Page 30 of A Taste Of Darkness

Still, he was a murderer. He had blood on his hands. He was dangerous.

I should’ve been afraid of him, but I wasn’t.

Also, some part of me felt like he wasn’t telling me the whole truth. He didn’t tell me why he killed them, just the excuse to do it.

“Why not just torture them?” I asked. “Wouldn’t that be worse than death?”

His eyebrows drew together for a split second, then his eyes widened at the realization. “You’re right. I should just torture them to the point where they’ll wish I’d killed them. It makes so much more sense.” His hand left my face as he took a step back. He then swiped his phone off the kitchen counter and typed something. “We’re going after Lionel Hendrix tonight.”

“We?!” My hands flew to my chest, clutching the fabric of my dress. “Oh, no. No, no, no, Milo. I”—I pointed at myself—“have nothing to do with your ‘job.’ Don’t drag me into even more freaked up, illegal situations.”

He smirked. “What if I got you a pink gun?”

My head shook at lightning speed. “Nope.”

Milo placed his phone back down on the counter, giving his full attention back to me. “It’ll be fun.”

“Nope.”

“I promise, cuore mio.” He took a step toward me; I stepped back. “I won’t let you do the heavy stuff until you learn how to aim properly.”

Another step.

“I don’t freaking want to learn how to aim properly.”

Milo chuckled. So deep. So raw. So adorable. “So, the pink equipment doesn’t tempt you at all?”

I stepped back once more. My back hit the island behind me, making it impossible to escape when Milo reached both of his arms out and laid his hands on the island top on either side of my body.

He leaned down. “Did you never want to get a taste of revenge, cuore mio?”

Once again, I shook my head.

Did I think about wanting revenge? Sure, hadn’t everyone?

Did I sometimes dream about killing people because they’d done me wrong? Yes, but I wasn’t actively trying to do it.

Would I ever give in to my thoughts? Unlikely, but I was tempted. So freaking tempted.

Besides, I’d already had my hands covered in blood before. I wasn’t going to let that happen again.

“Tell me, Sterlie. Name one person you think deserves a little scare.”

“A little scare?” My voice came out sounding breathless. “You’ll do more than frighten them just a little bit.”

His eyes softened as he looked at me while a small smile pulled on the corners of his lips. “Show me how to be the right amount of frightening, cuore mio.”

“What?”

I felt his breath on my skin as he ducked down even further just before I could almost feel his nose glide along the side of my face.

He never touched me.

My heart was beating heavily inside of my chest. Something in the pit of my stomach was tingling; a sensation I’d never felt before in my entire life. In fact, every ever-so-little space of his body that even slightly brushed mine was tingling. Burning.

It didn’t help when he whispered, “Show me how to be someone you can accept to be around you. Show me how to become someone who deserves the privilege to have you in their life.”

16

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