"And what if you had become pregnant?"
"I’d have had it." She smiles a secret little smile. "And you’d have helped me bring up the baby."
"Woman, didn’t you hear what I said earlier? It’s not safe for you when you’re with me."
"And it’s not safe away from you, either. So, I’d rather be with you than not." She reaches out her hand, palm facing up.
"What?" I glare at it with suspicion.
"Give me your hand, Gangster."
"First, you try to convince me to leave theCosa Nostra;then, you call me Gangster. You’re driving me crazy, you know that?"
"So you’ve mentioned. Now, give me your hand."
Holding her gaze, I lick my fingers one by one, deliberately swallowing down her period blood.
Her pupils dilate.
Then, I place my palm over her much smaller one—reluctantly, it should be noted—and she brings it to her mouth and kisses it. Angel kisses each of my knuckles, then turns my palm over and presses her lips right in the center. "There. Now you have my kisses in your blood." She smiles hugely.
I have you in my blood, in my veins, in the thing that’s beating so fast in my chest, I’m sure I’m going into cardiac arrest.I grip her wrist, pull her up to sitting, then toss the towel aside and rise to my feet with her in my arms.
She snuggles into me as I carry her back to the bathroom. I place her on the rim of the tub and replace the plug. The water has reached the half-way mark, so I toss in a tennis ball-shaped thing called a bath bomb, or something equally inane, before I fill the tub with hot water.
Bubbles begin to form almost at once, and the scent of roses fills the air.
"Bath bombs?" She sits up straight. "You have bath bombs?" She shoots me a look. "Did you buy them for me?"
My neck heats. "Don’t attach too much importance to it. I bought it by mistake."
"And coincidentally, they turned out to be rose-scented—my favorite scent, by the way... Mistake, too?"
"Exactly."
She smiles so widely, she almost cracks her face.
"Don’t look so pleased," I mutter.
"For a big, bad MafiaCapo, you’re such a softie." Her smile grows bigger, if that’s possible.
"What’s wrong with your face?" I growl.
"It’s the endorphins." She smiles goofily. "Thanks to your magic dick, I had the best orgasm ever, which is good. It means I won’t kill you."
"What?" I blink. "What does that mean?"
"It’s an Elle Woods quote."
"First Plath, now Elle Woods; you are a study in contradiction, baby. I suppose I should be grateful you’re not throwing some random actor’s name at me."
"I wouldn’t dare, as possessive as you are,baby."
I wince. "I changed my mind. I prefer you call me Gangster."
"How about Gangster Baby?"
"What? No. No fucking way, woman. And don’t you ever stop talking?" I rise to my feet, then grab her hips and lower her into the tub. She sighs as she sinks into the water.