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Hot eh Pia Followed by a thread of sheer possessiveness that rocked her

Was that how she watched hi and her attraction plastered all over her face?

Worst of all was the sinking awareness that she was nowhere near the league of the women that hovered around him like bees around honey

So about Raphael, even as she disliked his cynicis, made her mind weave impossible fantasies

She couldn’t forget that Raphael had agreed to their pretense for his own benefit And not because he saw her as a woman worth his interest

Feeling so at the back of his neck, Raphael looked up a kiss on his cheek

Pia stood at the center of the room, her eyes wide behind a pair of black-fraht drew an outline of her lithe body in a sis She’d braided her hair but was losing the fight against it It fell in unruly curls around her face

As and dia at their ears and wrists, she stood out like a wildflower amidst pricey, carefully cultivated crossbred prize orchids

No makeup, no artifice

Emotions chased across her face, the naked vulnerability in it rousing desire and a fierce protectiveness within him

Pretending a liaison with her, however harht it, wouldn’t be without consequences His conversation with her at his office, Gio’s Machiavellianof them both tohat he deemed inevitable, every instinct Raphael possessed told him that it was a bad idea, screamed at him to keep his distance from her

And yet, how could he leave her to the jackals Giovanni had unleashed on her? To Gio’s ridiculous sche her, the thought of her bestowing her friendship, her loyalty, her affection on any otherunbearable