Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
I appreciated the fact that he didn’t try to sell me on anything. His office required proof of funds to tour these kinds of properties, so once he had that, he assumed I was a serious buyer who could buy any of these houses in cash.
The property was only a few years old, so it had modern touches that other homes lacked, something else I liked. We stepped onto the back patio of the house and looked over the rest of the grounds. It was secured by a twelve-foot stone wall that completely surrounded the property, so while it was easy for someone to climb over with a ladder, it would be much harder to drive onto the property. Or for lots of people to drive onto the property and try to spray me with bullets.
“What do you think, baby?” I asked as I looked at her.
“Oh…I don’t know,” she said as she looked at the pool. “It’s really nice.”
I stared at the side of her face, her height a little higher than usual in her wedged heels. She was tall for a woman but still short-as-fuck to me. “Do you like it?”
“Well, of course I like it,” she said with a laugh. “It’s beautiful.”
“So you like it more than the other properties?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then could you tell me?”
She finally turned to look at me. “Look, this is your house and it’s a huge investment, and I don’t want to sway your opinion in any way—”
“I want to know what you think.”
“Why?”
“You really want to know why?” I asked as I stared her down. “Remember what I said—don’t ask questions if you can’t handle the answers.”
She stilled like I’d just threatened her. Looking away, she stared at the pool and then the trees for a while. And then she looked at me again and spoke, quiet as a whisper. “Why?”
“Because it’s gonna be your house too.”
She didn’t give a visible reaction, but there was a definite rigidness to her, as if every muscle in her body clenched tight. Her eyes dashed away for a brief second before they came back to me. Her throat shifted when she swallowed. Her eyes drifted away again. “Um, yeah… This is fast…really fast.”
“Fast is the only speed I know when it comes to you,” I said. “So, is this the house?”
It took her a second to come back to the conversation. “I don’t want you to buy something on the assumption that this is gonna work out, when my father doesn’t even know about us.”
“Do I strike you as the kind of man that needs someone’s permission?” I asked incredulously. “If he doesn’t like me, that’s too damn bad. I’m your man. He’ll get the fuck over it.”
“You don’t know him the way I know him.”
“And you don’t know me the way he knows me,” I snarled. “The only way this ends is if you walk away—and that’s a big if. Because there’s no way in hell I would ever let you go. I would hunt you down to the ends of the world and drag your ass back—over and over—until you finally gave up and stopped running.”
Now she looked at me differently, her eyes wide and her tanned skin suddenly pale. Her lips parted slightly, but not in the way they did when she wanted me to kiss her. More like she wanted to gasp, but there was no air in her lungs.
I’d scared her.
Fuck.
“Um…I, uh, need to go home.” She turned around and walked back into the house like she couldn’t get away from me quick enough. Like I might grab her and do something I couldn’t take back.
That fucking killed me, because I would never hurt her.
I followed behind her and out the front door, where the real estate agent waited.
He was on the phone. “Let me call you back in a few minutes.” He hung up. “So what did you think—”
“Wolfe has an emergency in Palermo,” she said in a rush. “Would you mind giving me a ride home? I live just down the road.”
Cristo, I’d fucked up bad.
I knew she’d turned to him because I wouldn’t have let her call anyone. He was her lifeline to get away from me.
He hesitated, his eyes shifting back and forth between Francesca and me.
“I’ll take the house,” I said. “Give them the asking price—all cash. But yes, I have a family emergency in Palermo, and I’d really appreciate it if you gave my woman a ride home.”
Once he realized everything was okay and he was getting the sale, he dropped his discomfort. “Of course, no problem,” he said quickly.
The breath of relief Francesca released was so loud I could hear it.
It was hard to let her go like this, but I knew I needed to do it.
I walked off and got into my Range Rover, smelling her perfume in the car. I started the souped-up engine then left the property, watching her watch me drive away in the rearview mirror.