Page 69 of The Devil In Disguise

Chapter 28

Luciano locked himself away after I broke the first glass. All he said was, “She’s visiting her parents.” But I know better than that.

He thinks I’m an idiot—maybe he’s right. That doesn’t change a damn thing.

She left me. She even left Ace behind. Seeing that empty bed felt like a punch to the gut. Nothing has been able to stop the ringing in my ears. In midst of the chaos, I turn in an aggravated circle, laughing and swearing like a madman.

Did I say I wouldn’t kidnap her? I take that back.

Breaking things and acting like a toddler won’t bring her back to me, but that’s fine. I can do that myself. Ace starts barking behind me again and I whirl around, ready to take him with me to get our girl back. Again.

Apparently, he beat me to it. In the doorway stands Amaris, taking in the chaos around me. Her eyes snap to mine, awash with concern.

Taking in my disheveled state, she walks towards me and says, “Kylo, what happened…” When she’s just a foot away, I drop to my knees in front of her and take her soft hands in my rough, bruised ones. Her eyes get nervous. “Get up. What are you doing?”

“You destroyed what I thought love was in the best way possible. I want you to scrunch your nose and furrow your eyebrows at me every time you don’t like something I do. I want you to disagree with me and tell me why you think I’m wrong. I want to hear your laugh turn into a snort when you find something too funny. I want to smell all the cinnamon rolls and sweets you bake flow through our house every morning. Dance in our kitchen, dance with me, sing to me. Slap me or yell at me, do it all but do it all with me. If you’ll have me, I promise I’ll spend every day trying to be better and love you better. I am already yours.”

For a moment she’s stunned in silence, eyes glossing over. “But you are still king of the city,” she finally throws back. I stand to look into her eyes closer so she can see the sincerity in them.

“I would burn this entire city down if it puts a smile on your face.”

A voice calls out from the hallway, “He won’t be doing that.” Luci casually strolls into the room as if he wasn’t eavesdropping and adds with a smug grin, “Because he isn’t king of anything.”

Amaris steps back to look between the two of us. “If you aren’t running the syndicate, then who will?”

“You’re looking at him, darling,” Luci says when I hesitate. Her head whips to me in a silent question and I nod.

“What do you say, little fox? You and me?” I ask hopefully.

Standing with a faux pensive face, she drags it out until she finally drops it and takes a step closer to me with hopeful eyes. “Actually, I was thinking…What are your thoughts on Spain?”

When it registers in my head what she means by that, I scoop her up in my arms and crash my lips onto hers. “Anywhere you want,” I say before kissing her again.

She breaks the kiss, narrowing her eyes at me. “You told me what you want. Do you wanna know what I want?” I nod. “A real race! We can see who really has control of their bike now, mentiroso.” She shoves my shoulders back, but it doesn’t have the desired effect.

Remembering the little comment I made pulls a small laugh out of me and I set her down on her feet. “Deal.”

“Te quiero.”

“Ti amo, tesoro.”

My accent is rusty, but the fire in her eyes ignite with desire, anyway. She licks her lips then asks, “Since when do you speak Italian?”

Luci comments from somewhere in the room, “I taught him that.”

I deadpan to him. “Why are you still here? I thought you left.”

“In case you forgot, Tasmanian devil, this is my house.”

Amaris chimes in then. “What the hell even happened here?”

“This big baby thought you left him for good.”

“I may have gotten a bit carried away,” I mumble. “I’ll call the cleaners to fix everything up.”

“Already taken care of, I’m just enjoying the show now,” Luci says, eyes shining with amusement.

Amaris rolls her eyes and stifles a laugh. “We will be out of your hair soon. Come with me, baby boy.” Grabbing my hand, she leads me to her temporary room.

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