Her eyes widen with excitement and her breath catches. I almost groan with how stunning she looks.
“Really?” she breathes.
“Just say the word. We can get some food too if you want?” She hadn’t had time to eat during her short break and I hate the thought of my angel going hungry.
“I say yes, please. To food and drink.”
I grab my phone and connect to the bar’s online site before she changes her mind.
She makes her choice and I order and pay, just as her phone buzzes.
I tense as she reaches for it. But there’s no alarm in her face as she reads the text.
“Everything good?” I probe casually.
She smiles. “Yeah, just Bella checking up on me.”
The other woman goes up another notch in my book. “She do that every night?”
She tucks her phone away and smiles. “Most nights. She’s like the big sister I never had.”
I nod, wondering if that’s the reason Aria has stayed almost as long in San Diego as she did in Miami.
A risky strategy, but since it’s why I managed to track her down, I can’t fault it too much.
“Good. I’m glad she’s looking out for you.”
Her big blue eyes do that maddeningly sexy glance-and-slide-away thing again. “You looked out for me too,” she whispers softly.
I shove hard at my guilt. Remind myself that she placed herself in a dangerous position in the first place. That I’m what stands between her and Gio’s deadly payback.
But the reminders of all the many ways she could endanger herself even further infuriates me. “Tell me why you’re working in that shitty joint,” I snap before I can stop myself.
She jerks in her seat and wariness creeps into her eyes. “It’s a job. And I don’t need to defend my choices to you,” she snaps.
“Oh yeah? What if I hadn’t been around and one of those assholes was waiting in the parking lot after you clocked off? Take me through your top three self-defense skills.”
Her chin lifts and her eyes go from wary to irate.
Of course, that glimpse of her feisty spirit turns me on too. Shit. Everything about her riles my Latin blood.
My angel has fire. I like it.
“You must think I’m an idiot. Telling you gives you the upper hand. You’re welcome to find out if you want to try something?” she says with a lift of her brows.
I can’t help but grin at her spirited tone.
And, because I’ve been a fucking saint and resisted long enough, I brush my knuckles down her cheek.
“Stand down, angel. Forcing myself on women is definitely not my style.”
Her shoulders sag in relief and I realize how tense I’d made her. But slowly, the electricity builds from my touch and her breathing grows a touch erratic.
Those gorgeous eyes turn soft again and when she leans into my touch I pivot toward her, running my thumb over her satin smooth lower lip.
She exhales shakily, and dammit, I’m going insane with the need to bite those lips, to taste her.
I lean down toward her. “Fuck, I need to—”