24
I squeezed the slim key between my fingers, contemplating whether to take off or do as he said. But when he feathered his lips along my hairline, I slipped to the floor, compelled to give him something in return, and knelt in front of his cuffed hands. With a deep huff of air, I freed him. Even if my intentions remained the same, running before facing reality, Santino didn’t give me a chance to so much as finish the thought before he tugged me back onto his lap.
“Why are you crying?”
“I’m not.”
He swiped his thumb over an errant tear and smiled. “Okay, but either way, I need to know we’re good.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I know how this works. What happens in these rooms stays here.”
He cracked another smile.
“That’s not what I meant. I don’t really know how else to spell it out for you. I paid a man off, double what he was offering, and cuffed myself to a fucking chair for you, Amara,” he admitted with a chuckle, hands framing either side of my face. “I want you. I want this. You and me. I want a chance.”
His words stole my breath, and fresh tears dripped down my cheeks.
“Stop.” I found his eyes and was momentarily mesmerized by the glimmer of red lights reflected in his irises. “I can’t give you what you’re asking for.”
“And what is it you think I want, preziosa ?”
My gaze dropped from his. “The parts of me that died a long time ago. I have nothing left for you…for anyone.”
Goosebumps danced over my skin when he moved my hair back and softly kissed my shoulder.
“You’re right. You have nothing for anyone else because I already told you that I’m a selfish bastard, and I don’t want just pieces of you, Amara. I want it all.”
Reminding myself how to breathe, I shook my head. He would bolt out of the room if he knew what I’d seen and the things I’d been subjected to. How broken I truly was on the inside.
“If you knew…”
“There isn’t a single damn thing you can say that would make me walk out that door the same way I walked in…without you.” Santino slid the black silk from my wrist and turned my hand over. “This doesn’t evoke fear. It fills me with rage.”
“Me too,” I whispered, following his movements as he caressed the jagged edges of my scars.
“Let me take you out.” Santino tipped my chin, and as silly as it was, I bit the corner of my lip at the gesture.
“A date?”
“How about the marina? Tomorrow night?”
“I work.”
“It’s a good thing I own this place.”
A smile threatened to break, but it hit me then what I’d done—dry humped my boss and came on his lap .
“Shit.”
Placing my hands on his chest as leverage, I intended to push off and make good on my plan from earlier by running, but he was faster and tightened his arms around my waist. A flash of panic swelled inside me until he crooned words of reassurance in my ear.
“I don’t regret what happened here, nor should you. And I don’t want to go back to the way things were between us.” His palm opened against my back, pressing me to his chest. “I’ll take however much you want to give, preziosa .”
My eyes drifted closed as I nuzzled deeper against him, the weight of his arms and the warmth of his chest soothing the last tendrils of my anxiety. I couldn’t remember when I’d felt so…safe.
Thoughts of my time with Kai and Derek came to mind, but I shoved their memory back into the vault where they belonged.
Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I opened my dressing room door at the exact moment Santino had intended to knock. Not holding back my smile this time, I leaned against the frame.
“I’m heading home.”
“Can I walk you to your car?”
“You’re not going to start getting all overprotective on me, are you?”
He moved in closer, and my stomach heated.
“You have to know by now that’s just part of who I am when it comes to you.”
I grabbed the front of his shirt, closing the distance between us. “It’s not like you can’t see me on camera from your office.”
He laughed. “You know about that?”
“Camera angle number three is always set on my car,” I said, brushing the corner of his lips with mine. A kiss seemed like such a simple gesture of affection, but it represented so much more.
Trust.
The last time I kissed anyone by choice was when I was seventeen. Strangely enough, I wasn’t afraid to kiss Santino because of my past; I was nervous I’d forgotten how.
“Easy, baby,” he whispered, covering my shaky hand with his.
“Mr. Leone!”
Ash’s voice caused us to freeze. Even though I liked the guy, I wanted to strangle him for killing my moment.
Santino rested his forehead on mine and sighed. “What is it?”
“Some drunk assholes got into it with Rome. Ended up jumping the counter, broke a bunch of shit. Rome stabbed one of them in the neck with a bottle of Patron. Son of a bitch is bleeding out on the floor. Give me the word, boss, and I’ll toss his ass over the pier.”
Santino met my eyes. “Don’t leave. I’ll handle this and be right back.”
Ash threw me a curious look but said nothing, disappearing around the corner behind Santino.
I leaned against the door frame, feeling weightless and hopeful for the first time in a long time. And when my phone vibrated from my back pocket, not even the sudden jolt was enough to erase the grin on my face, no matter how hot my cheeks burned.
Cambri called and texted me for the third time that night ever since I told her I would pick up a private to cover some of her costs. She knew it wasn’t my norm, and wanted to check in. Loud music still thumped from the lounge, so I waited near my car. Santino would know where to find me.
Camera number three.
The parking lot was mostly empty except for a small group of friends stumbling toward a white pickup truck. They’d been part of a bachelor party—all too young for marriage, in my opinion—and had probably spent every dime they’d walked in with.
Another alert on my phone diverted my attention. But as I intended to answer the call, an unexpected voice caught me off guard .
“I believe you owe me a dance.”
Andretti.
“I don’t owe you shit.”
He was so close that his laughter vibrated in my ear.
“Amara? Who is that? Is everything okay?”
Cambri’s frantic pleas blared through my speaker until one of Andretti’s men slapped the device from my hand and stomped it the second it hit the pavement.
Oh, it would be one of those nights.
“Get in the car, bella .”
“You know, I’m a little tired. I was hoping for a low-key evening,” I snarked, faking a yawn.
Andretti shoved me against the car and pressed his weapon to my ribs.
“Well, we can’t always get what we want now, can we?”
He didn’t seem the type to get his hands dirty.
No, he was a pussy who needed two of his men to corner little old me in a dark parking lot, coerce me into my own car, and take me to some remote location so he could empty his non-existent ball sack.
Little did he know that I would rather die than be a victim.
Never again.
I reached for the knife at my waistband and stuck him in the chest, but not before stumbling on a piece of my broken phone, causing me to miss his heart by a hair.
Gunfire came at me from the right, and I responded by wrenching the knife and launching it into the face of the man who’d pulled the trigger. He howled and fell back on his ass. More shots whizzed by as I ducked, two into my door and one shattering my car’s rear window.
“Asshole! Do you have any idea what the deductible is on that?” With an annoyed huff, I snatched his gun and whipped it into my knife’s handle, impaling the weapon further into his upper lip. He wailed like a little bitch before choking on blood and pieces of cracked teeth.
Another bullet exploded toward me, and I wasn’t as lucky this time. It grazed my shoulder.
“Fuck!”
Just what I needed. Another fucking scar.
Clenching my teeth, I whirled around and aimed, but a hail of bullets pierced the night air near the hood of my car.
“I thought I told you not to leave.”
Santino stood above the dying man and looked at me briefly, eyes falling on the blood soaking through my pink sweatshirt. He drew a sharp breath and lifted his weapon, emptying his mag into the man’s face until he was no longer twitching.
In a flash, he was on me, assessing my wound.
“It was just a graze. I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Nothing a bandage can’t fix,” I assured him.
“Fuck, Amara. I’d just walked into my office, Cambri called, and I looked up at the cameras...” He tucked the gun into his holster and held my face. “I just got you, preziosa . You’re not going anywhere.”
Butterflies after killing two men was a bit unorthodox, but Santino made me feel things.
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
I’d never wanted to be kissed more but, as if cursed, our moment was once again stolen, this time by Andretti’s pained groans as he dragged himself behind us.
When I raised my gun, Santino placed a hand over mine and shook his head.
“Leave him. I have a message to deliver. Blaise will take you home if that’s okay with you.”
I nodded. “Yeah—”
Santino’s lips collided with mine. One hand circled my waist, while the other tangled into my hair. Stunned by the sudden gesture, I hesitated before melting into his arms and returning the kiss. He tasted exactly how I imagined. Whiskey, mint, and sin.
He pushed my body against the hood of the car, tongue slipping into my mouth. I followed his lead, chasing his lips until our teeth crashed, and a moan moved up my throat. I hadn’t kissed a man since I was eighteen, but my insecurities only lasted a fraction of a second. Santino devoured my mouth like I was his favorite meal. And I savored every single one of his growls.
I was so damn wet. So desperate I felt like I needed to crawl out of my own skin.
Fuck, I wanted this man.
My eyes were still closed when he whispered, “ Mia preziosa , don’t get into any more trouble tonight.”