Page 127 of The Heart of a Villain

I didn’t hesitate because I feared that Dad would make me choose. I guess it’s a given he will.

I hesitate to believe him and succumb to this because Rush always rejected me in the past, too scared of all the emotions I inspired in him.

In these letters, though?

He shows me his heart and proclaims his love, finally making me believe I’m vitally important to him.

Kissing the letter, a bubble of laughter emerges from me, and I’m wondering where he has a camera installed in my room when I hear a light tapping sound coming from my balcony.

My heart flips inside my chest, already suspecting what I might find out there, so I run to it just as another pebble hits the glass.

Opening the door, I go outside and rest my hand on the railing, my eyes widening when I see Rush climbing up to my balcony, while it’s Levi throwing freaking gravel at me. “Thought I’d give you a heads-up!” he calls and then whistles, while I just gape at Rush, fear sneaking into my cells at the thought of him falling. “Like a true fucking prince indeed!”

Finally snapping out of my stupor, I hiss, “Have you lost your mind?”

Rush reaches the railing and lifts himself up, and then he drops next to me and grins. “Doors exist,” I tell him, my eyes drinking in his features, all my emotions so incredibly raw after his confessions.

“Never used them before.”

And just like that, he reminds me how he used to sneak up inside my room and do all the forbidden things to my body that send shivers down my spine even now.

“You shouldn’t speak so proudly of your crimes.’” I can’t help but send a jab his way and his brow rises as he straightens up, his green orbs sparkling in something wicked that only adds to the intense sensations traveling through me in waves.

His leather glove covered hand grips my chin and he lifts it up so our gazes clash while the moonlight steams brightly, showcasing all his handsome features in the most flattering way, and I gasp when he presses on my chin a bit too hard. “It’s not a crime to touch what’s yours, is it?” His thumb slides from my chin to my cheek, as if leaving invisible imprints all over my flesh.

Shaking my head at his audacity and at the same time hiding my amusement from him, I slap his hand away and glance down at Levi. “Thank you!”

He salutes me before adjusting his suit jacket. “I’m going to go out now. You kids behave.” He barks a laugh at his own joke and then winks at me before jogging to his silver sports car that glistens under the endless lights scattered all over our property.

Tearing my gaze away from him as he hops in the vehicle and roars the engine to life, I focus back on the night intruder who looks hotter than ever while he removes the gloves and hangs them on the railing.

I cross my arms so he won’t see the effects he has on my body, which the silky nightgown does little to hide. “What are you doing here?”

Ignoring my question, he fires his own, “Have you read my letters?”

Well, two can play at this game then.

Without answering, I spin around and get back inside as the curtains billow in different directions and Rush follows me, my room shrinking in size the minute his domineering and powerful presence fills the space along with his masculine scent that teases my nose. “Don’t you already know?” I turn around to face him again and swirl my finger in the air. “I’m sure you have cameras installed here.”

His eyes flare at this and the muscle on his cheek twitches while otherwise he stays completely still. “Answer me, Aileen.” His voice drops a few octaves, becoming huskier and deeper, pulling at the strings of my soul, wishing to run back into his arms and never let go because in his voice I hear longing and desire that matches my own.

“Why did you never send them to me?”

He takes a step toward me and on instinct, I move back, weird excitement sliding through my veins and awakening every instinct inside me.

“I wrote and wrote to you without a single reply from you. Why didn’t you send at least one of them to me so I’d know you were reading them?”

He comes even closer and I step back, my breathing speeding up as another gust of wind slaps me on the face and I welcome the cool air setting on my heated skin.

“I was lonely.”

“You were a child. Too little to understand and you had no business talking to me.” He swallows hard while I shift back once again only for him to follow after me, coming closer and closer to putting me in a corner from which there will be no escape. “Precious little thing who deserved better than a villain for a friend.”

“How did you even get them?” In my stupidity, I usually put them in the mailbox and wrote down his name along with the address he used to have or rather the maid found all these years ago. But if he hasn’t lived there and I suspected he hasn’t, otherwise my dad would have found him, he’d have to have a whole ass strategy to get my letters.

“I had my ways. It’s not hard to get something when you have money, baby.”

I close my eyes at the endearment on his lips and then finally my back hits the wall with Rush splaying his hands on either side of my head, trapping me between his hard chest and the wall.

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