I try to raise my arm to feel his smooth, clean cheek, but I can’t.

“Why does my arm hurt?”

“Bullet grazed it.” He climbs onto the bed and kisses my lips, then my cheeks. “Then hit Palmeri’s heart.”

“He’s dead?”

“Yes. It’s good to see you.”

How can I help you?

Rosemarie’s welcoming voice.

Sapphire Beach Resort on St. Eustatius.

“What did you do?”

“I don’t know.” He turns away, cut off from his good mood.

“What does that mean?”

Pensively, he places his hand between my breasts, taking a breath before he speaks.

“Did you send Connor the message?”

Choof off.

That phrase was for Connor. I got it right, but not right enough. “I did, but he didn’t get it.”

His face is painted in regret.

“What happened?” I ask.

“Not yet.” He pulls the sheets off me, revealing plain cotton underwear. Not the womanly, sexy things he’d promised. The bra opens so smoothly it’s as if he didn’t touch a hook—the garment itself just surrendered so his lips could graze my nipples to harden them before his teeth nipped them.

The cord of warmth runs from my breasts to my nub. It swells too big to be contained. I have to open my legs to free it and Dario’s body slides between them.

How can I help you?

“There was a trick to that, right? You didn’t actually call—”

“Shh…” He kisses the insides of my thighs. “It’s just us. You and me.”

He gets on his knees and pulls off my underwear, then raises my leg, kissing the back, bending to gently sink his teeth into the place where my thigh meets my hip.

“I need to fuck you for the next few hours. I need to do it slow so I can feel you and taste you.” He swipes his tongue over my seam. My hips jolt toward the ceiling. “There’s just us now.” His kisses move back up my belly. “The past is fading. The future’s blank. There’s nothing but this room.”

Hovering over me, leaving none of him touching none of me, he lays his lips on my cheek.

“We’re home.” I fight through the ache in my left arm to unbutton his shirt.

“We are. For now. We’ll have to go soon.”

“Massimo said that if I ran, he wouldn’t come for me.” My fingers can’t open the buttons fast enough.

“Do you trust him?”

“He thinks I’m too much trouble. By the end, he was ready to pack me a bag.”

“Then we’re okay for now.” He leans on one arm to undo his pants.

“I can’t believe you’re here.”

“I’ve always been here.”