Heartless Prince by Brook Wilder
Chapter 29
Leda
I pushed off the bed with a sigh, taking a familiar route to the balcony and back again. When you were stuck in a prison that had nothing to do in the form of entertainment, you started memorizing every nook and cranny real quick.
Not that I was locked in or anything. I tried the door handle every day since Lucas stormed out. It was unlocked every time.
But I didn’t want to push my luck.
“Ugh.” I pushed my hair off my forehead. Lucas had been all that I could think about.
And dammit, every time the door opened, my heart would beat just a little faster, only to be disappointed when it wasn’t him.
He hadn’t come back since that morning. For two days my only companions were the guards who dropped off my food and left as quickly as they came in.
What had been a complete surprise was the bag full of everything that I had asked for. Yesterday, a gruff guard delivered it to me, not bothering to answer any of my questions. I spent all day pouring through the contents of the bag. There were a few trashy paperbacks, not the sort of thing I wanted to read, but better than nothing.
And then there were the beauty supplies I had asked for.
He actually bought them. This was my test to him, and it was a test that he failed. I had gotten to him. Somehow.
A small smile played on my lips as I thought about how quickly Lucas Valentino hightailed it out of my room when I had started asking a few questions about his past. When I took notice of what kind of person he acted like.
I wasn’t completely surprised at his reaction. In many ways, he was like most Mafia Dons—all business and next to no personal feelings.
But when I told him that he thought the world owed him rather than him owning the world? That had been the button. All I wanted at that moment was to exploit my advantage against him. But he walked away.
And I didn’t realize just how much I missed his presence.
The problem was, I was pretty sure that I started developing feelings for him. Oh, how I hated the fact that I had slept with him! But the feelings weren’t because of my no-longer-involved virginity. Actually, I was kind of glad to be done with it.
No, I didn’t like the fact that I hadn’t stopped dreaming about him, or that I continued to crave his touch.
More, the desire for wanting to know about his life spanned far beyond any plans for escaping. There was what I felt was a genuine interest.
And with that interest, came a terrible realization: if I wanted to know about him, then I’d be opening myself up to caring for him.
For a man who paid an obscene amount of money for my body.
Something had to be seriously wrong with me. I wasn’t even putting up a fight at this point, for God’s sake!
I was a D’Agostino, and yet I had caved at the first crazed touch from him.
I walked back to the bed, wishing that I had something else to wear other than the short robe that had come with the other presents. I had asked for real clothing, not the gossamer threads that barely covered my ass.
Apparently his generosity didn’t expand to my clothing.
The door opened, and I paused at the bedside.
My heart raced as Lucas stepped through the door.
He was clad in a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows and a pair of sinful dark jeans that molded to his body like a second skin. His hair was slicked back, but I could tell that it was still wet.
And his scent. Oh God, he smelled delicious.
Lucas’s blue eyes raked over my face, no hint of emotion in their depths. My knees weakened. After days of not seeing him, his arrival plunged into my core like a spear of fire.
“Leda,” he said, his deep voice rumbling through the silent room.
I swallowed. “Lucas.”
What was he going to do? My body hummed with the anticipation of him throwing me on the bed, and having his way with me. Desire climbed up in my throat. My nipples hardened underneath the silk material of the robe, and I had to draw in a breath to keep my breathes steady.
“Are you hungry?”
“H-hungry?” I asked, as if I didn’t know what the word meant.
“You know,” he stated, pushing away from the doorway he was leaning against. “Food.”
I looked around the bedroom, mainly because I couldn’t bear to stare at him any longer or else I might do something really, really stupid. “I don’t see my tray.”
“You won’t,” he answered matter-of-factly. “I want you to have dinner in my room with me.”
His room. My heart tumbled over in my chest.
“The food is getting cold,” Lucas prodded as I tried to process what was going on. “Will you be coming, Leda?”
Only if you made me.
“Yes,” I answered quickly.
It wasn’t like I had any other choice.
