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I swallowed the hurt of his callous tone. “I’ve worked for years to become a nurse. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
“I think your life has taken you far from what you wanted by now, hasn’t it? Surely you can’t think I’d let you travel to the shore every single day to be out of the house from dawn till dusk. I might have extended you mercy, Charlotte, but don’t push it.”
“So what? I’m just supposed to stay in this house all the time, lounging around…waiting to die one day?”
“You can treat the De Sanctis men who are hurt. Let me assure you, they’re in constant supply.”
“You can’t possibly think that’s the same? Working at a hospital helping people, or patching up mobsters in a dungeon?”
“Are their lives worth less than other people’s?” Renato challenged, turning to watch my reaction. “Is their pain and suffering less valid? Do their families care less if they die?”
“You’re twisting my words,” I ground out.
“Maybe you’re using the wrong words,” Renato responded quietly.
I took a deep breath. “Okay, fine. Being a nurse and working in a big hospital has always been my dream. You’re killing my dream. Does that make more sense to you?”
Renato thought for a second, his eyebrows drawing together.Christ,the man was handsome.
After an excruciating pause, he spoke. “You once asked me if I believed in God. Do you?”
The crucifix on the wall stared down at us, judging my thoughts. “It’s not a case of whether or not I believe in God. God has never believed in me,” I finally said when his inspection became too much.
“Poetically put.” He nodded appreciatively at me before continuing. “But I think you have more faith than you realize. You have faith that challenging me like this won’t get you killed. You have faith that telling me your dreams, and begging me not to kill them, will move me…”
“I’m not begging.”
“Aren’t you?” He stalked toward me.
I fought the urge to back up.
“You are a burning ball of contradictions,anima mia.You keep me guessing what you’ll do next. You have a whole lot of faith, even if you don’t realize it.”
“I don’t—” I attempted.
He reached out and touched my cheek, robbing me of words. The back of his finger smoothed over the apple of my cheek. “You have faith that I can be a better man than I’ve ever proved myself to be, and I don’t know which one of us is the greater fool…you for believing, or me…for even considering it.”
He stared into my eyes, so intense, one wrong move would blow us both apart. We were a powder keg and a match, desperate to meet.
His fingers slid up my cheek and pushed my hair behind my ear. “If you believe in God, which I’m sure you do, somewhere deep down inside, then know this…” He leaned in as he spoke, putting his lips to my ear. His warm breath sent shivers across my skin. “He gave you to me. We were destined to meet. Fate has woven us together, and those threads can never be untangled. Your God wanted me to have you…and now that I do, I’ll never give you back.”
I swayed, suddenly weak in the knees. Was it fear sending a gale of heat through me, followed by an icy shiver? Everything in my body tingled, heightened by his deep murmur and the utter blasphemy of his words. He was crazy, and yet his voice murmuring in my ear was the hottest thing that had ever happened to me.
Maybe I was more broken than I’d ever realized.
He stayed there for a long moment, his lips resting on my skin. If I turned my head, my mouth would meet his.
I waited.
He waited.
I didn’t move.
Gradually, he drew back. “I’ll think about your points, and you think of why I should allow it.” A smirk passed over his insufferably handsome lips. “Maybe you can convince me.”
His dry tone was laced with amusement, like my pain and suffering were fun for him. And what response did his mocking give me? Wet panties and a pounding heart. Hard nipples that I wished he’d take between his teeth.
“I hate you, you know that?”
