Page 10 of Angel's Fantasy

He nodded but we both knew that when or if I could go home really would depend on how soon he paid off his debt. Still, we had to hope it would be soon, right?

Finally, I turned to face Angel, my suitcase firmly in hand and the little smile I’d forced myself to fake back on my face. “I’m ready now.”

Without another word, Angel took my free hand and ushered me out the front door—out my front door—and into his world.

For better or worse, I was at his mercy now.

It would be the most intense, and the most dangerous game we’d ever played.

* * *

For all thetimes over the years I’d seen Angel in my living room playing cards or watching TV with the guys, I’d never really thought about how his condo might look. I’d certainly never beenthere.

It just wasn’t a thought that had crossed my mind.

So when he unlocked the door and opened it to let me in, I was completely unprepared for what I just assumed would’ve been a mirror image of my family’s condo just across the courtyard.

It definitely wasn’t that, though.

Angel had clearly spent a lot of time and money remodeling from the original floor plan, because the space he lived in was light and bright and modern, with an open floor plan that flowed from the front door to the back wall, with nothing but modern lines and monochromatic whites, blacks, and grays to complement the view.

“You’ve got a nice place,” I said, setting my suitcase down in the middle of the living room and just taking a look around. “It’s… definitely not what I had expected.”

He laughed, a short little burst of air that seemed too loud and completely at odds with our calm, spacious surroundings. “What were you expecting? A dungeon?”

I gave a half-shrug. “Maybe not a dungeon…”

“I’m not that bad, Bella.” Angel’s voice was back to low and serious. “I hope you know that.”

His eyes searched mine, but I didn’t know what he expected me to say. Just a little while ago, I’d walked in on him with a gun drawn on my dad.

So… yeah. Dungeon wasn’t too far off the mark, in my opinion.

Still, I needed to stay on his good side if any of this was going to work, and calling him an asshole or a mobster or a monster probably wasn’t the best idea.

“Actions speak louder than words, Angel,” I said. My mouth apparently hadn’t received the memo about staying on his good side. But whatever. Fuck it. I was pretty sure he wasn’t gonna kill me. Not for that, anyway.

“You’re right,” he said, surprising me. “And I don’t expect you to understand or to approve of what was going on earlier between me and your father. But I’m a man of my word, and I meant it when I said you’d be safe here.” He opened his arms to take in the entire space around us. “For now, I want you to make yourself comfortable. Make yourself at home. It doesn’t have to be allbad.”

I nodded. Maybe he was right. Or at least a little bit right. Maybe it didn’t have to be the prison that I’d imagined. Maybe I could at least end up feeling comfortable there. “Is there somewhere I can change clothes?” I asked, looking around. “And where should I put my things?”

“Of course.” He nodded toward the short hallway. “Follow me.”

He led me to a room that could have easily held two of my old bedrooms with space left over on each side. I sucked in a sharp breath as I took it all in.

The room was dominated by a four-poster king-size bed that was so tall I would’ve had to take a running jump to get into, and the rest of the bedroom furniture was just as big and bold and masculine. If the living room and the front part of the condo had been sleek and sophisticated, this part was big and heavy, old world and all man.

It didn’t take much to picture Angel lying in the middle of that big-ass bed, just like a king.

“There’s just the one bedroom,” he said, interrupting my little vision of royalty. “But you can put your things in the closet, and I can promise you there’s plenty of room in that bed.”

I wasn’t expecting that. Sure, I’d thought that I’d have sex with him at some point—that was a given. But to sleep with him? In the same bed… every night?

That hadn’t been part of my plan.

I could feel my face heating up from the direction my thoughts had taken, and I busied myself with opening my suitcase and rearranging the haphazard piles of clothes inside to keep from making eye contact with him again.

“That’s not going to be a problem, is it?”

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