“Wh—”
He lifted me suddenly, and a loud squeal left my mouth as he dropped me on the table, placing himself between my legs.
“That was so fucking cheesy.”
A smile gently curved his lips, lighting up his eyes as he said softly, “It made you squeal, did it not?”
I rolled my eyes. “It did.” I played with the collar of his shirt, his gaze lingering on me like he couldn’t look away. “What?” I asked; his stare wasn’t unnerving, just—heavy, so heavy it made me feel heavy too.
“You are adorable,” he answered, and the compliment went straight to my chest, making it feel all fluffy and weird, like I was levitating or something. I didn’t even know why my toes wanted to curl.
For some reason, I wanted to shy away from his gaze. “What’s up with you today?” I asked with a smile of my own, one I couldn’t even stop from forming on my lips if I tried.
He shook his head and wrapped his arms around my body until we were pressed together. He buried his head in the crook of my neck, breathing me in deeply. “Zahra,” he called my name softly, in a small, breathy way that told me he wasn’t calling for me to answer him; he was just saying my name like he was sinking into the very essence of me.
Against my chest, I could feel the fast pacing of his heart, wild and raging, a copy of mine, but his was so fierce that it had me falling even deeper into him—for him.
This felt good; a comfortable silence of him holding me, so warmly, so intimately, like it would break him to pull away—right now, a lot was unsaid, but plenty was shown. Plenty was felt, and I allowing my body to grow soft against his, wrapping my arms around him and letting the feelings take charge of the moment.
I was falling for this man, without sequence, without grip,a free fall that came with fear, passion, and something mind-twinkling—but for the first time since I felt this soft connection with him, I didn’t pull away, I pulled in. Because I needed this feeling, I craved it like food for my soul—a secret potion to keep me sane and functioning.
For a fever of a moment, all was forgotten—the reason I had set a course for this journey; my life before I met him—before Iknewhim—was forgotten. All I wanted right now was to be in his arms, to stay here, and let him kiss my flaws back to perfection.
So, I let myself free-fall into him until my mind knew nothing—absolutely nothing, but him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Zahra
It baffled me how he’d successfully diverted my attention from why I was here and what was happening.
While I didn’t want to leave his warm embrace, we needed to talk about his active plan to destroy Vitale and why he had my friends working on this building.
I pulled away softly from him, catching his gaze.
“You have just realized that we need to talk,” Elio stated like he knew whatever charm he’d placed me under had now worn off.
“Yes, what’s going on?” I asked as he pulled farther back, hands still on my waist.
He watched me carefully, trying to work out my mood before speaking. “Right before you drugged me, you’d been trying to get Street back into the quest with my own team. You thought it would be better to work together.”
I nodded, eyeing him warily and wondering where he was leading.
“Good. I recall myself telling you that I already had it under control, though it might take weeks to collect, and you told me we did not have that much time—”
“Yes, yes, Elio, you don’t have to repeat our whole conversation; I have a really sharp memory.”
He frowned, amusement in his eyes. “I apologize; I was under the impression that you sometimes lose vital information from your memory bank. I will make sure not to make any assumption of that sort in the near future.”
My smile was not genuine, and I wanted to connect myforehead to his nose but held back. “It’s the way you insult me and still sound polite while you do.”
He nodded. “Yes, I have that skill.” He raised a hand to graze my cheek. “I love it when you are observant about little things pertaining to me.”
“Yes, I love it, too; I’m also very observant of the fact that in about two minutes, you might sustain a nose injury if you don’t cut the shit and start talking.”
His lips tugged at the side, but he didn’t comment further as he continued, “Right before I was about to be assassinated along with Kareem, I told you I would have the painting and the gold delivered to you once I collected it. To which you responded, and I quote, ‘No one takes care of our business for us; we like the hustle.’ In my mind, unbeknownst to you, I formulated a plan that could satisfy the both of us without quarrel.”
I watched him with a calculating frown. “What plan?”
