Page 17 of Contracted

“So what about your mother?” she asked. “I mean, I’ve heard a little about your father but nothing about the woman who raised you.”

I flinched, the feelings flooding through me still too raw to confront. I cleared my throat as I gathered myself and said softly, “She was wonderful. I don’t doubt for a minute she regretted marrying a man who showed her such little love or affection. Though she was surrounded by materialistic things, I think her children were all she cared about. We were everything to her.”

“Were?” she repeated. “So you’ve lost both your parents?”

I nodded, my voice growing tight. “She developed young onset dementia and lost her memory very quickly. Dad didn’t tolerate weakness. He locked her away.” I’d never forget the men who’d came and forced her out of her own home. My hands curled into fists. “We never even got to visit her before she died.”

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, obviously appalled as she stared wide-eyed at me, then reached across to clasp my hand and give it a squeeze. “That must have been terrible for everyone, including your mother.”

I nodded, the memories I’d stuffed into a padlocked part of my brain resurfaced with scratching, maddening precision. “She must have wondered, in her times of lucidity, why we’d abandoned her.”

Delilah’s hand tightened on mine, her eyes big shimmering pools of green. “Your father really was a monster.”

I nodded. “Many say Nico—the brother who is no longer with us—took after him.” I held her stare. “Others say I’m the most like him.”

“I never met your father, and though I don’t doubt for a minute you have a darker side I’ve yet to really see, I think it is your mother you take after.”

She meant it. I could see it in the gentle way she spoke, in the grip she still had on my hand, and in the way she leaned closer, like she wanted to share my suffering, dilute it.

“Thank you,” I managed.

Did she have any idea how good she made me feel?

My mother had been a wonderful woman, too caring and gentle for the lifestyle my father—her husband—had expected her to tolerate, but even she’d looked at me sometimes with concern, like she feared for what I was becoming.

The elevator suddenly pinged, its doors opening to reveal one of the white-coated chefs I employed. He pushed out a cart that held a large platter, along with a bottle of whiskey I’d ordered and two crystal glasses. Once he was out on the balcony, he transferred everything down in front of us.

“Thank you, Romeo.”

The chef nodded respectfully before glancing at Delilah opposite me. His eyes widening, I cleared my throat and said, “That will be all.”

“Naturalmente,” Romeo said apologetically, before he backed away and hurried to the waiting elevator.

I smirked, amusement winning out over the spark of ire Romeo’s interest had induced. “I think he likes you.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Does it bother you that he could have me for a price?”

My lips thinned as the spark of ire burst into a bonfire. It took everything I had not to allow it to become a wildfire. I poured the whiskey into two glasses, then took a deep gulp of my own. “You probably already know the answer to that.”

She winced. “You’re probably right.” She nodded at the antipasto. “This looks delicious.”

I focused on our lunch. She was right, it did. I scanned the cheeses, the cured meats, the olives and grapes, the cherry tomatoes and pickled onions, the blistered capsicum and dry crackers. My inner fire finally cooling off somewhat, I cleared my throat and said, “Let’s not waste it.”

“Let’s not.” She plucked a cracker off the platter, then added some cured meat, cheese and an olive on top before she popped it into her mouth.

I grabbed a bit of everything and chewed, suddenly ravenous once I started.

She giggled as she reached for her whiskey and took an appreciative sip. “Great sex really does create a great appetite.”

“Then I’d better order ten more antipastos.”

Her expression heated. “Perhaps I was your entrée?’

“You were my Almas caviar and my white truffles, my finest cuisine and delicacy all rolled into one.”

Her lips pulled into a smile as she extended her leg and lifted her foot beneath the table, reaching between my thighs to rub my arousal. “And you were my beast in the bedroom.”

My dick jerked and thickened, my voice a growl as I said, “You’ll see the real beast if you keep playing with me like that.”

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