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“Here…” she shuffled a few papers across the desk. “I’ve been around the bastard long enough to figure out his kind. If a woman is willing to open her legs to him, he’s on it like acagnain heat.” She smiled that wicked smile that had Darius like putty in her hands. “I don’t really think he’s in love with my sister. They met in Miami when she was down there over the summer with Paola.”
Darius held up a hand and stopped her. “Your sister was in Miami with Paola?”
Harmony rolled her eyes. “Yes, pay attention Darius.PapàTagliatti offered to have us go down there for the whole summer as a graduation gift since the three of us just got done with our master’s degrees. I stayed home, but they went, and she found him in a nightclub. The three of them have been inseparable ever since. When they had to go home, he followed. Paola told me the story of how he raped her the night before they left. She never told my sister about it; she was so scared and embarrassed. After she called me and told me, I begged her to tellPapàTagliatti. Took her a week to get the courage to tell him. And here we are.”
Darius sat back in his chair and folded his arms. His purple sweatpants and white T-shirt showing her his every curve. He enjoyed being comfortable in his own office, and she looked just as comfortable in his shirt.
“Then tell me,mia rosa, how am I going about this ‘all wrong’? And why didn’t you go with them?”
Harmony looked away from him. “I needed a job. Wanted to make money to help pay for my parents’ house in foreclosure. They lost a lot of money by constantly bailing my sister out of her stupid decisions and sending us both to college. So, I askedPapàTagliatti if there was anything I could do. I’ve been his bestcapoever since.”
Darius’s eyes grew wide, and this time, he didn’t have his glasses on to hide his expression from her.
“You…”
Harmony smiled. “Yes, me. I was the one who convinced him to put the hit out on Alessandro. I didn’t know you’d accidentally kidnap me in the process.”
Everything started to fall into place. She was already mixed up in this world. That’s why she was so willing to help him and wasn’t afraid when he nabbed her. She knew who he was the entire time.
“I know that look.” Her voice cut through his thoughts. “I didn’t know you were the one he hired that night in the bar. All he told me was he hired the best in the world to take care of the problem. I didn’t figure it out until you told me you were looking for Alessandro.”
His heart jumped from his chest to his stomach, up to his throat and back again. The thought crossed his mind that she may have used this to spy on him, use him. The experience they shared last night was enough to prove that theory false.
She reached out and placed her hand under his chin. No one else would have even been able to walk into the office, let alone touch him. It was a testament to prove just how much he trusted her. “I want himmorta,Darius. And I need your help.”
He grabbed her hand and moved it from under his chin to his lips, kissing the lusciously soft skin. Her golden rings set with diamonds and rubies glittered from the sunlight streaming in through the window. “Any other man would think you were using him with that admission,mia rosa.”
Harmony cast her eyes downward. “I’m sorry. I never wanted you to think that. I…I’m not…”
He saw her trying to keep the tears from escaping her eyes. He stood up, pulling her off the desk and into his arms. Every fiber of his being wanted to take whatever pain she was feeling away from her.
He didn’t know what to do except to just be there for her and let her feel whatever it was she was feeling.
“Let it out,mia rosa.”
“Everything’s happening so fast. One minute I’m back home keeping tabs on him and my sister. and the next I’m in your home having mind-blowing sex that I never thought I could feel.”
You and me both…
Darius gently lifted her chin up to face him. “Tell me.”
Harmony let out a rattled sigh. “All my life I’ve had horrible boyfriends, lovers, whatever. They only wanted one thing from me. I was seen as a trophy, a toy to play with. No one except my parents,PapàTagliatti, and Paola respected me. I’m sorry to dump all this on you. I know we’ve only been together one night but…I feel like you respect me. You understand me. Darius, you’re nothing like all those other guys. I don’t give a damn what you do, because I’m in that world that is my life now. This is gonna sound crazy but…” He could barely hear her when she whispered, “I want to live in our world with you.”
Her admission was a smack in the face. All night lying with her in his arms he had thought about the same thing. It didn’t matter that it had been one day, one night. There was a connection there he couldn’t explain. Whatever that connection was, he wasn’t going to break it. And he’d go to hell and back and do whatever it takes to keep her in his life as his permanent lover…and hopefully more.
The heat rose in his body, revealing itself in his dark eyes. As he looked into her blue pools, they ached for him to respond. He pressed his lips hard on hers, delving into her mouth. She melted in his arms, responding with her tongue and an urge that matched his own. He broke away from her, leaving her in a daze.
“You aremine, mia rosa.Andno onewill ever take you away from me.” He growled.
She smiled, teasing him. “And what would you do for me?”
Darius returned the smile. He didn’t know what possessed him to do it, but the sharp Bowie knife came sliding out of its holster and he held it in his hand. The wrapped leather and long stainless-steel blade felt like an extension of his own arm. He brandished it in front of her, the steel glittering from the sun. Her eyes glittered more than the knife itself. “Live for you. Die for you. Burn down the world for you and take anything stood in my way.” He leaned down close to her ear and whispered, “I’ll kill for you,mia rosa,and present their heart on a platter if it pleased you.”
She moaned against him, his words engaging her soul. “And what would you do for me?” he asked.
She grabbed the knife from him, licking the blade. “Words aren’t enough to show you, Darius. You’ll find out soon enough.”
He let out a throaty growl, almost snarling.
