Page 66 of The Mafia And His Angel: Part 1 (Tainted Hearts 1)

They looked worse than the night before. Dried blood covered his swollen knuckles and fingers. I winced at the sight. I had a feeling he wouldn’t listen to me, but I still hoped.

I was tempted to clean his wounds for him, but I didn’t want to overstep my boundaries.

I didn’t want to anger him more, not when he was already going through so much.

I bit on my lips as I continued to step back, but with each step away from Alessio, my stomach sank deeper.

I stopped and stared at the broken man in front of me.

I couldn’t be this heartless, could I? I couldn’t leave him in this state when I could help instead.

Placing my hand over my beating heart, I chewed on my lips. I moved closer to him, slowly.

Keeping my eyes fixated on his sleeping form, I knelt down in front of him. Moving my eyes from his face, I stared at his bruised hands. I opened the first aid kit and removed the antiseptic wipes and some bandages. There was also a small hand towel folded under the bandages, so I took it out too. After placing them on the coffee table, I turned back to Alessio.

With my heart racing in my chest, I placed my shaking hand on his to see if he was awake.

He didn’t move.

I sighed in relief and then took his hand in mine.

I waited again.

He didn’t move.

I picked up an antiseptic wipe and gently cleaned his hands. I made sure my movements were soft and careful so I wouldn’t hurt him.

As the blood came off, I saw his knuckles were bruised, but not much. The blood made it look worse. His fingers were slightly swollen, but thankfully not broken.

After cleaning his left hand, I gently wrapped the bandage around his hand, making sure that it wasn’t too tight. After I was done, I leaned back and placed his hand on his thigh again.

I glanced up at Alessio, expecting him to still be asleep, but that wasn’t the case.

I sucked in a surprised breath when I saw his intense blue eyes focused on me.

I had been so lost in cleaning his injuries that I didn’t realize he was awake.

“Alessio,” I whispered.

His gaze raked over my face and then moved to his bandaged hand.

Both of us stared at it. Sweat formed at the back of my neck as nervousness filled me.

“I…I saw that you didn’t clean your hands,” I stuttered. Taking a deep breath, I quickly continued. “I thought that maybe I could clean them for you.”

I waited for him to answer but he didn’t.

“It could get infected. That’s why I cleaned it,” I said.

He still didn’t answer.

Oh no. I messed up. I really messed up.

I started fidgeting with the hem of my dress again. Looking at his other hand, I swallowed at the sight. It still needed to be cleaned.

Slowly shifting away, I said, “You should clean your other hand.”

His expression showed confusion as he kept staring at his bandaged hand. Letting out a sigh, I started to get up but his arms snaked out so fast it was a blur. His fingers wrapped around my wrist, and with a tug, he pulled me back down so that I was kneeling in front of him again. But this time, between his spread thighs.

He held my wrist with his bandaged hand. I tipped my head back to look in his eyes as he gazed down at me with indescribable emotions.

I saw him swallow hard and then he looked down. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion and I stared down too, only to find him pushing his other, still bloody hand toward me.

My eyes widened in realization and my heart flipped as my stomach twisted in knots. I looked back up, my eyes filled with questions, but Alessio didn’t answer. He just continued to stare at me silently. Expectantly.

He let my wrist go and I released a shaky breath. With my heart pounding vigorously against my ribcage, I took his hand in mine.

His head was cocked to the side as he stared at me. I forgot how dark he was, how sinister and how huge he was. As I kneeled between his thighs, I felt his forceful and dangerous energy around me.

Looking down at his hand again, I got to work.

No words were spoken.

There was only silence between us.

But even through the silence, it felt comforting.

I cleaned his wounds just as carefully and gently as before, and then bandaged his right hand too. All the time, I was aware of his eyes on me. I could feel his gaze on my skin. And I grew warmer from it.

When I was done, my eyes stayed on his hand which was still in mine. Alessio didn’t pull away either.

Unconsciously, I found that I was rubbing my thumb over his knuckles. When I realized what I was doing, I quickly let his hand go. It fell back onto his lap.