Page 39 of Little Rabbit

When he turns back to me, he smirks and winks when he catches me staring at him, but I refuse to be embarrassed. Instead, I just stand there and let him take over the task of drying me. I should probably be telling him not to and making sure we’re not blurring the lines already more than they are, but that’s a worry for another day and time.

When he finally tosses the towel aside, he leads me back into the bedroom. When he pulls me toward the bed, I dig in my heels. “I’m not getting into bed naked with you, Alessio,” I tell him firmly. Even I don’t think that I can completely ignore temptation with him in the bed with me.

Surprisingly, he doesn’t argue, and instead walks to another door, opening it to reveal a walk-in closet. He briefly disappears, and then comes back wearing a pair of boxers, holding another pair and one of his shirts. He hands them to me and I quickly pull them on. I barely resist sniffing at his shirt, instead climbing into the bed. It’s not lost on me that I should be making a stink about him expecting me to sleep in his bed, but again, too fucking tired for that.

Alessio turns out the lights and then climbs in, the mattress dipping under him, before he reaches for me and pulls me back into him, curling around me and burying his face in my hair. Neither of us say anything, though my mind hasn’t gone quiet. Not yet. Before I lose my nerve, I roll over and face Alessio, burrowing into him. I can’t see him in the darkness of the room, but I know he’s watching me. And maybe it’s the darkness giving me courage, but I whisper, “I don’t know how I’m going to function in this world, Alessio. I feel so lost and overwhelmed.”

Alessio doesn’t answer for a moment, but his arms tighten around me, and as much as I want to hate it, I relish it, drawing the delicious scent of him into my lungs. “You’re smart, Sienna, and you’re going to do just fine once you get your feet under you. Lean on me and I’ll help you. I know this is going to be hard for you, and I know that it’s not what you pictured for yourself, but if you’ve shown me anything, it’s that you’re adaptable, and once you put your mind to something, you’re unstoppable. A rare quality for women in our world now, but I think it’s needed.”

His praise warms me, but it doesn’t alleviate my stress. “I just can’t understand how I’m going to fit in here. You saw what happened tonight. I feel like I’m going to lose myself if I don’t figure it out quickly.” I feel emotion brewing inside me again, but I swallow it down. I’m not crying any more tonight. Fuck, I hate crying, and I rarely do it for this reason. It leaves me feeling weak and vulnerable, two emotions that I don’t know how to handle well.

“Cut yourself some slack, coniglietto. You’ve been here less than a day. You can’t expect yourself to understand everything so quickly.” He sighs. “Just like I shouldn’t have expected you to. You’ve been through enough, and I should have realized that. I was acting like an ass; you fighting me even more pissed me off, and I took that out on you.”

“You were an asshole.” He huffs out a laugh and pinches my ass, making me yelp in surprise.

“Brat. But I’m your asshole, and we just need to get our footing underneath us. For tonight, just leave it be. We’re both exhausted, and I’ve got a bunch of shit I need to deal with tomorrow.”

I wince. “Including Nico?”

“Don’t worry about Nico, cara mia. Where Gia is concerned, the man isn’t rational, but he’ll forget all about it after he’s worked his frustrations out with his wife and she gets him back to a reasonable state of mind. One not adrenaline addled.”

I groan. “Fuck off,” I say weakly. “I was pissed, but you know I was right.”

“Mmm, you were, but still, now that the moment’s over, I can find it funny. I don’t think a woman has ever stood up to Nico like that before, other than maybe Sofia. Something tells me that if you spend more time with your sister, Gia will be right up there too.”

One can only hope, though I get the feeling that Gia is already starting to come out of her shell. “I’m still going to have to apologize to him again, or I’m not going to be able to let it go.”

“Alright, cara. We’ll talk to him in the morning then.”

“What do you mean, we?”

“You really think I’m going to miss the chance to see this and not needle him some more?”

I roll my eyes. “You’re incorrigible. I’m not nursing you back to health if he decides to shoot you.” Alessio chuckles. We drift into silence, and I can feel myself relaxing. I’m so tired, and I have many more questions, but they’re going to have to wait. Instead, I whisper sleepily, “Thank you, Alessio. For calming me down so I didn’t pass out.”

“Always, coniglietto,” he murmurs, sounding sleepy himself.

I lean into him, shut my eyes, and slip in to sleep. Tomorrow I’ll put some distance between us, but tonight, I need this more.

21

SIENNA

Alessio is so tired that I manage to get out of the bed without him waking up. He continues to breathe slowly and evenly, and I look at him for a moment with a mixture of bewilderment and some kind of weird affection. Or, maybe it’s the last time he was like this, I managed to tie him up without waking him. If I wasn’t so tired still myself, or didn’t really need to pee, I might try it again just for fun, but nature calls.

I make my way around the darkened room to the bathroom, shutting the door softly behind me before turning on the light. I wince as the light hits my tired eyes, but they quickly adjust and I glance out the window over the tub, realizing that it’s definitely late in the day. Considering how tired I was, I’m not surprised. I still feel like I could sleep for a few more hours, but I also know that if I don’t get up and moving, I’m going to be up all night.

Once I take care of business and wash my hands, I strip out of Alessio’s clothes and climb into the spacious shower, taking a moment to try and figure out the dials. This shower is fancy as hell, with beautiful stone on three sides, a full glass wall, and shower door facing into the bathroom. There’s a rainfall showerhead and body jets, and even a couple extra wands that look interesting. Hell, I’ve been in some nice showers, but this certainly takes the cake.

I can feel that my eyes are still puffy from crying so long and hard, and the water helps to soothe them a little. Yeah, I don’t want to think about that right now. I’ll be embarrassed later. Instead, I stand under the water for another couple of minutes, letting it wake me up and soothe some of the aches inside me, before I finally grab some of Alessio’s products to wash my hair and myself. I’ll have to ask Sofia or Gia for products of my own, not to mention clothes. I still have some in my bag, but they aren’t going to last forever and probably need a wash by now.

Once I finish my shower, I step out and set to work on towel drying my hair as best as I can, and then searching the vanity for a spare toothbrush. By the time I finally emerge from the bathroom, I’m feeling much more myself, though I’m still desperately in need of some clothes. I put the shirt and boxers Alessio loaned me into the hamper in the corner of the bathroom, and then walk naked into the main bedroom. Alessio is still fast asleep, and barely even stirs when I find my bag near the door and pull on a sports bra, underwear, yoga pants, and a white crop top. Finally, I slip on my sneakers.

I search my bag for my phone, pulling it out and sticking it in my pocket before I slip out of the room and shut the door quietly behind me. I’m starving, so I need to find my way down to the kitchen.

As I make my way down the hall toward the stairs, I realize this place is far busier during the day. I get curious glances from the staff, with a few whispering to each other as I go by. Not that I can understand them, but I don’t need to be bilingual to know they’re talking about me. I give them all a friendly smile, and when I reach the lower level, I head toward the same area that Alessio lead me last night. I think the kitchen is this way.

Of course, I end up hopelessly lost, and find myself down a different hallway at a dead-end. “Shit. They need a map for this place,” I huff.

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