Page 114 of When She Tempts (The Fallen)
I don’t think I’m going to fall back asleep. Early morning light streams through a gap in the drawn curtains, and I let out a silent yawn before I flip to the other side and look upon Giorgio’s sleeping face.
Even when he sleeps, peace doesn’t reach him. The line between his brows is softer, but it’s still there, and there’s tension in his jaw.
I know what his dreams are made of.
Revenge.
He’s told me more about his mother during the quiet hours we’ve spent in bed. It’s obvious he loved her, but I can’t say I like her very much. I pity her for what she lived through, but at the same time, she seems cruel for making her son feel like a burden. What he must have felt like at ten to think he’s responsible for why his mama cried every night? Her pain was too much for her, and she made him bear it. That boy grew into a man who still believes he’s bad to his very core.
I let out a slow breath and carefully slip out of bed to use the restroom.
After I do my business and wash my hands, my gaze catches on my reflection in the large mirror.
My body’s changed over the past few weeks from all the working out I’ve been doing. I look stronger, my posture’s as good as it’s ever been. Giorgio and I have resumed our classes, even though we often get distracted and end class with our clothes scattered all over the gym’s floor.
When I return to the room, Giorgio is awake, and he beckons me to him. I climb over his legs and settle on his lap, but when I kiss him, he only gives me a peck.
“I have to leave for the day,” he says, his voice still hoarse with sleep.
“It’s so early. Where are you going?”
“Sal’s sending me to Milan to retrieve something for him.”
I wrap my fingers around the pendant at my neck. “Jewelry?”
“Yes. A lot of it.”
“Why does he want you to get it for him?”
Giorgio raises one muscular shoulder before letting it fall. “I’d bet he’s looking to sell it. His expenses have risen now that he’s preparing for a war, and his income has fallen off a cliff.”
Anxiety fans through me. “When are you leaving?”
He kisses me again and then gently lifts me off him. “Now. I’ll likely be back tomorrow.”
I watch him as he dresses—white shirt, navy slacks, and a pair of platinum cufflinks. He slips on his jacket and then puts on his watch.
The last piece of the ensemble is the gun he extracts from the dresser and slides inside his waistband.
And just like that, he goes from Gio to a man of the Casalesi.
In the darkness of this room, it’s been easy to forget who we are in the outside world, but it’s been a temporary reprieve. All of this will end, and I haven’t been able to bring myself to really consider what will happen then.
Gio turns to me, and I sit up on my knees on the edge of the bed. He pulls my mouth to his and gives me a thorough kiss. Heat floods my core, and I’m about to beg him to stay for a little longer when his phone rings.
He glances at it and swears under his breath. “I’ve got to go.”
“Please be careful.”
He meets my gaze and gives me a soft smile. “I will be,piccolina. Stay out of trouble while I’m gone.”
After he leaves, I can’t fall back asleep, so I laze around for an hour and then head down for breakfast early. I decide to start roasting some potatoes, so that when Tommaso gets in, we can make a goat cheese and sun-dried tomato frittata, and we can serve it with the potatoes and a leafy salad.
When I get to the kitchen, Polo’s already there.
“Up early?” I ask as I walk over to the espresso maker. I haven’t seen much of him since the incident in the dining room—the memory of which still makes me break out in a sweat—so I awkwardly avoid looking him in the eyes.
“Yes. It’s going to be a long day,” he says, taking a sip of his cappuccino. “I wanted to get a head start.”
