Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 65987 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65987 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
"I can't promise you forever, Belle," he said finally, his voice quiet in the darkness. "But I can promise that nothing will ever harm you. No matter if we're together or not. I'll make sure of it, and I’ll always take care of you."
The words settled over me with complicated weight. Not a declaration of love, Dario wasn't offering me a fairy tale. But protection. Security. Things I'd never had in abundance. Yet there was something in the specificity of his promise that unnerved me. What kind of man needed to explicitly promise safety? What kind of world did he inhabit where such assurances were necessary?
"Why would I be harmed?" I asked, turning in his arms to study his face.
A shadow crossed his features. "Men like Vincent Rossi don't approach my staff without reason."
"And the reason was me? Because of... whatever this is between us?"
"Because of what he thinks this means," Dario corrected, his hand coming up to brush hair from my face. "Vincent has been looking for leverage against me for years. He thinks he's found it." The implications of his words chilled me. I was truly a pawn in a game I didn't understand, moved into position not by my own choices but by the mere fact that Dario Luca had noticed me.
"What does this mean?" I asked, suddenly needing to know where I stood.
His eyes softened. "That's up to you."
I searched his face, looking for deception, for the calculated charm Valentina had warned me about. Or worse, mocking amusement. Instead, I found something that looked remarkably like vulnerability. "I should be smarter than this," I whispered, more to myself than to him.
His mouth quirked in a half-smile. "Probably."
Despite everything, I laughed softly, the tension breaking. I settled back against his chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heart beneath my ear. Whatever complications tomorrow would bring, tonight I would allow myself this. I would stay in the warm security of Dario's arms and the dangerous hope that perhaps, just perhaps, could get out of this with my heart intact, even as I knew it was already an impossibility.
Chapter Twelve
Belle
I fought to keep my eyes open as exhaustion pulled at me, my body wonderfully spent from all the fantastic sex. Dario lay beside me, one arm still draped across my waist, but I could feel the tension in him, his mind clearly racing while mine drifted toward sleep. When he thought I'd fallen under, he carefully extracted himself from the bed. Through half-lidded eyes, I watched him pad naked to the windows, his powerful body silhouetted against the city lights. The hard planes of his back, marked with those mysterious scars, told a story of violence I wasn't sure I wanted to know.
He stood like a statue, hands braced against the glass, head bowed slightly as if carrying some invisible weight. His reflection in the darkened window showed a face I hadn't seen before. His usually guarded expression was now troubled, the confident mask momentarily set aside. What demons haunted a man like Dario Luca? What price had he paid for his empire?
Sleep claimed me before I could ponder further, dragging me into darkness with questions still spinning through my mind.
I woke with a start, disoriented by unfamiliar surroundings, the whisper-soft sheets against my naked skin, the vast expanse of a bed too large and luxurious to be mine, all combined to remind me of exactly how out of my depth I was. Morning light filtered through partially closed blinds, painting stripes across the rumpled bedding. For a moment, panic seized me as memories flooded back. Dario's hands on my body, his mouth against my skin, the promises he'd made in the darkness…
What had I done?
I sat up, clutching the sheet to my chest, and scanned the room. Dario was nowhere to be seen, but I heard movement beyond the bedroom door. Relief and disappointment tangled in my chest. I'd hoped to slip away unseen, to avoid the awkwardness of morning after pleasantries with a man so far above my station.
My clothes lay scattered across the floor where we'd discarded them in our urgency. I slid from the bed, wincing slightly at the soreness between my thighs, and gathered my things with quick, furtive movements. I'd just pulled on my jeans when the bedroom door opened.
Dario stood in the doorway, already dressed in fresh clothes. His hair was damp from a shower, and the light scent of his cologne drifted across the room. He looked impossibly put together, while I stood half dressed and disheveled in last night's work uniform. Yeah. Walk of shame didn’t even begin to describe my present situation.
"You're awake," he said, his eyes moving over me with an intensity that made me acutely aware of my nakedness beneath the thin fabric of my bra. "I thought you might sleep longer."