Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
We talked for a while about other, smaller matters, before we all headed out.
I made the call to Primo before I made my way home to Kick.
Even just that thought made that strange warm sensation move across my chest. It was something I was having a lot around her or with thoughts of her.
It was clear she was still uncertain about me. Or, maybe more accurately, about my reaction to the situation between us.
I hoped that with a few days in my place, with proof that things were okay between us, she would stop asking for confirmation that things were okay, that I still wanted her around.
“What are you doing?” I asked the next morning after having finally spent the whole night with her, woken up with her still curled up against me.
“What do you mean?” she asked, coming into the kitchen still pulling her damp hair into a ponytail, her Lombardi Premium Meats tee on.
“What are you getting all dressed for?” I asked.
“Work?” she asked, brows scrunched. “You know, that thing I do five or six days a week,” she added, accepting a cup of coffee from me.
“You don’t have to go to work.”
“I kind of do,” she said, shaking her head at me. “I have bills to pay. A cat with very expensive tastes to feed…”
As if on cue, Evander came strolling into the kitchen, whacking himself against me before hopping up on the counter to eat the food I’d already set out for him.
I wanted to tell her that she didn’t have to worry about bills anymore because she was going to be living with me. That I would buy Evander his food and toys and anything else he, or she, needed or wanted.
But things were still new.
I didn’t want to freak her out.
“Okay,” I agreed. “Probably good for things to be status quo for a bit,” I added.
She nodded at that. “What about after work?” she asked.
“What do you mean? You’re coming here.”
Her eyes warmed at that. “I mean… what if Kyle or his guys are watching?”
That was a good point.
“Hop in a cab after work. Tell it to head to your place, but once there, take it here.”
“I can do that,” she agreed, nodding. “But what if they catch on?”
They wouldn’t be alive for long enough to, I thought, but didn’t want to say that aloud.
“Doesn’t matter. You’re going to be at work, safe, with me and Bastian. Then you’re going to be here, safe. No one is going to get a chance to get to you again.”
Satisfied with that, she went back to her coffee.
Eventually, Bass showed up with breakfast sandwiches, and we all ate before heading in to work. Me with Bass, Kick in a cab.
My stomach was in knots until she walked through the doors a few minutes after us.
It was about half an hour later, some of the employees still streaming in with just a couple minutes to spare before opening, when Bass pushed open the front door, and in walked Primo Esposito.
There was always an air that bosses had about them. A sort of untouchable confidence and that undercurrent of power.
That could absolutely be said of Primo, a man who had the balls to kidnap a Costa woman and basically force her into a marriage to forge a truce between the two families.
His gaze slid across the shop, taking it all in for a moment. He offered me a nod but his gaze went to Kick, his head tipping to the side as the two of them looked at each other, recognition clear in their eyes.
“Knew your ass was up to no good,” Primo said, giving her a dark smile. “Ever find that brother of yours?” he asked.
This was a part of the story she’d left out. Likely not thinking it was important. But it was interesting that she’d crossed paths with the very person we needed to get permission from to put an end to the situation she was trapped in.
Kick was still raw. I expected her to tear up or something like that. But she leveled an even look at Primo and declared, “Unfortunately.”
To that, Primo let out a low chuckle.
“Know a thing or two about bad brothers,” he said.
He could say that again.
But that was his story to tell, not mine.
“Where we doing this?” Primo asked, looking at me.
I led him into the back, giving him the lowdown of the whole situation, and asking for permission to head into his territory to end it once and for all.
“Gotta do what you gotta do,” Primo said, giving me a nod. “Now, I expect an invite to the wedding,” he said, standing and buttoning his suit jacket before making his way out of the front.
But he paused next to Kick, giving her a long, knowing look. “Speaking from experience, found family can be better than blood,” he told her.