Page 38 of Stolen Seconds

Her blue eyes might be frosted over by a falseness that not even she understood but I could see past that. I saw raw pain in them.

I wanted to know why she did it. What thoughts roamed in her head when she drew distant in a moment like that.

Did she see the world like I did? How cruel and unfair it could be.

A flicker of movement to my left caught my attention, and I averted my eyes to see pale blonde hair.

Irina sat on the highest bench, her hair slicked against her face and her eyes widening a fraction.

A slow buzz slithered beneath my skin and whatever tension that had melted away came back, coiling tight around my muscles.

“This is the men’s locker room.” I trailed my gaze along her body, the robe she had on parted slightly in the front. Her pale flesh glistened with sweat, and I knew my little rebel was naked beneath that fabric. “What are you doing in the men’s locker room, Irina?” I asked with an edge to my tone.

“I didn’t realize you were someone I had to answer to, Luca.”

The way she said my name. . . as if I was the most inconvenient thing in her life made me want to record and put it on replay.

“Maybe you should write it down somewhere, so you don’t forget.”

She could do whatever she wanted but anyone could’ve walked in here and seen her half naked.Another man.

What would it take for her to understand that she was mine and only mine? Maybe I should resort to less pleasant endeavors.

“Or maybe you should mind your own business.”

I stared at her, noting the rise and fall of her chest, the spark in her blue eyes that made me wonder if she enjoyed this push and pull between us as much as I did.

The tension was taut, stretching so thin it was close to snapping.

I removed my attention from her and closed my eyes. This game was far from done and I planned on savoring the chase.

Irina didn’t make a sound; she didn’t leave either as I expected her to.

She’d come here on her own and I wanted to know why. I knew she was physically active when she had kicked my ass the last time we were at the Underground Club but where did she learn that?Whydid she learn it?

“How did you get your scars?” Her voice came out in a hushed tone.

I opened my eyes and caught hers, the color in them deepening into a midnight blue.

“What do I get in return?”

“You won’t be getting my pity.”

Adorable.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I chuckled before smoothing my features. “If I tell you, I want to know about yours.”

Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “I don’t have any.”

Like calls to like and if hers weren’t apparent on her body, I knew they ran deep inside her soul.

There was nothing that I’d keep from this woman. I wanted her. And Iwantedher to know the darkest parts of me, to understand that once she did, I’d never let her go.

And with Irina, I knew she’d walk me like a damn dog for me to have her.

“My mother was killed in front of me when I was only a young boy,” I said, recalling that day sovividly as if it was yesterday. “My father was the one who pulled the trigger.”

Her body went still as a statue. “Why did he kill her?”

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