“Doing stupid things kids do,” he said, lifting one shoulder and letting it fall. “I was caught on camera riding rails outside one of the big banks downtown. My friends and I bent some of the handrails on their stairs so we were charged with property damage. Got off with a warning and some community service.
“Speaking of railings, I think it’s time for you to let go of that one.” He glided up close to her, then reached for her hand, prying it from the cold metal.
She resisted, and her feet nearly slid out from under her. “Oh, no! I’ll fall.”
“No, you won’t,” he said calmly taking her other hand, skating backward as he towed her away from the safety of the railing. “I’ve got you.”
I’ve got you. She liked the sound of that.
He studied her feet. “Put them more like a V. Like mine. Then you’re going to do a duck walk. All right?”
She couldn’t look down. Instead, she looked straight at his broad chest as he led her slowly to the center of the rink. Everyone else disappeared as he directed her, calmly and patiently. Suddenly, she realized that he was touching her, and for the first time it wasn’t about sex. And it was…nice.
She liked the feel of his warm hands in hers, the sound of his voice in her ears.
It lulled her to a place where, for the first time in a long time, she felt safe.
“So,” he said as he glided with her, moving faster until confidence began to seep into Eva’s limbs. She was surprised at how easy it was, with his arms around her, to forget just about everything. “I’ve always known you didn’t want to follow in your father’s footsteps. But I never asked you why.”
She blinked at the unexpected question. “Well, I had planned to at one point. Dad didn’t discriminate because I was a girl. He groomed me the way he groomed An
tonio. Thoroughly,” she added with a wry smile.
“So what changed?” he asked.
“I interned at a cosmetics company in grad school, and they had all these animals in cages.” Her stomach dropped at the thought. “You should’ve seen it, Jack. It was horrible. I knew I had to do something different with my life. Something meaningful.”
He didn’t respond, but something flickered behind his eyes. Something like hurt.
Suddenly she realized what she’d said, and her face blazed. “Oh, God. I didn’t mean it that way. What you do is meaningful, of course it is. I just meant more meaningful to me.“
He chuckled softly. “It’s all right, Eva. I understand. And I admire the heart you put into your business. But I think you may have broken your father’s a little with that decision.”
She snorted. “No, I didn’t. He always had Antonio. He never missed me.”
“You used to come around to the properties with us, though, in the early days. Remember?” Jack chuckled. “He called you his good luck charm. Said you had the best gut for real estate he’d ever seen. You always knew a winner from a loser.”
She stared at her skates, trying to recall. In the early days of the business, she’d only been in high school. A lot of time had passed since then. But she did remember, around the time her mother passed away, that Pietro had relied on her a lot. “After my mom died, he wanted to keep the family together. I think including me in the business was another way to do that. He never liked to leave Antonio or me home alone, even when we were teenagers.”
Jack was silent for a long time, still holding her against him. Then he said, “That’s kind of odd. Isn’t it?”
She mused for a moment. “No. I don’t think so. I mean, not to me. That’s just always the way things were.” She laughed. “Now you know where Antonio got his protective side.”
“But Antonio wasn’t always like that,” Jack said. “In fact, in high school, he could be downright careless. He used to leave his dorm room door unlocked for me all the time. I used to tell him he was going to get his wallet lifted, but he never listened. It wasn’t until we started working with your father that he became so fixated on your safety.”
She frowned. “Maybe that’s right. I was younger, so I don’t remember exactly when Antonio joined the routine, but my dad was always obsessed with safety. Even when I was a little girl.”
Jack’s brow knitted. “Exactly. Too obsessed, even for a man who loved his kids to distraction.”
“So, you think Dad knew he had an enemy?” Eva asked, the cool breeze making her shiver inside her sweatshirt.
“Maybe,” Jack breathed softly.
“But Dad was just dad,” Eva said, still not wanting to believe it. “He had his quirks. But you know he was the sweetest man.”
“Yeah. I know. He was. And most of the time he didn’t seem to have a care in the world.”
Eva didn’t like his tone, but before she could form another question, she realized his grip on her hands had loosened. “Wait a second. What are you doing?”