Chapter 12 DAN
DAN
She closes her eyes, breathing in the crackling air between us.
“Say the word, fiore mio. Just invite me in.” It takes all my strength to not touch her.
It would be so easy to move an inch closer, brush my lips against her and weaken her defences, but she’s waging an internal war only she can work through.
Maybe it’s the fact she’s still legally married, maybe it’s that she hates me, but I’d bet she wants me as much as I want her, only she’s too stubborn to admit it.
On an exhale she says, “I can’t.”
“Why?”
“If I let you in, I’ll have to kill you.” She pulls the door handle, pushes it open, and steps out into the rain. She turns back, meeting my gaze through the open car door. “Goodnight, Dan.”
A muscle in my jaw ticks, my chest deflating. “Goodnight, Rose”
She hugs her body in the rain as she rushes to the front door of her small semi-detached house on the outskirts of the city.
Was she so desperate to get away from me she forgot all about her umbrella and her case?
I reach into the footwell of her seat and grab her umbrella, then climb out of the car and open the back door, reaching for her case.
She’s still fumbling with her keys when I reach her door. A shiver wracks her bones, but the air isn’t cold.
“Here. Let me help you.” I take the key from her hand and slide it into the lock.
She opens the door and taps the keypad in the hall to kill the alarm. 0606.
I make a mental note of the number, save me from having to hack the system.
The date 06/06 somewhat familiar but I can’t think why.
“You forgot your things.” I slide the case into her hall, but my feet remain outside.
Reaching in, I place her umbrella on her console table, knocking a photograph of her with a boy.
My chest tightens as I stare at the photograph. “Is that your son?” I nod to the console table.
She stands in front of it, preventing me from looking. “Thank you for the ride.”
“Wait.” I reach into my pocket and pull out a business card. “This is my number. Put it in your phone and if you need me for anything, call me.”
She nods, takes the card and closes the door.
Rain beats down on my face as I jog back to the car. I turn on the heaters and call Dom because with a matter as sensitive as this, he’s the only person I trust.
“You made it, then? That wasn’t so bad, was it?” He chuckles on the other end of the phone.
“I’m glad to be back. Put it that way. Did you get the cameras set up?”
“Yeah. You want to log in?”
I set the car going and pull off the curb. She’ll be safe tonight. Magnus is still in Rome. “Change of plan. I’m coming back to the house.”
He chuckles again. “She wouldn’t let you in, would she?”
“No.” I tighten my jaw, grinding my back teeth.
“You’re losing your touch, brother.”
“She’s not the same person she was. She’s more wary now.
” The girl I knew was a hopeless romantic, wearing her heart on her sleeve.
One compliment and she was head over heels in love with me, like putty in my hands.
I have my work cut out if I’m ever gonna be close to her again.
And my smile ain’t gonna cut it anymore.
I turn off her estate. “Are you at the house or the cabin?”
“I’m coming to the house. I’ll meet you there.”
I pull the car into the garage next to Dom’s Range Rover.
Dom limps slightly as he climbs the stairs from the garage to the apartment on the first floor. He punches in the security code on the keypad and opens the steel door to my place. It’s probably overkill, but I like to keep my stuff secure.
I follow his limp into the kitchen and drop my holdall onto the floor. “Your leg still playing up?”
“I’ll live.” He slides a key across the worktop. “Her neighbour has a spare. Older lady lets herself in and looks after her cat while she’s at work.”
I nod. “Did she see you?”
“I hid in the wardrobe.” His lips lift in the corner.
“What were you doing in her bedroom?” My back muscles tense, annoyed that my brother’s been in her bedroom before me. But I want more than to scope out her home. I want her here in my bed.
Dom pats my shoulder. “You wanted me to put cameras up, didn’t you?”
I raise an eyebrow. “You put a camera in her bedroom?”
He grins as he grabs a beer and walks out of the kitchen. “You’re welcome.”
I open the fridge and collect a bottle of sparkling water, and follow Dom into the office. The familiar smells of polished wood and leather fills my nose, and I drop into the office chair with a creak.
Dom sits beside me in another chair and scoots close, taking over the mouse as the monitor comes alive. “There she is.”
I sit upright in the chair, leaning closer to the black-and-white screen, my jaw lax as Rose walks around her bedroom, opens a drawer and pulls out a t-shirt. My gaze flicks to Dom. “Have you been watching her?”
“Mate, you don’t think I have enough problems?” He stands and places a hand on my shoulder. “This one’s all yours.”
“Close the door on your way out.” I lean back in the swivel chair and clasp my fingers together over my abdomen, settling in for the show.
Her hairpins are the first thing to go and she shakes her hair out, letting it fall down her back. She runs her fingers through the long tresses as if massaging her scalp in the process, and I want to be there to do the same.
In my head, I’ve already wrapped her hair around my wrist and given it a tug to expose her neck where my lips trace every pulse and vein under her skin. My cock twitches at the thought and as she unbuttons her blouse, I click on the mouse to zoom in for a closeup.
The CCTV footage isn’t as clear as I’d like when zoomed in, but it’s clear enough to trace the outline of her heavy breasts with my cursor as her bra falls away. She bounces on the mattress, making her tits jiggle, and then she slides open a drawer at the side of her bed.
A groan leaves my lips when I see the vibrator slip out of a pouch and I unzip my trousers, reach into my boxers and curl my hand around my throbbing cock.
She takes off her knickers and places the toy between her legs, her back arching in pleasure as she plays with herself.
My tongue darts out to wet my lips. It’s been years since I’ve been intimate with her, but I remember it so vividly.
I lean back in the chair, the cold leather pressing into my spine.
But my body’s on fire. It always is when I think of her.
I groan out again as I fist my erection and remember the first time I stroked her pussy in that boat on the lake…
“I don’t want you to leave.” Her sweet angelic voice whispers under the canopy of trees, the sun peeking through the foliage, catching my eyes.
The rowboat laps gently on the lake. The Villa Borghese Gardens are beautiful this time of year, but the scenery is nothing compared to the woman in my arms.
I trace a finger down her rosy cheek and tuck a stray strand of brunette hair behind her ear. My lips press to her forehead and I pull her closer to me as we lie in the wooden boat, drifting closer to the other end of the lake, away from the tourists.
“I wish I didn’t have to go.” After this next tour, I’ll be back.
“Will you wait for me?” It’s wrong of me to ask this of her, but in the few months I’ve been here with my brother for a personal mission, I’ve fallen hard for this girl.
Tomorrow all hell’s gonna break loose, so it’s better if she thinks I’m going back on tour a little earlier than I actually am.
“I’ll wait as long as it takes until we can be together again.” Her fingernails tease the hair at the back of my head and scrape down my nape. “I think I’m—” She shakes her head. “No. I know I am.”
My cock stirs in my trousers, and I dip my head to catch her lips in mine. My tongue slips through her parted mouth and I’m lost in her, swirling my tongue around hers and licking up every unspoken word. I know what she’s trying to say, because I feel exactly the same.
This was not part of the plan. Dom told me we didn’t need to infiltrate the family. He said we could get the intelligence we needed by other means, but with limited time, I took matters into my own hands. I just never anticipated falling for the mission.
We break apart, coming up for air. “Dan,” she says on a breathy whisper. She looks into my eyes. “Ti amo.”
My heart stutters at her words. I search her eyes, wondering if she’ll still love me tomorrow. “Ti amo fiore mio.”
Her eyes sparkle as she sucks in a breath, her own heart skipping a beat next to mine as we hold each other in the boat. I deepen the kiss, needing more of my flower. She’s like a fresh bloom, unpicked and untainted, as if she’s waited for me and now she’s ripe for the taking.
Holding her tight against me, her large breasts squash against my chest, almost spilling out of the yellow sundress with dainty pink flowers.
My hand slides south, over the bumps and creases under the cotton fabric, until I reach her behind and squeeze it beneath my palm, my pelvis grinding into her soft stomach, needing more friction against my throbbing cock.
She gasps, breaking the kiss, her body trembling in my arms. Gazing up at me through her dark lashes, her eyes sparkle under the flickers of sunlight twinkling through the foliage like flashes of light putting on a show just for us.
“Dan.” She gulps and looks down at my chest, her fingers playing with a button on my shirt.
I curl my finger under her chin and lift her face back to mine, her blue eyes innocent, her cheeks flushed, lips swollen from our kiss and so fucking beautiful my chest hurts. “What is it, Rose?”
“I want you to…” She hides her face in my neck. Her warm breath against my skin sends a surge of electricity straight to my groin.
“Say it. You don’t need to be shy with me,” I whisper against her head, stroking her long wavy brunette hair.
Her breath trembles. She fists my shirt as she trails her lips to my ear. “I want you to touch me.”