Page 241 of The Trouble With Bad Boys

“Rocco, I have to get to work,” I state again as I try to pry his arm from me.

“Not today. You’re calling in sick,” he says as if it’s no big deal.

I turn in his arms. “No, I’m going to my office.”

He looks down at me. “Don’t fight me on this. You won’t win.”

I squirm out of his death grip and sit up, scooting away from him. “I am and I will win. I have an important meeting today. I need to go in,” I say as I scramble out of bed and start looking for my clothes.

“I had your clothes cleaned,” he says and pulls out his phone.

I watch him make a call. “Bring up Lena’s clothes.” He sets his phone down. He looks pissed.

Shit, did I make a massive mistake?

There’s a knock on the door and Rocco gets out of bed, wrapping a sheet around his waist. He opens it and sets my neatly folded dress and underwear on a chair.

“Here you go,” he says as he walks into the bathroom.

I dress and then walk toward the bathroom. I stand outside the door watching him in the shower like a total creeper. He’s gorgeous. I want to know what each of his scars is from, but I also want to get the hell out of here. I’m completely torn.

“Thanks for everything,” I say. I hear the shower shut off as I turn. I walk to his door and suddenly I’m caged in by his body as he places a hand on the door.

“Tesoruccia, I told you, you have to stay here,” he says.

I whip around. “I’m not staying there. I barely know you. And last night we were almost killed because, I’m guessing, because of you. Why would I stay here? I’m clearly not safe with you,” I yell.

He leans down so our faces are mere inches apart. “I can protect you here, Lena.” He motions out a window. “I can’t protect you out there. I know we don’t know each other well yet. But I’m not letting you go out there.” He takes a deep breath.

“Why?” I ask as I place my hands on my hips.

“Because…the unfortunate part of being in my world means sometimes people want to kill me. And now they’ve seen you with me. You aren’t safe out there until I find this person.”

I swallow. Shit. This is bad.

He lifts my face with a single finger under my chin. “You’ll stay here. You can use my computer if you need to work. I have a spare one you can have.”

I sigh and plop down into a chair. “I’ll stay…for now,” I state, but inside I’m debating if I should try to get out of here or not.

“Good,” he says as he walks into his closet. Two minutes later, he’s dressed. He opens a desk drawer and sets a brand-new laptop on it. He logs in and turns to me. “It’s all yours. I have to attend to some things. I’ll be back later. What would you like for breakfast?”

“Just toast and coffee,” I mutter as I sit at the desk.

“It’ll be brought up shortly.” He leans down and kisses the top of my head. “I’m sorry, tesoruccia. I wish things were different. I wish I could be different,” he says as he leaves me alone in his room with the laptop. Who am I kidding? I can’t possibly work today. Instead of using the laptop for work, I call out sick. I google Antonio’s, but no news articles pop up. It’s like nothing happened last night.

This is crazy. It’s crazy. I can’t stay here. I don’t care how great the sex was. I don’t care how much I enjoyed our two dates…can you even call those dates? I can’t believe I’m here.

I walk toward a set of French doors leading to a balcony. I look outside. There’s the driveway. And a fucking wall and gate. How am I going to get out of here? I walk out to the balcony. OK, there’s this lattice thing I could climb down. I wish I wasn’t wearing a dress. This sucks. With one last look, I scale down the side of the wall with lattice and drop to the ground. I watch as the gate suddenly opens, and a car pulls in. I’m hiding by bushes. I glance around, seeing no one, I sprint to the gate and manage to squeeze through it just as it shuts.

“Ha! Can’t get out, Rocco? I guess you’ve underestimated me,” I say proudly to myself as I begin to walk down the sidewalk.

“I guess he did. Too bad, you should have listened to him,” a voice says from behind me before I’m grabbed. I go to scream but a rag is placed over my mouth and a moment later my vision blurs and everything goes black.

Nine

ROCCO

I finish my morning briefing. I make some phone calls. And then I head upstairs to see Lena. I smile as I approach my bedroom. I’ve never had a woman stay here before. At most, they’ve gotten a cup of coffee in the morning, and I’ve sent them on their way. But things feel different with Lena. It’s like my grandfather handpicked her for me, as though he knew exactly what I needed in a woman. Had this been his plan all along?

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