Page 18 of Stolen Temptation

It goes without saying that I’ve never had the opportunity to fall in love or even lust. Spending my days and nights trappedon the De Luca estate doesn’t exactly lend itself to a healthy romantic life. Or any romantic life.

That means I have no idea what to do with this…this being the fact that we’ve been staring at each other for at least twenty seconds, panting as though we both just finished a set of sprints.

I’m still reeling from the rush of hormones flooding my body.

“Leo’s gone. You’re safe.” His voice has gotten rougher now. Raspier. Almost as if he sandpapered his throat. He grants me half a smile, but it’s tinged with a hint of darkness. “For now.”

A slow drip of anxiety starts inside me.

Hell’s bells… Was trusting this guy to cover for me a bad call?

All at once, my brain goes back online and sends the order to unlock my arms from around his strong neck. He tries to hook me with his gaze, but I tear my eyes from his, studying my feet self-consciously as blood rushes to my cheeks.

I pluck at my shirt. Suddenly, despite the stagehand outfit I’m wearing, I’m anxious, awkward, and feel entirely too naked.

“Thank you for helping me,” I whisper. My heart continues hammering. Not because of the kiss, but because I still need to escape, and the longer I stand here, the harder that’s going to be.

Stupid, I know. I just met this guy. At a mafia auction, no less. I know nothing about him, and everyone here is kind of scary. I shouldwantto flee as fast as I can.

My sense of self-preservation finally decides to re-emerge from hibernation, instilling within me the motivation to step around the handsome stranger. I nearly jump out of my skin when a fist clamps onto my forearm out of nowhere.

Terrified that I’ve been caught by Leo, my head snaps back, but it’s only him…

The man who just marked me with his mouth.

His grip rings my wrist like an iron cuff. That’s the moment when my alarm bells really begin to chime, and I realize that I’vedefinitelymade a mistake.

Leo personally invited every person in attendance tonight. And Leo doesn’t associate with a single man who isn’t a violent, dangerous criminal.

Ergo, I just kissed a violent, dangerous criminal.

Worse…I freakinglikedit.

That anxiety drip inside me turns into a steady trickle of ice-cold fear.

“You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.” The roughness in this man’s voice has gotten sharper.

I tug my arm, but his grip is unyielding. He pulls me back until I’m standing in front of him like before, trapped under the hot, heavy spotlight of his inquisitive gaze.

“You heard me.” He gives my forearm a squeeze that tells me it would be nothing for him to break the bone beneath. “Why are you trying to escape?”

A lump the size of New York forms in my throat.

I can’t swallow. I can’t breathe. I can’t think.

I’m stupid. So, so stupid. Like, on a scale of zero to ten, this rates as a twenty.

There’s no way I can tell this man who I am or why I’m running, regardless of his intentions. If he learns the truth, he might drag me straight back to Leo.

Merde, Kiara, you’ve sure gone and done it…

Though futile, I inch away from him, my back connecting with the uneven stone wall behind me. The man only presses closer, re-entering my personal space while maintaining his iron hold on my wrist.

Butterflies swarm in my belly. My body did not get the memo that fun time is over.

A stream of security guards clad in black suits breaks the intensity of the moment by jogging past our alcove.

“The bitch isn’t in her room.” A gruff, gravelly voice curses. “When I find her, she’s going to wish she never learned how to run.”