Chapter 9

FREYA

There was no way I was taking a shower like he wanted me to. Who knew how long I had before he would come looking for me?

I dropped the blanket I’d been holding around me and then quickly went over to where my leggings and bra were lying on the floor and grabbed them.

I went to the bathroom. First, I turned on the shower. It would give me more time if he thought I was doing as he told me.

Next, I used the toilet—I hadn’t gone to the bathroom in a long time—and then I put on my bra and leggings.

I looked at the bathroom door. ~Okay, time to get out of here.~

Leaving the shower on, I exited the bathroom and made my way over to the window.

I hadn’t noticed before, but there was a balcony connected to the room. ~Convenient.~

Before going outside, I gazed at my luggage longingly. I wanted to bring it with me, but I couldn’t let it slow me down.

I would have to send the police to come get it later, after I’d gotten out of here.

I walked out onto the balcony. ~Wow.~ It was high up. There were several floors of the hotel below me. I looked up. There were no other floors above me.

We were on the top floor. We were on the fucking top floor.

Was there another way out of there?

The front door was by the kitchen, and there’d be no way to get to it without passing Luca since he was making breakfast. So that wasn’t an option. And I hadn’t seen any other doors.

I looked to my left. There was a staircase outside of the window in the next room over. I was assuming it was a fire escape.

That could work!

I ran out of the room and snuck into the one next door. This room was identical to the one that Luca and I had spent the night in. I went to the window and shoved it open. I climbed out of it and made my way onto the fire escape.

~Oh my God, this might work.~

As quietly as I could, I ran down the stairs. I was aware of the fact that the next window I’d pass would lead to the floor that Luca was on. I needed to be careful, quick, and quiet.

Right before I was about to pass in front of it, I paused. It was open. The window was freaking open. That would make things a lot harder.

~I can do this. I have to do this.~

Quickly, I crept past the open window without even a glance inside.

Just as I was about to make it to the set of steps that would lead me to the next floor, a hand grabbed my wrist and yanked me backward.

I screamed bloody murder as I was tugged through the window and thrown over someone’s shoulder. I tried kicking and pounding on the back of whoever was holding me, but they wouldn’t let me go.

“No! Put me down!” I screamed. “Let me go!”

At first, I thought it was Luca who was holding me. But there were no sparks, and this person’s touch made my skin crawl.

And then Luca spoke: “Bring her over here, Matteo.”

I was carried into the kitchen and then placed on a counter. Luca was standing next to me, stirring eggs in a skillet on the stove.

“Hi there,” he said casually, glancing up at me.

I swallowed. Was he mad? He knew I was trying to escape.

“Hi,” I breathed out.

He turned back to his scrambled eggs. “Matteo, will you go turn off the shower upstairs, please?”

Matteo nodded. “Of course, Don.” He gave me one last look and bit his lip, trying to hide his smile. I glared at him.

He chuckled and walked away, shaking his head.

So, trying to escape hadn’t worked. It was now time for plan B: act sweet and nice until Luca trusts me, and then somehow get out of here.

Luca turned to the kitchen island behind him and began to cut strawberries.

“So you didn’t want to take a shower, huh?”

~How do I respond to that?~ “Um…no.”

“Uh-huh…” Luca opened the cabinet next to me and grabbed a bowl, then turned back to the strawberries he’d just cut and put them in there.

“What were you doing outside?”

“Um…I-I,” I stuttered. “I wanted to get some fresh air!”

~That’s believable, right?~

“Out on the fire escape?” he asked, setting the bowl down next to me on the counter.

“Why didn’t you just go out onto the balcony connected to our room?” He went back to the scrambled eggs and turned off the burner.

~Yeah, why didn’t I just go out to the balcony?~ That was a great question. I looked down at my lap.

“I… Uh, well, I…”

Luca’s hand was suddenly on my knee.

“Here, try this.” He put his finger in my mouth. Whatever was on his finger tasted incredible. It was sweet and lemony.

With his finger still in my mouth, I brought my gaze up to Luca’s. His eyes were dancing with their commanding glare.

I moved my head back until his finger exited my mouth with a satisfying pop.

“Do you like it?” he asked, his voice deep and husky.

I nodded.

“It’s for the lemon loaf,” he explained. His eyes never left my lips. “You’ve got a little something right there.”

He stepped in between my legs and put his hand on the back of my neck, guiding my face closer to his.

I thought seriously about pushing him away, but then my act of being sweet would be over already.

He took my lower lip into his mouth and sucked it clean.

I leaned in closer to him, unable to control myself and wanting to press my lips to his, but he abruptly moved away.

“Oh, sorry,” he said. “I forgot you didn’t want me to touch you.”

Honestly, I had forgotten too.

I glared at him. I knew what he was doing. He couldn’t just get me all worked up and then not deliver. That just wasn’t fair.

He raised his eyebrows at me as if challenging me to take back my words.

Nope, I wasn’t going to do that.

He placed his hand on my cheek.

“The next time I kiss you will be when you ask for it.”

Well, that worked for me. That meant I would never kiss him again. ~And I don’t want to!~ I told myself.

He backed away from me after I nodded.

Noticing how dark his eyes had become, I tried to change the subject.

“What is that commanding expression you get on your face sometimes? It’s like you’re a totally different person or something…”

The first time he’d given me that look, it had really freaked me out. I mean, that’s not normal. But now that I had seen it happen multiple times, I was getting used to it.

In fact, not only was I used to it, I almost found it comforting. There was something about Luca’s fierce eyes that drew me in and made me feel protected and safe.

His eyes snapped to mine. They were still dancing with that energy. “It’s a very long story.”

“I’ve got time.” Especially now that it looked like I wouldn’t be getting out of here anytime soon.

He grabbed a plate from the cupboard and filled it with the scrambled eggs he’d been making. Then he walked over to the extravagant dining table in the far corner of the room. I hadn’t noticed it before, but the table was covered in Italian breakfast foods.

There were cornettos, maritozi, fruit, biscotti, baguettes with fresh cheeses, eggs, brioche, fritatta, and much more—not to mention coffee and juice in crystal glassware.

I gawked at the huge spread.

Luca paused when he saw my shocked face.

“I didn’t know what you liked, so I just got everything I could think of. Some of the food I made, and some I ordered from room service.”

“That’s a lot of food,” I said.

He walked toward me, smiling. “Just eat what you want, love.”

He stood in front of me and picked me up, wrapping my legs around him as if I were a child.

I was about to protest and demand that he put me down, but then I remembered that I was acting nice now. I needed Luca to trust me.

So I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my head on his shoulder.

A deep rumble came from his chest as his arms tightened around me.

He sat down on a chair at the table, keeping me in his lap. He pulled two plates in front of us. I was uncomfortable sitting in his lap. I squirmed a bit.

“I can sit in my own chair,” I said.

“No...” He put some eggs on my plate. And then some frittata. And some biscotti. And a cornetto. And everything else that was at arm’s length.

“Is that all for me?” I asked. He couldn’t possibly have expected me to eat all of that.

“Just eat what you want, ~il mio amore~. I know you haven’t eaten since you got on the plane yesterday. I just want to get some calories in you.”

~Well, that’s kind of sweet. He wants to take care of me.~ As far as kidnappers went, he was a nice one.

But I still eyed the food warily. ~What if he had done something to it? What if it’s poisoned?~

I felt his breath on my ear. “While I’m very glad that you’re cautious around strange food, I just need you to eat. I promise there’s nothing wrong with it, Freya.”

He took a bite out of my frittata to prove his point, then put it back on my plate.

“Now, eat.”

I shakily picked up my fork and scooped some eggs into my mouth.

He nodded his head approvingly and started filling his own plate.

We sat in silence for a few minutes as I shoveled food into my mouth. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was. ~Plus, I’ll need my strength if I’m going to get out of here.~

I was going to eat as much as I could. And the food was just really good, too.

Once I had finally slowed down, I noticed that Luca was rubbing my leg as he watched me, all while polishing off his own plate of food.

I squirmed nervously but decided not to remove his hand. I could handle him touching me as long as it didn’t get too intimate.

“Eat some more,” Luca said.

I leaned back and shook my head, pushing my plate away from me. “If I eat any more, I might explode.”

Luca nodded his head and sighed. “Now that you’ve gotten some rest and some food into your system, I guess I can start answering your questions.”

He ran a hand over his face and then slowly turned my body, so I was straddling him.

“Please don’t be scared.”

“Okay…” I was not expecting what happened next.