Chapter 7: The exactly moment when I knew that I love him

*"I remember my love for dancing, she came into my world like a light amidst the darkness—an angel sent from heaven to save a devil like me. Just the same way comes to me my love for Ludwika." Evert*

I stared.

And I never stared; but her beauty had me transfixed like never before.

I’d been walking alone, ignoring the advice of my men who didn’t like me going out without protection, making my way down to the Tufts campus, drenched in shadows of the large trees that speckled the quad.

And that’s where I found her.

She was sitting alone, lounging on the museum steps like a Grecian goddess—like a statue who belonged inside on display—wrapped in a dress that clung to her curves with absolute perfection.

She was the sexiest girl I’d ever seen. Instantly, I felt something stir inside me.

A soft brown mountain of curls fell across her delicate shoulders and collarbones like warm rolling hills beneath the sun. A nearby lamppost lit her gently, and my eye traced the mouth-watering curves of her plump breasts to her thin waist and down to her wide, feminine hips.

Baby-making hips...

I was a man who was used to getting what he wanted, and when I saw her, I knew I had to have her.

She was a good girl; I could tell by looking at her. But I was a bad, bad man.

I’d killed people, roughed them up, intimidated others, and done all kinds of nefarious things to succeed. I operated “outside the law” and got rich off it

—filthy rich, and I had no intention of ever stopping.

Ludwikaworking a 9-5 making a measly salary? No thanks.

I liked expensive meals, expensive clothes, and expensive homes. I liked blowing through Greater Boston, my city, in my Bentley and watching all the other suckers working for the man, praying that one day they’d get ahead, get a wife that actually treated them with respect.

Women threw themselves at me, and if you watch TV and gangster movies, you might assume I’d have a new girl every night; but you’d be wrong.

I was careful about who I let into my inner circle. Trust and loyalty meant everything in my game. And beyond that, I was even stricter about who I let into my heart. I didn’t have any interest for “something casual” or “an arrangement.”

I wanted something more.

And when I stared at her, the undeniable beauty before me, I felt my whole world change.

I moved toward her like a heat-seeking missile, my eyes never wavering from her body. She seemed lost in thought, probably thinking about school or her exams or something, knowing nothing of the dangerous world I came from.

A leaf crumpled under my foot and she looked up at me.

Our eyes met and mine said it all. She understood instantly what I wanted.

Her cheeks flushed red like sweet cherry sorbetto, but instead of looking away, she held my gaze. It was the first time in a long time I’d met someone’s eyes and they hadn’t been immediately intimidated by me.

Everyone knew who I was. Everyone but her, apparently.

I stopped at the foot of the steps and stared. As a man who saw what he wanted and went for it, it took every ounce of strength I had not to just lean in, press my body against hers, and press my mouth against her plump, inviting, delicious red lips.

“Can I help you?” she asked. Her tone was almost sassy, as though I was intruding on her.

This girl really didn’t know who I was. And I loved that. No preconceptions. No assumptions. Just the two of us.

“I’m sure you could,” I replied.

The sheer fabric of her dress hid nothing. She was wearing no bra and her nipples were hard…just like my arousal steadily growing beneath my pants.

I was a man who had everything, but right then, all I wanted was her.

“Are you a student here?” I asked.

“I’m on a college campus, aren’t I?” she quipped back.

Under different circumstances, this kind of sarcasm wouldn’t sit well with me. But with her, it excited me even more. A girl who didn’t know who I was who actually had a real personality?

Hell yes.

“So am I,” I replied. “But I’m not a professor.” “Oh no?”

I moved right in and stood above her. “But I wouldn’t mind teaching you a few things.”

“Give me a break,” she scoffed, pretending like she was put off by my line, but I knew better. It was a warm night and her nipples were hard and her lips were wet…

…both pairs, most likely. “What’s your name?” I asked. “Why? You wanna take me out?”

Her eyes were fierce, filled with energy. There was a story behind them too. I was instantly intrigued. This girl had secrets, and I wanted to know them all.

I quickly sat down beside her on the steps, my eyes drawn to the milky white skin of her legs. The slit up the side of her dress exposed the soft flesh of her thigh like the dress Angelina Jolie wore to the Oscars that caused so much talk among the media.

My leg brushed up against hers and my bulge pulsed strong between my thighs. My blood boiled in my veins as my heart pumped like a heavy drum. I was on fire for her. Instead of pulling away, she pushed back against me.

Her body was warm, hot like my desire for her. I tried to keep my growl quiet as I reached out and put a hand on her knee.

“Tell me your name,” I told her. “You tell me yours,” she countered. Don’t. You’ll scare her off.

“It’s only fair,” she continued. “A big, strong, strange man approaching me after dark asking me what my name is—”

“It’s Lesley,” I told her. A white lie. Lesley was my middle name. “Lesley, eh?” she smiled, causing my bulge to double in size. “Not what I

expected.”

“What did you expect?” I asked.

“Something more manly—more befitting of your appearance,” she replied, raising her eyebrows.

“And what is my appearance?” I asked.

She was driving me crazy. It was like a game we were playing—a tennis match going back and forth. Her intrigue and sexuality had me starving for her, lusting in a way I’d never known possible and I felt myself starting to lose control.

“Tough guy,” she replied as she continued to examine me.

“Scary?” I asked. She eyed me up and down, then shrugged like she wasn’t afraid.

“Maybe.”

“Like I might want to kidnap you?” I suggested. I did.

“You could try,” she replied. “But I know Taekwondo.”

“Oh, yeah?” I grinned. “I love the kind of woman who can kick my ass.” “Try me then, mister—” she started to say, but I didn’t let her finish.

I couldn’t take it anymore.

I moved right in with a speed I’d never known. This girl had hit me like a meteor going at the speed of light and knocked me completely out of my standard orbit.

She didn’t pull away. In fact, her flawless lips parted as if inviting me in, and I pressed mine against hers.

Holy shit.

My arousal swelled to full mast, threatening to pop the buttons off my jeans as she kissed me back, her tongue probing hungrily into my mouth.

Everything inside of me shifted. I groaned and slid an arm around her back, felt her slim shoulder blades, and wrapped my fingers around her neck and into her hair. I felt like a horny kid again as we made out on the museum steps. She moaned back against my mouth and I ran my other hand up her leg and grabbed her succulent thigh.