Page 20 of Where Quiet Hearts Scream
After a couple more minutes, I sense her lungs opening up and she takes a long, deep breath then collapses into my shoulder.
I tentatively wrap an arm around her. She’s still cool and damp but she’s stopped trembling and her body is molding to mine, seeping into every crevice, finding every hidden part and filling it. My chest expands of its own accord and I push my free hand through her hair.
With sudden clarity, I realize I don’t want to let her go. Not just because she’s a closed book I want to prize open; not just because her hobby warms me like a faint memory; and not just because she’s a redheaded beauty with curves that make my mouth water. I don’t want to let her go because something—akiller’s instinct perhaps—tells me she needs protecting.
She has no security watching from any distance and those cretins just demonstrated how much she needs it. But, more than that… she doesn’t seem to have anyone looking out for her. She comes from this big family that has skyrocketed into the heart of the Di Santo’s and she hasno one.
It’s not pity I feel, it’s annoyance. How can they leave this beautiful woman who is hiding a world of pain beneath those smiles, to live a decent drive away, free to make all the friends she wants but seemingly afraid to. The injustice of it sets my blood alight.
Eventually, she draws her head back and peers up at me, her eyes scorched with tears. I almost hate myself for thinking this, but she looks even more beautiful with tears spent from those bright blue eyes.
I gently rest my forehead against hers again and close my eyes.
“Has that happened before?” I whisper.
A pause. A swallow. “Yes.”
“How often?” I lick my lips, suddenly ravenous for a different kind of information. Details that are only about her, not the Di Santo’s.
“It used to happen a lot when Mama died.” Her voice is quiet. “They happened less over the years. That’s the first I’ve had in the Hamptons.”
Her head is tilting backward, bringing her lips almost in line with mine. It’s happening naturally—neither one of us is forcing it. I open my eyes and look into hers. They are piercing, mesmerizing,trusting.
She deserves better than this. Better than me. I’m a liar, a criminal—a member of a dark and shady organization that does bad things to bad people, and sometimes good people too. And the worst part is, she already knows. It was all written right there in my chart. She interpretated it selectively. That’s what people do when they can’t confront the truth.
I have to pull away.
Just a few more seconds.
I inhale her breaths, which are calmer now. I taste them on my tongue and try not to let the madness go to my head.
I can’t deny it—Iwanther. I want her limbs, her skin, her flesh… In my hands, in my mouth, on my face.Fuck. I’ve never before felt such a visceral need to make another personmine. A city, yes. A woman, no.
But do I want her because I can’t have her? That question sobers me. I enjoy a challenge. Hell, I even enjoy torturing myself. But I won’t take advantage of Serafina Castellano. She’s given me everything I needed and more that I hadn’t even asked for.
And I took, and I took, and I took.
My lips yearn to just, lower, once. The madness seeps into my blood, threatening to drown out my brain and do what I want to do, not what’s right.
I pull away fast, and a little forcefully. Her eyes widen in surprise then a flush of blood brightens her cheeks and she drops her gaze.
“Thank you,” she whispers, shaking her head. “I’m so embarrassed.”
“Don’t be,” I say, softening my hold on her shoulders and pulling my hand reluctantly from her hair. “Those assholes won’t bother you again.”
“H—how much of the conversation did you hear?” Deep worry lines cut into her brow.
“All I heard was they had a message they wanted you to pass on.”
She rolls her eyes. “They thought I was someone else.”
I know she’s lying.
“Well they won’t make that mistake again, will they?” I reply, smoothly.
She turns, her gaze falling to the two men out cold on the path. “Th—thank you. I guess.”
I release her and step back. “You’re welcome. Now, are you sure you’re okay?”
