Page 109 of Beautiful Dangerous

“Tell me one thing, Javier. Putting me in charge here, why are you doing that?”

“Because you’re the best man for the job. And I need someone in charge who isn’t going to fuck up.”

“I already fucked up. I already lost your trust, and surely having someone in charge who you trust is more important than anything?”

The corner of his mouth lifts a little, and he slides his hands into his pockets and takes a few steps toward me, until he’s right by my side. And then he leans in to me, lowering his voice to a whisper. “You know what they say, Lucca. Don’t you? Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”

He steps away from me, his eyes locking on mine for the briefest of seconds, and then he walks away, leaving me wondering where Olivia is. Is she alone? Or is he heading off to find her, before I do?

I lean back against the wall and look outside, over the pool and the palm-tree-lined terrace, but there’s no sign of Olivia. And why would there be? Like I said, he’s rarely letting her out of his sight right now.

“Lucca?”

The sound of her voice hits me like an unexpected punch to the back of the head, and when I look at her she smiles, and my heart fucking breaks. And then she remembers where we are, what’s happening, and the smile drops from her beautiful face. But I can tell she wants to say something to me, despite the fact we shouldn’t even be here, like this, we’re just so desperate to be together, grab even the smallest of seconds, it’s worth the risk.

Is it? Really?

Yeah. It is…

“In here.” She quickly takes my hand and drags me into the living room, so quickly I don’t really have a choice in the matter.

“What the hell are you doing, Liv?”

She slams me back against the closed door and kisses me, and my arms close in around her, it’s a reflex action I couldn’t have stopped if I’d tried. Her mouth is warm and soft, but this kiss is dangerous, and it shouldn’t be happening, I have to push her away. And I need to get out of here. We’ve grabbed that small second, but we need to go now.

“Olivia, come on…”

Her grip on my hands is vice-like, I had no idea how much strength she had.

“I can’t do this, Lucca. I can’t go with him, I can’t leave you behind, I can’t do it.”

“Hey, slow down, I know. I know, and I don’t want you to go, believe me, but right nowthisshouldn’t be happening. He’ll be looking for you…”

She finally lets go of me, steps back, and her shoulders slump as she drags a hand through her hair. “I know.”

“So I’m going to go, okay? For both our sakes.”

Her head snaps around, her eyes locking on mine, and there’s an anger in there now. A darkness she only ever used to display when shit was about to hit the fan. “This is it, isn’t it? Both of us just accepting the fate he’s decided to dole out to us.”

“I will never stop fighting for you, Olivia. Believe that.” And despite the alarms going off in my head and the danger signals flashing away I go over to her, tuck a finger under her chin and tilt her head up until her eyes are back on mine. “I will never stop fighting for you. And I will come for you, alright? I will come for you, and wewillleave this all behind, one day. Soon, I promise you that. I promise you.”

But deep down I know I’m making promises I may not be able to keep. I don’t know what the future holds anymore, for all I know Javier taking her away from here, keeping her with him, that might be all it takes to condition her into loving him again. I can only hope she’s changed enough for that not to happen. That she loves me enough to wait for me, however long it might take for me to get to her. Because Iwillcome for her. You can bet your fucking life on that.

She smiles, and it lifts my heart for all of a nanosecond, but that’s all, because I really do need to get out of here.

“I love you,” she whispers, her lips almost touching mine as she speaks, and I ache to pull her back into my arms and keep her there; never let her go.

“I love you too,mi reina.”

And I hate that she’s crying, that I’m wiping hot tears from her cheeks; that I have to leave her standing here, alone, before Javier finds out we’ve stolen these few minutes together.

“I have to go, Liv.”

She nods, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand as I walk away, out of the room, and I don’t look back. I can’t, look back, I can barely breathe until I’m well away from wherever she is.

I need some air, a moment to pull myself together, so I head out to the pool and sit down on the terrace, drop my head into my hands, and let the tears fall…

Twenty-Two

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