Chapter 25
ALLEGRA
I watch in awe as he goes back to his reading, picking up his newspaper again as if nothing happened. As if he hadn't just turned my entire world upside down.
Dangerous. He's dangerous, not only to my body but to my heart as well.
I don't want to like him, because he represents everything I hate about this world. But why can't I bring myself to hate him?
Because he doesn't fit inside the box.
Enzo can be cruel and overbearing one moment but kind and gentle the next. There's a duality in him that makes little sense.
You want to figure him out.
No! I most certainly do not. I try to shove my inner voice out of the way. It's better if I stay detached. Even when he looks at me with those sexy eyes…
I shake my head, trying to dispel those thoughts. It won't do me any good to dwell on them.
Picking up the book, I focus on reading again. At some point, I doze off, because when I wake up, it's already dark outside.
I stretch a little, and a blanket falls from my body.
"Rise and shine, little tigress," Enzo greets me, moving a table full of food in front of my chair.
"For me?" I ask softly as I take in everything on the table. It's a feast worthy of a queen.
"Eat," he urges, but I'm already ahead of him, stuffing my mouth with hot buns. "Hey, easy, no one's taking it away from you," he tries to reassure me, but I'm past the stopping point now.
Not when his mother had made sure I got only the bare minimum to survive.
"Easy," his hand strokes my hair softly as he watches me eat with gusto.
"Thank you," I manage to say between bites. Now that the initial reaction is wearing off, I remember that time in Agrigento and how I'd been sick afterward. And it would be a pity to waste this food…
I slow down but still don't stop.
"Why are you smiling?" I frown as I catch him staring at me.
"I enjoy watching you eat," he answers, and for a moment I wonder if this was supposed to be for both of us. My eyes widen in fear—the prospect of having to share my food terrifies me.
He notices my reaction because he quickly amends that it's only for me.
My lips spread in a smile.
"You can have this. Only this." I reluctantly push the last bun toward him.
His eyebrows shoot up at my offering, but he doesn't refuse it. I continue eating, but I also watch him slowly bite into the bun, his mouth fitting around it.
I still, mouth agape, as I watch the eroticism of that small gesture. It reminds me of last night, the way he also feasted on…
"Careful," he says, his hand catching the bit of food falling from my mouth.
Well, if he wasn't disgusted by me before… he sure is now.
The next day, I try to find a good outfit for what Enzo has planned.
I'd woken up to a note next to me where he'd detailed what he had in mind for today—teaching me how to drive.
I'd told him some of the things I'd always wanted to do, but for all his sweet talk, I hadn't considered that he might indulge me.
Especially after I'd slammed the door to the room in his face the other night.
We might just be starting to get along, but I won't give in to him just because of that.
I find a pair of pants that seems acceptable and add a sweater on, since it's quite cold outside. When I feel ready, I leave the room, heading down to where Enzo is waiting for me at his car.
As I'm about to exit the house, I bump into Lucia, and my day immediately sours.
I try to ignore her as I pass by, but she grabs my hand, her mouth close to my ear.
"You're not the first one he's gotten off in that bed," she smirks, an insidious smile that makes me ill. Pushing me away, she leaves, her words still reeling in my head.
What is she talking about? How does she even know?
I walk absentmindedly to the front of the house where Enzo is already waiting for me.
I look up at him. He's wearing a pair of black jeans and a navy-blue knitted sweater.
Even in my muddled state, I can agree that Enzo has a dreamy physique.
His muscles are bulging even through the thick material of the sweater, his shoulders broad and tapering to a small waist. And then there are his thighs…
My gaze follows the natural contour of his body, and I swallow hard.
You're not the first one he's gotten off in that bed.
"Done staring?" The corner of his mouth pulls up, and he opens the door for me to get in the driver's seat.
I don't even reply, his mother's words playing in my mind on repeat.
What did she mean?
"Allegra!" Enzo's words finally register. He's frowning at me, and I try to shake off my doubts.
For once, I don't want to argue.
"Are you scared? It's not too hard…" he explains what I have to do, detailing every step. I will myself to focus, nodding along.
"Thank you," I add when he's finished, and he regales me with one of those wicked smiles of his.
Damn! Why is my heart going crazy?
I clear my throat, trying to seem unaffected. Ever since that night, I find myself having very dirty thoughts whenever I see him.
Okay, even when I'm alone, but they are more intense when he's next to me.
Before, I'd tried very hard to disregard his perfectly chiseled looks, or how a small dimple forms when he smiles, or even how his eyes seem to sparkle when he finds something amusing, the green of his irises becoming deeper, more striking.
Now? I can barely take my eyes off his hands, with the way his veins visibly protrude when he's flexing his muscles, the slight indentation making me clench my thighs together, the memory from before still fresh.
Those very hands had stroked and caressed me in places I'd had no idea could be touched like that.
And somehow he'd stoked a fire in me that threatens to become an inferno.
God!
I blink twice, aware he's been saying something this whole time and I've just been staring at his hands, thinking how it would feel to have his fingers inside of me again…
"Yes!" I blurt out, my eyes wide at the direction of my thoughts. Wanton, I'm becoming wanton. And the knowing smirk that appears on his face makes me suspect he knows exactly what I'd been thinking.
"And you grip it tightly, wrapping your hand around the head," he continues, and I just nod, lost again in his eyes.
"Let's see what you've got." That comes out of nowhere, and I look at him in surprise.
I scramble in my seat, putting on the seatbelt, and then I try to remember some of the things he'd been saying. Luckily, he lists his instructions again, and I follow.
My foot on the clutch, I put the car into first gear, watching in awe as it starts moving. I steer it toward the gates, and soon we're on the road.
"Gentle with the clutch," Enzo comments, his gaze focused on the road, "now shift into second."
I do what he says, and as I speed up, I even manage to put it in third gear.
"Wow!" I exclaim as I feel the adrenaline rushing through me.
"Easy, let's not get too overconfident," Enzo notes when my foot pushes a little too hard on the gas pedal.
"This is…" I trail off, words failing me. I feel tears accumulating in the corners of my eyes, overwhelmed by feelings of freedom.
"I know," Enzo quirks a smile, and I return it sheepishly before returning my gaze to the road.
Out of nowhere, though, something appears in my field of vision and I panic, hitting both the clutch and the brake at the same time.
It's so sudden, I don't know exactly what happens, but one moment we're going at full speed, and the next the car stops and I'm flung forward, the seatbelt the only thing keeping me from a full-on collision with the steering wheel.
"Fuck!" I hear Enzo exclaim, but my whole body is still in shock, barely moving.
"Little tigress? Allegra?" His words register in my brain, but it's like I can't reply. He gets out of his seat, coming around to open my door and undo my seatbelt. I'm trembling at this point, and he takes me in his arms, hugging me to his chest.
"Shh," he strokes my hair with one hand, the other arm wrapped tightly around my waist. "We're fine. Nothing happened." His voice is so soft, so gentle, and I peer at him through tear-streaked lashes, trying to get some words out.
"Don't speak," he whispers in my ear, followed by more words of assurance.
A minute passes, and I find the strength to fist the material of his sweater in my hands. Raising my head, I meet his eyes and see genuine worry in them.
He cares.
It might be just an act, and if that's so, then he's a brilliant actor.
But as I see the unmistakable affection in his gaze, I do the thing that comes most naturally to me—I push my lips to his for a kiss.
He's startled at first, but his lips mold to mine perfectly, his mouth opening over mine and deepening the kiss.
He's… comfort… and something more.