Page 90 of Alessio

Ginevra spun around fast, looking like an angry angel in her black lace, that ruby, white-gold necklace hanging low between her pert breasts covered just enough by the cups of the bra against her chest. At her sides, her hands balled into shaking fists.

But what hurt him the most?

The tears that formed in her eyes.

“You want to know what she asked me?” Ginevra asked.

Corrado swallowed hard. “I do. It upset you.”

“How much you two paid for me.”

What?

Corrado blinked. “I don’t … what?”

“Yeah,” she snapped, scoffing, too. “That’s what she asked, Corrado. How much did you and Alessio pay for me—hard enough for a woman to find one man that looks like that, let alone two? So, how much are they paying to fuck you tonight?”

“Ginny—”

“Is that what will happen every time I step out in public now? The first thing someone thinks when they see me with you two is oh, she’s a whore. Because that’s hard for me to swallow, okay. Before Andino shoved me in your lap, I was able to count my partners on one hand. And now, I’m fucking two men. So, forgive me if I need five seconds to breathe. All right?”

He blinked again.

Like an idiot.

“You let her comment bother you that much?”

Okay, that might have been the wrong thing to say. Or even, a little cold of him. Still, this bothered Corrado that the first thing Ginevra felt when someone thought to place judgement on her choices or relationship with him and Alessio was something bad.

That she was a whore.

Or the suggestion she was a slut.

None of which was true.

It pissed him off.

“That’s what it was?” he asked.

Ginevra stared back at him, unmoved. “Yes.”

“Just that.”

“It’s not just that, Corrado. Think about what it means.”

“To you,” he intoned, “what this means to you, Ginevra.”

“I don’t get what you’re trying to say here, but—”

“No, because you’re stuck in your goddamn feelings about what one person said to you about your private relationship that has fuck all to do with them.”

She stilled, her back straightening fast at his harsh tone.

Corrado didn’t back down.

He wouldn’t.

This needed to be clear.