Joey carried his bag and opened the door. “See ya.”
The second the door closed behind him, my gut was immediately filled with equal parts desire and uncertainty. Absentmindedly, I lightly touched the wrapping on my arm, the skin underneath still burning.
Castello slowly sauntered toward the door, and the click of the lock resounded like a gunshot through the room.
He turned while unbuttoning his shirt. “How does it feel?”
I shrugged. “Let’s just say I’ve experienced worse pain than getting a tattoo.”
“I wasn’t referring to the pain.”
“Then what were you referring to?”
He pulled his shirt off and tossed it to the floor. “I was referring to how it feels to have your body marked.”
“Is that what this is? You marked me?” I couldn’t look him in the eye. Not with him standing across the room from me without his shirt on. Roped muscle covered with taut, beautiful olive skin beckoning to be touched. Castello Fattore was a gorgeous man, a strong man. Every inch of him was perfection. The mystery, and the darkness that lurked behind those chocolate irises, was so appealing and striking, it was as if he had been created by God and the devil—both staking their claim over him.
His eyes were hard, his gaze pinned on me. “Believe me, little mouse, that tattoo does not even come close to how I really want to mark you. That tattoo is the symbol of my commitment to you. It’s there to remind both you and me what we are to each other.”
I moved closer. “How can I be your salvation when all I’ve done was bring war to your front door?”
He too came closer, so close I had to look up and into his eyes. “That is true. You’re ruining me…but you were able to do something no one has ever had.”
“And what is that?”
His arm reached behind me, his fingers slowly moving through my hair until he tightened his grip around a fistful of golden strands. “You freed the beast and in turn liberated me from a feeble existence.”
My heart was pounding, my mouth dry. The heat that radiated from his body to mine was intoxicating. I could feel it coat every inch of my skin, ripples of the most carnal desire moving from him to me.
He dragged a finger along my jaw, his breath teasing my lips with the promise of a kiss yet never delivered. Slowly, torturously, his touch moved down my neck until it reached the collar of my dress.
“What if my answer is yes?” His gaze followed the movement of his finger against my skin.
“Yes to what?”
He continued to toy with my dress collar. “The question you once asked me. The question that has been haunting your mind, burning a hole of uncertainty into your soul.”
His fingers moved against my scalp as he gathered more hair in his grip. He pulled my hair, forcing me to look up as he leaned down, his lips barely touching my ear.
“What if my answer is yes? That you are free to choose whether you want to leave…or stay at my side?”
I gasped. I couldn’t stop myself. “Is that your answer, Castello? Are you saying yes?”
He leaned closer, his lips brushing all along my ear. I could hear his breathing. I could feel the heat of his breath, and I felt hypnotized by the man who undoubtedly owned every part of me.
“If I am, would you stay?” he whispered against my neck, tracing circles over my skin with his lips.
My mind slipped, and through the haze of lust, desire, and a need to be lost within a world where there was no one but him or me, I remembered it was no longer just us. No matter what we do, where we go, it would never ever be just us. Everything had changed, yet Castello had no clue. Things had grown much more complicated since the day I asked him that question—whether I had the freedom to choose. The truth was I didn’t. I didn’t have the freedom then because he had denied me. But now that he had seemingly given me that freedom, the outcome remained the same. I still didn’t have the freedom to choose my own destiny, to choose based on what I wanted…because the life growing inside me made that decision for me.
Chapter 18
CASTELLO
The words left a bitter taste in my mouth.“If I am, would you stay?”
I wanted to believe she would. I wanted to believe somewhere in the far corners of her heart she no longer resented me for what I’d done—she no longer blamed me for breaking her world apart. And now, now I was trying to build her world back up, but in a way I wanted it.Did I mention I was a selfish bastard?
I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t stop myself from being selfish and greedy when it came to her. I broke her world, yet she had become mine.Irony, you son of a bitch.