We take our coats off at the door and shake the water on to the mat. Prende stomps her feet to dry her boots and I wipe my leather uppers off before following her.
“Whoa, that was fun. It’s been so long since I laughed.” She turns around and I bump into her, our bodies touch and my lips claim hers. She’s not Italian, but she’s irresistible and she’s mine.
She doesn’t know it yet, but there is no way she’s going to end up with another man.
Her lips return pressure on mine, and I open my mouth more and nibble at her lower lip. She lets my tongue slip inside her mouth and I wrap my arms around her, pulling her into my chest, hugging her to me as her hands glide up my back and our coats drop to the floor.
My pulse quickens and my cock hardens but she’s not that type of girl. She pulls away and catches her breath.
“Are you okay?”
“Umm.” She looks dizzy and I can tell the kiss made an impression as she regains her balance and bends down to snatch our coats.
“Thanks,” I say as she hands me my coat.
“No problem.”
“So, what were we talking about?” she asks.
I can’t even look at her as I hold my coat in front of me and act as if nothing happened.
“Oh right, your dad was pissing us off, but we didn’t kill him.”
“The Digitalis in his body. . .”
“What? We didn’t put it there. We don’t know any more than you.”
“So, you are in the mafia too?”
“Don’t say that in public,” I snap at her. My flash of anger makes her shudder and I immediately regret scaring her.
“I had no idea about my family,” she emphatically whispers.
Just as I secretly hoped. She is as innocent as I believed her to be.
“And now you are in their sights,” I mumble.
“What do you mean? All these innuendos, it’s too much.” She shakes her hands in aggravation. “You’re the enemy of my family, I can’t be around you, and I can’t do the wedding.”
“That’s what you say, but you don’t know that. Do what you want and see what happens,” hands behind my back, one hand over the other, I continue walking as I take in the modern artwork on the walls.
“I’m afraid. I don’t know what will happen.”
“Then you need to get something on them, leverage yourself.”
“I’m not into playing cloak and dagger, I never even won a game of Clue in my life.”
“But you were smart enough to procure an autopsy report or your own test without anyone knowing. . . ” I point out.
“I. . . that’s different. I got lucky and played my hand and it worked. I’m really not that savvy. I can’t compete with you, your family. . .”
“You don’t have to. Get some dirt on your uncle, force him to protect you.”
“He said I’m to marry someone, someone they found to take care of me.”
“Oh boy, he’s there to keep you in line. You need to look at the books in your shop.”
“What do you mean?”