Page 57 of Midnight Revelations

“This,” I whispered. “I can’t spend my life pretending that you mean nothing to me. I’ve tried and can’t do it. You expected me to be able to go back to my old life where I no longer belong while you appeared beside a stunningly beautiful woman every night. Just leave me, Ash, before you break me completely.”

His body stilled behind mine. “And how do you think I felt seeing you smiling and doing shots with that sanctimonious asshole? Then you invited him to your table and pawed over him all night.”

I opened my mouth to protest and then silently admitted that that was exactly what I had done. Ivan had been a convenient distraction when I was hurting. All my self-respect lay in tatters on the ground, and I was seriously considering begging.

“Do you expect me to watch you fuck another man and be fine with that?” he grated out.

“I had to watch you fuck another woman.”

“I never touched Poppy. I told you that you might not like what you saw.”

“You never told me to expect that.”

He sighed and I felt his breath on the side of my neck. “I thought you trusted me.”

“I did but then you ignored me even when I sent you business sketches.” It was childish, but I had poured my heart and soul into those drawings.

His hands tightened on my arms. “I got them, but the only way I wanted to respond to them was having you on my bed like that woman bound in chains and screaming her orgasm as her lover fucked her with his tongue.”

My panties were too tight right now, the flesh between my thighs warm and needy. I leaned into his chest and his hands traced down my body until they rested on my stomach.

“I’m not strong enough for these games,” I confessed. “If you need to keep me safe, then you do it with me at your side.”

“Lucas would kill me,” he huffed out.

“The alternative is to watch him marry me off to Ivan. He is very pleased with his matchmaking.”

Ash’s growl rippled down my back and made my knees weak. “I doubt he even knows where your g-spot is.”

“I don’t think that is a pre-requisite for marriage,” I replied. “My understanding is that vows and rings are mandatory.”

I shivered and he hauled me closer. “I need to get you home before Francis contacts Lucas. You really need a better security patrol.”

“Francis is family.” I spun to face him.

“Lucrezia, the clue is in the name. You’ve ran off twice now and been threatened by my brother. That should never have happened.” Ash sighed and tucked a wayward strand of my hair behind my ear.

“How did you find me?” I asked as we neared the apartments.

“Lucas isn’t the only one with access to trackers. I put one in you before we left Paris.”

I stopped to stare at him with my mouth open.

Ash shrugged. “Someone needed to keep you safe.”

I wanted to huff but something healed inside me. You didn’t put a tracker in someone that you planned on leaving. Ash moved with the precision of a predator, watching everything and leading me in to the shadows. Instead of walking back in through the front door of the apartment building, he led me into the side door of the garage.

Ash handed me a helmet from a shelf, fastening it under my chin before tugging one on his head and throwing his long leg over a black motorbike. I stood beside it in apprehension. He flicked his visor up.

“Get on, Lucrezia. We need to talk and Xavier has bugs everywhere in that building.”

I climbed on and wrapped my arms around his waist, tightening my grip when the bike moved slightly.

“Hold on,” Ash shouted over the sound of the engine before he kicked off and the bike jolted forward.

Terrified was too small a word for the first sixty seconds as he surged ahead. I leaned my body tight against Ash, resting my head on his back and praying that I didn’t fall off. I’d counted to almost four hundred in my head when the bike slowed down and Ash drove it into another garage.

My heart was still pounding in my ears and my mouth was dry when he finally came to a stop. I sagged deeper into him because I didn’t think I would be able to stand on my shaky legs.

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