Layne
“Can we wait until Dante is here too?” I ask as we walk across to the elevator.
The car ride home was a simmering pot of Alpha aggression and Beta worry, making me feel like I was suffocating. Or that might have been because Rocco’s arrival at The Dock had unlocked fears I thought I had managed to curtail.
I honestly didn’t think Rocco would have the balls to chase after me. It seems I completely misjudged him, and that annoys the hell out of me because I should have expected it. I’d sunk into a broody mood in the car because of it.
Matteo follows me as I walk toward my room, hovering close in case I want to talk, but I only want to tell them once.
“How long do you think Dante will be?”
“Probably a few more hours,” Matteo says, undoing my belt when I turn around.
“I’m going to have a shower. Then do you think we can take the dogs for a walk?”
He nods immediately. “Let me get changed and find something to distract Valentine, and then we can head out. There’s a park close by.”
I leave the bathroom door open as I shower. I’m so far in my head, I don’t realize Valentine is climbing in behind me until I turn around.
“You didn’t want to ask me to go for a walk with you?” He glares, but he also pushes my hair off my face before hooking his hand behind my neck and pulling me against his chest.
God, the way this pack makes me feel so safe and comfortable probably scares me as much as Rocco showing up at Styke does. I circle my hands around his waist, sinking into the comfort he offers.
“No.”
“Why?”
“You’d be overbearing and demanding.”
His muscles bunch under my arms, and he grabs a hold of my hair to pull my head back, making it impossible for me to avoid looking at him. Except, Valentine doesn’t bark or demand my submission.
“Damn, you’re good at that.” I exhale after a few minutes of floating in his gaze.
“I’m glad you noticed that I’m trying hard. The second Dante walks in, though, I want answers.” He says almost tenderly.
As I lean up for his mouth, he dips down and kisses me hard. Valentine keeps blurring my mind, and not just by being a stunning kisser. The blurring comes when he shows me all the nearly endless sides of his personality. It’s in those times, when he chooses not to be as dominant as I know he can be, that I struggle with sorting through fact from fiction. He keeps rewriting my assumptions.
“Is it stupid I’m going out for a walk with Matteo after what we heard at lunch?”
He shrugs before his lips twist up in a nearly cheeky smirk. “Even smart people make stupid decisions every now and then. If you feel anything besides calm and relaxed, I want you back here. Keep the dogs on high alert and go armed. Now, if something happens, at least we can say we were prepared and not flat-out stupid.”
I push out of his arms, or I won’t get out. I rinse my hair for a final time before walking past him. “Valentine, while I’m gone, I think I’d really like you to delete Ariana.”
He’s quiet, and I twist around, already preparing to answer questions or argue. Instead, I watch him tipping his head back with his eyes closed, and I’m struck by a wave of fear at the realization of how deeply I’m falling under his spell. As if we mystically share something besides insatiable lust and wedding bands, he opens his eyes and looks at me, unable to hide something similar in his eyes.
Valentine and his pack keep saying this is real. What we share feels so real. And I’m starting to believe them more and more.
I leave the bathroom before he asks me to stay, because right here and now, I would pretty much do anything he wants.
Dressing quickly in baggy shorts and an oversized hoodie, I’m hopping on one foot, trying to pull on my sneakers, when he walks out of my bathroom, naked.
“Valentine!” I hiss and giggle because his ego is so goddamn huge—and attractive. And, once again, he has me second-guessing who the real Valentine De Luca is.
With no shame, he falls onto my bed, his massive frame nearly taking up the whole space. No matter how much I school myself not to, I end up watching as he strokes himself with my panties wrapped around his fist. Of course, since it’s Valentine we’re talking about, he holds his covered fist in such a way it showcases those mind-blowing additions to his cock.
I force myself to turn away, and he starts groaning loudly the farther I walk away from him, and as magnetic as he is, Matteo holds the same draw for me. While Valentine keeps me guessing, Matteo is the constant I crave.
“Sorry I kept you waiting,” I say, sliding straight under the arm he holds out.
