“Why do I get the feeling you’re not telling me the truth?”
My upper body freezes.Because you’re Il Diavolo—the devil with the sixth sense.
“Because you don’t like not knowing and you want to believe there’s someone out there you can punish.”
His head bends forward and henuzzlesmy neck. I almost pass out from the sweetness of it.
“When did it happen?”
“Freshman year.”
There’s a shift in his breathing. Barely perceptible, but because my skin is pressed up against his, I feel it.
“That’s when it started, anyway. He didn’t stop until I was in twelfth grade and I broke his collarbone.”
A look of pride ghosts over his face. “How did you do that?”
“I took self-defense classes for two years,” I reply.
I’ve never told anyone about the ‘incident’ because I feel so ashamed, not only of the fact I let my uncle touch me and blackmail me for four years but because I did him serious physical harm. But Fiero’s reaction is making me feel proud of myself for the first time.
A few minutes pass before he speaks again.
“How did he get away with doing that for so long?”
I lift a finger and bite down on the nail. These questions are inching too close for comfort.
“He was a family friend,” I say.
I can almost hear him making mental notes so something propels me to make light of it. I don’t want any more blood on my hands—the two Irishmen were enough.
“He’s not anymore. I haven’t seen him since.”
My fingers walk across his chest to the dressing above the wound. “Doesn’t this hurt?”
He hisses in a breath like he’s only just remembered he took a bullet five nights ago.
“Yeah. Like a bitch.”
“H-how did you do it last night? That must have been really painful.”
Just the memory of him holding himself over me while he kissed me half to death makes me wince at the thought of the pain he must have been in.
His lips drag over my crown. “I didn’t notice it. I had other things going on if you hadn’t noticed.”
I smile to myself. I took his pain away, for a little while.
“We should get you some painkillers,” I say, adopting my official nurse voice.
Without using his hands, he somehow manages to roll me onto my back, straddles me with his thighs and catches a nipple between his teeth. The shock of it arches my spine.
He closes his lips over my breast, taking a deep suck before letting my nipple pop free, all taut, pink and glistening with excitement.
He looks up. “I can think of better ways to numb the pain.”
I bite my bottom lip as he crawls down the bed dragging his lips and teeth over my stomach and hips, until he pauses at the top of my thighs, a wicked look on his face.
“Spread your legs for me, Pfeiffer.”
