soon.
I can feel the smile on my face as I watch Adeline through the binoculars. She's the most beautiful creature I've ever seen, and I find myself a lot of times just observing her. She has turned my whole world upside down, and I can't even fathom the possibility of losing her now.
I've been keeping track of the Valenti family's whereabouts, comings and goings but, most importantly, that of Giovanni Morello's.
Word finally spread just the other day in the dark underground of New York that Salvatore Valenti's youngest daughter is missing and presumed kidnapped…or dead.
They have no idea where Adeline is, and I intend on keeping it that way.
If I was a betting man, I would have bet all my fortune on the fact that Valenti would have murdered his right-hand man the moment he came back from his trip to California and found his daughter missing.
And yet Giovanni still has a pulse.
Perhaps there is more to the story than what I understand. Maybe Valenti has no idea that Giovanni is behind his daughter's disappearance. And maybe he has no idea as to the lengths that Giovanni would go to make some fast cash.
Regardless, Giovanni continues to live, and I continue to keep his former fiancée here.
And I'm not planning on letting her go.
CHAPTER 32
GIOVANNI
"WHERE IS SHE?!" Salvatore Valenti practically screams as he slams his fist down on his large, oak desk. The wood threatens to splinter under the assault, and I hurry to swallow past the lump lodged in my throat.
After a week of giving the mafia king the runaround on the whereabouts of his daughter when he returned from a longer than expected trip to California, he finally called me in for a meeting. And I don't mean with a courtesy call. I'm still feeling the bumps and bruises from being manhandled and thrown into the back of a black SUV in the middle of the night.
