“Are you sure?”
“Please. I need you.” My words are heady.
His brows curve in, and his chest heaves as his hand glides over my sensitive clit, rubbing with the perfect amount of pressure.
“I’ve dreamed of you doing this.” The admission leaves my lips. I would be embarrassed, but I’m too engrossed in the feeling of his lips and hands and the way his fingertips are building a blinding orgasm in me with the simplest of touches.
He pushes my panties to the side and lets his fingers glide down my slick folds. My head falls back as he glides a finger inside my core, making me gasp. His thumb presses against my clit, and I jolt back to him, my eyes finding his determined ones as I pant at the intensity.
“If only you could see yourself in my arms. You’re breathtaking as you come apart on your own terms. Watching you like this makes it all worth it.”
“Jesse,” I cry out as the tension in my core builds. I grip his strong shoulders, needing support from the onslaught of pleasure rippling through my body.
Higher and higher, I climb, the feeling intensifying when he kisses me, holding me with his mouth and coaxing my arousal.
I breathe into his kisses, inhaling his sweet words of how amazing I am. How beautiful he’s always found me. At least, that’s what I think I hear because I’m in another world. One where a gorgeous man is bringing absolute pleasure to my body. My orgasm rushes through me like a bolt of lightning. I call out his name again and clasp on to him so hard that my nails dig into his skin through his shirt.
The feeling is so powerful, and I see light … everywhere.
It’s real. Almost too real.
“Fuck,” Jesse says, removing himself from me and running to the window.
I have to get my bearings as I come down from my orgasm. I blink rapidly as I adjust my vision to confirm if what I’m seeing is really what I’m seeing.
There’s a car outside with the headlights shooting into the house.
“Get down,” Jesse says, pulling me off the counter and onto the floor.
I’m a panting mess, and I’m not too sure if it’s because I’m frightened again or because I just had a blinding orgasm.
“Amelia, you have to listen to me and do as I say.”
For the second time tonight, I fear for my life. “You’re scaring me.”
“Don’t be. Everything is okay. You’re safe, but I need you to leave. Right now. There’s a back door. Run outside and hide in the bushes until I’m gone. You have to promise me to hide and not be seen. Once the car leaves, you get on the road and walk. You’ll know where you are. You can make it to your parents’ house. Stay on the main road but in the shadows of the trees. Do not go back to Villa Russo.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Please, baby. Trust me.”
His eyes plead with me, and I have no reason to fight him. Especially when we hear someone shaking the knob on the front door.
Jesse kisses my forehead and pushes me toward the hallway. With one last glance at him, I follow the hall to the back of the house and let myself outside. I don’t know where I am, but I trust him with my life.
The thick, unmanicured shrubs on the back of the house are wide enough to conceal me. I kneel down and hover in between them, staring at the stars in the sky and wondering why in the world I had to leave.
Jesse and the mystery intruder are inside for a while. My heart beats so wildly in my chest that I can feel it in my temples, banging like a fierce drum. My palms are sweaty, and I wipe my head and try to think of what the hell is happening inside.
I want to run, but he said to wait. I’m antsy. Despite being outdoors, I feel trapped in the bushes, and what I’m doing here is all so damn confusing. The feeling is too much, so I crawl under the bushes and toward the side of the house, where I can see the road. He’s right; I know where I am. I’m still on the hill, close to the harbor, and only blocks from my parents’ house.
There’s a black car in front of the house with the lights on.
It’s getting cool, and I shiver in the night air. I hear the front door slam shut. Two men exit the house. From the silhouette, I know which one is Jesse. The other man is a stranger to me. No one in my life is as tall and thin as him.
More words are said between the men as they walk to the car, but I can’t understand them. The conversation is brief before they get in the vehicle and drive away.
Something about the stranger’s arrival leaves an unsettling feeling in my stomach. A moment ago, I felt sure in Jesse’s arms. Now, I have the distinct feeling of wrongdoing.
I wait until they’re well out of sight before getting out and walking toward my parents’ home. In the shadows of the trees, I walk briskly.
With each step, I think about everything that happened tonight.
I was frightened.
I was amazed.
I was protected.
I was lied to—I’m now sure of it.
Jesse Grant knows more than he claimed he did, and he’s keeping it from me. He broke a promise, not twenty minutes after making it. The feeling is quickly morphing from confusion to annoyance to anger.
I continue to walk, constantly looking back. The entire time, I wonder if Jesse is pretending to be someone he’s not.
Chapter Four
“Where are you going?” Gia asks when she sees me sliding my heels on.
“Work.” I fasten the strap while seated on my bed. Correction: my childhood bed. I haven’t slept here in years, and yet I have found myself in this room for the past three nights.
“Dad asked for you to stay here.” Gia
