Page 22 of Dangerous Secrets

“The nightclub singer…” Dominic’s eyes narrow at me. I have no clue how much they know about L’ombra, except that I’ve clearly given away the fact that the shadow is a woman. Rome had to have figured that out himself last week.

“Yes, I sing at Flatiron.” I try to force an innocent smile but my heart is hammering in my chest. I never intended to see Dominic tonight or face two of them in a fight if things go pear shaped.

“She’s the one I told you about… Look, I’ll get the intel, and we’ll find the… uh. We’ll get our guy.” Rome is talking in code. The meeting of brothers had to be about me and how to hunt me down. My brain switches out of personal mode into information gathering mode. If they are hunting me I need to know everything they know, so I listen intently.

Dominic pries his eyes away from me and turns to Rome. “The contract must be canceled. Do you understand? We can’t have any mess ups. This business depends on it and all four of your brothers are relying on you to follow the instructions and terminate her.”

Her… he means me. He’s not talking about a rogue employee who did something worthy of being terminated. He’s talking about killing me. He’s talking about me being a contract killer and Mickey’s orders… It’s exactly as Soren and Tony said. They are hunting me and I’m hunting them and if they succeed before me, I know what that means.

“I got it, Dom.” Rome nods at his brother who seems to hesitate to leave. He follows Dominic to the door and locks up and I sink into a small, padded armchair near the children’s books. Rome seems very confident that he can and will follow those orders to “terminate her.” It scares me. I never meant to fall in love with him. I can’t say that I never meant to lie to him or trick him, because I absolutely did. But I didn’t know I would fall for him.

“Now, how did you find me? I never told you I owned this bookstore.” He is completely oblivious. He pulls me to my feet and hugs me against his body and I’m acutely aware of the bulge in my belly as he presses his pelvis against mine. I pray he can’t feel it yet, that he only assumes I’m bloated or something.

I try to smile, finding that faking this is harder than I thought it would be. I came here to talk about who I really am and what is happening, but now I’m worried I never can. That he will only ever have the desire to kill me.

“I followed you… I had to see you.” Wrapping my arms around his thick shoulders, I relax in his embrace. I’m in a deadly game and I hate it. I can’t stay. If I do they’ll find me out and kill me, or Mickey will for not following his orders. But I can’t leave. If I do, my brothers and Mickey will kill them anyway. I’m in a damn catch twenty and I can’t think of a reasonable way out.

“I was thinking of you too. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow evening. So this is a pleasant surprise.” He kisses me in a long, tender, sensual kiss. His teeth drag across my lower lip and I pull away.

“Your brother didn’t seem happy to see me.” I bat my eyes at him and see his confusion, furrowed brow, drawn lips.

“How did you know he’s my brother?”

A jolt of adrenaline shoots through my chest, but I maintain my calm expression. I’m an entertainer, and I’m trained to be in all sorts of situations. My stage face is my money maker while singing and while killing. Sadly, it just means I’m lying to the man I love even more, giving him even more reasons why he should just kill me like his brothers want.

“You look just like him, silly. Unless he’s a cousin…?” I toy with the back of his head, scratching through his hairline and he grins at me.

“I’ve never heard that I looked like him, Sven maybe, but not Dominic.” He kisses me again and grinds on me. I feel his dick thickening in his slacks and it makes me want him. It’s not why I came, but I can’t talk to him about why I’m here now, not until I figure out how to make him see I’d never hurt him.

“I’ve never met your brothers, but I’m sure you all resemble each other.” His lips travel across my jawline to my neck, where he nips at my skin.

“If you came a bit earlier, you’d have met them all. They will all love you. I mean, what’s not to love? You’re gorgeous and smart and funny.” Rome’s hands massage and knead my body and I have to hold my breath to keep from wincing when he touches my wound. I can’t let him see that. I didn’t come here for sex, and now I’m risking him finding out exactly how wounded I am. I risk him asking why, putting the pieces together. I have to take charge of this or he will expose me, and then everything will fall apart.

“Well, they can’t have me. Only you can.” I pull away and turn my back on him but he’s there instantly, pushing me over the back of the armchair.

“I can have you?” He’s rough and much stronger than me. I know I normally love this, but he doesn’t understand. He can’t know, so I can’t even explain it.

I yelp in pain, but I know he gets pleasure out of that. It’s our game—me playing submissive vixen while he gets off on dominating me. His fingers wrap around my hip bones, only inches from the cut on my side and I feel his dick grinding against my ass. Any other day I’d love this, but I’m so sore.

“Rome…” I start to protest but he thinks I’m playing his game.

“Yeah… shut up,” he yanks my leggings down. In this corner of the store the light is dimmer, maybe because they were closed hours ago. I pray he doesn’t see the bruising there because I never covered that with makeup yet.

“No, Rome…” I whimper, gripping the arm of the chair as he brings a hand down hard on my left hip. The smacking sound is pleasurable, as is the sting from the assault. I moan and suck in a deep breath. I like that, as long as he can avoid my injuries. I’m surprised he can even move like this with his side jabbed the way I left him.

“You like that? You want me to beat you a little. Maybe tie you up and gag you too…” He smacks me again this time harder, and I wince and whimper.

“God… Rome…” I claw at the soft padding on the chair, torn between begging him for more and begging him to stop. “Shit.”

“Yeah, you’re a good little bitch, aren’t you? You want me to smack you?” The crisp slap on my ass coupled with the stinging makes me shudder.

“Fuck, you know what I like.” The back of the chair pushes into my ribcage. I’m careful not to lean too much farther into it. I don’t want it rubbing against the cut I have or my belly. I’m not sure about sex while pregnant, but I am certain forcing my stomach down on that hard surface wouldn’t be good for the baby. So I resist, pushing back against him, and Rome responds, grabbing my hair and pulling it.

My neck arches backward as I slowly straighten. “Fighting me now? Usually you let me just dominate you.” He breathes hot breath against my cheek. It smells like whiskey and tobacco, like he always does. I pant and gasp for breath and bite my lip. I want him—there’s no doubt about that—I just want it my way, safely.

His teeth sink into my neck and both of his hands reach up under my arms and grab my tits. I’m surprised he hasn’t even questioned why they’re larger. I can tell every day that they’re growing. But he eats this up, kneading them and grinding into me. I grab one of his hands and force it lower to my clit. He swirls his fingers in the moisture and then brings them to my lips so I can suck them clean.

“Fuck me, Rome…” I growl and his hand moves quickly. He smacks my pussy, slapping it so hard it makes me jolt.

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