“I woke you up,” I say.
She shrugs a shoulder. “I didn’t want to sleep anyway.”
“Nightmare?”
She bites her lip. “Yes.”
“They’re just dreams, you know. Not real.”
She looks at me curiously. “Does that work for you?”
It’s my turn to shrug my shoulder.
“Are you okay?” she asks.
“I’ll be fine. The assholes who did this won’t. You should get some sleep.”
“That’s what Amadeo said.” She reaches out a hand to touch a bruise on my lower ribs. “Can I stay with you?”
“Don’t want to sleep alone?”
She shakes her head.
“When did he leave?”
“I’m not sure. He went to bed with me, but that was a few hours ago, and he’s gone. Bruno too. It’s just the soldiers.”
“And you’re giving them a show in your underwear.” I take a sip from the bottle.
“I just walked down the hall to come here. Nobody looked at me.”
“They looked, trust me. Don’t prance around like this in front of them, understand?”
“I wasn’t prancing, and besides, I don’t care about them.” She takes the bottle from me and sips. “Do you know where he went?”
“Just running an errand.”
“What errand?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
“Does it have to do with my brother?”
“No.”
She looks at me like she doesn’t quite believe me but decides not to pursue it.
“How much did you drink?” I ask.
“A little.” She lies down and turns on her side toward me.
“More than a little I think.” I lie down on my back, and she curls into me. I wince when she lays her head on my chest but again swallow down the pain and wrap an arm around her. “What time is it?”
“Three in the morning.”
It’s late. I pick up my phone from the nightstand to see if Amadeo’s texted but nothing. I send him a text.
Me: How is the good doctor?
The three little dots begin to undulate as my brother types, and the relief I feel surprises me. Lucien’s attack rattled me. Not for what they did to me, but for the fact that he got to us so easily, and I guess I’m more worried than I realize.
Amadeo: Don’t know yet but my gut says this is going to be bad. Dandelion sleeping?
Me: She just crawled into my bed.
Amadeo: Keep her there.
I glance down at the top of Vittoria’s head. Her breathing is even. I wonder if she fell asleep.
I set the phone aside and hug Vittoria closer.
“Where did he go?” she asks without moving.
“Nowhere, Dandelion. Get some sleep.”
“Are you going to be here when I wake up?”
“I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart.”
She curls up tighter, and I think she’s going to sleep, but a few minutes later, she asks me another question. “Do you remember them?”
“What?”
“The nightmares.”
“Yeah, I do. Wish I didn’t.”
“No, you don’t.” She looks up at me. “I can’t remember mine, but it’s the same one.”
“If you can’t remember them, then how do you know it’s the same one?”
“There’s a feeling with it. Like I’m going to be sick.”
I study her, thrown off. But before I can say anything, she speaks again.
“It’s my birthday.”
“Oh yeah. I guess it is. Happy birthday.”
“Do you think Lucien will go away now? I’ll sign everything later today, and it’ll be over. He can’t get anything, even if he kills me. It all goes to Amadeo.”
“Christ.” I draw back and look down at her. She shifts her gaze up to mine. “He’s not going to get anywhere near you. We won’t let that happen.” I hear myself say it, and there’s a part of me that wonders when things got to where they got. When the endgame shifted.
She doesn’t speak for a long time, but I can almost hear her thinking, trying to sort through things. “Do you think my mother’s car accident wasn’t an accident?”
“You know whiskey and thinking in the middle of the night aren’t always the best combination.”
“It’s not the whiskey.”
“Get some sleep, Dandelion. You’re tired and a little drunk.”
“What do you think?”
“Why is this coming up now?”
“Lucien said something to me back in the office before those men came. He asked if I noticed Dad’s reaction to the news that Mom had been killed. That he wasn’t surprised or upset.”
“Your brother is an asshole who wanted a reaction out of you. He just found out that you have control of the company he expected to run. He wanted to upset you, and he did. Don’t let him win.”
She sits up, looks down at me, and lets her gaze sweep over me before she meets mine again. “He won’t win. I won’t let him. But that’s not what I asked you.”
I reach up and tug her long blond hair. “Get some rest. You can call Emma when you wake up. FaceTime with her. But if you look like a ghost, you’ll just scare the poor kid.”
“Just tell me what you think. I know you think something.”
I turn away. “Well, if you already know, then there’s no point in asking, is there?”
She puts her hand on my shoulder, and I stiffen as she traces the bandage over one of the worst burns.
“Does it hurt?” she asks, pressing on it a little.
I roll back and snatch her wrist. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“I just want to know what you know. Is that too much to ask?”
I sit up, shift my weight so I straddle her thighs, and take hold of her free wrist. I look down at her breasts and the tiny scrap of a bra. “What I know, Dandelion, is that it’s very hard for me to have you in my bed and not fuck you.”
She studies me curiously. “But you won’t touch me without Amadeo here.”
I shake my head. “No. Out of respect for my brother.”
Her gaze shifts to my lips, then lower to my dick pressing against my briefs. I tilt my head and raise an eyebrow. I’m hard.
“Do you wonder why we’re like this?” she asks, looking up at me. “All of us, I mean. Fucked up like this. Sleeping with the enemy and wanting it.”
I smile, then shift my weight off her. “You are quite the philosopher tonight. But I’m tired. You do what you want. I’m going to sleep.” I lie down on my back, and she immediately straddles me, rubbing herself against my cock through her panties and my briefs.
“I want to come.” She slips her hand into her panties, and I watch, unable not to, as she applies herself to the task.
Fuck. Fuck me hard.
“You want to come, Dandelion?” I ask, drawing her panties down far enough that I can watch her fingers work over her sweet little pussy. I set my hands behind my head like I’m watching a fucking movie. “You want me to watch?”
She doesn’t answer, doesn’t have to. It takes all I have to hold back, but I do give myself a minute to take in how her fingers work over her slippery sex, and moan when she presses her wet pussy to my cock, using me to get herself off.