Page 45 of Burning Beauty

"And you will obey all of my rules. You will listen to your bodyguard, you will not put yourself in harm's way." She shook her head and opened her mouth to speak, but he interrupted her. "If you step one toe out of line, or use this opportunity to escape me, I will hunt - "

Maria stood on her toes and dragged his head down to hers, mashing her lips against his. She felt the curl of his lips on hers and knew that he was smiling. The idea that her actions could make this hard-faced man who rarely changed expression smile made Maria glow inside. She smiled back and they stood that way, their lips touching, both smiling.

"I'm not going anywhere," she whispered.

I'm in love with you.But she didn't say the last part out loud. Maria had been in love before and it had ended badly. She knew that relationships like hers and Nic's couldn't last. She would enjoy what time she had with him and savour the memories.

"Come, bellissima, I can spare a few minutes before a phone meeting this afternoon. Let's go upstairs."

Maria pushed his arm to the side, breaking away from Nic and skipping into his office. "A few minutes? That's not enough time!" she mocked him as she headed for the door.

Nic followed close behind, his voice a deep growl as he said, "You're right. It'll take a few minutes just to spank the sass out of you. I'll need at least an hour to fuck that gorgeous body into submission."

"Now you're talking," she said breathlessly, and bolted from his office, heading upstairs for his bedroom, her laughter leading his way.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Maria wrinkled her nose at the stale, unwashed clothing smell coming from Cassandra's room as she pushed the door open. She'd bullied Yara into allowing her to bring the supper tray upstairs. She shoved her way past the door and into the darkened bedroom, placing the tray on a side table as quickly as she could. It was quite heavy, since Maria had asked Yara to add her supper to it too. She was going to force Cassandra to accept her company, for at least an hour. If the other woman wanted her to leave after that then she would.

"Cassandra... Cass... Cassie?" she asked, walking slowly through the dim room with her arms out. She headed for the square of light trying to shine through the window blinds and opened them, allowing the light to stream through. She opened the window for good measure, letting fresh air in.

"I hate the name Cassie." The dull voice came from the lump of bedcovers piled in the centre of the bed. Maria squinted at it and was able to make out a human shape amidst all the blankets.

"What about Cass then?" Maria asked, trying to keep her voice neutral, though she ached for the other woman.

"Only Luke calls me Cass."

"Fair enough, Cassandra it is. When was the last time you ate or took a shower?" Maria picked gently at the edge of a blanket, tugging it toward her and trying to reveal the woman attached to the voice. When no response came, Maria pleaded, "Come on, sweetheart. Come out and talk to me. I promise, if you want me to go after, I'll leave you alone. I'll even let you keep my supper."

Nothing happened for a moment, and then the mound of blankets began to move. After another minute a disheveled and almost completely unrecognizable Cassandra emerged. Her hair was wild, unwashed, frizzy mess that nearly made Maria's jaw drop. But it was the outfit that actually made Maria's mouth fall open. The always put together, designer clothes loving, super-model looking beauty was wearing a unicorn onesie. It even had a hood on it with a golden horn that was currently pushed back to flop listlessly against Cassandra's back.

"Please tell me Luke didn't see you like this," Maria said without thinking.

It was the wrong thing to say. Cassandra's eyes filled with tears and her voice was anguished as she wailed, "Yes! He saw me yesterday when he came to check on me. I didn't know he was coming, and I didn't have the energy to change."

Maria shook her head and reached out to take Cassandra's arm. "It doesn't matter. That man loves you to the moon and back. He doesn't care what you look like."

"Is it really bad?" Cassandra asked pathetically.

Maria eyed a giant purple stain across the belly of the onesie that she'd originally thought was part of the costume but now believed was grape juice or something along those lines. "No, you look totally fine," Maria said unconvincingly.

Cassandra's eyes filled with tears and after a few seconds they began to spill over.

"Oh Cassandra, why are you crying? What's wrong?" Sympathetic tears stung Maria's eyes too.

"I don't know!" Cassandra wailed, throwing her arms up. Maria was impressed to note that the costume had hooves for hands. "Everything is wrong! My family hates me and probably wants me dead. Luke is losing patience and I'm sick of this place. All day long every day, it's pool, house, bedroom, over and over until I'm ready to scream. I hate it here. I hate everything." Maria nodded and listened as Cassandra continued to rant, tears and nose streaming as she talked. "Nobody listens to me, no one cares what I want. Luke wants to marry me, but he can't because I'm already married and even though he says he understands my situation, I don't think he really does. I think he wants to drag me away and keep me for himself, which is what I want too!"

Maria reached out and gathered Cassandra in her arms, rocking her as the other woman cried. Cassandra's words were mostly an incoherent jumbled mess, but Maria caught enough of them to get the gist. "If both of you want to leave together, then why don't you?" Maria asked softly, trying to catch Cassandra on a pause so she wasn't interrupting her.

Cassandra sniffled and shook her head. "He loves me, but not enough to defy his boss."

"Are you sure that's it, honey?" Maria asked gently. "Is it possible he doesn't want to put you in danger?"

Cassandra wiped her nose with her sleeve. "That's what he says, but I don’t think that’s why he won’t run away with me. He gets fed up and frustrated, he doesn't want this burden for the rest of his life."

"But you two are always together when he isn't working. That doesn't sound like a man who feels you've become a burden." Maria felt the need to defend the stoic love-sick Luke.

Cassandra sighed so heavily her entire body shuddered against Maria's. "He's just pity fucking me. If he didn't need to scratch the boss’s wife's itch then he wouldn't even bother hanging out with me. I'd be forced to get my pity fucks from the pool boys."

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