Page 29 of Maddest Temptation

I didn’t judge him because the sentiment was reciprocated. I didn’t want to be around him even if it meant walking home, on my own, in the dark Chicago streets. I would risk that kind of danger over Cassio Moretti any day.

“Do you ever wear clothes, or do you simply forget them?” he asked, tone detached, but I knew he was looking for a fight.

“Do you ever behave, or do you like beating the shit out of people for kicks?”

“Do you kiss your mamma with that mouth?”

Cassio didn’t know about my mamma, still, the jab hit my guts and it became hard to breathe inside the small car, where his scent circled the air, giving me no choice but to breathe him in.

“Are you always a mess, or just when you’re desperate for attention or drugs?”

“Fuck you, Cassio.”

As soon as the doors opened, I marched out and walked away with no direction in mind, but anywhere away from him was a victory. Cassio wanted a fight, but I wasn’t in the mood. Not after what happened.

Before I noticed what was happening, Cassio spun me around and pressed my body against the wall. He didn’t give me a chance to escape as he caged me in, one hand above my head and the other next to my neck.

I sucked in a deep breath and regretted it the second his citrus and sandalwood scent filled my nose. He was too close. His strong unrelenting body was dangerously pressed against mine, and I could feel the volts of electricity cursing through his veins.

Cassio was alive.

“Don’t piss me off right now, Francesca.” His hot breath touched my skin, tickling my cheeks. “Because if you push me, I’ll fight back.”

In my drunken haze, mixed with the cigarette which had lowered my blood pressure, my mind ceased to function. It gave me the kind of courage I did not usually possess. It awakened something in me that only came to life when he was near. Cassio was pissed—well, his bad because so was I.

“Or what, Cassio?” I snapped, pushing against his unyielding chest. Why was it so hard? Cassio didn’t give an inch. “I’m not afraid of you.”

His smile was pure venom. “You’re not very smart, are you, Principessa?”

“Don’t call me that, Cassio,” I snapped, pushing him once more.

“Or what, Principessa?” he taunted.

“You’re no better than Gianluca,” the words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them.

I instantly regretted them. I wasn’t the kind of person who needed to hurt others in order to feel better about myself. Cassio stepped away turning his back on me.

My apology was stuck in my throat, and I couldn’t utter it. So instead, I swallowed it down. I was tired of being treated that way, of men thinking they could do whatever they pleased just because I was physically weaker than them.

I stood there unsure if he was still going to take me home, and when I finally regained my composure, I found Cassio standing by his black sports car. He waited outside the driver’s door.

“Get in the car,” he ordered.

I did not want to prolong this any further, so I did get in the car. Cassio followed soon after. The silence that surrounded us was so uncomfortable I couldn’t stop fidgeting, turning my rings repeatedly, and digging my nail into the palms of my hand. Cassio didn’t look like a man who was easily offended, but I had managed to do so.

I might still hate him for what he did all those years ago, but I wasn’t this person. I couldn’t be mean, not even to him, and I hated that most of all. I was sure Cassio wouldn’t have apologized.

“The words just slipped out,” I said after a while.

“I’ll take your apology.”

I held the urge to roll my eyes. “It’s an explanation, Cassio, not an apology.”

“Whatever.” He kept on driving.

After a while, as my nerves settled, so did the adrenaline, and my hands began to shake. Cassio stared at them for a while and heated up the car but it had nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with what happened.

“Where are you taking me?”

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