I never trust anything, so I stop a block from the restaurant and wait there in silence. I can feel Sofia getting antsy and wanting to speak.
“You can get off and stretch your legs,” I say. “We’ll walk from here.”
“Like back to Long Beach?” she says incredulously.
“No,” I say slowly as though she’s an idiot, “To where I plan the next part of our little trip together, Princess.”
“Don’t call me that,” she snarls. “If you call me anything, call me Sofia.”
“Whatever you say, Princess,” I say, smirking at her. No one outside of my family tells me what to do.
Chapter 4 - Sofia
“You just drove us in circles repeatedly,” I say. “I really don’t think that was necessary.” I wait for him to dismount the motorbike.
“In case you hadn’t noticed, we had a tail,” he says irritably, which just annoys me more. Talk about a grumpy fish. “I had to make sure we lost them so that I didn’t just kill a dozen guys for no reason.”
I swallow slightly. “Sorry about that.”
“Sorry about what?” he asks, starting to walk down the block.
I walk quickly to keep up, my small steps hardly a match for his great strides. “Sorry you had to kill people.”
He shrugs as though it isn’t a big deal. I stare at him for a moment. I can’t believe he can shrug something like that off so easily. He obviously kills often.
He stops outside a restaurant and holds the door open. “Get in.”
I walk in and look around. It’s a nice-looking place, everything is neat, and the waiters are dressed impeccably. I realize what state I am in. My hair is a mess, and my clothes are dirty. I definitely stand out.
My rescuer walks in behind me, makes a hand gesture to the hostess, and leads me toward a booth in the back. “Sit, order something to eat.”
I sit as he tells me to, and the hostess herself brings me a menu, “Anything you want, on the house for the Sorvino family.”
He nods and pushes his menu back. “Give us two beers. I’ll have a pepperoni pizza and whatever she wants to eat.”
I look at the menu and look up. “Um, can I have the Chicken Cordon Bleu?”
She takes my menu and leaves, “Beer, really?”
“You need to relax after what you’ve been through,” he says.
“Can I at least get your name?” I ask.
His blue-gray eyes look into mine, and my heart skips a beat. “Dominic,” he says. “Dominic Sorvino.”
I hold out my hand. “I’m Sofia Lopez.”
He doesn’t shake my hand. “I know. I came to save you.”
I retract my hand, frowning. “You’re not very pleasant, are you.”
“It’s not like I’m being paid to be nice,” he says, sitting back as the hostess brings the beers and sets them down on the table.
He takes out his phone and starts scrolling on it, leaving me to my own thoughts. He’s grumpy, self-absorbed, and irritable, and I’m not. I’m like the sunshine, and he’s a hurricane. At least he isn’t bad to look at, but God, I wouldn’t be able to stand being around him for any length of time.
He starts clicking away at his phone, and I ask, “So, is there a next step in your plan?”
“Yes,” he says, but he doesn’t elaborate.