Page 66 of Dangerous Contract: Part 1

She looked at him and mimicked his tone. “Orazio!”

Gritting his teeth, he prayed for patience. If she were a man,well, they wouldn’t be in this situation if she was a man. But if anyone else had pulled some shit like this on him, he would’ve chained them up, then scraped their skin from their body while ignoring their pleas for mercy. No matter how angry she was making him, he couldn’t do that to her. He couldn’t hurt her at all.

And that frustrated him. Not the being unable to hurt her part. He never wanted to hurt his Rosa. It frustrated him that he couldn’t do anything at all to make her release him. He was at her mercy. That wasn’t a good feeling.

“Rosa...” he started.

“Shush. Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“Release me,” he said again, this time in a gentler tone.

“No,” she whispered, copying his tone.

If he gritted his teeth any harder, he’d crack one. Raz struggled against the rope that was wrapped around his wrists. Damn, she’d tied a good knot.

“Where did you find this rope?” he asked.

“In your closet. Not many people keep ropes in their closets. Especially ropes that are the perfect length for tying up someone’s hands or their ankles. Either you’re into rope play in the bedroom, or you’re a habitual kidnapper. I’m leaning toward the latter.”

“This isn’t my rope. It was left here by my cousin.”

Actually, his cousin had left an entire duffle bag there. When he’d returned to retrieve it, he’d ended up leaving his rope behind.

“So kidnapping runs in the family? Gotcha. Be quiet. I’m busy.”

This motherfucker! Why wasn’t this damn rope getting looser?

Raz ceased struggling and glared at his... kidnapper. Damn, he’d been kidnapped.

“Who taught you how to tie a knot like this?”

“Girl Scouts.”

“It’s been a long time since you’ve been in Girl Scouts.”

That caused her to glare at him. “Are you calling me old?”

“I never said that.”

He was older than her. Why was she getting offended? For a moment, she just stared at him. Finally, she spoke again.

“I’m an aunt. I help my nieces with their Girl Scouts’ activities. Or, at least, I used to before the divorce. Now that I’m a divorced woman, my family and I don’t talk as much.”

Orazio thought back to the first time he’d ever seen her and the video chat she’d been having.

“On your anniversary night with your ex, I saw you video chatting in the bar lobby with someone.”

She looked his way again. “What?”

“You were making silly faces at your phone. Were you talking to your nieces, the Girl Scouts?”

She stared past him for a moment, thinking. Then her gaze returned to him. A smile spread across her face. A smile that damn near stole his breath. It should be illegal to be that damn beautiful. And she wanted him to let her go.Never.

“Yes. That night, I was on the phone with my nieces. You saw that?”

“I did.”

That may have been the moment I fell in love with you.There was no point in denying it. If he didn’t love this crazy motherfucker, he wouldn’t be sitting there chatting calmly while tied up.

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