Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 127249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
“Just for the record,” he says when I turn to leave, “I saw her practice run for the audition, and she’s cut out for that role.”
I stop and look at him. “You did?”
“I was invited.”
I narrow my eyes. “Let me guess, by the director you threatened. Did she see you?”
He shakes his head. “I sat in the back row. I didn’t want to distract her with my presence. I know she doesn’t like me.”
“Just as well.” I continue on my way, heading back to Noah. “Your presence definitely wouldn’t have helped.”
“For what it’s worth,” he calls after me, “she deserved that role.”
I look over my shoulder at him. “I guess now she’ll never know.”
Chapter
Thirty
Dante
* * *
It’s close to midnight when I finally get home. Ulysses did a bad job of stitching up the cut on my arm.
I showered and changed at the condo, but the cut is bleeding again. I can feel the wetness seeping through my shirt under my jacket.
Not wanting to wake up Tatiana or Noah, I don’t switch on the lights. I only use the floor lights, which someone—probably Emily—left on in the hallway, to find my way to the study.
Once I’ve closed the door, I flick on the light and head for the dry bar. I’m pouring myself four fingers of scotch when the door opens and Tatiana enters, wearing a shimmery white nightdress.
Her nipples that poke against the silk draw my gaze. Standing there barefoot with her golden hair tumbling in waves over her shoulders and those green, haunted eyes, she looks so damn innocent. So breakable. So fucking beautiful. But not mine. She said the words I wanted to hear when I stuffed her full of my cock. I’m tempted to pretend the lie is true. It would’ve been so much easier if I could’ve believed it. But I’ve never lied to myself. And still, knowing she couldn’t possibly mean what she’d said, I enjoyed the farce. I loved the roleplay.
She pads over and stops in front of me. “You’re late.”
I gulp down a swallow of my drink. “I had business to take care of.”
She takes the glass from me, turns it to where my lips have touched the rim, and takes a sip from the exact same spot.
I take her in—her unusual green eyes and the slim body beneath all that innocent white. When I decided to make her mine, I thought binding her to me in name and in blood would be enough. I thought I could live with her hatred.
I was wrong.
“You could’ve called,” she says in a soft tone.
I shrug out of my jacket and fold it over the back of a chair. “I didn’t want to wake you.”
Her eyes flare when her gaze lands on my arm. “You’re hurt.”
I cast a glance at my shoulder. Blood has soaked the white shirt. I start to unbutton it. “It’s nothing.”
She puts the drink aside and comes closer, studying the wound as I peel out of the shirt. “That’s not nothing.”
“It’s just a nick.”
She looks at me with pale cheeks. “Knife?”
I nod.
“Dante.” Placing a hand on my bicep, she implores me with that mesmerizing, expressive green gaze. “You have to be careful.”
I chuckle. “He caught me off guard. Don’t worry. He’s a lot worse off than me.”
“Did you disinfect it?”
“Ulysses drenched it with a bottle of saline water. Does that count?”
She slaps my chest. “Don’t joke. This is serious.”
“I hardly feel it.”
She frowns. “You don’t have other scars. How can you be used to that kind of pain?”
“Not scars like that, but I’ve had broken bones and bruises.”
“I’m going to forbid you from getting into fights.”
I cup her face, staring down at her beautiful features. “Worrying about me again?”
“You have no idea,” she chastises.
I press a chaste kiss on her lips. “Don’t.” My voice is hoarse from holding back when I want so much more than a peck and a pretty lie. “It’s late. I didn’t mean to wake you. You should go back to bed.”
She goes on tiptoes and defies me by kissing me back with meaning. Her tongue teases my lips and shatters my self-control. I take what she offers, parting her lips with mine and exploring the soft, warm depths of her mouth.
I shouldn’t take what she gives when she doesn’t know what she’s giving. The Tatiana I found in Denver wouldn’t want this. A better man would’ve stopped her. But I’m not a good man. And for all my famed control, I’m too weak to resist her.
Grabbing the tight globes of her ass, I yank her against me and return her kiss without keeping myself in check. The coppery taste in my mouth tells me I cut her lip with my teeth, but it’s all I can do not to lose my mind as I knead her ass in one hand and fist the other in the long, silky locks of her hair, holding her in the unbreakable vise of my arms as I bend her backward and plunder her mouth.