Page 29 of The Vow

The sight of him up close, shirtless with a towel around his trim waist, was one to behold.

Fifteen years was a long opportunity to forget the minutiae of every hill and valley of muscle—muscle that seemed to have only grown and hewn along with age. Scars studded what was once pristine flesh. I imagined becoming the world’s most wanted criminal didn’t come without trials or enemies, things I shouldn’t care to know anything about, though deep down, I did.

“Buonasera, signor Damon.” I looked away and picked up the wine glass again as Nonna went up to him and reached for the ball of clothes in his hand. “Wash?”

“Grazie, Nonna.” The rumble of his voice lifted goose bumps to my skin, and I quickly took another big sip of wine, the alcohol a dangerous, double-edged sword.

“Wash?” Her repeated question drew my attention, and Irealized she now held my bundle of clothes—my only bundle of clothes.

“Yes, but I can?—”

She was almost to the door as I reached to try and stop her. “Mangia,” she ordered Damon again, pointing back to the oven.

My breath caught.He hadn’t eaten either.Before I could consider the reason, Nonna was gone, and it was just the two of us again, the king and queen alone on our invisible chess board, where I had all the power but only he could end the game.

What a dangerous game to play.

“I didn’t know you swam,” I remarked, my eyes trailing him as he moved through the space. Outwardly, I stayed relaxed in the chair, but inside, I was on edge, calling all my senses to high alert as he rounded the island close to me and opened the oven.

“Hard to go out for a run these days. Plus, it’s easier for Patrick. He hates having to follow on the road,” Damon replied, and for a brief moment, I wondered where his gruff bodyguard had gone off to. Probably prowling the dark grounds to make sure his boss was safe. The kind of loyalty Damon inspired in those around him infuriated me—Nonna, Patrick. They all spoke to me like I should be the one to pity him—the husband who betrayed me.

I stared at the deep red liquid in my glass, debating the price of another sip.

“Here, Pat doesn’t have to worry about my safety,” Damon added, casually unwrapping the foil from his plate and taking a seat on the stool beside me, making sure to angle it first so he sat facing me.

“Or apparently about your privacy,” I grumbled without even thinking—the price for all the wine I’d already drunk.

His perfect lips tipped. “You seemed to enjoy the view.”

A vision of his naked body flashed like a firework in the darkness of my desire, bright enough to make mybreath catch.

“I’ve seen better,” I clipped and brought the glass to my lips, draining the rest of the liquid.Fuck it.

“I doubt that very much.” Silver eyes speared mine, an ice-cold fury washing through them before he wiped it away. “Maybe you just need a better look.” As he spoke, his legs drifted apart, the towel gaping with an invitation to look underneath.

“I don’t need anything from you.”

He speared into his food. “Except my help bringing down Belmont.”

My teeth clamped together, and my hand fisted around the stem of the wineglass. “Except that.”

I went to stand—to leave. My plate was empty. My glass was empty.Iwas empty, and I had no desire to fill my time around a man my body wanted, but my heart and mind knew better than to trust.

My feet hardly touched the floor before a large palm pinned my wrist to the counter.

“How long will you hate me, Robber?”

I tensed. Releasing a slow, strained breath, I forced myself to look at him as I answered, “Till death do us part.”

His low chuckle shouldn’t have warmed me the way it did, and for a moment, I thought I was going to skate by with only the coarse rumble as his response. A thought that was quickly eviscerated when his hand cinched around my wrist and he hauled me to him.

The move was so unexpected I couldn’t fight it or stop myself from stumbling directly between his thighs. He immediately leaned forward, his lips promising softly next to my ear.

“Even death couldn’t keep me from you.”

My eyes fluttered, the darkness tempting me with memories of another time. A time when his husked promises spurred the fusion of our mouths, a tangle of limbs, and ended with hisbody driving into mine like it was the only place he’d ever call home.

Pain seared through my chest like vinegar on the open wounds of my heart. “No, just other women.”

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