Page 59 of Passion and Revenge

The dark tux and bowtie he has on at the moment only serve to make him look more distinguished and irresistible.

“You’re wearing a bowtie,” I say, feeling at a loss.

He walks forward until he’s a hairsbreadth from me. “Am I? I can’t tell.”

“What’s happening?”

“What’s happening is that right now, I want to push you against the wall and kiss you so hard that you forget your name, and then I want to put my hand between your legs and check how glad you are to see me before I push that dress over your hips, move your panties to the side, and bury myself to the hilt inside your hot, tight cunt.”

My breath wavers, and I resist the urge to bite down on my lip. “Yes, please.”

He buries his face in my neck and then takes a deep breath. “Later. I want to take you somewhere first.”

I whine as he presses an open-mouthed kiss to my skin before pulling away. I pout at him, and he chuckles.

I glance over his shoulder, just now realizing that the door is open behind him. “Where are we going?”

He tangles his fingers with mine, something he has been doing more recently. The innocent contact has electricity crackling through me, and heat swirls in my belly.

I thought the animal attraction I feel for Alessandro would have waned by now, but instead, it just seems to be getting deeper, dragging me down into its dark depths.

“Come.” He leads me out the door and to the bank of stairs at the back of the apartment. Unlike the time when I tried to escape, I now take my time running my gaze over the rest of the apartment.

After being confined to one room for close to two months, all the space around me feels overwhelming, and I cling to Alessandro’s side tightly.

“Where does it lead?” I ask when I notice the stairs leading up. “I thought we were on the top floor.”

His only response is his mouth ticking up into a mysterious smile.

I let out an annoyed huff and allow him to lead me up the stairs and past a heavy metal door. We step out onto the wide expanse of the roof, and I suck in a breath at the sight before me.

Colorful flowers burst out of every corner of the roof, and there’s a flower arch ahead.

“Oh my God,” I gasp as I hurry forward through the arch.

Just ahead, there is a small canopy with a single table and two chairs in the center. Fairy lights hang around the ceiling of the canopy and illuminate the space.

“It’s beautiful,” I choke out. “When did you do all this? How did you do it?”

He holds my chair out for me. “I have my ways.”

If someone told me two months ago that I would be sitting at a romantic dinner with a deadly mobster while I was a captive of said mobster, I would have asked them to get their heads checked.

But here I am, dropping into the seat he’s holding out for me.

“Thank you,” I tell him with a pleased smile.

With a nod, he walks to a table at the side that I hadn’t noticed earlier and produces a tray with covered dishes. My eyes light up as he places the dishes before me and unveils them with a flourish.

“I feel like royalty right now,” I say with a laugh.

He bends down over me and brushes his mouth over mine in a kiss so featherlight that I barely feel it, yet my body trembles and my nipples harden, so attuned and sensitive to his every touch.

I don’t know where all this is coming from, but I’m afraid to ask for fear of ruining the moment.

Things between Alessandro and I have really changed. He’s no longer the terrifying, sadistic asshole to me that he had been that first day. First, he changed my wardrobe to the brightest colors that I favored, and then he set up a TV for me and even got me paints and canvas, which I haven’t touched yet.

It is terrifying how I now crave his presence, his touch, and those half-smiles of his.

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