Page 37 of Righteous Enforcer

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Hard and fast and completely.

Just like before.

I give a curt nod. "Get some rest. We'll talk more tomorrow."

I need to get out of here before I do something else that I'll regret like pulling her back into my arms and pretending none of it ever happened.

I turn and head to my room, looking back only when I hear the click of her door closing.

That woman has the power to ruin me again.

I enter my room hating how the taste of her lingers on my lips, making me want to finish what I'd started.

Fuck.

I strip off my jacket, throwing it across a chair, then yank my gun from its holster and place it on the nightstand.

My hands are shaking.

Me, Adriano Dante, the man who's killed without blinking, tortured without remorse, shaking like some lovesick teenager.

The shower calls to me.

Maybe I can wash her away.

Hot water pounds against my skin.

I close my eyes, letting my head fall forward as my hands brace me against the tile wall.

Eva’s alive.

Not just alive, but here, under my roof.

Eva with my daughter.

I have a daughter.

Mirabella.

Three years.

Three fucking years I missed.

First steps.

First words.

Birthdays.

The anger returns, and it offers some solace. It’s an emotion I know well. I've built my life around it since Eva "died".

I allowed it to consume me, to reshape me into something harder, darker, crueler.

This is what I need to hold on to. I can’t let her get under my skin, into my heart.

But even as I think that, the memory of Eva's kiss breaks through. The softness of her lips, the little gasp she made when I pushed her against the door.

How perfectly she still fits against me, like she was made for my hands alone.

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