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CHAPTER 11
His face darkened. His walk as he came down the hall towards her, became a statement in itself. He wasn't used to being spoken to like that, especially in front of his minions. And he didn’t like it that she was daring to do so now.
Alessandro flashed the guard a slicing look that had him abruptly letting go of her arm then melting away like ice under the burning summer sun.
“Now,” he said shortly, “would you like to tell me what that was all about?”
“No, I won’t,” Hailee replied, her face still tense with anger and disgust.
He wouldn't understand if she did try to explain how no man would ever touch her again without her permission. Not without her retaliating accordingly, anyway. She had learned that lesson the hard way, at Ryan Lewis's hands.
&
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His reply to what she just said was a short, hard, mocking laugh.“You’re really something else, you know that?” Alessandro said in scathing disbelief. “Your own sins are not allowed to linger long enough to place a single line of guilt or shame upon your lovely face! It’s no wonder you remain so stunningly beautiful when you can shed blame as easily as you do! It must be the perfect recipe for eternal youth!”“And what's your recipe, Alessandro?” Hailee countered, then went very still, realizing what she had just said. He was still too, silent, unbreathing, pumping the wretched Freudian slip for all it was worth.“For my beauty?” he prompted silkily after a while. Her nerve-ends went into panic mode, forcing her hands to move again in short, jerky
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“But your father doesn't like me.” She'd tried to make him understand.“I'm not what he wanted for you, Alessandro, and he lets me know it at every chance he gets!”“He teases you for your shyness, that's all. It’s your own paranoia that makes you see everything he does as malicious!” Alessandro was always so blind when it came to his father. Guido hadn’t been just malicious in his dealings with his son's unwanted wife, he had been downright destructive.“Okay, I’m listening,” Alessandro said gruffly now. “Let’s talk about it.” The command made her blink, simply because she had been so lost inside her thoughts about him that she had forgotten he was actually there.
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“No!” She was in shock. They were both… naked. Her nightdress was gone… His clothes, too… The crisp hair on his chest was rasping against her breasts, and one wonderfully muscular thigh was heavy across her own.“You want me, Hailee,” Alessandro insisted. “I can feel it. Your body wants me. Your subconscious wants me! Don't tell me no when I can see you burning with desire for me!”“I don’t… I don’t want this. And you said comfort,” Hailee reminded him whimperingly.“This is comfort, Hailee,” he declared. “The most exquisite comfort there is.”“But…”“No,” he gritted. “I need this too, piccola! We both do.” Then he cut off her protests with the hungry crush of his m
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