Had it been that way for him as well? He’d certainly acted as if it had. He’d seemed as far gone as she had been. He hadn’t even taken his clothes off. He hadn’t taken her to the bedroom. Still, he’d had a gun taped beneath the table in the foyer. Who did that unless they were expecting a hit man?

“You knew Marco was going to try to kill you.” She made it a statement. Her eyes met his. She had to know. See. He nodded, and her heart took a plunge.

“When you buzzed the house from the gate and told me your grandfather had sent me his reserve, I knew then. I hadn’t had a birthday recently. I had quietly carried out my own investigation of the four others you took the wine to. Don Miguel’s son is a friend, and he asked me to look into it. He suspected Antonio because within days after his father’s death, Antonio’s men made a move on the territory. Still, I had no idea how he actually had gotten the hit man past security.”

“Me,” she said sadly. She needed to lie down. She was so tired. She hadn’t gotten her cup of tea, but now all she wanted to do was sleep.

“You,” he agreed. “So when you told me, I knew it was going to happen.”

“And you taped the gun beneath the table in the foyer,” she prompted.

“That gun is always taped there. I have several stashed throughout the house. I wouldn’t have planned to seduce you in the foyer, Siena, if that’s what you’re thinking. That was no seduction. That was pure, honest need. I was so far gone, baby, that I forgot about a hit man. All I could do was think about you, and I almost got us both killed.”

She couldn’t help but hear the honesty in his voice. She wanted to believe him and maybe a part of her did, but that other part, the one that didn’t know the first thing about hot sex, held her back. He hadn’t come after her, not even when he realized she was a virgin.

He came after you and saved you from Paolo, her inner voice reminded when she wanted it to shut up. She didn’t want to invest in him, or think he had any kind of a good side at all. It was just so much safer to view him as a complete player. Mean. Cruel. But she knew he wasn’t. He had feathered kisses down her back. Down her hip and thigh. He meant every single one of them. She’d felt the sincerity. She didn’t want to, but she did.