Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 93425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Our original plan was for us to stay at the hotel for the night, but Emma had decided she wanted to come home. I couldn’t blame her. She spent the entire night surrounded by the major players in the illegal weapons trade, drug trade, and other markets not filled in the traditional sense. These are the kinds of men who exploit weaknesses in our capitalistic society. They smuggle anything into the country if it will turn a profit. Hell, eggs have become a hot commodity because of the regulations put in place by the government, limiting the traditional supply chains.
Never did I suspect I would hear about a war between families over ranchers in Mexico. It’s been a strange year.
Being in the room with people like that is sure to have the hairs standing up on the back of her neck. Her instincts were telling her to run, to get as far away from the hotel as she could and somewhere safe. Instincts are powerful things, and I’ll never tell her to ignore them. If something were to happen, they may be what keeps her alive.
I scooped Matteo up from the bed where he had been sleeping and carefully carried him to our car which was pulled up behind the hotel. The guards cleared the way for us to ensure no one saw him, and they stuck around to watch from a distance. I’d like to dismiss them completely for the night, but the hotel wasn’t the correct place to do that. It was too dangerous.
Once we got home, she had gone to get Matteo settled in his room. I had showered, half hoping she would join me. She didn't. Instead of allowing that to bug me, I accept she's still coming to terms with her attraction to me. Soon, she’ll be as hungry for me as I am for her. When I came out of the bathroom, I expected to see her either cuddled up in the sheets and ready to go to sleep or waiting to use the shower herself.
But the room is empty. The sheets on the bed are still perfectly smooth after being made by the maid this morning. There isn’t a wrinkle to show she sat down.
I check Matteo’s room first. It wouldn’t be the first time she’s fallen asleep while cuddling Matteo. Or the first time Matteo has decided he wants to spend some extra time with his mom when she should be in our bed. The faint glow of the nightlight casts enough light for me to make out the small, sleeping form on his racecar bed. He’s alone. There isn’t room for Emma if she was to share the bed with him. Matteo has stretched his limbs out to their full length, taking over every inch of the bed.
I stay long enough to watch the gentle rise and fall of his chest. In such a short period, Matteo has taken over most of my life and thoughts. He has weaseled his way into being the single most important priority in my life. I would do anything for him. The same goes for his mother if she would stop being so damn infuriating.
Once I close the door to his room, I make my way down the hallway, peeking into every room. It isn’t until I get to the room she had claimed as her own before the engagement that I find her, and I don’t need to open the door to know she’s in there. I can smell the tantalizing scent she had put on for the party lingering more heavily in the hallway outside it.
She hasn’t taken a shower or changed into pajamas, something I’m sure she’ll regret in the morning. She’s taken off her dress, leaving her nearly naked in only her bra and underwear passed out on the bed. I don’t know much about makeup, but I know my sisters always complain when they sleep with it on. I gently wash her face and pluck out the bobby pins from her hair. There are about a million of those goddamn little fuckers. Bianca insisted on doing her hair for her before the event and had stolen her away for a couple of hours. Now I can see why.
I slip her bra off and replace it with the t-shirt I had been wearing when I came into the room. The guards monitoring the house can see me shirtless, but I’ll lose it if they see her without a top. That’s a privilege reserved for me.
“Enzo?” she mutters, still half asleep. I lift her in my arms and she cuddles into my chest. Despite trying to sleep away from me, her body knows what it wants. And it wants to be close to me.
“Tomorrow I’m going to punish you for trying to sleep anywhere other than next to me,” I whisper in her ear. I’m not sure how much of it her sleep-addled brain is processing. An eye pops open and she turns her head to look at me.