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“You’re doing it again.” He pulled the blanket over me and moved to the other side of the bed and got in.
“Doing what?” Wait, was he expecting me to sleep here?
“You’re letting your doubts do the thinking and feeling for you.” Under the covers, he rested his head on his hand and faced me.
“How do you know what I’m thinking?”
He snorted and reached over my body to the side table and slipped my glasses onto my face.
“I can see it in your eyes. They cloud over. It’s as if your mind takes you somewhere else…somewhere dark.”
“Oh, well, I’d deny that, but I have a lifetime pass on the trauma train.”
He hummed and traced his finger along my chest. “Your past, it’s not pretty, but you’ve overcome.”
“Have I?” I turned so I was facing him. “Right now, I feel like a game piece being shoved along the board until I’m where everyone wants me to be.”
“You feel that way because that’s exactly what’s happening.”
“Wow, that’s not helpful at all. Attention, passengers, our next stop is brutal honesty, be careful of the gap.”
He chuckled. “I won’t lie to you, Fred. I’ve told you that. You’re not a piece to me, or a toy, or whatever crazy thing your doubts are telling you.”
“I’m supposed to believe you’re here because, why? You believe in me, think I have a great personality, am an amazing fuck?”
“Yes to all of those things. Listen, Fred.” He sat up, and I followed suit. “I’m a private man. I have dalliances that last a couple of days, and then I disappear or they are sent away. You’re the first person I have ever”—he inched closer to my face—“ever exposed myself for. You’re also the only person I’d start a war over.”
“But why?”
“Do there need to be reasons or words to describe it? I’ve watched you, and you’re too good for the circumstances you’ve been forced into. I’m intrigued and amazed by you. You’re brilliant, gorgeous, and even though you’ve walked through hell, you choose to care for a world that hasn’t been kind to you a day in your life.” He smiled softly. “There. I gave you words, and I meant every single one.”
I searched his eyes for a lie, just one, but dammit, I saw none. I knew in my heart that he was everything he swore he was, and if he was telling the truth and everything he had told me about Aiden was true, where did that leave me?
“Thank you for those words, Vincenzo.”
We lay down again, his arms wrapping around me as I rested my head on his chest.
“Vin.”
I tilted my head, not understanding.
“I like it when you call me Vin.”
I snickered. “Okay, Vin.”
“Now rest.”
I wanted to tell him I had to return to my room, but the exhaustion of not sleeping the night before and the long day weighed down on me like a blanket of stone.
Instead I said, “I’ll trust you to set up the security for my visit to the police station tomorrow.”
I closed my eyes, and a kiss was pressed to my forehead.
“Thank you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Vincenzo
