Yes, Ethan, what the fuck are you doing here?
“I have no idea.” I wanted to stop talking, but her green eyes were the perfect shade of kryptonite. “I shouldn’t be. You should tell me to go.”
She lifted an eyebrow and looked at me like she thought I might be losing my mind. Which, I obviously was. “Why’s that?”
“You saw me kill a man yesterday.”
She considered the statement. “I didn’t see that. I had my head in your lap.”
“You know what I mean.”
She took an even, slow breath. “What I saw were people doing what they have to, to survive. I’m sure that guy needed the money the poaching was going to bring in, and I’m surehe knew the risks. What would have happened if you hadn’t done what Gio asked?”
“That man would have suffered. Gio would have thought I was soft.”
She tucked a lock of her rich chocolate-colored hair behind an ear, her face determined. “You did what you had to. Believe me, I understand that.”
When she fell silent, foreign anxiety needled up my spine. I didn’t want her to understand anything about me. I needed to keep my distance. That surely would have been easier to do if I hadn’t broken into her fucking room.
“What was it the other night when I invited you in?” she asked. “What changed your mind so suddenly?”
My gaze drifted down to the floor. Lies usually rolled off my tongue easily, but they wouldn’t come now. I liked being prepared, but I never thought this situation would present itself. My silence seemed to keep her talking.
“Because,” she continued, “if you’re worried I was looking for something more than that, I wasn’t. I’m not the relationship type.”
“No, it wasn’t that.” The person inside me was tired of never getting what he wanted. So tired of losing. “I told you, you’re a distraction. I spent the entire sixteen-hour flight here trying not to think about you... and failing.”
I needed to stop talking before anything worse came out.
She jolted with surprise. “What?”
“Getting involved with you, even just sex, puts a lot of lives in danger.”
She didn’t retreat when I made my approach. I was only a foot away, and she strained her long neck to look up at me, a confused expression creasing her face. “If that’s true, again, why are you here?”
“Because it doesn’t matter now. Your life is already in danger, and I’m...”Always in danger? Worthless?“. . . used to it. And tomorrow we’re going back to Rome.”
I’d gotten too close to her, too close to resist what I wanted any longer.
“You’re going to have to forgive me for the other night.”
Olivia’s eyes narrowed. “Why’s that?”
“Because you and I have unfinished business.” I threaded my hands through her hair, pulling her up into my kiss.
11
ETHAN
Olivia didn’t moveunder my lips. That was my fault. I’d moved too fast and hadn’t given her much warning. Most of the time, I commanded absolute control over myself, but the woman before me obliterated it.
Her hair was soft and her mouth softer as she allowed the kiss. I parted her lips with my tongue, venturing deeper, possessing her.
Stop what you’re doing, my mind ordered, but I disobeyed.
I shifted her head in my hands, tilting it back so I could better control the kiss. Her palms flattened against my chest, and she sighed like she was surrendering. It was so fucking sexy, heat pumped through my veins and steam filled my body.
Her hands fisted my sweater. Drawing me closer, fighting for dominance. I abandoned her lips and focused on the spot on her neck just below her ear.
