Page 41 of He Should Be Mine

But I have to do it right. I have one chance at this and it is going to take time. Until then, Molly has to suffer. And there is not a thing I can do about it.

“Dario,” he says softly.

I look up.

“I’m okay,” he says. “You don’t have to look like the world’s ending.”

I stare at him. I don’t say the truth. That for me, it already has. The one man I want, is the only man I can’t have. And I’m going to have to move heaven and earth to change that.

“You said I should be resting,” he says after a minute, when it’s clear I have nothing to say. “You said I need to recover.”

“You do.”

“But I’ve been in this apartment for two days. I’m going stir-crazy.”

“Good,” I mutter. “This way, you’ll think twice before attempting to sneak out.”

He rolls his eyes and sets his glass down too hard. “You were sweet yesterday. That was weird. I should’ve known it wasn’t going to last.”

“I was perfectly normal.”

Molly leans forward, chin in his hand, eyes glittering. “No, you were… gentle.”

I go very still. “You were bruised and hungover. What was I supposed to do? Kick you while you were down?”

His voice softens. “You put cream on my neck. You called me stupid.”

“That’s because you were being stupid.”

He tilts his head. “But you didn’t sound mad, like you usually do.”

I hold his gaze, the weight of it heavy in the quiet morning. His blue eyes are so fucking beautiful it hurts. Sharp enough to take my breath away.

“You keep pushing me,” I say, low and even. Warning him. Or perhaps pleading with him to show me mercy. “One day, I won’t stop myself.”

He doesn’t blink. “Maybe I’m counting on that.”

A silence stretches between us, long and sharp. My self-control is holding on by a thread. He is interested in me, I’m sure of it.

I know he flirts with everyone, but I swear it’s not just a game with me. Even if I am wrong, I’m pretty sure he is interested in me enough to not say no. And that’s all the encouragement I need.

Because I want him. Iwant.

It is as simple as that.

I have no idea how I ever made it complicated.

Any minute now, I’m going to reach across this breakfast bar, grab his stolen shirt and pull him to me for a kiss and make him mine. Consequences be damned.

But the last thread of my willpower is stubbornly holding on. So I’m not moving. I’m simply sitting here, staring at him, while he stares right back at me.

I let everything I want to say but can’t, show in my eyes.

I want you. I need you. I’m going to have you.

Molly’s eyes widen. They darken. His pink tongue slips out and runs along his soft bottom lip. And then,mercifully, or not, one of the cameras high up on the ceiling shifts position. A whirring, mechanical noise. A tiny, innocent sound that might as well be a thunderclap.

We both glance toward it.