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“Stand back,” he said before the door crashed to the ground a few inches from my sneakers.
I poked my head inside the hole, surprised to find a metal ladder attached to the wall. “Who are you people? This is like something from a James Bond movie.”
Marcello chuckled. “My family is full of surprises.”
“I bet this house has tons of secret passages.”
He winked to confirm my assumption but offered no additional information. With his arm extended, he said, “After you.”
“No way! I don’t know what’s down there. There could be snakes and alligators… and I hate the dark.”
“Alex,” he said with an annoyed look. “It’s just stairs. Do you really think I would take you down here if I thought you would get hurt?”
Would he? The jury was still deliberating on that one. He had been nice over the past two weeks, but he was still a Salvatore.
He noticed my hesitation and jumped to his feet, brushing off his shorts and knees. “I’ll be a few rungs below you. If you fall, I will catch you.”
I glanced down at the ladder and cleared my throat. “Um… I don’t know about this. How deep does this tunnel go?”
He pointed his finger into the cave of wonders, and I couldn’t bring myself to look again, too freaked out about being buried alive in the dark.
“It’s only a twenty-foot drop,” he said like it was nothing, and I rolled my eyes at his use of the word only. “Then it’s about a two-minute walk to the beach.”
“And we have to do all of this in the dark?”
“It’s time to get over your fear,” he said with his hand on my back. He rubbed circles over my shoulder blade, giving me one of his tempting smirks. “How about we start now?”
I bit my lip to stop it from quivering, attempting to still my nerves. “I don’t know…”
Marcello pulled me into his arms. “You’re the most important woman in my life. I won’t let anyone hurt you, Alex.”
“Fine,” I agreed. “I’m trusting you, Marcello. That’s not something I often do.”
“I know.” He grabbed my hand and kissed the top of it. “You can trust me with your life. Now let’s go. The sun waits for no one.”
“What’s so special about seeing this place during sunrise.”
He hopped into the creepy hole, hanging over it with his feet on the steps, and grinned. “You’ll see.”
When Marcello was a quarter of the way down, he ordered me to conquer my fear. A wave of anxiety surged through my veins, and I wiped my sweaty palms down the front of my shorts.
How the hell did he talk me into this? Heights and dark spaces, my two favorite things.
“You got this, Alex,” Marcello said from below, his deep voice reminding me I wasn’t alone. “I’m right here, okay? Just take a few steps.”
Following the sound of Marcello’s voice, I moved down the ladder with caution. I felt like I was in a Lost episode, right after the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 found the underground bunker with the countdown timer. And as I made my way to the bottom, I thought about my life and how every moment with the Salvatores felt like a ticking clock. Like I was seconds away from losing myself.
Marcello hooked his arm around me before my feet hit the floor. He lifted me off the ladder and held me against his chest, a proud smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “You did good, princess. See, it’s all in your head. You can do anything you want if you put your mind to it.”
Why can’t Luca be more like you?
It pained me to think about how many years I wasted on a cruel tyrant when I could have had Marcello all along. Despite that, part of my heart belonged to Luca. I’d given him a piece of myself I would never get back. Luca was incapable of love, but with Marcello, I wondered if he had the capacity. Or was he using his charms and sex appeal to trick me? I never knew with the Salvatores because they always had a plan. They were always ten steps ahead of everyone.
“Thank you,” I sighed. “That was terrifying, but I’m glad you pushed me to do it.”
He moved his hands to my backside, pressing my chest against his. “The rest of the way is a piece of cake.”
As his delicious, manly scent washed over me, I thought about kissing him. I wanted to claim the Devil’s brother. My heart raced at an abnormally fast rate, thumping in my chest like a drum. I clutched his thick bicep to steady myself, still a little shaky from my nerves and the climb. He must have sensed my desire because he stepped back, his hands falling away from my body.
Marcello wanted me.
