Chapter 11 Why do you care?
Melissa’s POV
I coughed again. Water choked me. My lungs burned like fire. His chest felt solid against my back. I could hear the sound of my heart best—or was it his? I couldn’t tell. We’d become one person somehow.
He swam us to the edge. His arm stayed locked around my waist the whole time. At the side, he lifted me out first. Then he pulled himself up in one smooth motion.
I collapsed on the tile and coughed hard. Water pooled everywhere. My whole body shook. Both from cold and shock. Everything hit me at once.
“Look at me.”
His hands gripped my shoulders and turned me toward him. Even now his touch felt steady.
I looked up at his face.
Dark hair stuck to his head. Water dripped down his face and neck. His white work shirt clung to his body now. Completely see-through. I could see every muscle on his chest and abs. The hard lines of his shoulders.
But his eyes froze me in place.
They burned with something intense. My struggling lungs forgot how to work again. His jaw clenched so tight I saw the muscle jump. His nostrils flared with each breath.
He was furious.
“What the hell were you doing?” His voice came out low and dangerous. Each word measured carefully, like he held something much bigger back.
“I was just…” I coughed again. My throat felt raw. “Swimming.”
His eyes narrowed. “Don’t lie to me.”
The authority in his voice made me shiver. Or maybe I was just cold. I couldn’t tell anymore.
“I’m not…”
“You stayed down on purpose, Melissa.” His face moved closer. Close enough that I could see water clinging to his eyelashes.
The way he said my name—low and rough—sent a jolt through me.
“I was fine,” I said, but my voice came out weak.
“piccola rovina mia,” he murmured, frowning slightly.
We stared at each other. Water dripped from his hair onto my bare shoulder. The droplet traced a slow path down my collarbone. I watched his eyes follow it before snapping back to my face.
Suddenly I realized I was in my underwear. His hands touched my bare skin. His body was so close I felt heat radiating off him despite the cold water.
The air between us felt electric. My heart hammered. His eyes searched my face, stopped on my lips for just a second, then met my gaze again.
“Why do you care?” The question slipped out before I could stop it.
Something flickered in his expression. Something raw and dangerous that made my breath catch. For a moment, I thought he might answer.
Then his hands dropped from my shoulders like I’d burned him.
He stood quickly. Water streamed off his body. His face became cold and unreadable again.
“Don’t swim alone.”
An order, not a suggestion.
He turned and walked toward the door. His wet shoes squeaked on the tile.
“Thank you,” I called after him quietly. “For pulling me out.”
He stopped in the doorway. His back faced me. His shoulders looked rigid. Water dripped from his clothes and formed a small puddle at his feet.
He didn’t turn around. Didn’t speak.
The silence stretched between us. Thick and suffocating.
Finally, he moved forward and disappeared into the hallway. Wet footprints crossed the pristine marble.
I sat there shivering, hugging my knees. My teeth chattered. My whole body trembled. I should get up and grab a towel. But I couldn’t make myself move.
The ghost of his hands still burned on my shoulders.
The intensity in his eyes was burned into my memory.
This was bad. So, so bad.
I finally forced myself to stand. My legs shook as I walked to the cabinet and grabbed a fluffy white towel. I wrapped it around myself, trying to stop shaking.
But it wasn’t just from the cold anymore.
My mind kept replaying the moment his hands grabbed me. The strength in his arms as he pulled me to the surface. The way he’d looked at me like I was the only thing that mattered in the entire world.
Your mother would be devastated if something happened to you.
That’s what he should have said. That’s what any decent man engaged to my mother should have said.
But he didn’t say that.
He didn’t say anything at all.
And somehow, that silence was worse. It left room for all the things he could have said. All the things I’d seen in his eyes before he locked them away.
I grabbed my clothes from the floor and hurried out. My wet footprints mixed with his.
The hot shower didn’t stop my shaking.
I stood under the scalding water until my skin turned pink, but I still felt cold inside. My mind wouldn’t shut off. It kept replaying every second.
The way his arm felt locked around my waist.
The controlled fury in his voice.