Page 189 of Roberto

If he returns to De Sade, you are to keep him happy. You are to acquiesce to ANYTHING he wants. Do you understand?

I understood all too well.

And now I was going to have to follow through.

Han’s dead eyes locked onto me, and he said something to the Italian I couldn’t hear.

Now I had no choice. I kept on walking.

The Italian turned around.

I expected to see a smirk of triumph on his face – the look of an entitled man who had put an uppity little bitch in her place –

And was surprised to see pure happiness instead.

Before I could speak, he said, “I came to apologize and make a peace offering.”

God, he was even more handsome than I’d remembered…

But I was still irritated that I had to do whatever he wanted.

“A peace offering, hm?”

“Yes. Have you had dinner yet?”

I remembered the half-eaten food I’d thrown in the trash. “No.”

“Then I’d like to invite you to dinner.”

Yay.

Wonderful.

He could ask me what my name meant again while he slid his hand up under my dress.

“I’m at work, Mr. Rosolini,” I said, attempting to brush him off – or at least delay the unpleasantness.

“I’ll have you back in plenty of time for when the club gets busy. If you go with me, I promise you one of the best meals of your life – not to mention one of the most interesting experiences you’ve ever had.”

I had to admit, his offer was more original than anything he’d said last night.

And the earnestness with which he said it…

And the kindness in his voice…

It annoyed me to realize he was slowly winning me over.

“I don’t know,” I said, trying not to give in to his boyish charm. “I’ve hadlotsof interesting experiences.”

“Then you’ll have the pleasure of mocking me over what I consider ‘interesting.’ Plus, you can exact any punishment you wish for my wasting your time.”

Hm.

Maybe he wasn’t quite as bland as I’d thought.

If I could follow Lau’s orders by only having to flog the crap out of him… that might not be so bad.

I arched one eyebrow. “Really.”

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