Page 63 of Pretty Plaything
He tips his own glass to his lips and takes a gulp.
His servants bring the food. It smells delicious, and Alessandro watches me as I taste it.
“Do you like it?” he asks.
“Yeah.” I nod.
A smile crosses his lips, and he reaches out across the table. His fingers brush the corner of my mouth, and a hot shock rushes through me at the contact.
He pulls his fingers away and licks the sauce off them.
I stare at him, unable to look away. My mind is already picturing what he can do to me with that mouth.
But sex should be the last thing on my mind right now.
We eat in silence, and when we’re done, Alessandro gets to his feet.
“I want to show you something,” he says.
I rise too and follow him. He takes me to the other side of the house. A gasp escapes my throat.
A rabbit hutch, with a special fenced-off area where they can run freely.
“Oh, my god,” I say. “They’re so cute!”
Some are brown or gray. Some are black and white.
My wide eyes meet Alessandro’s as he picks up one of the rabbits. “Um, what do you do with them?”
I know what I’d do, but Alessandro...
If he uses them as shooting targets or something, I’m not sure I want to know.
“My brother, Niccolo, was the one who was obsessed with rabbits. He loved them. After he was gone, I decided to keep them and get some more. In his memory.” Alessandro offers the rabbit to me.
I carefully take it from him, cuddling it.
My eyes find Alessandro’s.
Who would’ve thought he’d do something like this? Maybe there’s really a whole lot more to him than everyone thinks.
More than I think.
“Sir!” A man comes running toward us, his eyes wide.
“What’s wrong?” Alessandro asks.
“It’s Paolo, sir. He got shot. It was an accident. We brought him here because it was the closest. The doc is on the way, but—”
“Take me to him.”
“Yes, sir.”
I place the rabbit back into the hutch and close the little door, and then I race after Alessandro and the man.
Maybe I should stay away, but something’s up, and a man has been hurt. Maybe there’s something I can do.
The man leads us to one of the rooms on the first floor. The room is completely empty, except for the table in the middle and two counters.
