“Why did it happen?”
If she hadn’t figured it out by herself, I wouldn’t tell her. As long as she remained in her oblivious bubble, the better for us.
“Try to sleep. I’ll keep you safe.” I probably wouldn’t catch any sleep tonight anyway, not with Stella’s body so close to mine and my dick eager to claim her.
She pursed her lips. “Mauro, why—”
“Sleep,” I growled.
Stella settled against the pillow but kept her eyes open. I needed her to stop thinking about my fucking erection and why I’d gotten it.
“If the attackers get down here, they’re going to rape me, and torture and kill you.”
Tension shot through my body at her sudden topic change. The thought of anyone hurting Stella like that turned my stomach to stone. I wouldn’t allow anyone to touch her. I wrapped an arm around her. “No. They can’t get down here.”
But they had managed to shut off our entire security system. What if they hacked the panic room system as well? It was a closed system, but what did I know? Fuck.
“Do you think it’s the Russians?”
“It could be the Outfit.” It was telling that I wished it was them. They never touched women. Stella would be safe even if they got down here. Their boss, Cavallaro, had a strict policy regarding harming innocent women. Me, they’d dismember and kill, of course.
“It’s sad that yesterday wasn’t even my worst birthday.”
My hold on her tightened, knowing what she was referring to. Her dad had died a day before her sixth birthday. “You’ll get your present once we’re out here.”
“What did you get for me?”
“That’s a secret.”
She cast her eyes up and something in them went straight to my dick. Maybe it was the dim light, but desire and need reflected on her beautiful face. “If we never get out of here alive, I won’t get a birthday present from you.”
“We’re not going to die,” I said firmly.
“But we could.”
She inched closer, her breasts brushing my chest. What was she doing?
She lifted her face, her lips coming closer to mine. I needed to stop her, but I didn’t move a single muscle. “There’s one thing I’ve wanted to do for a long time…”
She took a deep breath and pressed a kiss to my mouth. Her eyes widened. Her lips were satin-soft and she smelled absolutely delicious. I lost it. My arm tightened around her and I pulled her against me, then really kissed her. My tongue plunged into her mouth, discovering her, tasting her, losing myself in the sensation. I slipped my hand under her T-shirt and stroked her back. She shivered, her eyes fluttering shut, her body completely motionless in my embrace. Her tongue met mine and she moaned into my mouth, an eager sound straight out of my dreams. My brain short-circuited. I rolled on top of her, settling between her thighs, feeling the heat of her center through our clothes. My dick twitched and I kissed her even harder, cupping her head.
I jerked back when I realized what I was doing.
She’d given me a shy, innocent kiss, and I’d taken it up another level. Fuck, I’d dragged her from the ground floor to the fucking top level of the Empire State Building with me.
Stella was innocent. I was supposed to protect her, not manhandle her when she was at my mercy.
Maybe it was cabin fever. I shoved myself off her and stood, trying to rearrange my dick so it was less obvious. As if that still mattered. I’d dry-humped her like a fucking dog. Turning my back on her, I took a few deep breaths. “I’m sorry,” I got out.
“Don’t go,” she whispered.
“There’s nowhere I could go.”
“I mean, come back.”
I slanted her a look. She was propped up on her forearm, her hair all over the place and her lips swollen from our kiss. Fuck, she looked absolutely irresistible. Better than in my fantasy.
“Stella—”
“I don’t want to stop kissing you.”
I blinked, not sure if this, too, was part of my overeager mind.
I stepped up to the bed and leaned over her, my arm braced beside her head. Narrowing my eyes, I said, “You know the rules. You know what it means to break them.”
“I don’t care.”
Neither did I. But I should. I damn well should.
She curled her hand around my neck, trying to pull me back down. I resisted. My eyes trailed down her body, lingering on my boxers, which looked fucking perfect on her. “If you knew what I’ve done to you in my fantasies…”
She took a deep breath, then licked her lips in the most tantalizing way possible. “What did you do?”
Nerves and excitement rang in her voice.
“I could show you,” I said. What the hell was I thinking? I wasn’t. That was the problem.
She gave a tiny nod. I still didn’t trust my eyes. I leaned down, claiming her lips again, and like last time, she kissed me back. I slid my palm up her thigh, needing to feel proof of her desire for me. Stella didn’t wear underwear beneath my shorts and my fingertips brushed her pussy lips.