Page 60 of Sinister Intentions

The way he looked, with rivulets of water running down his chiseled chest. His tattoos. The way he’d gripped his cock.

His cock.

Damn.

I forced myself to focus on the present, on the laughter between Fee and Matt. Yet, even as I joined their conversation, a part of me remained acutely aware of Vince standing across the room.

“So how is it that you turned out to be a somewhat functioning human being while your brother is…well, Vince?” I asked Matt, nodding my head toward where Vince stood with Alex.

Matt chuckled and shook his head. “Don’t let his tough exterior fool you. Deep down, he’s not as bad as he seems.”

I raised an eyebrow skeptically. “You’re kidding, right? The man threw me in a van, kidnapped me to his apartment, and nearly drowned me in his pool.”

Fee’s eyes widened, and she turned to stare at me. “He did what?”

Shrugging, I recounted the events of earlier that day, from the moment I left the cafe to follow Vince to waking up bound in that dimly lit room.

Matt’s expression darkened as I described the panic I was feeling. “He took you to his apartment?”

I nodded. “And then he picked me up along with the chair and tossed me into his pool.”

An uncomfortable silence fell over us. Fee looked utterly bewildered, her gaze flicking between Vince and me as if trying to make sense of my words.

“Why would he do that?” she finally asked, her voice hushed.

Another shrug. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Only, I didn’t toss you in the pool. I jumped right in with you.”

I turned, and my eyes met his brooding ones.

“Why would you jump into the pool with her?” Alex asked.

Vince shrugged. “She wouldn’t stop screaming, so I thought the shock of the water would snap her out of it.”

Fee’s eyes went huge. “Why would she be screaming?”

Shit. I knew Fee had had a hard time after what happened in Italy—was probably still dealing with the aftermath.

As was I.

I shook my head, but Vince ignored me.

He shrugged, and he stared into my eyes. “She was having a full-blown panic attack…” He trailed off and let that hang in the air.

“It wasn’t so bad,” I chimed in.

The muscles around his eyes tensed. “It was worse than anything I’d ever seen. I didn’t untie her because I wasn’t sure she wouldn’t hurt herself actually.”

I sighed. Great, now everyone would talk about it, and Fee would probably tell Sophie and Cara.

Alex’s eyes first met Fee’s, then mine. “Jemma?” The empathy and knowing in them created a lump in my throat the size of a soccer ball.

I stared down at my hands in my lap, unwilling to meet anyone’s gaze. I did not want to think or talk about Italy, or the aftermath of the kidnapping, at all, but especially not in front of Vince Salvini. I could feel the panic rising like bile in my throat.

Fee reached over and squeezed my hand, offering a reassuring smile. Her presence helped to ground me in the present moment. I took a deep breath and looked up. My gaze inadvertently met Vince’s intense stare.

He knew. Of course, he knew, but there was something, an understanding in those dark depths, which both unsettled and comforted me. As if he just now realized how big the demons that haunted me really were.

---