I didn’t care if he was angry.
I didn’t care if I’d let Brad think we had something when we clearly didn’t.
I didn’t care if I’d just fucked up.
All I cared about was getting a reaction from Lorenzo. I needed something to keep me going. Something to explain why he blew hot and cold. Something to make me understand this entire fucked-up situation. But more than that, I just wanted him to feel even a little of what he made me feel when he fucked that woman in front of me.
The closer we got to the mansion, though, the more I wondered if I’d made the wrong move. Lorenzo hadn’t said a single word—hadn’t acknowledged me. Maybe he didn’t care? Maybe seeing me with another man meant he didn’t have to worry about me at all. Maybe I’d played right into his hands.
Mateo slowed down as we neared the gates. I grabbed my backpack, ready to dart out of the car and away from Lorenzo. He hadn’t even pulled to a full stop when I pushed open the door. And as soon as my feet hit the stones on the driveway, I ran inside the mansion as fast as I could.
I was hyperaware of the crunching stones behind me, but no one said a single word. I’d just put on a show and gained no reaction. I wasn’t sure what was worse: me pretending to like Brad and kissing him or Lorenzo saying nothing about it. I’d fucked up. I’d tried to play a dirty game, and I’d failed.
Tears streamed down my face, unstoppable in their path of pain. I didn’t make a move to swipe them away as I took the stairs two at a time. My breaths turned to gasps, my body threatening to close in on itself.
I was only a few feet away from my bedroom. Once I was inside, I could let it all go. I could scream and shout. I could hate on the people inside this house. I could—
A hand grabbed my wrist, halting me outside of my door. Long fingers tensed around my soft skin, promising to leave a bruise from their force.
I turned, meeting Lorenzo’s gaze for the first time since I’d watched him fuck that woman in his office. But I wasn’t prepared for what I would see reflected in his eyes. I wanted anger, but that wasn’t what I got.
Staring back at me was a man who waged war inside his own head.
A man who di
dn’t know what to do or what to say.
A man whose eyes lit with a roaring fire.
CHAPTER 10
LORENZO
I stared at her, trying to keep all of my emotions buried far down, but it was impossible as her big brown eyes stared up at me.
“You know what I do when someone takes something that’s mine?” I asked, my voice rough. I was on the verge of losing my mind and tearing everything to pieces. She’d done that. She’d managed to make me feel like this with one single move.
“I…” Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “I…”
I stepped closer to her, pressing her back against the wall. Her backpack hit the floor with a clang, but neither of us acknowledged it. “I take something away from them,” I growled, bending my knees so our faces were level. I saw the recognition in her eyes. She was thinking about our wedding night—remembering what she’d seen. “He took what’s mine,” I gritted out, the words so low only she and I could hear them.
“I’m not yours,” she snapped back, her feisty side making an appearance. “I’ll never be yours.”
My lips quirked. “Wanna bet on that, baby?”
“Fuck. You.” She tried to push her body off the wall, but all she managed to do was press against me. Her breath caught as I thrust my hips against her, letting her know exactly what she was doing to me.
“Is that what you want?” I asked, lifting her arm I held in my vise-like grip and planting it above her head. “You want me to fuck you?”
A muscle in her jaw twitched, her anger making an appearance. Maybe I’d underestimated her.
“I hate you,” she whispered. “I fucking hate you.”
I shook my head, pushing even closer to her. Nearly every part of our bodies touched, and fuck if I didn’t like the way she fit perfectly against me. “No, you don’t.” I skimmed my nose up her cheek, taking in a lungful of her scent. “If you hated me, you wouldn’t have done what you did.”
“What did I do?” she asked, her words a mere breath.
I placed my other hand on her hip, exactly where the college boy had, only I gripped her harder, showing her the difference between people like him and people like me.