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“Luca.” My eyes shoot to hers, and there is little I can do to hide just how much I want her. But where I expect to read fear, I see curiosity. “Uhm . . . Can I take a shower and get some rest? You’ll allow me that at least, right?”
I nod, afraid of what I will say if I speak. I turn around and start walking down the hall, and I hear her steps follow after me. I am half tempted to lead her to the master bedroom but show her to the guest room instead.
I push open the door and move aside for her to walk in. “Everything you need is in the bathroom, help yourself.”
I turn around to leave, but Katya grabs my arm before I can make my hasty exit. “W-wait, you’re leaving?”
I look down at her hand and up at her wide, innocent eyes, and it takes every last bit of control in me not to push her into the wall and kiss her. “I have some things I need to take care of in my office,” I say instead.
“But what if I need you?”
Fuck me!
The way she says that word.Need. She’s not helping with my control.
“Goodnight, Katya,” I say gruffly, and she must see the danger she’s in because she lets go of my hand and moves back. I walk away without another word, hoping I’ll be able to get the hell out of here without losing my goddamned mind and doing something I can’t take back.
Chapter Four
Katya
I can’t sleep.
Blame it on the unfamiliar bed and the eerie silence this place carries. Without Luca’s heavy presence, the apartment feels like a mausoleum. In this bedroom, it feels like I am the only person in the world . . . and I hate it. I’ve never been alone before. If my parents or siblings weren’t around, I was constantly shadowed by my father’s goons tasked with ensuring I never stepped a toe out of line. It had been hell getting off my father’s property without being seen.
Counting sheep has done nothing to help with sleep. The milk from Luca’s kitchen did even less, and now, I am stuck in his living room, playing the piano idly.
I want Luca.
I frown at the sudden thought, possibly fueled by the loneliness I am feeling, but I know that’s not exactly true. Wanting Luca with me has little to do with loneliness. I have always been a lonely child despite being constantly surrounded by people.
My siblings are all from my father’s first marriage and decades older than me. They’ve never wanted anything to do with me. And all my schoolmates are scared of me because of my family’s reputation. So no, wanting Luca here has nothing to do with loneliness and everything to do with how he looks at me. Noone has ever really seen me before. But when Luca looks at me, I know he does.
He looks at me like he wants me.
No, he doesn’t just want me. He looks at me like he craves me . . . my touch, my attention. It’s a strange feeling. No one has ever wanted me before.
No one has ever looked at me the way he does . . .
I’m not naive. Well, I am in some cases as tonight has so blatantly proven, but when it comes to why Luca wants me, I am not so blind as to miss the way he openly checks out my body, even when he thinks I am not looking.
I know he wants me in ways a man would a woman they’re attracted to. Just thinking about it sends a blush creeping up my cheeks.
“Snap out of it, Katya,” I whisper, placing my forearm arm over the piano before dropping my head onto it. I run my fingers over the keys, playing the notes I first learned when I started taking lessons. I lose myself in the soft melodies that fill the room and occupy the empty part of my soul. I only stop when my fingers start to cramp.
I push back from the piano and stretch my arms over my head, my eyes shooting up to the clock on the wall, and I gasp when I notice it’s already two in the morning.
Where is Luca?Is he still in his office? In his bed?
My sex throbs at the thought of Luca in his bed. Does he sleep naked with all his muscles and tattoos on display? I shake my head and mentally scold myself for my thoughts. How stupid. Not only is Luca much older than me, he’s gorgeous and could have any woman he wants. He might find me attractive, but he’d never truly want the daughter of his worst enemy.
I figure I might as well head back and try to catch sleep, perhaps count more sheep if I can’t fall asleep, but when I turn around, it’s to find a dark figure seated on the sofa.
“Sweet Jesus!” I jump back, startled, and bump into the piano. My heart is racing so fast I am half afraid it’ll pump its way out of my chest. “L-Luca, you scared me!”
The man silently watches me from his couch, and I can’t help but notice that he looks like the TV version of a perfect Italian mob boss, with neatly styled, dark wavy hair a little longer at the top and wearing slacks and a black shirt with the sleeves cuffed around his elbows, exposing his heavily tattooed arms. I didn’t get a good look at Luca when we first met, too busy trying to get away from the man, but now that I am calmer, I can’t help but admire how his muscles are perfectly highlighted by his form-fitting clothes.
I’m not the only one doing some ogling as Luca runs his eyes over my body with such undiluted hunger, it gives him a predatory air. I follow his eyes down my body and gasp when I see the belt on my robe has come loose and it’s falling open. I rush to retie the belt, but the damage has already been done.
