Page 70 of Midnight Secrets

“Are you listening to me?” she demanded, giving me the stink eye.

“Yep. You were debating your future and how you wanted to experiment with other art forms to enhance your jewellery making.”

Her eyes narrowed at me because she obviously hadn’t expected me to have been listening to her. I’d had years of people screaming at me or lecturing me to be able to multitask around the background noise.

I set my phone down and gave her my full attention. “You have my undivided attention.”

Now that I was staring at her, she clamped her lips together. Those bright red lips had been driving me crazy all night and deserved to be wrapped around my dick. The car slowed and the discreet light above the door illuminated to let me know we had arrived. I climbed out of the car and held my hand out. Her expression froze when she saw we were at my townhouse. She tried to climb back into the limousine only I grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her over my shoulder. The vehicle smoothly took off from outside the house.

“Put me down!” Lucrezia almost shouted.

“No. You had your rant, so you can sit your ass in a chair and listen to what I have to say.”

The more she wiggled that ass in my face, the more turned on I became. Her dress was riding up and legs rubbing against my groin did little to help the situation. I dumped my furious little bundle of bad temper on the sofa to glare up at me.

“You can’t just abduct me!”

“Who says I can’t?” I asked, my arms folding across my chest. She chewed the side of her mouth and cowered back into the chair. Body language was a subtle weapon that I was well versed in.

Her gaze moved to the door and back to me. I could almost see the tiny cogs in her head trying to work out her escape route.

“I train every single day and you’re wearing stilettoes. Want me to give you a head start?” She sank further back into the chair and pouted at me. “Keep pouting and I’ll give your lips a job.”

Her eyes turned into saucers, her fingers grasping the seat on either side of her as if she expected a hurricane to come in and attack her. My temper may well erupt at any moment and fulfil her prophecy. She slowly brought her arms up to cross defensively across her chest. All it did was make her breasts bulge above her arms.

How the fuck was I supposed to discipline her when she looked like a bad man’s fantasy? There were definitely no pure thoughts in my head right now.

“I told you what my life was like, Lucrezia, and you told me you could handle it. I explained why I avoided relationships and you insisted that we could succeed. You don’t get to be the only one who has feelings. This isn’t a dictatorship where you get to decide who gets to fall in love and who is left behind. It doesn’t work like that.”

Her head tilted to the side. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that in the middle of this chaos, you weren’t the only one who fell in love.”

***

Chapter Twenty-Six

Lucrezia

My mouth fell open and my heart stopped beating as time stood still around me. Was that his way of telling me that he was in love with me without saying the words? My tongue tried to moisten my lips and his gaze dropped to the action.

“Are you trying to say you love me?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “People tend to lie. Actions tend to speak louder.”

Every step of the way, Ash had been the only one to support me. He gave without expecting anything in return. The freedom he granted never came with a price tag attached to it or a condition. What we had was the first real experience of my life.

I slowly stood on shaky legs. “So what does all this mean?”

“No idea, Angel. By tomorrow, Lucas will descend like the wrath of God releasing his plagues upon the unworthy. All this will come to an end.” He lifted his arms as if to indicate the house.

“In other words, I’ll be taken back to Tuscany and locked in my room again.”

“Probably.”

I took a step closer. “Can I not stay here?”

“Shit’s about to get real and none of us will be safe.” He glanced away. “I don’t want you to go but the only way to ensure you survive is for you to be locked in that room every night at ten.”

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