Page 97 of Coerced Kiss

Livy stills. Her face drops. Looking between us, she says, “I don’t understand.”

Flustered, I rush forward. “I didn’t have time to explain. It was?—”

Saverio wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me possessively against him. “It was a meaningless fling.”

“It’s not yours?” Livy asks, looking at Saverio with a mix of consternation and confusion.

“It doesn’t matter,” he says. “I already love it like it’s my own.” Looking down at me with a devastating smile, he says, “Isn’t that so,my love?”

CHAPTER

TWENTY-FOUR

Saverio

“You shouldn’t lie about things like love,” Anya says in the Corvette on the way back home.

There’s an edge to my girl’s voice. I don’t have to look at her to know she’s upset.

When I stop at a red light, I give her my full attention. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” Her beautiful amber eyes flare. “You told Livy youlovemy baby.”

“I took responsibility for you. Why wouldn’t I take responsibility for your child?”

She lifts a finger. “Now that’s a big statement and very much debatable, but that’s not the point. Responsibility isn’t the same as affection.” She crosses her arms. “Love is sacred. It’s not a word you throw around when you don’t mean it.”

I study her features in the kaleidoscope of yellow, white, and ruby lights that filter through the window. “It’s obviously a trigger word for you. Is that because your mother doesn’t love you?”

Her body goes rigid. “Just because you know a few facts about my family, don’t assume to know everything.”

Ah. I’m right. “Which word do you prefer I use? Care?”

“I prefer that you don’t lie at all.”

The light changes. I put the car in gear and face the road. “Given our circumstances, that’ll be complicated. Correction. That’ll be impossible.”

She makes a frustrated sound. “All I ask is that you don’t act as if you care with…with…”

I raise a brow. “With what?”

“With so much intensity,” she says with a puff of air.

“Why?”

She turns in her seat. “Are you going out of your way to make my life difficult?”

“On the contrary,” I drawl. “Why would a devoted boyfriend complicate your life?”

“It’ll be more difficult to explain our breakup when our agreement comes to an end.”

I tense at that.

The truth is so much morecomplicatedthan lies about love. Thereisno end to this agreement. In time, she’ll realize her life will never be safe if I let her go. And yes, when I decided not to kill her, I did take responsibility for the consequences that came with that decision. If I tell her that now, however, she’ll freak out, and that can’t be good for the baby.

Annoyance rides on her tone. “Did you hear what I said, Sav?”

Fuck. I like it when she says my name. It’s as if she’s reaching into my chest and poking my heart.

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