Shackled Hearts (Chained Hearts Duet 4)

“Would you grace me with a cuddle?” I ask, testing my boundaries.

Her head swings my way. “Are you joking?” she scoffs. “A cuddle? You?”

“That’s what I asked for, wasn’t it?”

“Then I can leave?”

I look to the clock and say, “In two hours. And I will never let anyone from my side of the tracks hire your brother again. Or take his money for gambling, and I will pay off his debts.”

“You can do that?” she asks, surprised.

“I can. But, Chanel, that won’t stop him. There is always a way with a seasoned gambler.”

“You will do this for a cuddle, no other weird touching?”

“I swear.” Then I hold out my arms, and she steps into them.

That’s her first mistake.

Stepping back into my arms.

I drop my nose to her hair and inhale her scent before I wrap my arms around her waist.

How I have missed my little vixen.

She has shackled my heart and ruined me beyond repair.

I try to fuck other women, look at other women, but none, and I mean none, compare to Chanel. And now that I can physically feel her and taste her again, there is no way she is ever escaping me.

Even if she is engaged, I will end that.

Have no doubt.

Chanel is not meant to be with anyone but me.

I know it, and she needs to realize it.

“This is weird,” she says into my chest, but her hands lift and wrap around my waist. She’s tense at first but soon relaxes into my chest, and I can feel her breathing grow slower as she calms.

“I’ve missed you, mia per sempre,” I say into her hair. She doesn’t respond, and I don’t expect her to. “Tell me something,” I ask, still holding her close.

“What?” she finally answers.

“Can he make you come like I do?”

She pulls away at my words, and I let her go.

Her face looks like I’ve slapped her.

“How dare you ask me that?” She scrunches up her nose in disgust as a knock comes on the door. I put my finger to my lips in a motion to be quiet. She nods before I walk over to the door and pull it open to find Piper on the other side.

“Did I hear a woman in here?”

“What do you want?” I ask, not allowing her through the door.

“I wanted to check in on you. You left early, and I have a feeling you only did that because you saw her today.”

“Who?”