Page 101 of Hostile Secret
Droplets drip from my blonde hair and roll over the curve of my breasts as I stand there. Goosebumps cover every bare inch of me when the realization hits. Nothing feels as good on my body as Giovanni, not even fresh water.
Without dressing, I wandered back into the bedroom and took a moment to look around the beautiful room I’d have to call home for longer than we both expected.
A facade that's cut off from the main house. Far removed from a secure family unit who doesn’t need a temporary addition to their world.
I’d never felt lonelier in my whole life. Not even Daenis is here to help settle me.
Unable to sleep, I toss and turn. Fed up––and frustrated by the longing I have for a man who claims to want me, but keeps me at arm’s length.
The same man who electrocutes me with his dominance, making my veins blaze from his heat.
Every muscle surrenders to his control. And my silly heart wants to believe he’s capable of caring for me beyond the duty of a hitman sworn to protect.
Beneath my girlie appearance and need for independence, I’ve somehow become a slave to Giovanni’s whims.
What an idiot!
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not when we were forced together. Yet, he’s somehow managed to awaken parts of me that I never knew existed. I ache for his danger and crave his touch.
Who the hell have I become?
A prisoner?
A sex toy for a man who’s decided virgins are his new fetish?
A target for a rival cartel, forced into hiding for who knows how long?
Or a woman who demands the opportunity to walk in the sunlight outside of the confines of mafia wars and cartel lawlessness?
This was Reno’s world––I didn’t choose it, and now I’m not entirely sure I want to be part of it. Not if it means becoming one with the shadows every day of my life.
A tireless dissatisfaction trickles through my body and reminds me of the remoteness, the loneliness I’ve felt countless times in this luxurious prison cell I’m trapped in. I’ve nowhere else to go and no one to talk to about it.
I can’t reach out to André either, because I’m having sex with his brother. After the incident at Elysian, being around me would be an added risk for him and Sinéad. I know first-hand how cataclysmic death is for a loved one. I won't be the cause of that pain for anyone if I can help it.
I’m not even sure if I should go back to Thornhill on Monday, which means cutting ties with Ana and Valeria and surrendering my soul to the empty rooms of Blackwater.
But that’s not what I want from this life, and I feel lost because of it.
I freeze when a shadow passes across the far wall. The hairs on my arm prickle as it turns into the stealth silhouette of Giovanni.
“Something keeping you awake?” He stands at the foot of my bed, moonlight kissing half of his bare chest and darkness shading the rest.
Lifting my head off the pillow, my greedy gaze eats up every tattoo on him and my heart flutters at the sight of something in his hand.
“I’ve got a lot on my mind.” I sit up, not caring to keep the sheets held to my naked breasts.
“We both do, apparently.”
“What have you got there?”
Giovanni holds the item outward. “It's a hand stitched harness.”
I fold my arms across my chest to hide the violent heartbeat slamming into my chest cavity. “For whom… Daenis?”
He throws it onto the bed and my gaze instantly falls on the smooth saddlery leather and brass buckles holding straps together like adjustable belts. It’s too big for a Doberman puppy.
He spears me in place with a sexy as sin smirk. “For my obedient little whore, who else?”
