Page 61 of Ruthless God

“You think you’ll ever not blush around me?” I asked, hoping that wouldn’t be the case. I fucking loved it when she blushed whenever I so much as looked at her.

She bit her lip and gave me a half shoulder shrug.

I smiled and kissed her.

She hummed against my lips.

When I pulled away, the softness and dreaminess had returned in her eyes. What morally corrupt things wouldn’t I do to keep her looking like this?

The answer—nothing. There wasn’t a fucking line I wouldn’t cross to ensure she looked like this for the rest of her life.

“Be good.”

“I’m always good,” she answered.

I smiled. Fuck, but when had I ever smiled so much at another person?

She was bringing out all different sides of me. Without another word, I straightened and walked away, feeling the mask I wore so well slipping into place the moment I crossed the threshold of the bedroom door.

16

LUNA

Two days passedsince Massimo felt well enough to go to work. What he actually did on his typical day of work wasn’t something I wanted to think about.

I grimaced at the thought, letting my eyes focus back on the baked potatoes I had just pulled out of the oven, frowning slightly at the sight.

Massimo was busy. Much more so than Andre, who would come in and out of the house at different hours throughout the day and who often made it home for dinner—something Mom had looked forward to. But it was something Lina didn’t much care for unless there was something specific she wanted, and something I hated, if nothing more than it felt like the whole house seemed to hold its breath for an unnaturally long time whenever Andre stepped foot inside, making the air feel more tense, more suffocating than usual.

Or perhaps it was just me who felt that way.

Either way, what I had craved from Andre’s house—peaceful isolation—had ended up feeling like something I resented here at the Las Vegas home.

Even though I had been the one who was actively trying to avoid Massimo after witnessingwhathe had done in the shower that day, I wasn’t avoiding him anymore.

I…

I didn’t want to.

Massimo had done something I never thought he would be able to do. He made me crave his presence, and oh, how I resented him for it.

I wasn’t supposed to need anyone.

Especially not crave them.

I frowned.What was wrong with me?

Footsteps sounding across the linoleum floor caught my attention, and I looked up in time to see Lettie come into the kitchen. She froze when she saw me standing there by the kitchen island, and it was taking everything in me not to show my emotions on my face.

I had years of practice putting on a neutral expression no matter what was happening in my environment. It was the only way I knew how to survive, but ever since my move to Las Vegas, it was like I was slowly but surely being reverted back to how I had been when I was little.

Still a little naïve to the world, still so trusting, I didn’t think my face would make me vulnerable. I knew better now, and there was no one I was more wary of in this house than Elena and Lettie.

Massimo is a man. It wouldn’t take him long to get bored with her. You just have to remind him why that is. And why you would be a better fit.

Elena’s words to Lettie had been running around in my head over and over again since the day I heard them. She slept with Massimo. She was obviously more experienced than me. She knew what to do to drive him crazy.

But he was mine.