Heat.

That was all I felt when my heavy eyelids opened slowly to the dimly lit room, and it took me only two seconds to realize that I wasn't in my room, or on my bed, and the hot breath filtering through my hair and tinkling my neck didn't come from my comforter. It was Tristan. I was in his bed, pinned against his chest, his long legs tangled around mine like roots, and his strong arms draped over both my breasts, tight and inflexible, holding me with a vise grip.

My heart pounded so loud I feared he would hear it. I shifted slowly, eager to get out of here as fast as I could but he moaned wantonly, tightening his grip and jutting his hip forward so the thick ridge of his morning erection pressed into my back.

I stilled and closed my eyes whilst holding my breath and praying to whoever listened that he didn't wake.

After a few agonizing minutes of holding perfectly still while he stirred and moaned, I finally managed to untangle myself and climb to my feet.

With shaky legs, I tiptoed to his door. I opened it slowly and paused in the doorway to chance one last look at him. He was lying on his back, his groin covered by the sheets. His beautiful black hair was tousled across his forehead and he was sleeping with his mouth partially opened as he snored softly. It was a bit relieving to see the pain lines on his forehead had smoothed out. Good job, Sienna. I let myself drag a lungful of air before turning to leave and closing the door.

Inside my room, I closed the door and leaned against it.

Thank Jesus.

I glanced at the clock and saw that it was just a few minutes past the hour of five. Pleased, I got on my bed, crawled under my covers, and slept off. When I woke up a few hours later, I felt slightly better, except for the pain in my shoulder and hips and back, and head.

I sat up and massaged my shoulders. The soft morning light filtered through the drapes. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I got out of bed and stalked towards the bathroom.

The cold floor tickled my feet. In front of the mirror, I pulled my shirt over my head and haunted for damage control. Immediately, I was faced with a bright red bruise sitting on my left shoulder. I touched it and winced. He'd sunk his teeth into me last night. I remembered how painful it had been and how badly I'd wanted to scream out but I'd settled for silently crying instead, which was why I currently had bags under my eyes.

I turned to the side and lifted my hand, the prints of his fingers digging into my skin were visible and red and I just knew they were going to turn into bruises. Way to go Sienna. I felt like crying for myself but I decided against it. The important thing was that I was able to help him, and all be it, this was more bearable than a dent in the head.

Dismissing the pain, I took off my panties and went through my routine of brushing, washing my hair, and showering. In the shower, my eyes burned with tears a few times but I didn't cry. After drying my hair and lathering my skin with oil, I rubbed ointment on my bruise and tossed a black oversized Fanny sweater over my cargo skirt to conceal the bruise sitting on my shoulder. It was loose around the neck but it was the only one I had.

Five minutes later, I walked like a sloth down the stairs and headed to the kitchen.

As part of my morning ritual, Giuseppe poured me a cup of coffee from the coffee machine and handed it to me. "How did you sleep, Bella Mia?"

I propped my elbows on the kitchen island, blowing into my cup. "How do you think?"

A knowing glimmer appeared in his eyes. "I say not good by the looks of it."

I snapped my finger. "Bingo."

A delighted laugh bubbled out of his lips. "Breakfast is ready, please inform your husband."

I narrowed my eyes. There was no point arguing. "After my coffee."

He smiled. "Va bene."

I took all the time I could sipping my coffee partly because it was hot and partly because I didn't want to see Tristan. Albeit, after emptying my cup and having no other excuse, I got up and climbed the stairs, whilst hoping he was awake and didn't remember I was there last night.

Getting to his door, I knocked twice before entering. The bed was empty and the room was silent. My paranoia made me rush to the bathroom first to make sure he wasn't in there. When I confirmed I was alone, I walked back out and decided to leave because there was no point being in here when he wasn't.

I walked back to the door and started to open it but it opened first from the other side and I was taken aback when Tristan stepped in, smelling like expensive aftershave and wearing only short pants.

His eyes landed on me, he was staring at me and I'd expected him to say something but he just stood there, his eyes slowly crawling down my body before coming back up to my face.

I cleared my throat and took a step back. He stepped in and shut the door with a bang.

"Good morning," I told him, cutting the tension arcing between us. "Did you sleep well?" I proceeded to ask, touching his forehead. His fever was gone, and he looked fine. Better than I did.

When he still didn't speak or move, I smoothed my hand nervously down my sweater. "Alright, Guiseppe wanted me to let you that breakfast was ready. It seems you're not in much of a chatty mood, so I'll just-"

"Why were you in my bed?" He cut me firmly with a question that made my heart begin to pound.

I blinked rapidly, my throat suddenly going cotton-dry. Shit. It was stupid to think he wouldn't notice. "Well, I..." My voice dried up. I opened my mouth, closed it, and opened it again.

"Answer me, Sienna." He snapped, making me flinch. "And don't you dare lie to me because I could smell you all over my pillows this morning."

"You..." I searched for my words. "You were having a nightmare," I explained, taking a safe step back. "I was only trying-"

"To help." He finished sourly and then forked his hand through his hair in what could only be described as exasperation. "What did I tell you about this? After what happened last time I expect you to be smarter, Sienna. How many more bruises in your head do you need before you realize that you need to stop acting like a meddlesome, thoughtless child."

My stomach sank a little and my heart tightened in a painful knot. His words stung, fraying away what little compassion I'd built for him. I folded my fists, figuring I had two options- either get mad and slap him across the face; a treatment he'd earned fair and square, or walk out of here with my pride intact-I chose the option that didn't involve zapping my strength. I turned around to simply walk away but I didn't take two steps before he caught my elbow.

"And who do you think you are walking away from me?"

I spun around to shoot him a bird. My sweater slid down in the process, and I didn't notice my bruise was on display until his eyes lowered to my shoulder and darkened.

I yanked my hand out of his and dragged my sweater up. "I'm not going to do this with you, Tristan, I won't stand here and watch you talk me down."

He didn't answer me, he wasn't looking at me, his eyes were glued to my shoulder and they were registering anger along with an emotion I couldn't quite put a name to. "I did this to you, didn't I?" He asked, grabbing my hand harder this time and yanking my sweater down so forcefully that I heard the faint sound of a tear. "You made me do this."

I ripped my hand away and pulled my slacked sweater up to protect myself. "It doesn't matter," I said brusquely. "It's nothing."

"Where else? Show me." Before I could react, he yanked me close and reached for the hem of my sweater, pulling it up to conduct a blind, hasty assessment. His hand skimmed over my breast, sending the wrong message to my nipple. Exhaling sharply, I shoved myself away from him so fast, I stumbled on my feet and flailed my hand helplessly as I began to falter to the floor but he lunged forward, just in time to catch me by the waist and haul me directly into his chest.

Air left my lungs in a rush. I wiggled my way out of his grip immediately and took a few hasty steps away from him. "What do you think you're doing?!" I snapped, breathing heavily.

He stood straight and clenched his fists. "You need to stop this, Sienna." He gritted. "You have to stop this. Stop whatever you think you're doing."

"I'm not doing anything!" I bellowed.

"You are and you need to stop it!" He seethed. "Playing house and cozying up to me isn't going to make me see you any different, Sienna, if you're hoping to rip me off by aiming for my heart, you've already failed so give up and stop this madness!"

"For the umpteenth time, I don't want anything from you, Tristan, I only helped like any normal person would!"

His nostrils flared. "Bullshit, Sienna, everyone wants something from me."

I closed my eyes in frustration, holding close the gates of my anger. "Look, I don't know who fucked you over to make your judgment this screwed but I'm not like them okay, I'm not after anything, sure, I agreed to this for the money but that's it."

His jaw flexed. "You're lying, no one lets themselves get hurt on purpose. You want something from me, what is it?"

For the love of God! This man was making me tick. "What I want is for you to be grateful for once in your life." I burst out. "I just tried to help you for God's sake, and I did that because I can. Maybe it's easy for you to turn your back on people and watch them suffer but I can't. That's me! Get used to it!" I was talking too fast, my words tumbling over themselves but I didn't stop. "And you know what?!" I shoved my finger in his face. "I'm not going to apologize for being who I am. I'm not going to apologize for saving your life and helping you through your nightmare even if you've been nothing but shit to me. Next time, I'll be here, and I'll help you because that's how my mum raised me; to be kind, and compassionate. It has nothing to do with your goddamned money so instead of standing here and throwing a hissy fit, you should be grateful and not act like the spoilt brat I'm sure your mother didn't raise you to be!"

At my words, he squeezed his eyes shut and groaned as if in pain. When he opened them, his expression grew dark and his voice cold. "Keep my mother out of this."

"I won't," I refused. "Because it seems that somebody needs to remind you of her teachings so you stop acting like an arrogant prick!"

Two steps forward, and he closed the distance, threatening me with his towering physique. "Sienna." The vein in his neck pulsed. "Stop."

"No." I objected, refusing to cower to the telltale signs of deathly anger contorting on his chiseled face. "You know I'm right, you know-"

"Sienna..." He cut me one more time. "I said stop." His glare was hostile and the way his fists clenched and unclenched told me he was trying to hold himself back but that little devil in me refused to back down.

"Why? Are you hurt?" I taunted. "I'm right, aren't I? Your poor mother's probably rolling in her grave knowing she birthed a big, pathetic-" My words seized in my throat. Before I could blink, I found myself shoved against his door so tightly that my feet nearly came off the ground.

"Tristan!" I released a startled gasp, helplessly staring back at him as he held me still, looking at me like he couldn't decide whether to scream at me or hit me. He was angry, really angry. My gut knotted. "What are you doing?"

He leaned forward, sneering. "Do you think I'm playing some game?"

Fear mounted in my chest. I shook my head hastily, trying to wiggle free but I was pinned by the strength of his fingers around my throat. "N-no."

"Do not mistake my tolerance towards your insubordination as weakness. Open your filthy mouth to say shit like that again and I'll show you the side of me you don't want to see."

"I'm...sorry." I stammered, shivering. "Please let me go, I'm sorry."

He didn't let go. His vise grip remained firm.

"Tristan." I was running out of breath. "I won't... I won't," I gulped for scraps of air. "Please..." My vision curled. "...stop."

He released me at that moment, causing air to rush into my lungs. Eyes wide with shock, I sagged to the floor and held my throat, coughing.

He didn't let me have this moment. Without another word, he pulled me up like a rag doll, opened his door, and pushed me out so harshly that I stumbled forward and fell to my knees. "Get lost." He seethed right after and slammed the door.