Page 28 of Read This Before the Villain falls in Love with You

Sofia smiles warmly from the end of the table. "I love her. Nobody else can keep Luca looking at them like this."

"I'm just having dinner, Sofia." Luca shoots a dry look toward his younger sister.

Sofia rests her chin in both hands, giggling softly. "Usually you look like you want to kill everyone in the room. Tonight you look like you're waiting for her to yell at you again."

Dinner rolls on, and I keep working the room. Matteo tries three more times to defend his terrible kidnapping attempt, and I shoot down every single excuse with cold, simple logic until he looks like a scolded kid. Enzo makes stupid gagging sounds every time Matteo loses another round. Nonna acts like she is totally deaf to our arguing, but she drops two extra warm rolls onto my plate anyway. I keep my eyes moving, checking pockets, jacket folds, and the sideboard for wherever they hid my phone. By the time we finish the veal, even Adrian has loosened his shoulders by a fraction, and their guard is completely down.

When Enzo and Matteo begin clearing the platters under Nonna's sharp supervision, Luca stands and gestures toward the quiet arched corridor. "Step outside with me."

I follow him out without hesitating. Refusing looks like weakness, and giving him leverage is the last thing I need when I'm still hunting for my phone and an unlocked door. He takes long strides down the corridor away from the dining noise, the stone walls radiating the warm garlic scent from the kitchen. Halfway down the hall, he stops under an arched sconce, sleeves rolled up to the elbows to show the dark, tangled ink wrapping his forearms, and turns around.

"You had a lot of fun tearing them apart in there," he murmurs, stepping into my path.

"I like putting fools in their place," I counter, crossing my arms over my chest. "Your guys made a huge mistake grabbing me."

He closes the gap, standing right over me until I have to tilt my chin up. "You shut Matteo up in five minutes and had Enzo dying laughing. I can't tell if you're good for us or dangerous."

I challenge him, chin high as my pulse speeds up. "Why can't I be both? You brought me here. Now you have to listen to me."

"I caught every word," Luca whispers, his gaze dropping straight down to my lips.

He closes the distance until his chest nearly brushes mine. His palm comes up, broad and warm against the side of my neck, his thumb pressing into the hollow beneath my jaw where my pulse jumps against his skin. He doesn't squeeze. He just holds me there, fingers splayed, feeling every rapid beat.

"This is a terrible idea," I whisper, my breath catching as his warm fingers press against my skin.

"I know," he admits, his thumb stroking slowly over the flutter in my neck. "Tell me to stop, Nora. Just say it."

I do not. I tip my chin up instead, giving him more access like an idiot with excellent taste. His other hand finds my hip and pins me lightly to the wall. The stone is cool through my borrowed dress. His body heat is not. He leans in until his mouth hovers a breath from mine, close enough that I taste the wine he barely drank.

"Nora," he rumbles, the sound low, strained against the quiet of the hall.

"If you touch me, Moretti," I breathe, meeting his dark eyes, "I'll hit you right in front of your grandmother."

He huffs a sound that might be a laugh if he ever fully allowed one. His thumb presses a fraction harder against my pulse, a silent command to stay still, and the heat that rips through me is unfair and immediate. My fingers curl into his shirt. I pull him the last inch.

Our mouths almost meet. Almost. The air goes electric. I feel the shape of the kiss before it lands, the heat of his breath skimming my lips, the hard line of his chest pinning mine against the stone wall. My body arches upward, leaning straight into the heavy grip on my throat until his mouth brushes the edge of mine.

A door slams open down the hall.

"Boss, we have a problem," Adrian calls out, his boots loud on the stone floor.

Luca freezes instantly. His fingers linger against my skin for one rigid second before falling away. He turns his head without fully stepping back. "Report."

"Bellini's right-hand man was found dead by the south gate," Adrian states, his jaw tight. "Throat cut open. Left a note stuck to his chest with your name on it."

The hallway goes cold. Luca's entire posture shifts into something lethal and absolute. He looks at me once, eyes still dark from what we almost did, then at Adrian.

"Take me there," Luca commands, his voice dropping into cold authority.

He walks away without another word. The almost-kiss hangs unfinished in the air like smoke. I stay against the wall, pulse hammering under the ghost of his thumb, and listen to the war arrive.

Chapter 10

NORA

My skin still burned from Luca's mouth hovering inches from mine in the corridor. That near-miss, paired with the news of another throat slit in town, made the estate walls feel like they were closing in. I walked fast down the corridor, avoiding guards with automatic rifles who watched my feet like target practice. I slipped past heavy oak doors and pushed straight into the back conservatory at the far end of the garden. The air inside was warm and thick with the scent of damp soil and blooming lemon trees, a quiet corner where nobody could hear my racing pulse.

Enzo was already there. He stood near a long metal table covered in potted citrus trees, sleeves rolled up, scowling at a pruning knife like it had insulted his mother. He snapped his head up the second the latch clicked behind me.