AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Could you fall in love with me?
Without meaning to, I opened my eyes and stared across the shadowed room, noting that the moonlight coming in the window looked brighter, so the corners looked darker. Sitting up, the blanket slid off me, and I walked across the room to the window.
Ty still hadn’t joined me, but I’d guessed at least a half-hour or so had passed since dinner. From what I could see, suggestions of rain clouds towered over the horizon, but the half-moon dominated the high and clear sky far above.
I shook my head. Every time I thought I got a clearer idea of who he could be, he came out of left field with something that mixed me up even more. And while I wanted to enjoy this time we had together, deep down, I couldn’t possibly kid myself that it could last.
At some point, Ty Michaelson would get sick of me and send me on my way.
Except – strangely enough – Ty didn’t seem to think he would. He seemed to want me around, well, forever.
And more than anything else, the idea that he was considering forever with me knotted cold fear right around my heart.
Right now, I was at his mercy and I didn’t know if I could play along theforeveraspect. While I’d chosen to submit to it today, I knew that wouldn’t sustain us. Lust would run hot between us, maybe even hotter over the coming weeks or even for a few years but then it would run out. That was the usual way of things in life, right?
In that way, oddly, I felt almost wiser and older than Ty. It seemed incumbent on me to protect him from himself and keep that small, tender corner of his heart from breaking.
At the same time, I didn’t regret sleeping with him. That sex had been so powerful and exciting, lighting a fire in me that made me look at my desires from a new scope. For once, my passion didn’t get me into trouble but had been sated by a man who saw it, understood it and stoked it higher.
I was so used to the world trying to crush and bleed it out of me when, finally, someone did the absolute opposite.
But also, what was I thinking? I couldn’t forget what Ty was, that his family wasn’t mine, that I couldn’t take guarantees from Mafiosi members, and I still needed answers about how this was all connected to my mother.
I needed to talk to Mickey Weiss.
I also needed to get some sleep. As I was about to finally go back to bed, movement caught my eye, and I stopped; squinting into the darkness.
Had I seen one of the guards or—
I stumbled backward, my breath sawing in and out of my chest.
Down on the grass, one of Ty’s guards had been sprawled out while masked men with guns moved past him. A scream built in my throat, and I whipped around, searching for a phone.
Only, I couldn’t call the police.
I needed—
“Ty,” I breathed and ran to the door before stopping and looking down at myself.
I was wearing nothing but panties, a tank top, and a hoodie. Stripping off the hoodie and tank top, I found a sports bra that I'd brought up earlier then yanked on a pair of baggy pants. I was about to grab a shirt when I heard a thud and let it drop from my hands.
Rushing to the top of the stairs, I began to make my way down them carefully – certain that Ty would be furious at me for notstaying put in his room but I had to make sure he knew what was going on.
Halfway down the stairs, the lights went out, and I sucked in a hard breath, grabbing the banister. The intruders had cut the power. Whatever they wanted, it definitely wasn’t good.
By the time I made it to the bottom of the stairs, my eyes had adjusted, and I thanked my Fioreno genes for my excellent night vision. Creeping down the hall, I was puzzled when I didn’t hear any voices or swearing coming out of Ty’s office.
Had his men spread out?
Half expecting Ty to loom up or clap me over the mouth from behind, I made it to his office and slipped inside. I let out a soft cry before I could stop myself.
“Ty.”
Racing across the room, I almost fell headlong over one of his men sprawled on the floor. Before I could chicken out, I grabbed Ty's hand and was reassured at the warmth there, though I had trouble finding a pulse. Still, I could feel warm breath when I held my fingers under his nose, even if it seemed shallow.
Turning in a circle, I saw the other men were similarly out cold. I frowned. How could they all be in this state at the same time? From what I could tell, there were no injuries, and there was no strange scent on the air.
Leaning back over Ty, I gently shook him and then slapped his cheeks before whispering his name in his ear over and over.
