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“Dr. Mark?”
A frustrated hiss escapes through my clenched teeth. “No, that asshole has disappeared. He’s not even on the damned camera footage at Palestra.”
“How is that possible?”
“No clue, but I sure as hell am going to find out.” I start toward the door, but she jumps in front of me again.
“Let me go with you.” A crop top hangs off her shoulder, and she’s wearing those indecent yoga pants. She’s not going anywhere in those.
“Absolutely not,” I snap and try to move around her. The last thing I need is Rose anywhere near me when I let the monster loose from his cage.
“Please, Dante.” She blocks the hallway and rises to her tiptoes, batting dark lashes. “I don’t want to stay here alone.”
That unfamiliar feeling knots my chest again. I press my fingers into the aching spot, attempting to loosen the tangle of emotions. “You’re safe here. I can’t say the same out there.”
“But I’ll be with you.”
The hope in her eyes is worse than a knee to the balls. It siphons all the air from my lungs and leaves me gaping like a completecoglione. This woman actually trusts me, believes in me, even after I’ve failed to protect her numerous times. What the hell is wrong with her?
Overwhelming anger bubbles up, crushing everything else in its path. I step into Rose and shove her against the wall, pinning her to the smooth surface. Her breath hitches, eyes widening, and her fear only urges the monster to the surface. “Do you remember what I told you that night at Luca’s all those months ago after the Met Ball?”
She shakes her head, her full lower lip trapped between her teeth.
I press closer, my hardening cock straining painfully against my slacks. “When Dr. Mark kept calling you and I grabbed the phone away to tell him to fuck off?”
Understanding flashes across the deep blue depths, but she doesn’t speak.
“I told you back then I was no one’s hero, sweetheart, and I meant it. I’m not cut out for this knight in shining armor shit.”
Her entire body tenses beneath me as I crush her against the wall. She must feel my erection digging into her belly. “For someone who’s so reluctant, you’re doing a damn good job,” she whispers.
A rueful chuckle erupts. “If I was doing such a damned good job, that asshole would be six feet under by now, and you’d be safe back in your own cozy, little studio. Far away from me, and all this shit.”
She stiffens her lower lip and sears those soulful eyes to mine. “What if I don’t want to be far away from you?” Her hips tilt to meet mine, and now I’m hard as hell.
The anger tangles with the awakening desire, but I shove it down, holding onto the fury. I need it to survive. “Then you’re far more stupid than I thought, sweetheart.”
Rose swallows hard, the corners of her eyes tapering. Not the hint of a tear remains.Good. I’d rather her hate me than be upset over that psycho Dr. Mark. “And you’re full of shit, Dante Valentino.” Her lips claim mine, stealing the breath from my lungs.
CHAPTER26
RUN
Rose
I fully comprehend I’ve lost my mind. The stress of having a stalker coupled with my fucked up past has finally broken me because there is no other sane reason for me to be kissing Dante right now. More than kissing, so much more.
I rise to my tiptoes and wind my arms around the back of his neck, tilting my hips to feel his cock against my throbbing center. He’s still too damned tall, so I wrap my leg around his waist and his palms move to my ass, suspending me against the wall so I can get my other leg around him. A groan slips free when I finally get the friction my lusty pussy so desperately needs.
Fuck Rose 2.0. If the original version gets to ride Dante like a savage, I’m totally okay with her.
After the realization that my stalker had been inside Palestra, inside the very lounge I was going to hide out in a few nights earlier, the fear had reached monumental levels. If Dante hadn’t dragged me out of there that night, who knows what would’ve happened?
I could be dead. Or worse.
A chill surges up my spine, and Dante tightens his hold, his fingers digging into my ass and only increasing the delicious friction between us. Another moan escapes but Dante swallows it up, his mouth devouring my lips.
“Cazzo, sweetheart, those sounds,” he murmurs around my tongue. “You’re going to make me come from them alone.”
