Page 32 of Beautiful Sinner

“I know. But I can’t marry him. He frightens me.”

“I could kill him,” he says quickly. “Honestly, if it meant keeping you away from him, I would kill him. But then that would lead Dante into a war with the Irish and I know he doesn’t want that. I can’t risk more wars falling down onto our heads.”

“I know,” I sigh. “And I would never normally ask someone to kill someone. That’s not who I am. I guess I’m just… desperate. And scared.”

“If I could protect you, I would.”

I lean in closer to him and he does the same. There’s barely any space separating us.

“I wish you could too,” I say.

Matteo’s eyes meet mine. My eyes meet his. There’s a moment of inhale.

And then we kiss.

His lips are soft and warm and perfect on mine. I have no idea what I’m doing but I let it happen naturally. I follow his lead.

Matteo grips my face tighter but it doesn’t hurt. It only heightens the pleasure of it. My own hands find his chest andpress against him, needing to feel all of him. If I only get this moment with him, I’m going to savor it forever.

I gasp and that breaks the spell.

Matteo stumbles back from me like he’s been shocked. “Julia.”

We both know that what we just did should not have happened but it did and there’s no taking it back now. This changes everything between us.

“You’re not mine,” he says.

“I know. And you’re not mine.”

“I know.” He runs his hand down his face with a sigh. “I never should have done that.”

I can’t ignore the sting that hits me. “Do you regret it?”

“I regret it because now I want you even more.”

I shiver. No man has ever spoken to me like this. It’s intoxicating. It’s dangerous.

“You need to leave,” he says. “Return home. You belong there.”

“With Connor?”

He winces. “I’ll try to help. I’ll try to convince Dante to go after him but he won’t want to and I can’t tell him the reason I really want Connor dead. But I’ll try. I can promise you that.”

“And I promise that I’ll try not to marry him but Viktor seems set on it. He wants it to happen. He’s just waiting for me to give the go-ahead.”

“I need to go. Anyone could find us here. We can’t meet again.”

“I know.” But I also know that I’ll call Matteo again. That I’ll try to meet up with him again. There’s no point in pretending otherwise.

I return home with a smile on my face. It’s getting easier and easier to sneak past the guards. Viktor doesn’t even suspect a thing since he trusts me so much.

But it’s not Viktor I run into when I return home. It’s Inessa.

She’s lounging in the backyard, reading a book, and doesn’t notice me as I slip through the back gate. But there’s no way I can get past her into the house without her noticing.

I just have to pretend like I wasn’t just sneaking back inside. “Hey,” I say, making her flinch.

“Oh. Julia. I didn’t know you were out here.” She sets her book down. “Where did you come from?” Her eyes flit over to the back gate and back to me.