Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Hey,” I cut her off. “It’s not casual,” I assured her.
I didn’t know much right then, but I knew that much.
“Okay. Good. So, what’s a safe house like?”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Savannah
I should have been losing my mind.
Rationally, I knew that.
And, sure, an argument could be made for the liquor. I’d never really indulged in hard alcohol, and I could feel the way the liquid fire down my throat became a warm sensation moving through my veins, making me feel light and fuzzy.
I’d never been much of a drinker before. A glass of wine here or there. Nothing really to excess. So I had no idea how much it would impact me when I had several long swigs of it.
I’d been surprised how much I stumbled when trying to get into my shirt, then how much I was relying on Nino’s hand in mine as he led me down the stairs.
My brain was a little swimmy as I said hello to all the men gathered around the lower level, most of them in suits, with only a few looking like they had rolled out of bed or come over from the gym.
All of them, though, were almost ridiculously good-looking.
And they all had concern in their eyes as they looked back at me.
“Dante, Santo, why don’t you two take your brother and Savannah to the hotel?” the leader, Luca said, producing the key to the elevator, and offering it to Nino. “You do not leave the hotel room, do you get that?” he asked, tone firm. “Not for any reason.”
“Savannah is going to need some things,” Nino said.
“Give a list to your brothers. They can bring it by. I’m assuming there’s a family code word you can use to let each other know it’s safe.”
“Yes,” Nino confirmed, his hand giving mine a harder squeeze.
“Savannah, we will get this all worked out,” Luca said, looking at me.
“I’m sure you will,” I agreed, wondering if I was speaking slowly, or if that was my brain processing things differently.
“Go on. Go get her safe, get her some rest. We will be in contact,” he said, giving me a tight smile.
Then Nino was leading me away, tucking me in the backseat of a car with his brothers in the front.
Nino reached for me, pulling my legs over his lap, and I went ahead and scooted close to rest my head on his chest, allowing the ride to lull me in and out of what had to be a shock and alcohol-induced sleep.
Because, again, I should have been freaking out.
The sound of male voices were like a lullaby, though, keeping me asleep until the car stopped moving, and a door was slamming, jolting me suddenly awake.
“It’s okay,” Nino assured me, his arms gathering me up.
Then he was sliding out of the car with me in his arms.
“I can walk,” I assured him.
“I know you can,” he said, but he didn’t put me down, like he couldn’t bring himself to let me go.
I liked that more than I should have, so I went ahead and kept any further objections to myself.
I had no idea where we were.
The hotel itself was unfamiliar to me, but then again, I had no idea how long we’d been driving since I’d been dozing.
It was a giant structure, all dark gray stucco and dark windows, like there was some sort of tint on them, preventing us from seeing inside even at night.
Nino carried me into the lobby that had a similar dark theme to it—gray, black, and dimmed lighting.
There was a man behind the desk, giving everyone a curious look, but Nino ignored him as we made our way to the private elevator.
Dante and Santo squeezed in the small space with us, then rode up to the penthouse.
The door opened into a small vestibule, and we walked toward another door that required a code instead of a key.
There was a beep, and then we were in.
To a hotel room that was bigger than any house I had ever been inside before.
It was all the same dark tones from the outside and lower level, with giant floor-to-ceiling windows, a sunken living room area, a kitchen, and a door open to what looked like a bedroom that was bigger than the one in Nino’s house.
“Whoa.”
I didn’t realize I’d made the sound until Nino’s chest moved a bit with a chuckle.
“Yeah, it’s a little much,” he agreed. “But we never know how many people are going to need to stay here, or for how long.”
That made sense.
If the person in trouble had a family, and there were half a dozen people having to stay in the safe house, then, yeah, space would be important so no one went stir-crazy.
“Set the woman down, so she can help us write a list,” Dante demanded.
Nino walked me over to the couch, and carefully deposited me down, leaving me to arrange my skirt, being all-too aware that Santo knew that I was without panties at the moment.