Page 28 of Risky Behavior: Submitting to the Ruthless Guard

Talia’s hips jutted forward again as my fingers slid back through her fold and I pulled back, sucking them into my mouth as she watched. “I’m ready to head home now.”

“You haven’t finished eating.”

“I’m not hungry anymore… not for food, anyway.”

I smiled down at her, “You will not come until you eat, Little Bird. So get to it or we will be here all day.”

Learning New Things

Talia

“Doyouhavethem?”I asked Leo on the way back to the house.

“Have what?”

“Your ropes?”

“Some. I don’t travel with everything, but I have some of my kit with me. Why?”

“I want you to tie me up like you said at lunch.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“You’ve been through too much lately. I don’t want to risk upsetting you.”

“Wouldn’t I be the one to make that determination?”

I looked behind me to make sure the guys were still following us. I had an uneasy feeling since we started our walk back to the car that someone was watching our every move, and it wasn’t the security detail that was with us.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just paranoid, I guess.”

“You aren’t paranoid. We are being followed.”

“What?” I gasped and turned back again, but Leo caught my arm and set me straight toward the car. He opened the door, and I got in quickly, looking back at the sidewalk as he moved to the driver’s seat.

“Who’s following us Leo?”

“No one to worry about, Little Bird.”

“Don’t do that. Don’t leave me in the dark.”

“I’m not. It really isn’t anyone to worry about. It’s Massimo De Bartoli’s men. I know them. They mean us no harm.”

“Who is Massimo De Bartoli?”

“The Iron Bull is what many call him. His family and the Corsetti’s have a long-standing truce that was shaken up when his sister made some complicated decisions a while back. Things are fine now. I’m sure he is just wondering why I am here. I’ll call him when we get back to the house.”

“How would he even know where you are? Or how to find us?”

“This world is very small, Talia. It can be terrifying for people who weren’t brought up in it. Massimo is a politician, if nothing else. It was his sister that was more volatile, but now she is in New York City and he is here running their empire. He won’t risk the wrath of The Dark Kings. We are safe.”

Leo reached for my hand as I looked in the mirror, watching the seaside out my window as he drove us back to the Villa. The men who were with us led in one car and followed in another. Raven said she trusted Beckett and Leo. Everything in me screamed he wouldn’t let anything happen, but my mind was a jumbled mess since we left Miles’ home. I had a feeling I was dealing with withdrawal symptoms from the sedatives they had me on for so long. My body was slowly recovering, but my brain felt foggy at times. Leo didn’t seem to notice, and I didn’t want to put a damper on everything that was happening between us, so I did my best to ignore it. Moments like now made that difficult.

When we pulled up, the guard had opened the gate without us needing to stop. At the end of the long driveway stood the gorgeous house we had been staying in. I had been sad to leave Raven, but scared not to. The idea of Miles finding me and possibly hurting her because of it was terrifying. Leaving with Leo was my only choice, but I had imagined we would hop around seedy hotels like you see in the movies, not be living a life of luxury in an ocean-side villa on the coast of Italy.