Page 18 of Corrupted Deception

The girl had no idea the things I wanted to do to her.

Without breaking eye contact, she leaned in close, up on her toes, until her lips were a hair’s breadth from mine. The heat from her body seeped through our clothes, and every one of the thousand ways I’d ever fantasized about having her bombarded my brain.

“I dare you,” she whispered.

I swear the sound grabbed hold of my cock and squeezed like a hand job.

She dropped down off her toes, then turned and walked away, the dog following on her heels.

Christ, the woman had me hard as steel and mad as hell at the same time.

Some things never changed.

Chapter Five

Charlotte Santoro

If I never did that again, it would be too soon.

“Go ahead and try, Cielo.”

I slammed the heavy warehouse door shut behind me, engaged the locks, then sagged against the cool metal while Ray sauntered toward the kitchen, then back again when I didn’t follow.

“I dare you.”

Had I lost my mind?

Maybe, I had.

I flipped through the camera angles on the monitor screen installed on the wall next to the door, watching as Cielo got into his car and drove away. I couldn’t quite articulate how I was feeling. Relief was in there somewhere. Anger? Maybe just a smidge of something else we weren’t even going to consider at the moment?

I shook my head disbelievingly.

Cielo Luciano was pretty much the walking, talking personification of every fantasy a woman could have, but he was part of a different life. A life that belonged in the past, not the here and now.

When the rear lights of his car were just pinpricks of light in the distance and Ray had begun nudging my leg like he could herd me in the right direction, I pushed off the wall.

“I’m guessing you’re in the mood for food, my friend,” I said as I ditched my shoes and padded barefoot across the gigantic space to the open kitchen on the far side.

I pulled out a can of the new ethically-sourced gourmet dog food he’d fallen in love with and opened it up while Ray practically danced in circles. By the time I’d poured it into his bowl, he was drooling. Ray did not subscribe to the belief that meat was murder, and since he had an allergy to several plant-based proteins, I couldn’t really fight him on it.

I rinsed out the can and deposited it into the recycling bin while Ray chowed down. I glanced at the fridge, but my appetite was gone.

I grabbed an open bottle of wine and poured a glass, the deep red liquid shimmering beneath the row of pendant lights above the kitchen island.

“Felipe Espinosa,” I said the name out loud to the glass, shaking my head.

It wouldn’t take Cielo long to figure out that name was a lie.

I grabbed my laptop and made my way to the roof. It was a sort of sanctuary, a place where we would come to unwind most nights when we were home. Two loungers sat there on the concrete patio, side by side, one for me and one for him.

I settled into my own chair, gazing at the empty space beside me while something twisted up tight in my chest.

I looked away.

The night sky stretched above, a canvas of stars that held no answers, only infinite questions.

You’ve got to help me out, Dad. If you haven’t noticed, I’m not having a whole lot of success here.

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