AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You must have a spare key?” I asked, trying to squeeze my wrist out.
“These aren’t mine!” he shouted in irritation. “Cazzo. I don’t need this today.”
I sighed and dropped my head in my hands, causing his wrist to come with mine. When I looked up, he was staring out into the distance of his acres of land with a pensive expression. He grabbed his phone and made a call, telling someone in rapid Italian to cancel all his meetings today. When he hung up, he stood and lifted his wrist to force me to my feet.
“Where are we going?” I asked. I had no choice but to follow him through the house.
“My office. I have some emails to send.”
“Oh fun,” I mumbled, which he chose to ignore. When we got to the top floor, he opened a wooden door next to his bedroom and waltzed into a huge, stylish room. It was cream but the handful of art canvases on the walls brought so much colour and vibrancy to it. I stopped walking as I looked around, which caused him to pull on the handcuffs again and force me to move forwards. Just as we reached the side of his desk, I caught sight of the large canvas on the wall next to it and froze.
“Elle, this is going to be a long fucking day if I have to keep dragging you everywhere,” he huffed before turning back to see the shocked expression on my face. I was still staring at the painting that I hadn’t seen for over two years, scrutinising every detail to be sure and trying to comprehend how this was even possible.
“What is it?” he asked, looking at me and then to the painting.
“Where did you get this painting from?” I whispered, reaching my one free hand to touch the corner where there was a faint signature of my alias art name I used at uni; L.V.B.
“An art exhibition in France, a few years ago. Why? Do you know it?” he asked, looking a little baffled at my shocked face.
I burst out laughing, slamming my free hand over my mouth and shaking my head. “It’s mine.”
“What?”
“This painting is mine. How did you…”
“Wait. I don’t understand. It’s your painting? As in, you actually painted it?”
I turned to gaze up at him, completely astonished and nodded. His eyes were as wide as mine as he looked back at the painting again, his eyebrows pulling down into a deep frown.
“I created it for a project at uni and it won a spotlight feature in the French Student Art Exhibition. I was told afterwards that someone bought it. I can’t believe this. You bought it? Why?”
He ran his free hand down his face and released a disbelieving laugh. “I just liked it. It called out to me or something. Jesus fucking Christ. I can’t escape it.”
He tugged me around the side of his desk and my feet dragged against the carpet. I kept looking back over my shoulder at my painting on his wall. It was too fucking weird. How did things like this even happen?
He slumped down in his leather chair as I stood between his legs, our wrists hovering in the air between us.
“You can’t escape what?” I asked when my brain finally processed what he said. He gazed up at me with that look that would make any woman melt, before he aggressively yanked me towards him. He slid his free arm around my waist and forced me onto his lap. I gasped at the speed and strength he had used to make that happen as I stared into his alluring eyes.
“You. I can’t escape you, Elenora Buccini.”
“What do you mean?” I breathed, my heart drumming in my chest as those butterflies appeared once again and my core clenched.
“I have tried so fucking hard to forget you since that night we kissed. Two stupid, foolish kids. But something keeps pulling us together, no matter what,” he husked, lifting our cuffed hands so he could brush my lip with his thumb. “Why the fuck is that?”
“Some would call it fate,” I whispered. “But I don’t believe in fate.”
A sexy lopsided smile appeared on his face as his eyes roamed over my face and rested on my lips. “Neither do I.”
He inched closer, his nose brushing mine as our lips caressed softly and my eyes fluttered closed. At that moment, I would have let him do anything to me. I was completely consumed by him and the intimate moment we were immersed in. It even took me a few seconds to realise the office phone was ringing on his desk. He dropped his head to my chest. I giggled as he reached around my back and pressed the handsfree button.
“Pronto,” he mumbled into my boobs.
“A truck has arrived with Signorina Buccini’s items,” a male voice replied.
“Send them up. Get the soldiers out front to direct them.”
He hung up and I grabbed his strong shoulders in my hands, peering down into his eyes. “My items?”
