10
Aria
Iblink awake and even before everything rushes back, my heart is thundering, the hairs on the back of my neck screeching self-preservation warnings at me.
When memory floods me, I gasp and surge upright.
The room is dark.
Which terrifies me. Because my last recollections were having breakfast with Matt—Matteo—then fucking for hours before going for a wonderful swim somewhere in the mid-afternoon, and then suddenly being surrounded by men with guns, the most deadly-looking one wielded by his brother.
His brother…
The guy I’m in love with the brother of the man who’s been hunting me for weeks.
Oh God.
I’m a worthless, too-trusting, bumbling idiot.
A carefully crafted show of chivalry, a sexy smile and a picnic at a beach, and I folded like a cheap pack of cards.
And I didn’t just fold.
I tossed my virginity and freedom at the very guy I should’ve been fleeing from.
I’m the type of character I’d be screaming at for her bone-headedness if I saw this unfolding in a movie.
I swallow a self-loathing sob before it can escape and search the dark while I listen for voices.
When I hear and see nothing, I pull back the covers and rise slowly from the bed.
My bikini has been removed, leaving me in the white shirt I wore before and nothing else.
At last recollection, my shoes and purse are still downstairs, but there’s no way I’m heading there retrieve them.
IfI make it out of here, I’ll be roaming the streets with no underwear or shoes, but I’ll take that over plunging my life back in danger with the Frenelli brothers.
I creep stealthily towards the French doors.
I’m only one floor up. If I can get onto the terrace, maybe I can drop down the side of the house and make it down to the beach.
Then I can—
“Going somewhere, angel?”
I scream and spin around as a lamp is turned on.
Matt—Matteo—and now I know his proper name, I’m stunned by how much it suits him, how much unlike aMatthe is—is sitting in the dark corner of the room, one ankle resting casually on his knee.
As if he doesn’t have a care in the world.
As if he didn’t take my trust and my heart and pulverize them both to a pulp.
“You’re gonna need to stop doing that, sweetheart. I’d prefer to save my eardrums for hearing you yell my name when we fuck,” he advises smoothly.
“What are you doing here?”
He exhales audibly and sits forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “You mean why have I been sitting in the dark for four hours, waiting for you to wake up? That’s simple, angel. I can’t fucking live without you. I would’ve woken you sooner, but I’ve been terrified you’d get up and walk out. Leave me behind.” He stops and I see a shudder go through him. “Luckily for us, I’ve come to a few immovable decisions while you’ve been sleeping.”