Did I really want to risk everything for a woman who might not even be seeing me but rather the brother who looked like me? Was it really worth it, to take that chance, to sacrifice everything? What if I had it all wrong about her, that she was only playing me—playing the role I wanted her to play in order to save herself? I’d look like a fool.
I sighed. The real issue wasn’t whether she trusted me—which she didn’t—but whether I trusted her—which I didn’t. In other words, I was damned if did and completely fucked if I didn’t.
Feeling like I had the world, the heavens, and Hell on my shoulders, I walked out of the bathroom but then balked.
The bed was empty.
Fuck!
“Tatum?” My heart pounded against my ribs, the longest string of f-bombs flooding my mind.
“Tatum!” She ran. Motherfucker. She ran.
“Shit.”
I bolted for the bedroom door, ready to blow a fucking horn if it meant getting every goddamn person in this household to look for her.
“Castello?”
I froze, my hand already reaching for the doorknob, the sound of that voice sending a wave of relief over me. I turned and saw her standing by the window. Her naked body was slightly hidden by the curtains, but my heart nearly leapt out of my fucking chest.
“My God, Tatum.” I let out a breath as I stalked toward her.
She smiled—she actually fucking smiled. “Did you think I ran?”
I stopped two steps behind her. “Yeah. I kind of did.”
“And where do you think I’d run to?” She turned back to look out the window, and I couldn’t stop myself from taking those last two steps to close the distance between us. She sucked in a breath when I pushed my body against hers, the electricity of our attraction buzzing between us.
“Away from me,” I whispered as I nuzzled my nose into her golden blonde hair, loving her sweet scent.
She leaned her head back against my shoulder. “Maybe I don’t want to run away from you.”
“You should.”
“Maybe. But where to?” She turned to face me. “After what I just experienced with you, where would I run? I’ll never have what we just shared with anyone else ever again. So tell me, Castello, where could I go that would actually be worth running away from you?”
Her sapphire eyes twinkled with an ocean of unshed tears, and I caved. I finally caved, giving in to the urge by grabbing her arm and pulling her against my chest, wrapping my arms tightly around her. And the second I did, my entire world shifted.
My need to protect her rather than ruin her shook the very foundation I had built the last few months of my life on. What if my mother was wrong? What if Carlo really did love her? God only knew that if this woman was capable of making me feelsomething, she was capable of making Carlo fall in love with her. The thought of Carlo loving her, touching her, making love to her slammed against my chest, and I wanted to roar like a fucking animal and claw through the skin of every motherfucker who had ever touched her.
Right now, I had no idea what I was going to do, but I knew without a doubt that I needed to do something.
“Tatum.” I pulled my fingers through her hair before urging her to look up at me. “I know you don’t trust me, but I need you to.”
“Why?”
“Just trust me. The less you know, the better. All I ask is that you do what I tell you.”
She shrugged. “Isn’t that what I’ve been doing all along? Being obedient?”
I took her chin between my fingers and lifted her mouth toward mine. “If what you’ve been doing all along is what you call obedience, I can’t wait to find out what your definition of defiance is.”
Our lips touched, softly, gently, like a slow dance of seduction. Her warm breath mixed with mine, our tongues lightly brushing, caressing. It felt like we were drifting into a world where nothing else existed, only us.
My body hummed, my cock twitched. I wanted her. I wanted all of her all the goddamn time. But time was not on our side, and I needed to get her back to her room before the house started to buzz with life.
With heavy reluctance, I pulled my lips from hers. And when the slightest of moans came from her mouth, I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from tossing her over my shoulder, carrying her to the goddamn bed and claiming that sweet little piece of heaven between her legs until my name was engraved on her motherfucking soul.