Page 17 of Heartbeats Amidst Chaos: Part 2

She supposed, as his doctor, she would need to be the one to advise him of this and take the sutures out for him, although it obviously wasn’t going to be in a hospital setting. Most likely, it would be in an abandoned building like this one. She caught herself smiling as she imagined him seated in the chair across from her while she perched on the desk to get a better view, her hands in his hair.

Stop. You don’t even know if you can trust this guy.

And yet, here I am, alone in an abandoned office building with him after willingly getting into his car.

With Elio, she struggled to think straight. When he wasn’t there, she could have doubts and suspicions as much as she wanted. But the moment he stood in front of her, powerful and handsome and earnestly glaring, all that went out the window.

He suddenly pivoted to face her.

“My family is getting angsty,” he said. “They don’t trust you. My grandfather wants me to step up and start helping out with the less legal parts of his business. I won’t do it, and I’ve told them they have nothing to worry about, but I just thought you should know.”

He was so upset and sincere, Rissa found it harder than ever to remember the conversation she had heard in the alleyway and her renewed suspicions regarding him. Elio crossed to sit on the couch next to her, and his knee brushed hers.

“I thought that was bad enough, but now, with the police and shadow gang showing up out of nowhere—”

“Shadow gang?” Rissa asked. Elio blinked.

“It’s what my grandfather calls them,” he explained. “The name they have for themselves isn’t much better. We don’t know who they are, just that they could be involved in buying off the police and setting me up.”

“They certainly weren’t buying off the police just now,” Rissa said.

Elio shook his head in agreement, sighing deeply. He leaned back on the couch, tipping his head to gaze at the ceiling. “I just don’t know what to do.”

Rissa watched him, her eyes tracing the lines of his face in the dim light from the lone window, wondering how they had become so familiar so quickly.

As if he felt her eyes on him, he suddenly turned his head to look at her. She flushed but didn’t look down. His hazel eyes searched hers, almost scorching in their intensity.

“Are we good?” he asked after a moment. “I just accused you of calling the cops on me, and you seemed to think I’d called the gang on you—or something like that.”

“I don’t know,” Rissa answered, tucking her hands between her thighs in a nervous gesture. “I don’t know what to think or do right now either.” There were no lamps in the room, and it was going to be dark soon. It didn’t frighten her, but somewhere deep inside, she wondered if it should.

She wondered if she should tell Elio what she had overheard. Perhaps he would look relieved and offer her a simple explanation. Or perhaps he would look guilty and try to come up with an excuse. Her feelings felt as tangled up as her thoughts. How was it possible for her to want to reach for him and kissalong his chiseled jaw and, at the same time, wonder if the man it belonged to was some kind of terrorist?

She just couldn’t bring herself to believe it. All she had seen of Elio had shown him to be genuine. His story stayed the same since she had met him. He didn’t deny his family ties or defend their alleged crimes, but he insisted he had no part in them. And Rissa believedhim. Somehow, she believed him.

The shadows were growing deeper, and still, they stared at one another.

“This evening really didn’t go as I thought it would,” Rissa said quietly. Elio’s eyes never wavered.

“How did you think it would go?”

She dropped her own gaze, almost wishing she hadn’t spoken. “Just differently.”

There was a brief silence. Had Elio picked up on the signals she had been sending him? Rissa waited, unsure which answer she wanted. She looked up as Elio leaned forward. His eyes still burned into hers as he slowly reached out and brushed a finger along her cheek, tracing his way down to her lips.

“That tickles,” Rissa said, closing her eyes and leaning into his touch.

“How about this?” Elio’s fingers grazed the top of her knee, slowly sliding up her bare leg, sending tingles throughout her body. Rissa drew in her breath, but she did not dissuade him.

“Did I tell you that you look amazing in that dress?” His fingers reached the hem and kept going, inching it upward.

“I seem to remember you saying something like that,” Rissa breathed. “A long time ago—before all hell broke loose.”

“I really like it.” His fingers dipped toward the sensitive skin on the inside of her thigh, and instead of pressing her legs more tightly together, Rissa found herself spreading them slightly apart, welcoming his sensuous stroke. His touch dove deeper, brushing the thin fabric between her legs.

Her breath caught again and then continued more quickly as he gently stroked the finger up and down, his thumb still circling against her thigh. Her innermost folds began to swell and grow slick with desire.

“I think I’d also really like what’s under it,” he said, his voice husky. Rissa flushed, her heart rushing to keep pace with her breath. She squirmed slightly, wanting to press into his reticent finger and satisfy the ache intensifying within her.

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