Page 68 of Be With Me
Just a peck, just a peck, just a?—
Somehow, my fingers were in his hair. Somehow, my tongue was inside his mouth. Somehow, we were biting on each other’s lips like we were both starved.
With a whine, I tugged him closer, deepening the kiss that wasdefinitely not a peck.
I felt possessed. I wasn’t sure anything less than an exorcism would help me.
The kiss was rough. Messy. Unrestrained.
When we finally broke apart, we were both panting. Romolo’s chest heaved, and his entire body was vibrating with tension, like he was barely holding himself together.
“Fuck,” he muttered, dropping his forehead against mine.
We stood there for a moment, suspended in the aftershock.
Then came his sigh. Heavy. Final. “Four. One. Nine. Nine. Seven. Three.”
I pulled away and blinked, confused. “What?”
There was a sudden shift in his expression. It sent a flicker of unease through me.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and held it out.
I stared at the device. It took me an embarrassingly long time to piece it all together.
The numbers were his passcode.
“A deal’s a deal,” he said flatly. His voice had gone cold. Distant. Like a door slamming shut inside him.
My heart stilled.
I hadn’t kissed him because of the deal. I hadn’t even thought about it. But I guess for him, thiswasall another game.
My prize was six muttered numbers, but I still felt like I’d lost.
Refusing to look at him—I didn’t want him to see the hurt in my expression—I took the phone and unlocked it.
The last photo in his camera roll was of me. I deleted it.
The next one slid into view before I could look away. It was a photo of him and a beautiful woman glued to his side in what appeared to be a nightclub.
My stomach sank.
I didn’t know when it was taken. I didn’t care. All I cared about was getting away from him as quickly as I could.
Expression blank, I shoved the phone back into his hand and walked inside the house without another word.
The next morning, he was gone before I woke up.
CHAPTER20
ROM
“Mom wants to see you.” Cosimo stood in my doorway, a bruise darkening his left cheek.
I’d barely been home an hour. Just long enough to shower, put on a mindless action flick, and collapse onto the sofa, where I’d been mulling over my next steps. I would have stayed there longer if Cos hadn’t showed up.
I stepped aside, letting him in. “What does she want?” My mother was the last thing I needed on my plate today.
