Page 62 of Forbidden Obsession

“I wouldn’t call it running per se, more like…getting my bearings.”

More laughter sprang from his lips. His gaze lit up, then darkened as he shook his head. “You are quite the storyteller, Penelope.”

“Except the only story I’m telling is our truth.”

He stared at me, his gaze level. Dominic twirled me around slowly, then cupped me under his arm, wrapping that arm around my shoulders. “Let me show you something.”

We strolled off the dance floor, climbed a metal staircase, and walked to a door at the end.

A sign above it read NO EXIT, but he put his foot in the middle and kicked it open.

Cold air blasted across my face, my hair whirling as we stepped onto the rooftop.

“For that door to be labeled NO EXIT, whoever the owner is, didn’t make it difficult to break through.”

“We were watched. But no one will stop me.”

“You’re a regular?”

“I grew up here, but that is not the reason no one will stop me.”

“He didn’t elaborate, and I didn’t ask for clarification.” I pulled my hair from my face and caught the view of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was large and appeared close with lights that sparkled and blinked like a beautiful constellation of stars.

“Wow. That’s probably the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.”

Dominic tightened his hold on me. “We should get closer. At the edge, it feels like you can reach out and touch it.”

We strolled to the roof's edge, and I couldn't help but notice no safety rail or brick lining the sides were in place.

“This is pretty dangerous,” I said, more focused on the drop below than the tower.

“Yes,” he drawled. “It’s why the owners don’t want anyone out here.

I shivered, and he removed his arm, and immediately I felt the full force of the cold winds, pushing me like a bully on a high school playground.

“Oh!” I stepped forward, slipped, and tried to gain my footing but failed. “Ooh!”

A scream yanked through my throat as I fell over the edge but was caught by the spikey ledge ripping through my coat’s fabric.

It felt like I swallowed my heart, panic surged through me, and I turned my eyes up at Dominic to see him standing idly on that same edge, watching me with no rush to help save me from a life-threatening dilemma.

“Dominic!” I screamed, and that’s when I saw him—the otherworldly part of him was there, and I froze, realizing I might not make it out of this alive.

My heart ricocheted, and even in the frosty weather, sweat beaded across my forehead, behind my ears, and between my breasts.

“Please,” I begged as the thread in my coat ripped a little more, dropping me another inch, a fair warning that I was minutes or maybe seconds away from gravity taking hold and spreading me along the ground like salsa.

“Do you still love my dark side, Penelope?”

When he’d said my name this time, only fear struck my core, but that wasn’t the scariest thing at the moment.

“You won’t let me fall. You won’t!” I shrieked, hanging over the edge of a damn building like a lunatic. It was that single moment that told me, girl, you are technically already falling.

My stomach bubbled and then constricted.

Another rip in my coat, another inching drop and I closed my eyes and thought of my life, my friends, my parents, and what I had made of myself.

My breathing steadied. If this was it, I’d done okay. There was nothing stellar about my time here, but I could reasonably say I’d added happiness to someone’s life. My friends, my parents, even my uncle Dexter, who’d only visit me once a month on the weekends when he wasn’t at the reserves.

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