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Her eyes flutter shut almost instantly. She snuggles up against me, murmuring my name.
Within seconds, she's out.
I watch her sleep, reeling at how terrifyingly fast I'm falling under her spell. Her sweetness, her fire, her innocence…every fucking piece of her has my heart ready to beat out of my chest. That should scare the hell out of me because out of the two of us, she's far more dangerous than I am.
But I'm not afraid.
This little mouse is fucking mine.
Chapter Four
Aurelia
Iwake up in bed alone, but I'm not foolish enough to believe that Mattia has gone far. I feel him in the house. His presence is overpowering. For a long moment, I simply lay in the bed, staring up at the ceiling, trying to figure out how in the hell I ended up here. Trying to figure out a way out of this mess.
Part of me desperately wants to trust the complicated, dangerous man I tied myself to last night, but the bigger part is terrified of what might happen if I do. I believe him when he says he won't hurt me, but can he say the same about my brothers?
Our father certainly wanted nothing to do with me. It's hard to believe the brothers I've never met will feel any sense of loyalty to me if they ever find out what Brio wants from me. They'll never trust me. Why would they? Their loyalty is to one another and the oaths they swore. I'm not stupid. I know what it means to be mafia. Their oath will always come before their half-sister. It did to our father, didn't it?
With a sigh, I drag myself out of bed, stumbling toward the bathroom. Halfway there, I stop and look around. From the outside, Mattia's house is cold and uninviting. Inside, it's a different story. It's…nice. Beautiful, even. What a home should look like.
I barely noticed last night, but his bedroom is filled with dark, heavy wooden furniture. The bed is large and imposing, with a towering headboard. Plush rugs cover the floor, adding warmth to the massive space. Everything exudes an air of power and dominance, fitting for a dangerous man like Mattia. It should look cold, but there's life and comfort in the room that I didn't expect. A lot like the man himself.
Even after spending two months trapped in Brio's house, I'm still not accustomed to this kind of wealth.
It's certainly not the way I grew up. My mom was careful with the money Vincent gave her to disappear, stretching it as far as it would go. We never did without, but we never had more than we needed, either.
This is a whole new world.
I continue into the bathroom, only to stop and gape again. It's bigger than the freaking bedroom where I grew up. The man has a bathtub that could reasonably double as a hot tub. A humming from the switch beside my head captures my attention. One is a simple light switch, but my brows furrow when I see the other switch with the temperature settings on it.
"What is this?"
"It's the control for the floors, cara mia. They're heated."
"Jesus!" I yelp, jumping a foot into the air at the sound of Mattia's voice.
His low, sinful chuckle rolls over me.
I lift my head to glare at him, only to swallow hard when I catch sight of him in nothing but a towel hanging low on his hips, his wet hair plastered to his head. Fully dressed, the man is freaking gorgeous. But like this? There are no words.
Water droplets course down his chest, over the ridges of his abs, only to disappear beneath the towel around his waist. Tattoos of roses and thorns wind around his biceps in shades of blue, red, and black before snaking up to the strong line of his shoulders. Scars—some old, some new—litter his skin, screaming of violence and bloodshed. Every inch of him is hard and powerful. Dangerously so.
"Naked," I manage to choke out. "You're naked."
"Mmhmm." He cocks a brow, a slow smirk overtaking his face. "Isn't that how you shower, topolina?"
"I thought…" I don't know what I thought. I know I didn't expect to find him dripping wet in the bathroom, though. Now I'm dripping wet in the bathroom.
"That I left you here alone?"
"No." I roll my eyes. "I couldn't get that lucky, Mattia."
"Ah, I see," he says, still smirking at me.
"See what?"
"I make you come all over my face, and then you spend the night cuddling in my arms, and we're back to trading barbs this morning."
