Page 3
His hand drops, trails down my throat, and lingers on my breasts as it dances over my bra before sweeping lower to my hips.
Everywhere his hand grazes, my skin prickles with desire. Mortified, I stagger away from him.
At his soft chuckle, my hands curl into fists by my side.
He comes closer. “You’re no child.”
The statement cuts deep, almost like he etched the words onto my skin.
“She is!” my mom shrieks. “She’s just a baby. Please don’t hurt her. Don’t wreck her. Take me, take him, just…” Her words snap and splinter.
I want to swivel around, insist I’m fine, and tell her to please stop begging, but my body’s locked up, as if my feet grew roots. The words strangle in my throat.
He unleashes that gritty laugh again, the one devoid of warmth. While his hand is no longer on me, I feel everywhere his eyes touch. Tingles race up and down my legs. I’m painfully aware of how exposed I am…no top, flimsy underwear, bare torso and legs. My arms instinctively cross over my chest, but he’s already seen everything. I pray he can’t also see the flush creeping down my neck or the way my breathing’s gone shallow.
“You’re not scared.” His eyes darken, as if he can see inside my head.
I want to lie, to scream that he’s indeed horrifying, to sob while insisting I fear for my life in his presence. Instead, my face burns. And the dampness between my thighs? That’s not terror. That’s the devil tapping a rhythm on my spine. That’s my body betraying everything I thought I knew about good and evil.
I bite my lip again.
Enzo cocks his head and drops his gaze to my mouth.
What’s he planning to do to me?
My brain goes wild with fantasies of him grabbing me, spinning me, pressing me down on the hood…his tongue on my neck and those hands on my ass. Terrifying and thrilling and…nope. Nope, nope, nope.
He narrows his eyes. “What are you thinking about?”
Crap. “Nothing.” My jaw locks as I wrench out the fib.
He raises an eyebrow and reaches out, his fingers tracing a lazy line across my lower lip. “I know something’s on your mind. Now’s a good time to stop pretending. You’ve been a good girl your whole life, huh? Daddy’s princess, with the books and the babysitter curfew. But this?” His slow, merciless gaze strips the pretense from me piece by piece.
My thighs clench again, and my mind spirals from the shock of what I feel.
His lips brush my ear. “If you want it, close your eyes.”
God help me…
Breath ragged, I obey him, trembling as the darkness rushes in. My nerves are on fire, but not from terror. Not entirely. I want his hands and maybe more all over me. I shut my eyes and brace myself, but then…nothing.
With the heat of his presence suddenly missing, cold floods through me.
I open my eyes, squinting into the blinding headlights. His car rips away in reverse, the taillights soon swallowed by the dark.
Just like that…he’s gone.
Air rushes out of my chest, leaving me lightheaded and hollow.
I spin back around on shaky legs. “Mama…”
She’s on me in a flash, her dark waves loose and tangled from sleep, her mascara streaked beneath swollen eyes. Her hands roam over me like she needs proof I’m still whole.
“You’re half naked.” She shakes as she reaches for me. “Oh my god, baby. Your skin’s freezing.”
Behind her, my silk pajama-clad father stands rigid, with his jaw clenched and every salt-and-pepper hair combed into place despite our ordeal.
Dad’s voice cuts through. “Did he find the papers?”
