tears, but I think she understands. Or maybe I’m being an idiot.
I release her and gesture to one of the soldiers who steps forward.
Picking up her mask from the ground where it’s fallen, I put it on her. She stands still while I do it. I tilt her chin up and look into her eyes, then bend down to graze my lips against hers.
The instant I do, I hear the snap of her teeth and feel their bite.
I draw back, touch my finger to my lips and see the smear of blood.
It was worth it.
I’m not sure what she’s expecting, but she braces herself when I meet her eyes again.
I lean close, inhale her scent one more time.
“I’ll remember that,” I say and take her earlobe between my teeth and listen to her gasp, feel her hands come to my chest, my shoulders.
“I hope you will, Salvatore Benedetti,” she says, voice trembling. When I draw back, I see how the pupils of her eyes have dilated. “Because our story has only begun.”
“Good night, Lucia.”
She just glares at me.
I gesture to the soldier who takes her and watch them walk away.
“Lucia,” I call out.
They stop, and she turns to me.
“Happy birthday.”
She flips me off, and the soldier tugs her toward the house.
She’s right. Our story has only begun.
Just barely.
Salvatore and Lucia’s story is told in Salvatore: a Dark Mafia Romance. It’s the first book of the Benedetti Brothers Dark Mafia series of five standalone novels.
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Cinderella
Aleatha Romig
Author’s Note
Danger’s First Kiss is a modern-day Cinderella story set in the Sparrow Webs World.
For the sake of this fun, sexy, and dangerous collection of romances, the time is set in present day. For those who have read or will read The Sparrow Webs: WEB OF SIN, TANGLED WEB, WEB OF DESIRE, and DANGEROUS WEB, Danger’s First Kiss takes place approximately six and a half years before Secrets, book #1, WEB OF SIN.
Now that you understand the time frame, grab your favorite drink, find a comfy spot, sit back, and get whisked away to a time when fairy tales came true, even within the dangerous, dark world of the underground.
~Aleatha
1
Many years ago
“Once upon a time in a faraway kingdom, there lived a widowed gentleman and his lovely daughter Ella,” I softly whispered.
“Lorna, I’m hungry,” Missy, my younger sister, said as she curled beside me.
Our thin mattress was barely wide enough for two young girls. The old sheet we had to cover it wasn’t much, but it separated us from the grime and odor. Lying on that sheet, the two of us cuddled together under an itchy old woolen blanket we’d found in one of the boxes lining the attic walls.
“Shh,” I soothed. My breath came in warm gusts, lingering in the cold attic air as blue-tinted moonlight streamed through the one window. Holding my little sister close, I peered toward the door at the end of the long room, staring at the doorknob and praying it wouldn’t open. “Don’t think about food.” My words came as my stomach growled.
“But my tummy hurts. And, Lorna, I don’t like this house.” Her dark brown eyes opened wide. “I want to go back to Grandma’s.”
With my arm wrapped around her shoulder, I pulled her closer. “We can’t go back. Grandma went to heaven with Granddad.”
Missy’s sobs caused her shoulders to quake beneath my embrace.
“Don’t cry. We need to stay quiet.”
As my words filtered through the frigid air, feminine laughter rang from the floor below. We both lay perfectly still.
“Go to sleep,” I whispered against Missy’s silky dark hair.
In the ghostly moonlight, boxes piled high made scary shadows. The space went on for the width of the house below, yet only this rectangular area contained a plywood floor. All around us was insulation, beams, and studs.
We were sanctioned to a skeleton of a room.
The overhead boards—only a little higher than our brother, Mason, was tall—created our ceiling. There were two basic white light fixtures, each with a singular bulb providing a little heat along with illumination. However, the operating switch was a floor below. If Mr. Maples wanted the lights off, we remained in darkness.
There were no other lights, television, clock, or radio. Our mother’s boyfriend said we needed to earn the right to use his electricity by showing him the respect he deserved.
We’d tried. Three months later, we were still in darkness.
“Girls,” a deep voice boomed from below, intensifying Missy’s trembling.