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He had just caught her when they heard the whir of rotor blades
The sound fractured the moment so effectively that she flinched Instantly, Stefan pulled her behind hie camera directed toward the terrace, Clio clutched Stefan’s shirt and hid her face in his muscled back
A pithy curse fell from his mouth
“Is this all so that they can have a story on Alessandra?” she asked, re the scandal that had haunted Rocco’s sister
“Yes But they won’t get anything on her as long as I have so to say about it”
Her heart raced as the ers “How? Even you can’t sprout wings and block the chopper”
His arainst her own feet, she fell onto Stefan And jerked at the sudden male heat that surrounded her His arm around her waist was like a muscular rope she couldn’t pry off her
War around her, binding her to him
“No, I can’t sprout wings, bella” Sluaze “But I have a beautiful woive the hounds a juicier piece of h with us, Christian will have his own security armed and Alessandra protected from the worst of it”
Realizing too late what he intended, Clio pushed away from his chest “No, Stefan There has to be another way”
But he was as solid and impenetrable as the walls of the Parthenon He clasped her face with his palms, and tilted it up toward him
“Look at h of me”
She didn’t have to pretend The errant thought stole through her, inciting a panic She didn’t have to pretend that she was already flailing, falling into the haze he cast over her senses with ease
She struggled again and their legs tangled, the tensile, hard ainst hers
The sound of his jagged exhale settled over her skin, while the whir of the rotor blades of the chopper above felt like a death knell
Her breath left Clio in a dizzying whoosh, every inch of her thru “WaitI”
Words melted away from Clio’s lips as the pad of his thumb moved over her chin, traced the curve of her lower lip “It’s just one kiss, bella If you flinch every ti to buy it, Clio Least of all Jackson”
Her breath hitched like a balloon inside her, crushing her chest with a weight she couldn’t bear The last thing she wanted was a kiss and that, too, from the man who could so easily shred the small part of her that was still intact