“Mio Dio, Rosa,” Gino sneered. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Rosa jerked in surprise. “I never thought you would. Why would you think that?”
Gino lifted his fists to his hips, a move that pulled the white business shirt he wore
beneath his suit jacket tight across his muscular chest. “Because you are fucking looking at me
warily and you stepped back.”
Rosa bit her bottom lip, not quite able to meet his gaze, and she closed her eyes when he
stepped even closer.
“Cara? Talk to me.” She felt him slide his hand beneath her jaw, gently tugging until her
face came up. “Come on, sweetness, open those eyes and tell me what’s going on in that
beautiful head of yours.”
She shook her head, refusing to open them, afraid that he would read more in them than
she was ready to reveal.
“Then I guess I’m going to have to make you.”
As she was processing that statement, Gino pressed his warm lips to hers. When she
gasped, inhaling sharply, her eyes flew open. She caught the lust in Gino’s gaze in that brief
moment before he cupped her face in his hand, tilting her head slightly, and then took the kiss to
another level. This time, her eyes slid closed as her body filled with sensations sparked by a man
who knew how to kiss. And Gino kissed like no one she’d ever kissed before.
He claimed her mouth for his own, simply devoured her, and there was nothing she could
do about it. Not that she wanted to. Gino demanded everything she had to give, and she gave it
willingly. When he finally pulled back, they were both breathing heavily, and she was
completely off the ground as he held her up against him. Her arms locked around his neck and
her legs wrapped intimately around his waist.
Gino leaned in to press his forehead against hers. “Can I take it from that, cara, that
perhaps I was mistaken and you aren’t afraid of me?”
Rosa smiled shyly, shaking her head. “No, Gino. Never.”
Gino’s smile was genuine and her heart stuttered at just how incredibly handsome he
was. “Good. I’m glad we have that cleared up. Now, tell me what happened tonight to scare
you.”
And just like that, all the warm fuzzy feelings that had heat pooling deep within her were
washed away by ice-cold reality. “Why do you think something happened?”
She winced at the tremble she heard in her own voice. Gino’s arched brow told her that
he had caught it, too.
“Cara, just tell me who those men were and what they said to you.”
Rosa sighed, lowering her legs and pushing against him until he lowered her gently to the
ground. “They were two men sent by my father.”
Gino frowned as he moved back to lean against the wall. “You’ve never mentioned your
father before. You’ve been pretty vague about your entire family, in fact.”
Rosa nodded, crossing her arms around her middle, suddenly feeling chilled. “I know. I
let you believe that I had no family, and to be fair, Gino, as far as I’m concerned, I don’t. You
once asked me if I’d worked for the Battaglias and I said yes. But that’s not entirely true.” Rosa
took a deep shaky breath as she prepared to tell him her greatest shame. “My father gave me to
Vincent Battaglia three years ago.”
