Page 127 of Dangerous Contract: Part 1

Monique flushed at the compliment, lowering her gaze as a smile tugged at her lips.

“And you are impossible, Orazio,” she retorted.

Raz chuckled, the sound rumbling in his chest where she lay. “You love me for it,” he told her before lifting her chin to steal a quick kiss.

“You know I do,” she whispered.

Raz’s gaze softened. “I love you, Monique,” he said solemnly. “More than anything in this world. You know this, right? You can feel it, can’t you?”

Monique’s breath caught at the raw emotion and vulnerability in his gaze. Here was the Raz that only she got to see. He was tender, loving, and fiercely devoted. Her chest ached with the depth of feeling she held for this complicated, dangerous, savage, yet sweet man.

“I feel it, Raz. I see it in your eyes when you look at me. I hear it in your voice when you talk to me. I experience it in your touch and in the way you treat me. You make me feel loved. And I love you too,” she whispered.

Raz’s answering smile lit up his face, erasing the harsh lines and shadows to reveal the man beneath. The man who craved love just as much as she did. Monique’s heart swelled at the sight, overflowing with joy, love, and gratitude for this imperfectly perfect moment.

Here, wrapped up in Raz’s embrace with no barriers left between them, she had found her home. She never wanted this feeling to change. But a change was coming. A change Monique wasn’t prepared for.

A change that would strengthen some bonds and leave others severed forever. Not everyone would survive it. And there was no way to stop it. But she didn’t know that yet. So she smiled, not knowing her smile would soon turn to cries of pain.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

ORAZIO

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Orazio opened his eyes and blinked at the bright light streaming through the curtains. He turned to gaze at the sleeping beauty beside him, whose brown skin was bathed in the morning sunlight.

Monique’s lips were slightly parted as she snored softly, her chest rising and falling beneath the thin sheet. A smile curved across his face as he watched her, barely resisting the urge to reach out and trail his fingers across her cheek, down her arm, under the sheet.

He wanted to pull her into his embrace and hold her tightly. He never wanted to let this woman go. Every time he stared at her, a feeling of love and adoration filled him. He was thankful for every breath she took.

And he was so fucking fortunate to have her by his side. He recalled the first time he’d seen her in his casino. Her bitch of an ex had been begging him and his brother to forgive him for not paying back the money he’d owed them on time.

Orazio had tuned Trevor out and focused on Monique as she’d sat in his lobby, not knowing that her husband had planned to sell her, even kill her, to cover his debt. Not knowingthat Orazio had been willing to pay that debt just so she could belong to him.

He now saw the error of his ways. And he was so damn thankful that she’d given him another chance.

“Please don’t leave me,” he whispered to her sleeping form.

Even as he whispered those words, he knew that everything he would do over the next twenty-four hours would give her a reason to leave him. She could never find out. She could never learn of what he was about to do.

Or should he tell her?Shit!He didn’t know what to do. Birds chirped outside their window as if reminding him that he needed to get his day started. He couldn’t tell her. Not yet. If he did, she’d spend her entire day worried about him. He couldn’t have that.

He wanted her to enjoy her day with her friends. She yawned and snuggled deeper into the covers. He was tempted to snuggle up closer to her. However, there were more pressing matters to attend to.

Matters that could not be put off. Grabbing his phone from the nightstand, Orazio carefully slid from underneath the covers. Not bothering to put on clothes, he padded across the room.

When he reached the bedroom door, he eased it open. He glanced over his shoulder to ensure he hadn’t awakened his love. Leaving the room, he left the door ajar, not risking closing it and disturbing Monique.

He quickly dialed his father’s number as he strode toward the kitchen. As if expecting the call, his father answered on the second ring.

“I expected you to call earlier,” Don Cattaneo drawled.

“Some of us sleep at night,” Raz replied as he prepared a pot of coffee.

“It’s almost ten in the morning,” his dad reminded him. “What’s that noise?”

“I’m making coffee.”

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