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I don’t hurry. I take my time eating my toast and sipping my coffee. It isn’t like I’m in a rush to get back into that living room, where Silus can stare at me and undress me with his eyes like I’m a piece of meat. But as I sit there and eat, I do start to feel a little bad that he’s probably starving. Just like me, Silus has been awake most of the night.
Fuck.
I don’t know why, but I feel like I need to feed him, so after I finish my toast and my coffee, I plop another piece of bread into the toaster and pull out another coffee mug. All I know is, if this asshole says anything I don’t like while I’m holding a cup of hot coffee, he’ll get the whole thing poured on his lap.
Once his toast pops up, I set it on the same small plate I used. After a little butter, it’s ready, and I bring both the plate and the mug into the living room. I set both on the small coffee table in front of the couch before facing Silus and placing my hands on my hips.
“I’m going to take that tape off. If I were you, I’d think very carefully about anything you want to say to me,” I warn him.
He’s amused. I can tell by the twinkle in his black eyes.
I move closer to him and peel off the tape slowly. He has a bit of dark stubble growing, a five o’clock shadow or whatever people call that, and it gives him a messier look. I hate to say it, but the stubble on his jaw doesn’t detract from his good looks one bit.
The moment I finish peeling the tape off, he licks his dry lips, but he doesn’t say a word. Of course, the man still stares at me, saying so much more with those damned eyes than he could with his mouth.
“I thought you might be hungry,” I mumble as I drop the used tape onto the coffee table near the rest of the unused roll. “So I made you some toast. Do you take anything with your coffee? We only have some milk and sugar in the house right now, nothing fancy.”
“Black is fine,” Silus says.
I give him some coffee first. It’s not the easiest thing, to gently tilt a cup against someone else’s lips, but I manage to do it without spilling any of it onto his face or his suit. The entire time I’m focused on not making a mess, Silus stares at me, to the point where it’s a little disconcerting.
Next comes the toast. Honestly, not once in my life did I ever think I’d hand-feed a mafia boss, but then again, not once in my life did I ever think I’d kidnap a mafia boss, either. Guess life is full of surprises.
I give him more coffee after he finishes the toast, and when I pull the mug away from his lips, he asks, “Was that your brother?”
I tense up and don’t say a word.
Silus notes my unease as he says, “I heard him call you sis. Is this a family job, then? Kidnapping and selling me to make yourselves rich?”
My fingers are tight around the mostly-empty mug. I don’t owe him any answers, but for some reason I find myself saying, “It’s just me and my brother. Our dad’s never been in the picture, and our mom… she’s in prison right now, but she’s getting out this year.” I set the mug on the coffee table, giving Silus my back. “It’s not about getting rich. It’s about leaving this stupid city.”
“Surely you and your brother could leave anytime you want.”
“We don’t have anywhere to go.” I look back at Silus. “It’s nothing personal, okay? We just need enough money to get us a place in a good neighborhood so when our mom gets out, we can take care of her, get her some real help. It’s not like we want to roll around in money. We just need enough to start a new life.”
The corners of his mouth curl into a smirk. “Then untie me, love, and after you’ve given me the time you owe me, I’ll buy you whatever house you want.” He sounds utterly serious, but there’s no way he…
There’s just no fucking way.
Just to screw with him a little, I tell him, “This is my brother’s plan. Technically, he owes you time.”
Silus’s reply comes swiftly: “I don’t want your brother. I want you.”
“Why?”
“Why do I want you? Are you sure you want to hear the answer, or will you get annoyed and cover my mouth with more tape?”
“I won’t tape your mouth shut again,” I tell him. When he only lifts a single brow, I add, “Just tell me why. If anything, you should want to torture me for helping to kidnap you. Isn’t that what you guys do?”
Silus’s shoulders shrug as much as they can given his current state. “Sometimes a little torture is necessary, but for you… Thea, I think we both know there are other things I can do to you, things we’d both enjoy. Why would I torture you when I could instead spend the time getting intimately acquainted with every curve on that body?”
I bark out a laugh. “Is this what you do? You think using a smolder and saying things like that get women to fall onto their backs for you?”
“Backs, stomachs, knees… I’m not picky. But for your information, no. Typically women come to me, willing to do whatever I want them to in hopes that I’ll either marry them or bless them with a child. It’s all about my last name, the money and the respect I have in this city, and what they can gain from it.”
Silus pauses, eyeing me up. “But it’s not like that with you. You had no idea who I was when you sauntered over to me in the club and asked me to pretend to be your boyfriend. Your only goal was scaring off the creep at the bar, not to seduce me. You intrigued me, love, and I’m not so easily intrigued.”
“Lucky me,” I deadpan.
