Page 53 of Texting Mr. Stranger

I trail off. What was I going to say?Love you. Want you. Need you.My mind sparks with impossible, crazy thoughts, havoc, and madness. Clearly, I’m letting the stress, fear, and everything else affect me too much.

“They were all men,” he growls. “I’d never do that. I’d never …” He shakes his head. “Anyway, you know now. You don’t deserve to be kept in the dark. You deserve the truth, and now you have it.”

He walks toward the door quickly, his shoulders broad, his breathing coming so huskily and passionately it’s like he’s about to erupt into a roar. When he slams the door, the whole house trembles. I bring my knees to my chest, hugging them tightly.

Did he seriouslystorm outbecause I asked him a reasonable question? Does he honestly think he has the right to do that afterhepulled me intohismess?

Looking at myself in the reflection of the switched-off TV, I can’t help but note how small and vulnerable I look. It’s like I’m waiting for him to return, move up behind me, wrap me in his strong arms, and whisper that everything will be okay.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

MATTEO

“Even a Don needs to sleep,”my father told me once.“I wish I didn’t have to. I wish I could just work and work and keep working. That’s what I am, son—a workhorse for the Family. It’s the way it has to be, but without sleep, a man grows dull. A man forgets what’s important. A man won’t be able to do what’s needed when the time comes.”

I sit up in bed, glancing at the clock. It’s almost three a.m. I can’t stop thinking about the conversation with Bella—the look on her face when I told her the truth wasn’t what I expected. It wasn’t hate. It wasn’t complete acceptance, either. It was something in between as if she couldn’t figure out how she was supposed to feel.

Grabbing my phone, I go to our text conversation. When she asked me—oralmostasked me—if I’d ever killed a woman or a child, something snapped in me. The idea of her thinking that made me feel sick. The thought of it was—is—grotesque to me. I can’t believe she’d even entertain it.

But why not? I’m a stranger to her. She’s a stranger to me, even if it stopped feeling like that much too soon.

I have to know. Otherwise, I’ll never be able to …

That’s what she said, but then she trailed off, leaving my imagination to fill in the gaps. It’s not like my imagination is always a happy, optimistic place.

What were you going to say?I text.

Maybe she’s asleep. She won’t get in until the morning, anyway. I know I won’t be able to rest until I’ve at least tried. Soon, the text goes fromdeliveredtoread, making my heartbeat pick up and race. I imagine her sitting in the large bed, silk sheets wrapped around her perfect, thick legs, her lips pouting as she stares at my message.

Huh?

I smirk, shaking my head. So she’s going to play it coy, then. She’ll pretend she doesn’t know what I’m talking about. Or maybe I’m putting more significance on that unfinished sentence than she ever did.

When you asked me about the dark parts of my life …I can’t include explicit details here.You said you had to know, but you didn’t finish it. What were you going to say?

She sends a laughing emoji, followed with,Is this your way of saying sorry for storming out?

My smirk widens. I shake my head slowly. No matter what happens between us, she can always bring out my lighter side. The side I didn’t even know existed until the music of Bella came into my life—not just her violin playing.She’sthe music herself.

I shouldn’t have left like that, but dammit. I can’t stand the thought of you even thinking of me doing something like that. I never would. I couldn’t. I’d die before I did that.

I had to ask,she replies.I had to know. Otherwise …

Are you teasing me again?

I’m not trying to. Maybe I don’t want to make the first move.

The first move has already been made.

Kissing is easier than what I want to say.

Do you want me to guess?

I stand up, walking in my boxer briefs across the room. Sitting in the chair by the window, I look over the vast estate. The bedroom light to the guesthouse is on. I wonder if that’s the one Bella or her friend is staying in.

Finally, she responds,Yes, guess.

I bite down as my mind works overtime.You have to know I’m not an evil man first of all. Second, I know you have feelings for me—the same feelings I have for you. Yet it’s moving fast, and we’re both used to being cold and distant. Hell, let’s call it what it is: we’re both scared. Being who I am only makes it even more complicated.

---