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My eyelids flew open, and I caught my breath when I saw Salvatore standing just inside the bathroom, watching me.
“Jesus!” I sat up, instinctively covering myself, although it wasn’t necessary. The bubbles created a barrier between us. “You scared the crap out of me!”
“I knocked, but there was no answer.”
He wore dress slacks and a button-down shirt he’d undone to where I could see the gold chain circling his neck. A small cross hung from it. It took me back five years, seeing that. I remembered noticing it, concentrating on it when I couldn’t bear to look him in the eye.
I flushed and glanced away.
“I fell asleep, I guess.”
“It’s dangerous to do in the bathtub.”
“Yeah.” I pulled my knees up, making sure the bubbles still hid me. When Rainey had told me this was my room, I’d assumed we weren’t sharing it. I’d assumed the double doors had led to the master. Had I misunderstood? “What do you want?” I tried to keep my voice friendly. Salvatore seemed to process the question slowly. He looked like he had a thousand things on his mind. Was it the meeting he’d been called to?
He opened his mouth to speak, but instead shook his head and ran a hand through his thick, dark hair. It made me think of his brother, of how different they looked, and thinking about his brother made the water suddenly feel cold.
“I wanted to check on you, see if you needed anything,” Salvatore finally answered.
“I’m fine.” I wanted to ask if we were sharing the bedroom, if it was his, but couldn’t bring myself to just yet. “Where were you? Marco said you had a meeting.”
“I did.”
A wealth of information.
“How close are you to your cousins, Lucia?” he asked, coming a little farther inside the bathroom and leaning back against the counter, ignoring my question entirely.
“Odd question. Why?”
“I’m curious.”
“I don’t know. Not particularly, at least not in the last five years.” I wasn’t going to tell him that Luke had been keeping me in the loop with the goings-on of my family while I was at school. Besides, it wasn’t like he told me anything Salvatore would be interested in.
“So you didn’t talk to Luke once a month over the last five years?”
“Am I being interrogated?”
He folded his arms across his chest and studied me closely. “Do you need to be?”
“What are you talking about? Luke is my cousin, we talked, so what?”
“You didn’t talk to any other member of your family, not even your sister.”
“Christ, you were keeping tabs?”
“I was keeping an eye on my property, yes.”
“Oh, right, your property.” I glared at him. “You do know I’m a human being, right? That we typically aren’t referred to as property.”
“I don’t think there’s anything typical about our relationship.”
He stepped over to the tub, and I leaned back, covering my breasts. He didn’t touch me, though. Instead, he sat on the edge and dipped a hand in the water.
“You and Luke good friends? I saw the way he looked at you at the church.”
“He’s my cousin.”
“Not by blood.”
“What are you implying? What, are you jealous?” The moment I said it, I knew there was truth to the statement. I saw it in the slight shift of Salvatore’s eyes. In his momentary hesitation before answering.
“I want to be sure you realize you’re as good as a Benedetti now. Want to be sure your loyalties are where they belong.”
“Just because I was forced to sign that stupid contract doesn’t mean my loyalties suddenly shifted. I am not a Benedetti.”
He snorted, shaking his head. “Water’s cooling.” He rose to stand. He wiped his hand on a towel. “Get out of the tub,” he said, without looking at me.
“I’m not getting out with you here.”
“I want to have a look at what I own.” He said the words purposefully and unfolded one of the plush bath towels. He held it out before him but remained several feet away, so that I’d have to walk toward him to reach it, giving him a full view.
“What exactly is this? What do you want, Salvatore?”
“Just what I said. I want to see you. Naked.”
“You want a look at what you can’t have?” Flimsy words, and I knew it. He could take whatever he wanted. I just, for reasons that had no basis in reality, didn’t think he would. And I was determined not to give him this particular power over me. My heart pounded against my chest as I slowly rose, suds clinging to me as I stood. “You want to see?” I asked again, seeing how his eyes darkened as they raked over me before returning to mine. His attraction to me, mine to him, this cruel sort of push-pull between us, I would use it. I would be stronger than it, and I would use it. I climbed out onto the bath mat and stood before him. “Have a look, then. Get your fill,” I bit out.
