Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 113(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 113(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
“Calm down, my fiery princess. June works for Dario as well, so she and I have met several times. I have no interest in her. You’re the only one I want.”
“I’m not jealous,” I lie badly.
“Don’t bullshit me. You’ve got nothing to worry about. Now behave before I show you that you’re my only one.”
He takes me into a small house that’s very nice. I could get used to living here as long as it’s with Enrico. His phone starts going off, and then he lets out a chuckle.
“What’s going on?” I asked, feeling so unsure.
“It’s from Alessio. It seems I’m not the only one who is in trouble for putting you in the trunk.”
“Oh yeah?” Don’t hurt January or my woman won’t be happy.
I don’t hurt women. Even if she’s a sexy brat. He showed me the text and his reply.
Bribe her with the kittens. She loves kittens too.
She might toss one of them at me, Enrico sends back.
She’d never hurt them. That has to be one of the girls. “June is responding now.”
Good idea.
Talk to your woman, not mine. Alessio.
“He’s crazy. I only want to talk to you anyway. June’s nice and all, but I never understood why they were wasting their time with women until you popped up in my life.”
“Popped up? I believe you hunted me down.”
“Technically you popped out of a window and straight into my arms.” He has me there.
A knock at the door causes him to leave me for a moment and then an elderly man enters, taking a look between the both of us. “Shit, you look more worse for wear than she does.”
I blush, shame filling me for having attacked him in the first place. He shakes his head and takes my hand in his, bringing it to his lips as he takes a seat beside me. “Take care of her. We believe she had ketamine blown in her face.”
“Okay. Well, we can do some bloodwork, but if she’s not feeling high or unwell, she’ll be just fine. It will run out of the system pretty quickly.”
“Thanks. I just need her to be okay.”
“And you need some of those cuts to be taken care of before they become infected,” January insists.
“Fine. For you, I will.”
“Good. I don’t want to leave you with any more scars.”
“Oh. That one I got as a little boy, jumping off a tree.” Wow, I can just imagine him being a wild boy acting brutish and running into trouble even then. “I didn’t learn my lesson well back in those days.”
“I’m sorry about your face.”
“It’s okay. I should have done a better job of protecting you. You’re my sole purpose in life now.” I brush my lips against his and he groans, feeling the burn.
“Oops.” I pull back, but he just cups my face and drags me in for a deeper kiss.
It’s not long until the doctor leaves after taking care of both of us and Enrico says, “How about we go lie down?”
“I’d like that, but first can we shower? I want to rinse off my apartment. I feel icky. Besides, someone threw me in a trunk that probably had other bodies in it before. It’s gross.”
“Oh, hell, no. Don’t let Luca hear you say that. He loves his vehicles and wouldn’t ever do that. You were the first. I assure you he wasn’t pleased with the switch this morning.”
“I was the first person dumped in his trunk? I feel so special.”
“By me,” Enrico growled. Is he actually jealous?
“Look. You have almost all my firsts, so relax. Now—are you going to take me to the shower, or are you going to sit there looking grumpy all day?” He scoops me up and rushes me upstairs where the shower is useless because we get filthy.
****
When we wake up I noticed that he has another scar on his chest, but this one is larger than the one on his chin. I saw it the other day, but I never asked. Things were messy then, but now, I know where I belong and I don’t want to leave Enrico’s side, ever.
“Rico, what happened here?”
“Amore, that’s from the night my nonno was murdered.”
“What?”
“I visited my nonno every summer in Italy. One summer, a local group of thugs were breaking into homes, robbing to gain their reputation. They came into ours and my nonno was asleep in the living room as usual in front of the television. I was in my room, reading when I heard the commotion. They beat him and stabbed him. When I came out they slit me with a knife across the chest and ran.” He pauses, the pain of the memory too great.
I brush the scar and place a kiss on it.
He lifts my head and kisses my lips. “I was only twelve years old at the time, so I didn’t have the strength I have now to fight back, but I eventually got my revenge. From that day, I became a different man. The man you see before you.”