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That he should have developed these cravings for a Ranieri made a mockery of his whole damned life. Maybe if he was a man like his father – the kind of man he’d made damned sure his father believed him to be – it would be easier to just enjoy the sex for what it was. Hell, the fact he was even enjoying sex and not going through the motions whilst praying to cum was something he should surely be celebrating.

Maybe some malevolent spirit had cast them both in its spell because this madness of lust had them both clasped tightly in its grip. For heaven’s sake, he should be readying himself for his mother’s call of freedom, not running his fingers through Elvira’s tangled hair when she turned into him and put her cheek on his chest.

For all his resolve, it had taken nothing to make him lose his mind this time, he thought bleakly. She’d stepped over to him, as desirable as any woman could ever be, put her hands on his chest, and the battle with himself had been lost before he’d even tried to fight it. His body reacted to her like a parched flower reacted to a shower of rain.

From her silence, he guessed Elvira was suffering similar thoughts and feelings to his, but it was a silence neither of them could fill. To try and make sense of the madness binding them so tightly could only spell disaster for one or both of them.

“Why didn’t you tell your brother where you were being held?” he asked into the starkly tense silence.

They couldn’t talk about what was happening between them, but they could talk about all the things that would remind them both of the impossibility of what they were sharing.

She lifted her head to look at him. There was a crease of confusion in her forehead. “What do you mean?”

“You know where we are. Not the exact location, but this is a small enough place for Elio to get his army searching. There’s enough hours left for him to find you and put together a rescue before the deadline.”

She held his stare for the longest time before blinking. “If you were worried about that, why let me talk to him?”

“It’s what we’d agreed. Without proof of your life, he had no incentive to set my mother free. When I made the deal with him, I thought you’d still be cuffed to the chair. I’d planned to gag you throughout the call.”

She moved her hand to his face, palmed his cheek and gave the faintest of smiles. “You certainly know how to treat a lady.”

He dove his fingers deeper into her hair. “Why didn’t you tell him, El?”

Her heart making a little hitch at his diminutive of her name; Elvira could no longer hold the smile. “Truthfully?” She could do nothing, either, to stop her voice from catching. “I’d forgotten I knew where we were.”

“How could you forget?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

And she didn’t. The thought of shouting out their location to her brother hadn’t even occurred to her.

She attempted another smile. “I guess I was too busy composing myself so I didn’t give away us becoming lovers.”

His eyebrows drew together. “Is that what we’ve become?”

“What else would you call it?” Before he could summon a response, she whispered, “Please don’t say fuck buddies. We both know we’re never going to be friends and that this is going nowhere, but please don’t belittle it or belittle me.”

His eyes ringing with an intensity she’d never seen before, he shook his head slowly. “I think it is better that we don’t give it a name.”

“You’re right.” She swallowed a swell of emotion pushing up from her heart. “But I want you to know I don’t normally behave like this.”

“I know.”

“How?”

“Now that I don’t know.”

Smiling tremulously, she put her cheek back on his chest and hooked an arm around his waist. “I’m not saying this in an attempt to make you think twice about shooting me if it all goes to hell tomorrow, but I’m not on the pill.”

After a long pause, he sucked in a long breath and muttered something incomprehensible under his breath. “I never thought to ask.”

“In the heat of the moment, neither of us has had the sense to say or ask anything. I just thought you should know, and know too, that if I make it out of this whole thing alive, I’ll go straight to a pharmacy and take care of it before there can be any conception, okay?”

There was another long pause. “Why aren’t you on the pill?”

“There’s no point. Why don’t you use condoms?”

“I do, normally.” Self-recrimination came into his voice. “But this, this whole scenario, is not normal.”