Page 36 of The Temptation

“Why?”

“Can I come in?”

There is a brief pause before she replies, “It depends.”

I clear my throat. “On what?”

“Are you going to be mean to me again?”

Hurting her is the last thing I ever wanted to do, but the way she said it stops me in my tracks. I’ve been so focused on suppressing my feelings and so caught up in pretending they don’t exist that I never really thought about how my poor behaviour might affect her.

“I made you something to eat.”

I stand there for a moment, waiting for her to reply, but seconds later her door opens instead. Her eyes zero in on the plate in my hand.

“You made me a sandwich?” she asks, a small smile curving her pretty lips.

“It’s the best I could do. Sadly, I don’t have your culinary skills.”

Her gaze flickers up to my face, and unless I’m seeingthings, those damn heart eyes are back. The funny thing is that they don’t bother me so much anymore. I’m realising that I’ll take that look over her scowl any day.

I’ve been stewing about our earlier fight since she stormed off and shut herself away. I don’t like it when she avoids me, and I hate knowing I’m the reason she’s hurting. I should’ve just let her shimmy all that shit out instead of acting like an arsehole.

I push the plate in her direction, and when she takes it from me, she lifts the top layer of bread to peer inside. “What’s on it?”

“Cheese and salami.”

“Yum.”

She turns and heads back towards her bed, taking a seat on the side of the mattress.

I stand in the doorway observing her before finally saying, “I was wondering if we could have a chat once you’ve finished eating.”

Her eyes dart back to mine. “Has something happened?”

I let out a long breath. “No. Still no news on that front.”

That fucker Salvatori is still out there. Despite everything we’ve done, we’re nowhere near close to finding him. It’s driving me out of my fucking mind.

It’s been months since one of his guys first showed in town, sniffing around for Lucia. So that fucker has had more than enough time to solidify whatever plan he’s working on. And it’s the not knowing that’s eating me alive.

I’m constantly on edge. The weight of it sits on my chest, pressing down harder every day. The anxiety of when he’ll strike, or if he already has something in motion, is keeping me awake at night.

I shove my hands into my trouser pockets, and those big fucking brown doe eyes of hers make my pulse spike. I haveto look away just to stop my damn heart from leaping out of my chest.

The thought of anything happening to her is enough to paralyse me. There is nothing I wouldn’t do to keep this woman safe, and that knowledge is sobering. I don’t want to feel the things that I’m feeling, but I’m slowly losing the battle on all fronts.

“Come sit,” she says, tapping the space beside her. “We can talk while I eat.”

Being in this room with her, and on her bed, is a bad idea, but that doesn’t seem to stop my feet from moving as I cross the room and sit down, leaving as much distance between us as I humanly can.

I’m so physically attracted to this woman that sometimes I lose the ability to think straight around her.

“I feel like we’ve come to a crossroads,” I start, quickly diverting my gaze when she bites into her sandwich.

“How so?”

“I don’t want to fight with you, Lucia,” I admit. “I have so much on my plate right now, and our constant bickering is just distracting me from my job.”