Page 176 of Carnal

She locks eyes with me. "Why do I like it when you call me that?"

I grin. "Because you do. And you love me."

She furrows her eyebrows and blinks hard.

"Sorry. Too much, too soon," I add.

She swipes her cheek and replies, "It's okay. So I had this dream. We were in this room. It's not an ordinary room." She arches her eyebrows.

"Meaning?" I ask.

She studies my face then continues, "It has a lot of, shall I say, handcuffs and other restraints?"

My cock pushes against my zipper. I breathe deep, answering, "That's one of your places, Pina."

"One of my places? How many places do I have?"

I chuckle. "You have a lot of properties that nobody really knows about except me. And I didn't know about it until I started seeing you. But I believe the place you were dreaming of is in Manhattan. You made it into a playroom."

She gasps, throwing her hand over her mouth.

"Why are you embarrassed right now?"

She pins her eyes on me. "Shouldn't I be?"

"No, we go there together."

Confusion washes over her features. "So what does that mean? Do you tie me up or something?"

I chuckle, answering, "I can show you if you want."

Her eyes widen.

I quickly add, "We can save that for later."

She focuses on the pool.

I ask, "Do you want to see some more photos?"

She nods. I show her a photo of the playroom in Manhattan and several of us in the Maldives with Massimo and Katiya.

She points at Massimo. "Is that your brother?"

"Yes, that's Massimo."

"And who's that?"

"His wife, Katiya. They got married a few months ago. It was right before the accident. We were the only ones there," I inform her.

"Why were we the only ones there?" she asks, tilting her head.

"You and I kind of bugged his plane, followed him to the Maldives, and surprised him."

She gasps. "Why did we do that?"

"It's a long story. I'll fill you in later. But do any of these seem familiar?"

Guilt fills her expression. "I'm sorry, Tristano. They don't. I wish they did. I really wish they did."

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