Page 80 of When She Tempts (The Fallen)
He’s worried about me.
Silence descends. When we take a turn into the property, I whisper, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“That much is obvious.”
“I’m trying to apologize.”
“I don’t need your apologies. I need your obedience, and for you to take your safety as seriously as I do.”
A huff escapes my mouth. “Giorgio, I got it, all right? I won’t leave the property from now on.”
“That’s not the only thing.”
Tires squealing, we pull into the yard of the castello and come to a stop. Giorgio turns off the ignition but doesn’t unlock the doors.
I have a feeling I know where this is going.
A beat passes. “I said it was a mistake,” he says, his voice dropping low. “You need to let it go.”
My eyes meet his. “Why should I, when I think you’re lying? Do you think I haven’t noticed how you touch me during class? How your hands linger, and how you stare at my lips? I might be young, but I’m not stupid, Giorgio. Your cold act… That’s all it is, isn’t it? An act.”
Something wild and barely contained dances in his eyes. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re embarrassing yourself, Martina. Do you really think I’d be attracted to you?”
The air in the car turns heavy, pressing against my lungs. Just a few days ago, those words would crush me, but I see past them now.
I reach into the depths of myself and pull from that newfound confidence.
Undoing my seat belt, I lean over the center console and bring my lips close to his ear. The scent of his spicy cologne washes over me, and his entire body tenses. “You don’t fool me, Giorgio,” I whisper, glancing down to see his hands curl into white-knuckled fists. “You can insult me all you want. It won’t change the fact that you want me.”
His breath hitches.
Slowly,slowly, he turns his head until his lips are a hair away from my cheek. His hot breath caresses my skin, fanning the fire licking inside of me. Anticipation wraps around my body, eager and impatient, every cell begging for him to claim my lips.
But he doesn’t.
Instead, his hand shoots up and wraps around my neck. He pulls me away from him, his palm a tight collar around my flesh.
Our eyes meet for a brief moment before he shoves me back into my seat. The darkness and desire I catch in his gaze sends shivers over my skin.
“Get the fuck out of this car, Martina.”
Some dormant survival instinct comes to life, and I decide maybe I’ve pushed him enough for today. Heart pounding, I reach for the door, but just before I open it, I cast one last glance at Giorgio.
Body tense, hands in fists, jaw as hard as granite.
And a bulge in his gray, Italian-wool slacks.
CHAPTER20
MARTINA
My dinner is a lonely affair.The table is set for one, and when Allegra comes in to serve me roast chicken with fingerling potatoes and grilled asparagus, she doesn’t chat the way she normally does. Instead, she shoots me a few apprehensive looks tinged with a hint of condemnation.
I lift my index finger to my lips and gnaw on a nail. By now, the entire household must know what happened earlier, and I’m getting the sense that going against Giorgio’s wishes is kind of a big deal.
What did he do to Polo? I stood by the window all afternoon trying to catch a glimpse of him returning, but it happened the moment I stepped away to use the bathroom. When I returned, his truck was there, but I didn’t see him.
“Stop eating yourself,bella. That’s not going to help anything now.”
