Page 72 of Beautiful Devil

A tiny gasp falls from her mouth before she spins around quickly to face me, splashing water out the sides of the tub from the movement.

“You were in a car accident?!” she screeches.

Holding back my laughter because she looks so cute right now, surprised, shocked and worried…forme. Not trusting myself to speak, I just nod my head yes.

“How did you get back here? Where’s your car?”

“We walked, and it’s probably still flipped upside-down in the woods unless Marco had picked up by the tow truck already,” I say matter-of-factly.

She looks at me with a blank expression on her face. “What? Your car was flipped upside-down in the woods and you not only made it out alive, but you walked home? How did you get out?”

I shrug as I reply, “Broke the window.”

“You broke a window? Oh, my God, Fabi, are you okay? Is your hand okay? How did you not break it?”

She’s speaking so fast as she lifts my left hand to inspect it for any injuries or bruises, but doesn’t see any. She reaches for my right hand to do the same, and when she lifts it, I let out a moan and she instantly drops my hand, which sends a shooting pain up my arm, and I hiss at the pain.

“Oh, my God, I’m so sorry.”

I’m about to tell her it’s not my hand when she hits my left shoulder, and all sympathy is gone and replaced with anger.

“Why didn’t you tell me? You should have told me when I first asked you or when I was cleaning your cuts.”

“I didn’t break my hand,dolcezza. I broke my elbow. Or at least I think I did.”

Confusion crosses her face when she asks, “How did you break your elbow? Did you land on it in the crash?”

“No. At least I don’t remember. Santino lost control of the steering wheel when they ran us off the road. I remember landing hard and then everything went black. I managed to get us out, but felt a shooting pain up my arm and heard it pop.”

By the time I finish going over the events of the crash, her jaw is hanging open gawking at me.

“Fabrizio Moretti. I don’t know your middle name, but if I did, I would definitely use it right now. You just told me you were in a car accident and think you broke your elbow. The cut on your side looks like it needs stitches, yet you refuse to see a doctor?” Her chest is heaving from getting herself all worked up and I feel this weird twinge in my chest at the thought that she –my wife– is worried about me.

I can’t help the smile that comes over my face.

“Vincenzo,” I tell her.

“What? And why are you smiling?”

“You said you didn’t know my middle name, so I told you. It’s Vincenzo, and I’m smiling because mydarling wifeis worried about herdear husband.” My smile gets bigger as I finish my sentence.

She scoffs at me before she responds. “Of course I’m worried about you. Any normal person would be worried about someone who got into an accident. Don’t read into it. Now, get out. You need to get checked out.”

Standing up, Gia gets out of the tub and reaches for a towel.

“Out, Moretti. You need to see the doctor and if you refuse, I’ll go ask Luigi or Marco for help wearing the same thing I wore this morning.” A mischievous smile crosses her face as she secures the towel around herself. “Or I could always go downstairs in this. Better hope this towel doesn’t slip while I’m walking down the hall.” She winks at me before she sashays her ass out of the bathroom.

I’m up out of the tub so fast and chasing after her, ignoring the pain shooting through my side. “Gia, don’t you dare—”

“Oh, good, you’re out. You might want to get dressed, dear husband, unless you want the doctor to see usbothnaked.”

Stalking toward her, still naked and soaking wet, I leave behind a trail of water with every step. Her eyes fill with desire as they roam over my naked body. We’re a foot away now, and not being able to stop myself from touching her, I cup her face with my left hand and look into her eyes.

“What did I say about poking the beast,gattina?”

Her breathing picks up and her eyes grow darker.

“Go get dressed, and no sleep shorts. I don’t need Dr. Anderson having a heart attack over the amount of skin my wife is showing. I don’t feel like killing him today. I rather like him.”

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