Riding The Edge - Elise Faber Page 0,21

heels clicking across the marble floor. We skirted the throng, threaded the needle of lush plants dotting the walls, and made it onto the blessedly empty elevator.

I breathed a sigh of relief, hating the crowd, hating how it made Ava vulnerable, made it nearly impossible to assess every threat.

The doors began to slide closed, gleaming bronze metal reflecting the beach-ready forms.

Ava turned her head toward me, lips parting—

A hand kept the doors from closing, gripping the metal panel then pushed them open.

Unease prickled down my spine as three suited men stepped onto the elevator.

We were trapped.

Ten

Southern Italy

15:32hrs local time

Ava

Horror filled me for a long, interminable moment, freezing me in place.

But just as quickly as that horror came on—horror at seeing my uncle through the open elevator doors, trailed by two of my cousins—I remembered myself, remembered my training, remembered the instincts honed by hour after hour of hard work.

I spun toward Dan, stepped into his arms, and slanted my mouth across his.

He didn’t move for long enough that I felt a bubble of panic well within me, tightening the back of my throat, sending my pulse skittering.

Then he wrapped his arms around me, pinned me to the elevator wall, and kissed me back.

Oh, how he kissed me back.

I was only distantly aware of my surroundings, far more distantly than I should have been, based on the fact that the person who’d caused the injury to my eye was currently chuckling and stepping onto the elevator.

But I was having difficulty focusing on anything except for the feel of Dan’s hands on my body, his lips against mine, soft yet demanding, his tongue slipping into my mouth, tangling with mine. There shouldn’t be any tongue in this fake kiss. There shouldn’t be this much contact, or heat, or—

A throat cleared, and we froze.

“What floor?” my uncle, Fabio, said in Italian.

And fuck, I hated that his voice sent a sliver of fear down my spine.

Dan slowly pulled his lips from mine, breathing elevated and puffing against my mouth. Our eyes locked for a heartbeat before he pressed my face lightly into his chest. “Pardon?” he asked, playing up the notes of Southern in his voice.

“Ah,” Fabio replied, switching to English. “American. What floor?”

“Eight,” Dan said, lying about the floor we were actually on. I was on the same page, knew we’d go up to eight and double back using the stairs, just to be safe so Fabio wouldn’t know where our room was. The lie was the same reason he’d run his fingers through my hair, shifting my hat slightly so it covered my face more fully.

I didn’t think my family would recognize me. My face had matured, my hair had darkened slightly, and I had my glasses on. But it wasn’t like I’d had major plastic surgery. My facial structure was still my facial structure, and I couldn’t deny I had many of the features of the Toscalo genetics.

Maybe Fabio wouldn’t identify me from across a room or through a crowded hotel lobby, but I couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t recognize me from three feet away.

“Honeymoon?” Fabio asked.

“First vacation together.” Dan’s fingers didn’t stop stroking my hair.

I wasn’t a woman who needed comfort, but I would be hard-pressed to deny that the gentle touch soothed the ball of panic deep in my gut. I loved the way I felt when he touched me. It had become an addiction during that week two years ago, one I’d barely been able to find the will to quit.

Cold turkey had been brutal.

But necessary.

Now he was touching me again, and—

Fabio laughed. “Ah, to have young love.”

Dan chuckled. “I’m just lucky to have her at all.”

“A romantic at heart. That will serve you well.”

The doors dinged open, and I peeked out of the corner of my eye, watched as Fabio and my cousins exited the elevator.

My brother. My uncle. My cousins.

They were all here, infesting this beautiful hotel like the parasites they were.

The doors closed, leaving us in the empty metal box.

Neither of us moved.

“You okay?” Dan asked as the elevator began moving again.

Honestly?

I’d been on edge since the moment I’d seen Dan go down in the warehouse a few weeks ago. Frazzled when he’d passed out in my arms. As though my walls were crumbling to dust from the moment he’d come close in the gym. Raw from being back here, from seeing my family.

And melted from the inside out after that kiss.

Forgetting that rawness for a moment and not giving two shits that I’d been trapped