Chapter 78

VEDA

N o. No. No, no, no, no…

Chills skated across my skin despite the scalding hot water. Quickly, I started running the soapy washcloth over the rest of my body. “Oh, um. I was just about done. Give me just a sec and you can have the shower.” Stupid, stupid, stupid! I never should’ve stayed in here. I should’ve taken my chances in the hall bathroom. I should’ve locked the fucking door. Should I not be in here? Should I apologize? “I just…you’ve been so busy…and I just…” My words stuttered out. Because what he said next answered that question, and made me realize it wouldn’t have mattered where I’d chosen to shower.

“Why are you acting so weird? And since when do you know me as a man who prefers to shower alone? Although I’ve done it. Since you’ve been back, I’ve showered alone every fucking day. Slept alone. Trying to give you your space because I thought you might need a minute after living under my brother’s roof, and with my hours being weird and shit…” He didn’t finish his sentence. Instead, his hand landed on my hip and squeezed. “He fattened you up a bit for me. I like it. You’ve always been so fucking skinny.”

The words, spoken directly behind me, so close his breath raised goosebumps on the back of my neck, iced the blood running through my veins. And when he touched me, bile rose in my throat until I thought I would gag.

I didn’t say a word, but he went on talking, his soft palm running lazily up and down over my hip. So unlike the rough touch of Luca’s hands, calloused from work and exercise. “I’m sorry I’ve neglected you these last few days. I’ve been very busy after my brother’s…big reveal. But now that we’ve regrouped…” He made an appreciative noise, and I wondered how he could look at my naked body and not know the difference between me and my sister. A woman he was supposed to marry. “I’ll have more time for us to get reacquainted.”

“Yeah.” My voice was breathless. Shaky. I cleared my throat, turning my face to the side so he could hear me. “Yeah, I know. It’s okay. You don’t haveta worry about me.” No questions about what exactly I might have gone through as the prisoner of his brother. He’d never even asked me if I was okay. Just assumed I was mourning the absence of his dick this whole time. The Morelli men really needed a lesson in empathy.

I felt something poke my ass and barely resisted the urge to jump away. With our height difference, I knew exactly what it was, and could almost picture him standing behind me in my head, slightly shorter and stockier than his younger brother, the lines of his face a little deeper, eyes darker, hair a little grayer. But with the same nose. The same jaw. The same Mediterranean tone to his skin. His forearms were hairier than Luca’s, his beard darker and thicker when it grew in, and the part of my brain that had removed itself from everything that was happening wondered if he’d also have more hair on other parts of his body, and my mouth twisted in disgust before I could stop it. Thank god I was facing away from him.

A moment later, my assumption was proven correct when thick arms wrapped around my waist from behind and a warm body pressed against my wet, naked back, his hard dick nestled in the crack of my ass. Mario’s hands slid up my wet stomach to cup my breasts, squeezing them painfully before twisting my nipples between his fingers. The assault on my personal space was so sudden I stiffened automatically before remembering where I was and who exactly I was with. And what he could do to me if things went bad right at this moment. Closing my eyes, I forced myself to relax.

But my mind raced, trying to think of a way to get myself out of the shower pronto. I couldn’t think with his hands running over my body with such familiarity. His dick pushed against my ass as one hand stayed on my breast and the other dipped between my legs, his fingers rough as they worked their way between the tender folds. I stiffened, inhaling sharply. Tears filled my eyes as I frantically tried to think. Think, Veda! Dammit!

“Mmmm,” he moaned in my ear. “I’ve missed you, Nicole.”

I forced my mouth to open, to say the words. “I’ve missed you, too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” One of his fingers hit my clit, his long fingernail cutting into the tender skin. It hurt, and without thinking, I grabbed his arm and tried to pull his hand away, but it was like trying to move a steel bar.

“You don’t feel like you missed me,” he murmured as he added another finger, forcing them up inside of me even though I lifted up onto my toes at the invasion. “As a matter of fact, you’ve been acting kinda shitty ever since I brought you here. Do you not appreciate what I fucking did for you? Huh?” His fingers tightened, hooking inside my body, his other hand digging into the soft flesh of my breast, and I knew I was going to have bruises the next day. “Risking my own fucking life for you? Answer me,” he bit out, giving my entire body a small shake.

“Which part should I appreciate?” I asked. “The part where you shot me or the part where you got shot taking me back?”

He stilled behind me. “You know why I had to do what I did. You gave me no fucking choice, Nicole.” He heaved a dramatic sigh. “Baby, you put my life in danger by blabbing my name on national television.”

“I know,” I told him. Somehow I kept my voice calm, level. “And I do appreciate you taking me away from your psycho brother. I just…”

“What?” he asked, his hands tightening possessively on my body. “You what? You want him now?”

“No. No, that’s not what I was going to say.”

Moving us forward with sudden force, he slammed me up against the tiles beneath the shower head, his arms taking the brunt of the hit. I raised both hands and pressed my palms to the cold ceramic, turning my face to the side just in time to avoid a broken nose. “What the fuck were you going to say, then?” He pressed his hips into my ass.

“I’m just…just…”

“Just what?” he gritted out. “Scared? Sorry?”

“I’ve just been through a lot,” was my feeble explanation, but it was all I could think to say when the only thing I wanted to do was to get away from him.

“You fucked him, didn’t you,” he said slowly. “You fucked my own fratello.” The word was said like a curse.

“No!” I hurried to deny, hoping he wouldn’t hear the lie in my voice.. “No! That’s not what I said.” His rough hands still gripped my body, and I fought back a wince.

“You seem to be having a really hard time communicating today, Nicole.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m tired,” I told him. “I haven’t been sleeping well.”

His breath was hot on the back of my neck. “So explain yourself,” he ordered.

“Just…it was hard, ya know? Your brother fucking kidnapped me, Mario. I was traumatized.”

I felt him stiffen. “Did he hurt you?”

“Yes,” I answered honestly. “He tried to strangle me once when I pissed him off.” But that wasn’t the most painful memory. No. The pain I remembered was the way my heart had split into a million pieces as Luca fucked me over the sink in the restroom of the club. The same club where he’d planned to murder me.

“Maybe you deserved it. You know you have a sassy mouth.”

He wasn’t lying about my sister. She did have a mouth on her that got her into trouble more often than not, but she also denied it with her last breath. “I didn’t do anything. He was just in a bad mood.”

“Well, now I’m in a bad mood,” he told me. He suddenly released his hold on me, stepping back so fast I automatically tried to follow him, but I caught myself. “And you know what will make me feel better.” Grabbing the tops of my arms, he spun me around. My wide eyes landed on his for a brief second before I remembered and dropped them, focusing on the healing wound in his right shoulder where Luca had shot him. It gave me a primal sense of satisfaction to see it. They had matching scars now.

I couldn’t keep my real identity hidden forever. I knew that. But I’d really rather the big reveal didn’t happen when we were naked in the shower together. My gut told me I wouldn’t make it out of there the same woman I was when I’d entered, if I made it out at all.

But from the stillness of the man in front of me, I feared it was too late.

“Look at me,” he ordered.