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It's the moment that I begin to fall for him.
He hums in my ear as we move, a song just for me. One song fades into the next until we're dancing under a sky that looks to be now glittering with diamonds.
"What do you want most in life?" he asks me quietly as the last note of a song fades away. He's still holding me close, but now he's turned the full weight of his impenetrable gaze upon my face, looking at me as if the answer is a matter of life and death.
It reminds me of an identical question that was asked by a very different man, many years before.
"To move on," I whisper back, giving no further explanation.
There's a flash in his eyes that looks like relief, as if my vague, innocuous answer was the one he had been hoping for. He nods once…
And then his lips are on mine.
His kiss is as dominating as I would have predicted, meant to own me and wipe out any other kiss that came before him. His hands travel slowly up my back while his lips devour mine. His kiss is rough and causes an ache to spread inside of me. He entwines his hands into my hair, moving me exactly where he wants. I tremble in his touch, wanting it to never end. He pulls back from me and tenderly strokes my hair, a move that throws me off once again because it seems so out of place with the aggression that I just experienced.
"We're back," he says, and his voice is much gruffer than usual. Is it possible that the kiss meant something to him like it did me?
I look around dazed, amazed that we got back to the dock without me even noticing. He grabs my hand and helps me off the yacht. Looking behind me, my heart is already yearning to return to it. For a few hours I was able to forget. I was able to live in the moment without mourning the past.
I experience a myriad of emotions as we drive back towards the City. Landon is busy quietly discussing things with one of the suits, which leaves my mind plenty of time to wander. I go back and forth between crushing guilt and intense determination the whole time.
Is it possible to still overwhelmingly love James while also letting Landon in? Is it a betrayal to all my relationship was with James to start something with Landon?
I'm torn and by the time we get back to the City, I'm a wreck.
Landon is finished with his conversation and is now watching me, the air getting heavier as he descends into some kind of unreadable mood. We pull up in front of the deli, and he steps out of the car, straightening his suit before helping me out as well.
He takes my hand in a tight grip and walks me to the door of the deli. I open my mouth to speak, but he cuts me off by grasping my chin in a firm grip, his thumb trailing over my pulse which is fluttering in a mixture of fear and desire.
"You will not run away from me. You are mine now. Do you understand?" he says in a menacing voice that sends my fear and desire spiraling out of control.
His grip tightens on my neck and I'm well aware that he could crush my windpipe in a second. Somehow the danger flips a switch in me and I melt against him. I have no idea who I am right now. I don't understand how Landon has this effect on me.
He makes me look him in the eyes. "Do you understand?" he repeats, and I nod like I'm a puppet and he's my master.
He lets me go and pulls me in for another kiss that lights a fire across my body.
"I'll see you tomorrow," he says, looking at me as if he's memorizing my face.
"I have to help Clara," I say quickly before he railroads that part of my life as well. Helping Clara is a non-negotiable for me. I owe her everything after she took me off the streets.
His face softens.
"I understand, baby," he says, stroking my face with his thumb. "Go inside now so I know you're safe."
"Safe from what?" I ask naively.
"From me," he says right before I close the door of the deli behind me.
I don't sleep a wink that night.
Landon Torrio
I would have thought that it all was a dream if there hadn't been five dozen red roses waiting for me the next morning. Clara oohed and aahed, the romantic in her overcome with delight.
"You're keeping him," she announces, and spends the whole day telling our customers how "her Juliet" has a new beau.
He comes for me again at around the same time as the night before. Tonight he tells me that we're going to see a film. Clara hadn't gotten the chance to take me to one yet, and I was full to bursting with excitement as I walked into the theater, Landon charmingly holding my hand. Tonight's feature was "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."
