Page 13 of Lie to Me

In a perfect world, I’d be able to take Sloane out to a restaurant for our first date, but that would probably get me killed. In a perfect world, I would be able to pick her up, but we both agreed that it would probably be best that we meet here. We don’t knowif there’s eyes on us and being seen in the car together is risky. We’ve already taken that risk a couple of times already.

There’s a knock at the door and I wipe my hands on a hand towel before heading to the door. I swing it open and my brain momentarily freezes at the sight in front of me.

Sloane stands with a shy smile on her face, her blonde hair loosely curled and pinned back away from her face, wearing pale pink sundress. She’s fucking breathtaking.

“Hi,” she whispers and bites down on her lower lip.

I step towards her and grasp her chin between my thumb and forefinger. “Hey,” I murmur before capturing her lips in a quick kiss. I step back and open the door wider, gesturing for her to come inside.

I let Sloane lead me through the apartment, watching as she takes everything in. My place isn’t exactly personal. There’s a large sectional and a TV in the living room with a dining table to the side, which overlooks the open plan kitchen. There’s no personal touches or photographs hung up on the walls. I try to see the space through her eyes. Does she think it’s too plain? Too impersonal?

“How long have you lived here?”

“Around a year or so. I moved out once I turned eighteen.”

She spins around to face me. “So, what have you cooked for me, Romano?” she asks with a smirk on those pretty lips of hers.

“Figured I couldn’t go wrong with lasagna.”

Her brows rise and her eyes widen. “You actually cooked it?”

I chuckle. “Of course. We were taught to cook all sorts of things growing up. My lasagna is good, but it’ll never beat my dad’s.”

Sloane grins at me, and I feel sappy as fuck saying this, but it lights me up inside.

“Show me the way, chef.”

I shake my head and lead her to the table. I help her sit down before plating up our food in the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of wine. Sloane doesn’t take a bite of her food until I’m seated, and once she does, I’m rewarded with the most erotic sounding moan I’ve ever heard.

Jesus fuck. How the hell am I supposed to get through the night when she’s making sounds like that?

“Good?” I ask with a chuckle, and she gives me a sheepish smile.

“So good.”

We eat in mostly comfortable silence, occasionally making small talk. I usually hate small talk, but with Sloane, I can’t get enough. I want to know how she feels. I want to know her opinion on things. I want to know how she thinks. I want to know what makes her tick.

She’s slowly becoming an obsession that I don’t want to let go of.

She’s slowly worming her way under my skin, and goddamn it, I want more of her.

I wanther.

Once we’re finished, I clear the table and watch from the kitchen as she wanders through my living room before stopping at the window and looking down at the city below us.

“Have you ever wondered what it would be like to grow up normal?” she asks without turning back to look at me. “Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to grow up in a normal family. To not have to worry about constantly watching my back, to be able to make friends with people without being paranoid about them either targeting me or using me to get close to my family.”

There’s a terse silence as she finishes speaking and I slowly approach her from behind. Once I reach her, I pull her hair onto one shoulder and trail my fingertips down her neck.

“Are you worried about that with me?” I whisper. “That I’m just using you to get to your family?”

She spins around to face me and looks up at me with those mesmerizing blue eyes. They’re like the ocean, pulling me under and drowning me.

“Are you?” Her voice is hard, but there’s an underlying tremble to it that most people probably wouldn’t notice.

Luckily, I’m not most people.

“I say this with every good intention. Sloane, you are the most inconvenient person in my life. I wasn’t looking for you, little warrior, yet here you are. I don’t want you for your family. If anything, I want you in spite of them. I don’t want to get close to you because I want to use you, I want to get close to you because I can’t go a single minute in a day without you popping into my head. I can’t fucking breathe without thinking of you. I want you because you’re the most breathtakingly beautiful soul I’ve ever come across. You make me want to talk to you. You make me smile, and laugh and fuck, Sloane, I don’t do that with anyone. Who you are and who your family is happens to be inconvenient as hell for me, but I want you anyways,” I murmur and tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “The question is, Sloane, do you want me, too?”

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