Page 73 of Made to Sin

My head tilted. “Is that even allowed? To switch families…”

“The Camellos have too much going on these days to worry about which help comes and goes.”

“Is it selfish of me to be thankful that you lost your other job?”

He laughed. “Don’t be too excited yet, there is one more present waiting for you at the house.”

My eyes widened as a gleeful giggle left my lips. I hopped in the car, filled with anticipation. I questioned Arnold about what he knew the whole ride back. I was impatient to a fault, but as curious as I was, he was the same amount secretive.

After long traffic lights and extra slow pedestrians, we arrived at the house. I nervously tapped my feet as I looked around the driveway for anything out of the ordinary.

Same hedges, same porch, same front door.

I froze when I saw it. Sawher.The door was spanned open, and my other favorite person was standing there with a big smile on her face.

“No way,” I mumbled to myself.

I blinked numerously to make sure what I was seeing was real.

“Maria?”

Before the car could fully stop, I was already out and running toward her. She made anoomphsound as I crashed into her with a bear hug.

“Meu bem, fico contente que está bem!”

I was glad she was okay too.

Though I couldn’t understand Portuguese, she often said this phrase after Marco hit me. It became as common as English.

I brushed away the dramatic tears. “Arnold told me what happened in the car. Do you also work here now?”

“Yes, you’ll be seeing a lot more of me—”

Before she could finish, I engulfed her in a bone-crushing hug.

When we broke apart, I linked our arms, and we walked inside to catch up about the past few days since I’d been gone.

While not much time had passed, it felt like I was living a whole new life. And it was all thanks to Luciano.

When I came to him that day, I didn’t expect him to house me for more than a week. Yet he was going out of his way tomake me comfortable.

Emily’s words looped in my mind. Whether it was true, or we were being delusional, all I knew was that cooking stale dinner wasn’t nearly enough. I needed to do somethingbig.

—

Maria and Arnold had gone home an hour ago, leaving me alone in the house. With such little time and financial means, I could only come up with one thing to give Luciano.

Nervously, I sat on the couch waiting for him to walk through the door. I heard his car drive in a minute ago, so he shouldn’t be too far behind.

Blood pumped through my body, doubling its force as the key jangled in the lock. We made eye contact the minute the door opened. His eyes turned into the same shade of black as his suit when he roamed the coyness of my face to the nudity of my body.

I stood still, fully baring myself to him.

It was boldly stupid, dressing in nothing besides my sexiest lingerie, but I wanted to thank him. Since I couldn’t give him anything he didn’t already have, I hoped my body would suffice.

I hoped I was what he could have possibly wanted.

He didn’t move, hand glued to the knob. I shifted on my heels at the sparks that crackled under his heavy stare. Neither of us said anything during the volatile moment.

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