Page 42 of Sinful Desires
Her chin tilted, lips curled just slightly. “Are you always this charming, or is this just how you flirt?”
“I don’t flirt.”
She finally turned, back flush to the railing, her silhouette carved by moonlight. “If I wanted to die slowlyandpainfully,” she murmured, “I’d marry someone like you.”
A slow burn sparked in my chest. It wasn’t anger. It wasn’t even lust. It was something worse. That voice of hers, soft and bitter, scraped across old wounds I had tried to bury too deeply to bleed.
She had no idea how many nights I had heard that voice in my head. How many times I had wondered what it would sound like if she whispered it again, not drunk, not drowning, but wide awake and reaching for me.
And here she was, handing it to me without even knowing what it did to me.
“I’m flattered,” I said, taking a step closer. “You dragged me all the way up here just to fantasize about our honeymoon?”
“No. I came up here to be alone. You just can’t take a hint.”
“Ah, my apologies, Miss Harper.”
Her eyes met mine. Sad. Empty.Dangerous.
“You apologize a lot, soldier. Starting to think your words don’t mean shit.”
I stepped closer. “Careful. Say it like that again, and I’ll show you just how disappointing I can be.”
She pushed off the railing, crossing toward the pool. “You leave tomorrow. Go pack your bags. Let me breathe for one goddamn night.”
I’d been given the week off for Christmas holidays. The Harper and Lazzio families were meeting for their annual week-long getaway in the Aspen mansions.
My flight to Nice left in the morning, yet every cell in my body wanted to stay put. The thought of stepping on that plane, crossing the Atlantic, and walking into the hell I’d created made my skin crawl. But I deserved it. Every second of it.
I had made a promise, and promises don’t care if you’re ready. They wait. They rot. And if you break them, they drag you down with them.
I was already halfway there.
But something inside me wouldn’t sit still. It ran hot. The thought of leaving her alone withhimagain gnawed through my ribs like acid.
“I will,” I said. “But if you keep pulling this rooftop shit, I swear to God, I’ll chain you to the radiator myself.”
That earned me a smirk over her bare shoulder. “Kinky.”
A sound caught in my throat. Not quite a groan, not quite a warning. She had no idea the images she was dragging out of me. Or maybe she did, and that was the whole damn point.
She kicked off her heels and crossed her arms, the wind biting at her bare skin.
“Say the word, Miss Harper. I’ll make sure he chokes on every bone I break.”I stepped closer as she watched me through half-lidded, hollow eyes.
The blue in them had lost its shine. No spark, no fight. Just the kind of quiet that came after too many nights crying alone.
“He won’t die fast. I’ll take my sweet fucking time. For you.”
She smiled, barely. Almost a reflex. “If you do that, I’ll hate you forever. He’s still my father, and I still love him?…?even when I shouldn’t.”
My eyes narrowed as disgust carved its way deeper through my chest. “Was it the first time?”
I didn’t need to explain. She knew.
“That’s how he shows love. Twisted as it is.”
“With his fucking fists?” My voice came out rougher than I intended.
