Page 9 of Sinful Eve

“And now, Christmas is over, and I need to get going. You don’t have to worry about feeding me. I don’t expect you to take me out today. I just need to get my stuff, and I’ll get out of your hair.”

I take her wrist in my hand and place her palm over my heart. “Feel that?”

“Carlo, please.”

“No. Feel it. I’m not joking. Tell me if my heart is racing.”

She sighs and leans her forehead against mine. “I can’t tell.”

“Then feel this.” I take her hand and put it over my cock. “It’s as hard as the first time we met. Just because you’re in my arms. Not because you’re naked in my bed.”

Her hand squeezes me involuntarily. She pulls it away and smacks my chest. “Stop that. It’s not funny.”

I raise a brow. “Does it look like I’m laughing?”

“Carlo, last night was amazing. I can’t deny that. But this isn’t my life. This isn’t a place for me.” She waves her hand around the room, nodding at the view of the city from my floor to ceiling windows that some people would kill for. Hell, I’d killed for it. “This isn’t how I live. I’m a simple girl living a normal and very boring life.”

“Ah, now I understand. It’s not about my money. It’s about how I earn it.”

Olivia frowns. “What are you talking about? I never said anything about your money.”

“No, you didn’t. But it’s there. The same way the mafia is. So, let’s get it out and over with. I work for Nicos Gataki—”

“—and I’m not judging you for that. Yesterday, I worked for him, too.”

“Right.” I kiss her forehead. She is defending me and doesn’t realize it. We both know what she did was a far cry from my work. “Working for him, for my family, means I do what they ask and when they ask. And sometimes, the job gets bloody. It’s who I am. I can’t change it, and I wouldn’t want to. I didn’t choose this life; it was dumped in my lap by my father’s choices. But that doesn’t mean I’d walk away from it.”

“I didn’t ask you to. But it’s not a life I want—”

“Because you’re afraid. I get it. But I would stand between you and danger. I would never let anything happen to you. The only reason I’m bringing it up is because I want us to get this shit over with. You have a right to know what I’m asking you to sign up for. After today, we won’t be discussing this life. I don’t bring my work home and this shit will never touch you. As far as you or the world knows, you’re involved with the head of security for the Lionsbridge shipping company.”

Her hand cups my cheek and the softness in her eyes nearly unravels the barbed wire twisted around my heart. “I don’t want that.”

No, instead of unwrapping it, her words twist the barbs deeper into the flesh. I nod. Shrugging out of her hand, I sit up and lean against the headboard. “I understand.”

“Do you? Then understand this. I don’t want you coming to me, pretending to be something you’re not. If your hands are bloody,” she wraps hers around mine. “Then we’ll wash them together. If you have cuts when you come home, then I’ll help you bandage them. My fear is about the day when you won’tcome home.” She looks down at our entwined hands. “My mother was a workaholic who spent most of her time consumed by her job. I’m used to being alone. But I don’t want that anymore. I also don’t want to get used to having someone in my life and then having him violently ripped away.”

“We had one night. Do you really want to throw it away before we even give it a chance to see where we could go from here?” Olivia looks away but I don’t release her hands because I am not letting them go. I am not lettinghergo. So, I use our fists to raise her chin. “I can’t promise you that my life will be long or short. But then neither could a teacher or an accountant. That decision is not in any of our hands. The only promise I can make is that if you give me a chance, giveusa chance, I will make sure that our life together is beautiful and exciting. I won’t be a nine-to-five husband. But I will be an all the time lover. And I’ll be yours.”

Olivia rolls her eyes. “O.M.G., I did not expect you to be so corny. You constantly surprise me.”

I shrug. “I’m not a poet. I’m just a man who knows who he wants.”

“Carlo,” she gasps.

“I want you. Wanted you the first moment I saw you. I opened the door to show you into the office, but then you looked up and smiled. And that was it. I was done. And that’s not corny.” I pinch her ass for that snub but make sure to rub the spot, cupping it for good measure. “There’s nothing corny about a man being knocked to his knees.”

“It absolutely is, but in the best way.” She grins up at me and damn it all, my corny ass heart melts.

Her brown eyes darken with worry. Taking a deep breath she adds, “I’m sorry, Carlo I’m not there yet.” Oh God, is this what love is? She could lift me higher than a skyscraper and then let me plummet. “But,” she cups my cheek again, and I nuzzle into her palm like a cat getting stroked. “I’ve never felt a connectionlike this before. I’ve never, ever jumped into a man’s bed like this. Never had a one-night fling—”

“—It’s not just one night.” I correct her.

She nods. “But I didn’t know that before I came with you. Like you, from the moment I saw you, something pulled at me and wouldn’t let go. I don’t want to let go. I know I should. I know why I should, but…”

I lift her off my shoulder, roll on top of her, and say, “I’m not letting go.”

“I know,” she sighs. “And I’m not either. I can’t walk away from something that feels so right. Not without giving it a chance. Giving us a chance.”

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