Sweet Temptation by Cora Reilly

I wasn’t a fan of physical contact at night and had often not even shared the bed
with my deceased wife. Not that she would have ever dreamed of wanting to
have me close at night. She never bothered to hide her reluctance to have me
near her, least of all when we slept together—unless there was something that
she wanted from me.
Giulia had asked for my closeness and I’d denied her.
The early morning light illuminated her puffy face. Her lashes stuck to her
skin with dried tears. She was close, had moved closer in sleep until we were
almost touching. I felt the unreasonable desire to touch her—and not in a sexual
way. Propped up on my elbow, I watched her peaceful sleep. As with many
nights before, Gaia’s blood-covered body had haunted my dreams. I hardly ever
dreamed about the people I’d killed, and yet my dead wife still filled my nights.
Giulia stirred, lips parting in a soft sigh. I pushed myself up and swung my
legs out of bed, turning my back to her.
The bed shifted. I threw a glance over my shoulder at Giulia who was sitting
up, rubbing her face framed by messy hair. Noticing my attention, her eyes met
mine. She smiled hesitantly. The early morning light wasn’t kind to me because
Giulia looked absolutely lovely in a very teenage girl way.
Damn it all.
I stood. “We need to get ready. The women will retrieve the sheets soon.”
Giulia took my watch from the nightstand. “It’s only eight. Do you really
think they’ll disturb us this early after our wedding night?”
They probably wouldn’t, but I had no intention to waste time in bed. I had
scheduled several meetings throughout the day, the most important with Luca for
lunch. I needed to use the opportunity of having him in town. I grabbed my
phone from the nightstand and sent Mia a message that they could pick up the