Page 16 of King of Obsession

‘It’s fuckin’ you,’ she repeated with something like wonder threading through her voice.

I exhaled, harsh and ragged. ‘Si, bella. It’s me.’

I gazed into her jade eyes and drank her in.

Still freakin’ off the charts beautiful.

‘After all these years,’ she breathed.

I jerked my chin, too winded to say more.

‘You let me go in Naples because, for some reason, you froze. So, have you now come to finish off what you started?’

I huffed at her husky intimation, a wild and inaccurate conjecture. ‘You’ve quite the imagination, woman.’

She bristled.

‘I’ve also got quite the fight in me. You’re lucky I didn’t aim higher with my boots,’ she spat, her gaze flicking to my groin.

I winced, realizing just how close I had come to losing my jewels to her flailing limbs and deadly accuracy.

‘Believe me, I’m counting my blessings,’ I grated, trying to ignore the way my body responded to the sight of her, all coiled energy and barely leashed violence.

A wave of weakness came on the heel of my ratcheting desire.

I dropped to one knee.

‘I’m flattered,’ she growled, then gasped when I almost keeled face-first to the ground before her.

She rushed and caught me before I fell.

‘You’re hurt.’

She eased me down, and I slumped to the earth on my back, winded and unsure of my injuries.

Despite the waves of nausea assailing me, I kept my gun trained on her, and her eyes flicked to it, a flash of fear running through them.

I didn’t give a fuck.

I wouldn’t hurt her, but I was willing to do whatever it took to make sure she wasn’t harmed.

Regardless if that meant hurting her feelings for a short while.

‘You need to do as I say. I’ve got a first aid kit in my car. Take me to it,’ I ground out.

Her eyes searched the knoll, finding my SUV tucked under the brush where I’d left it.

‘Then what?’

I curled my lip at the defiance in her voice. ‘Step by step, sweetheart. But first, bring your rifle to me. Attempt anything shady, and I’ll shoot.’

She sucked her teeth but did as I asked.

‘Disarm it,’ I growled, waving my silencer-tipped weapon at her.

She did, sliding the unspent casings from the stock and handing them to me.

I hissed as I pocketed them, the movement sending shardsof agony across my torso.

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