Diavolo

xxxii

Those dark green eyes sparkled with an unknown emotion, staring down at me with nothing but concern and a bit of amusement as he took the time to run his lit gaze over Xavier.

Silvio tore his gaze away after a quick peruse, running a gentle hand down my bone-straight hair. "I told you to stay close, baby." He said softly.

He didn't.

"I'm sorry." I told him with a small smile hoping he wouldn't ask about Xavier and that he would walk around silently but I should have known better.

Silvio was a cocktail of possessiveness, authoritativeness and luxurious handsomeness. He was stubborn as he was silent and brooding.

And as his gaze riveted to Xavier once again, shoving his hand causally into his pants pocket, I knew there was no way in hell he would let this go.

No, we were definitely going to talk about this.

He gestured out an outstretched hand, exposing gold and onyx cuff links and decorated with gold rings, and carved with scars from his past.

"Silvio." He greeted with a slow nod.

"Xavier." He grasped Silvio's hand in this firm way and smiled tightly. Please be nice, please be nice.

A slow look of recognition appeared across Xavier's rugged features, the slow widening of his eyes told me everything I needed to know. "Rae and I was just catching up. Are you a friend of hers?"

Oh Xavier, poor Xavier. You just had to fall into his bait, didn't you?

Those intensely green eyes that always seemed so cruelly gorgeous narrowed slightly, and then a trickle of dark, deep laughter rumbled from his throat. So fucking sweet with a rough edge of retribution that I could almost taste it.

"No." My pulse leaped in my throat when his hand squeezed my stomach. "I'm her husband."

A tight, savagely gorgeous smile from Silvio directed to Xavier. "If you'll excuse me, I need to talk to my wife."

"Yeah, sure. Of course." Xavier stammered at a loss for words from the news. "Think about it, okay?"

Xavier, please value your life.

I shot him an apologetic smile and Silvio released me, holding out his outstretched hand to me in this possessive manner and gripped my hand in a gentle hold.

His soft touch electric and consuming, sending a shock up my hair and shivers down my back as he led me through crowds of bodies, stolen stares, and irritated glances and tugged me into the nearest room. A coat closet.

He didn't say anything and I didn't either because I didn't know what the hell to say especially when I hadn't done anything wrong.

He was still holding onto my hand, gently caressing my ring fingers and making my stomach flutter with each heated look of his green eyes. "Silvio." I breathed out a heavy exhale of breath. "Why are we in a coat closet?"

"To talk."

I raised a brow, repeating the strange words in my mouth. "Talk so talk. What do you want to know?"

"Ex-boyfriend, I'm guessing?" His smooth, dark voice murmured. I nodded slowly, licking my lips and watching his eyes follow the movement. "You thinking of getting back with him?

Was that a joke?

"Please don't ask me stupid questions."

A muscle ticked in his jaw. Dark eyes melted into mine, and the sound of his rough voice filled the silence between us. "Answer the stupid question then."