Adalyn and Lake were in the restroom later that day, drying their hands, when someone who definitely wasn’t a woman came through the door.

“What the hell?” Lake sputtered, looking in the mirror at his reflection.

“Angel, are you crazy?” Adalyn yelled, looking around to see if anyone else was in there.

“Probably,” he told her before looking at Lake. What came out of his mouth next wasn’t a request but a demand. “I need you to do something for me.”

“What?” Lake answered nervously.

“Watch the door and tell me if that prick starts to come back.”

The girls looked confused for a second. Then Lake figured out he meant Maria’s bodyguard, who had taken Joey’s place. “You mean Todd?”

“Yeah, him. I think he’s trying to fuck some professor, but I need that door guarded.”

Okay, maybe Todd is a prick.

Feeling apprehensive, Lake looked at her friend, not knowing if this was a good idea. When Adalyn nodded, though, she gave in, knowing she would be right on the other side of that door if anything happened in there.

Once the door closed with Lake’s departure, Adalyn watched Angel move, expecting him to stop in front of her, but he didn’t. Instead, he slowly began to walk around her, circling her at a creep-like pace while his eyes danced all over her body. With a chill on her skin, she started to get the feeling she was becoming his prey.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

This time when he went behind her, he lightly scooped some tendrils off her shoulders, bringing them to the front. “Why aren’t you afraid of me? Even right now, when you should be, you’re not.”

Her tongue poked out as she licked her bottom lip while thinking about his words. He was right. Her skin might have gone cold, and nervousness rang in her voice from watching him pace around her, but it wasn’t from fear. It was from being awakened. However, she couldn’t tell him that.

“You just don’t scare me.”

“What if I killed Tom?” Those words seemed to echo throughout the room.

Locking her eyes on his when he rounded the front, she went scarily still. “Did you?”

“I’ve done a lot of bad shit, sweetness.” He opened his shadowed eyes to show her that he wasn’t a man of many morals. “But killing Tom wasn’t one of them.”

The tingle in her skin only heightened. She couldn’t explain how or why, but she just knew he was undoubtedly telling the truth. It was like her soul was telling her.

Angel moved in closer, this time stopping right in front of her. Adalyn’s breath vanished when he touched her heavy bottom lip with a long finger and began massaging and teasing the sensitive area. Taking one last step forward, he pressed his body against hers as he murmured darkly, “You’re lucky you saved my life by stealing the ring.”

Her body was screaming now. She couldn’t fully comprehend what he was saying. “H-huh?”

A slight smile parted his lips from knowing the effect he had on her. “They searched my room last night and found nothing, because of you, sweetness.”

Adalyn didn’t know if she should be proud about that fact, but in this moment, in some fucked-up way, she was.

What is he doing to me?

“I guess”—Angel moved his hand down to firmly grab her chin, lifting it high and making her get on her tippy-toes—“I wanted to say thank you.”

His warm voice was the last thing she heard before he brought his warm mouth down on hers.

It was a simple kiss, almost innocent, yet it had a roughness to it that shook her to her core. It was like true, utter, sweet bliss; the kind you didn’t know existed until you were frightened to death of it ending. It was a feeling she shouldn’t be having with a man like Angel and with a kiss like that, which made it the most intimate and beautifully breathtaking thing she had ever experienced.

One that would be impossible to ever forget because it was …

Simply perfection.

Pulling his lips away from hers, he held her right where he wanted her, keeping a firm hold on her chin, not letting her drop from her toes just yet. There was one last thing he had to say.

“You may have just saved your own life, sweetness, or you may have just cost it.” With that, a hazy Adalyn was released.

She watched him walk away, her mind slowly coming back online. She didn’t know if he meant taking the ring had saved or cost her her life, or …

If it had been that kiss.

* * *

Shit.

That wasn’t what he had planned—to kiss her like that—but she had been so pliable, so submissive underneath him. How she craved a man without morals, one who was evil, corrupt, a man … like him.

Never before had he met anything like her. Someone who wanted those qualities in a man yet was the complete opposite herself. Adalyn was pure and fun, but inside, she had a side to her that was desperate to get out. A side that he was capable of bringing out. A side that he had never experienced before because the women he had dealt with were either evil on the outside or too good on the inside.

He could be his true self with her, but it was a commodity that would only come with a high price tag.

There were certain things Luciano men were never supposed to do, a list of rules to live and die by, and kissing her, a Caruso, was on the “do not do” list. One thing was for sure now …

There will be hell to pay.