Page 27 of As Devils Love

“Wait.” I whimper before he can open the door. He looks at me over his shoulder, with lust dripping in his eyes. “Why don’t you just kill me? Finish this?”

“Fiametta?” Tomas roars before my stalker can answer. “Get out here n—”

“What do you think you’re doing, young man?” Mrs. Walker’s voice stills Tomas. “This is a lady’s changing room, and you’re not supposed to be in here. Be gone you, vile little man!”

She’s standing up for me. There’s no way I can believe she didn’t hear what happened one room over. My cheeks are instantly set ablaze at the thought of leaving this room. I could never explain this to Mrs. Walker, or to anyone for that matter, but the thought of her believing I was getting some sneaky action on the side is enough to make me blush.

In the chaos of Mrs. Walker’s reprimanding Tomas, the brute finally answers.

“Because my Little Flame.” God, why does hearing him call me that turn my legs to jelly? “You can’t die untilI’vehad the pleasure of fucking you.”

If I was blushing before, I’m definitely as red as a tomato now. Such a vile thought, but it’s somehow so intoxicating.Stab me with your cock before finishing me with your blade.I guess it’s the perfect answer to my earlier question.

He opens the door and gestures for me to leave first.

He’s smart enough to know he can’t leave with Tomas guarding the hallway, but how does he see this playing out? My intrigue with him can only go so far. Mrs. Walker bought us some time, but I’m still going to have to tell Tomas about what happened.

The thrill does not outweigh my urge for survival. He probably already knows that, having started our discourse by asking why I haven’t told anyoneyet. He wants to play this game of chance. He’s risked everything by coming here to taunt and tease me, and now it’s time to see how his gamble plays out.

Something tells me he won’t be in this tiny cubicle when Tomas and the rest of Father’s men storm it. He was one step ahead when he stood outside my window, and seems to know thelayout of my store well enough to sneak through it and grab me. All the signs point toward his having an escape plan ready.

I fix up my dress as best I can and make my way back to the front room where Mrs. Walker is laying into Tomas for trying to sneak into the changing rooms. She’s in her new dress, holding the trailing material that would’ve pooled at her feet with one hand, while waggling a furious finger at Tomas with the other.

“Good Heavens, what happened to you?” She faces me with wide-eyed apprehension.

“What the hell?” Tomas roars, ripping his gun out of his holster and gesturing toward the door where three more of Father’s men wait outside it.

I don’t have to say it out loud for him to know.

Mrs. Walker yelps at the sight of the weapon, and instantly jumps out of Tomas’s way. The three men rush toward the changing rooms.

“Would you like to continue our business in my workshop, Mrs. Walker?” I ask hesitantly.

Seeing the fear in her eyes is my first true taste of why Father wanted to keep my life separate from his. How can I go on and live normally, if the world knows I’m a mafia princess?

“Yes, dear. Let’s go,” she hooks an arm over my shoulder, and we walk to the back room.

“I’m so sorry about all of this, Mrs. Walker,” I say, once we’re in the safety of my workshop and I have my tools ready to fit the dress properly.

“Don’t be,” a naughty smile flashes across her face. “I’ve been where you are now.” She furrows her brow and shakes her head at the thought. “Well, not exactly with armed men chasing my suitors. But the ripped dress, the gasping breathes, and that all too familiar twinkle in your eye.”

I nearly chuckle. All those things are present, yes, but for very different reasons than my having asuitor.

“Mind if I ask you something?” I start pressing sewing needles into the material I need to tighten up.

“Go ahead. It’s not as if we’re keeping secrets anymore, is it?” She smiles at me.

“You must’ve heard something. Why did you stop Tomas from coming in?”

Mrs. Walker emits a sigh that’s laced with fond reminiscence. “It might be hard to believe, but I was young once, too. I won’t pretend to know what’s going on with you, the guns or your tail outside, but I do understand the fiery passion of love—”

That is not what this is. Intrigue, definitely, but love is the last word I’d use to describe whatever this is.

“You’re young. You need to enjoy yourself, and if it means having some sneaky fun wherever you can take it, then who am I to stand in your way?”

“Scour the parking lot. No one in and no one out until we find this son of a bitch,” I hear Tomas roar from the show room.

So, the monster escaped. I’m relieved to know he wasn’t gunned down in a tiny cubicle inside my store. I want this to be over. For Tomas to go back to whichever hole he crawled out of. For my life to go back to normal, so I can pretend I’m not a mafia heiress.

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