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And suddenly I was terrified of who I was becoming. The girl I had been just a week ago would never have gotten involved in Toby’s sordid scam. Would never have gone down this path towards darkness.
“I need to leave, Marco,” I whispered. “I can’t stay here.”
“No,” he said.
“I promise I will never tell any of this to anyone. I swear it.”
He cupped my jaw in his hands, stroked my cheeks tenderly with his thumb. “You think that is what I fear?”
I swallowed hard. “I don’t know.”
He leaned his forehead against mine, closed his eyes. “When I saw Landry strangling you, and you so still on the floor, I thought I had lost you, amore.”
My breath caught. I didn’t know what to say.
He opened his eyes and looked deep into mine. “Don’t you understand? I cannot let you leave. I’m not ready to lose you.”
Chapter 25
BETH
“Will you stay?” he asked me. His body was tense, as if he thought I might say no.
I looked into those dark eyes of his, so black they were impenetrable. And yet he had just bared his soul to me. Told me things I had no right to know. Things I knew he had never shared with anyone else.
I had thought he might have killed Dolly because I thought he was a killer. But he had only killed one person. Just one. To protect his family.
He had killed for love, not hate. Maybe he wanted to be a better man. Maybe we could be better people together.
My heart was ringing with the words he had said. That he wasn’t ready to lose me.
“Yes, I’ll stay,” I whispered.
Relief flooded his face. “Truly?”
His doubt made me laugh in sweet joy. That this man thought I had power over him. How strange.
He pulled me onto his lap and kissed me. Tenderly. His big hands cupped my face like I was precious. Then his kiss grew heated, deeper. And I became all too aware we were on my bed and I was almost naked.
His lips traced down my neck, towards my towel’s edge.
We spent the next hour in bed, and after that Marco insisted I stay there to rest after yesterday’s ordeal, and to my delight, he stayed with me for much of the time.
The next morning, his passion still had not run dry. I had to laugh and push him away. “But your mom likes us to be on time for breakfast,” I reminded him.
“Damn that,” he growled, tugging me on to his lap again.
“No Marco, really. I don’t want to upset her. And I’ve only just showered!”
He groaned in frustration, but let me go. Watched as I walked to the dresser to dry my hair.
“Out.” I told him, looking meaningfully at the door that adjoined his bedroom.
“But I would so like to watch you get dressed.”
I was too shy for it. Not ready to fully let go of my own space.
I shook my head. “I’ll meet you in ten minutes outside. Can we go down together?”
