Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Kara wanted to dance up the pathway to Angelo’s home the evening after the charity event and her impromptu swimming lessons.
She and Angelo had spent the entire day in the bed of the penthouse of the hotel making love and sharing their dreams. It had been magical.
As silly as that sounded. She felt… changed.
Changed so deeply that she knew without a doubt she wanted to see if she and Angelo could have a future.
She wanted to try; she wanted to put herself out there. To finally take a risk.
As they reached the top step of the three small steps leading up to his front door, Angelo pulled out his keys and unlocked it.
They were still standing on his front doorstep as he leaned in close to her, stealing a kiss that made her giggle against his mouth.
She tiptoed her fingers up his sweater to grasp it and pull him closer.
She wanted to make the sweet moment linger as the heat in her body rose like a stoked fire.
I could spend the rest of my life just like this…
“Last night was amazing,” he said as he cupped her cheek in one hand and nuzzled her nose with his. “Thank you, Kara.”
“For what?” Kara asked as she closed her eyes, hoping for another kiss.
“For giving me your trust. I know what that meant to you.”
She opened her eyes again, studying his face.
His eyes were so warm, soft and alluring as she stared back at him.
He meant what he said. That was one of the many things she loved about him.
His eyes never lied to her. He was an honest man.
A good man. Wicked in bed. She hit the jackpot with him and she knew it.
“Angelo, I think I want to try…” she ventured.
He didn’t say a word, but the look of hope in his eyes encouraged her to continue.
“I want to try having a relationship. For real. It scares the hell out of me. I’ll admit it, but I want to try.” She didn’t miss the spark of hope in his eyes, and the way his lips kicked up into a sexy grin. He made it so easy to want to jump into his arms.
“Then we try, at your pace,” Angelo said.
She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest. “How do you make this so easy? I thought love was supposed to be an epic struggle.”
He went utterly still and she dared to open her eyes and look up at him. What she saw on his face was like the sun had coming out after months of rain. Angelo’s brows drew together as his lips parted and it took him a moment to speak.
“You love me?” he asked, the vulnerability in his tone tugging at the strings of her heart.
In that moment she was wrecked for all other men, all because of the way his brown eyes softened when he asked if she loved him with such hope and yearning. There would never be anyone else who held the power to make her feel such a flutter of hope mixed with such…peace.
“You know what I mean,” she evaded, but the look in his eyes didn’t change, didn’t relent. That gaze swept into her very soul, penning his name there for all time.
“Kara… when you truly care about someone, it’s not supposed to be hard.
Real love is easy. I think the world has pushed us to believe that loving and caring for others is hard.
But it’s not. It’s so much easier to be kind, to love, to open yourself than it is to close yourself up.
We’ve been taught to be cold and cruel because it’s supposed to be easy, but in truth it’s not.
Loving someone? It’s so easy, sweetheart. ”
They were both dancing around those three words that had scared her last night when they been swimming.
Kara appreciated Angelo respecting her fear, but as he held her, she wanted to hear the words so badly her chest ached enough to make her draw in a shaky breath.
She wasn’t going to ask for them. Not just yet.
She would know when the time was right to say them.
“But we don’t have to rush anything. I mean it,” Angelo reassured her. “I never want to push you.” He pulled away a little so that he could open the door. “Why don’t we—” he halted as he took just a step inside and she barreled into his back.
“Angelo? What is it?”
“Kara, don’t move,” he whispered. Then he slowly pulled out his phone, dialing a number. “Asher,” he whispered. “I need you to get inside the house right now and look at something for me.”
“Angelo—” she matched his urgent quiet tone. “What is it?”
He stilled in answer. Asher rushed up the sidewalk and swept past them, his gun coming out instantly. He halted a few feet just beyond Angelo inside the house. She heard a soft rasping sound like paper stock moving against each other.
“Can someone tell me what’s going on?”
“It’s flowers,” Asher said matter-of-factly. “Someone sent you flowers.” By the grim sound of the bodyguard’s tone, Asher didn’t apparently like flowers.
“Shit,” Asher cursed. “It’s safe, Angelo.”
Angelo’s shoulders relax and he stepped toward Asher. “What does the card say?”
Kara skirted around Angelo’s protective stance and outstretched arm to find a bouquet of flowers on the kitchen table. She reached the card that Angelo was holding. He let her take it from him, but the look on his face showed he regretted that decision immediately.
“Kara, I don’t think you—”
She ignored him as she read the words written on the card.
“Kara, I look forward to meeting you soon.”
It wasn’t signed but she knew who had sent it. Cormac Callahan. A man she never met yet wanted to control her father’s empire through her.
Her mother’s voice screamed in her head for her to run. Her skin prickled with invisible flames that burned while her mind went numb with dread and fear.
“Kara?” Angelo grasped her waist as she let the card fall to the floor. Terror, pure and unadulterated rush through her entire body making her suddenly dizzy.
Have to leave…have to run…have to hide…
She left the kitchen and headed straight to the bedroom upstairs.
She retrieved the second-biggest suitcase Angelo had bought her and tossed it on the bed throwing the lid open.
It was just big enough to carry a decent amount of clothes but not too big that she couldn’t move fast with it.
She had packed half of what she needed when Angelo’s hand suddenly appeared in on the stack of shirts she had just packed.
He spread his fingers out, covering her clothing, stopping her from putting anything else in the suitcase.
“Kara, take a minute. Breathe.” He used his other hand to gently turn her face to him.
“Angelo… I have to leave. You know I do. The window for my escape is closing. If I leave now, I might be able to vanish. He may not be ready. Cormac might think he’ll be freezing me in place long enough to…” she didn’t finish.
“Or… he knows those flowers are going to send you running right into whatever trap he’s set.”
“I’ve been faster and smarter than him this whole time. I have to trust my instincts. They’ve kept alive this far.”
Angelo’s eyes narrowed as if considering what she said. “If that’s how you feel, then we run. Together.” He moved away to his closet to retrieve one of his own suitcases.
“Angelo, you’ll slow me down. I—” He couldn’t just leave his world, he wasn’t ready, he didn’t know that. That meant he’d slow her down while he figured that out, and Cormac would—
“You know I won’t,” he said, not looking at her as he started filling his own suitcase.
“But your family… your restaurant. We don’t have time to—”
“Luigi can handle the restaurant.”
She stared at him as he calmly packed starting packing his clothing. “You’re okay without saying goodbye to your family? You’d just vanish on them?”
He tossed several more pieces of clothing into a suitcase, his gaze serious. “Kara, I’m not letting you go alone,” he resumed packing.
Asher met them at the bottom of the stairs when they came down carrying their suitcases. The bodyguard eyed the suitcases and frowned.
“Colton checked the camera feeds. It was cut out and our mobile notifications on our phones were bypassed. That’s why we didn’t know the feeds were cut when the flowers were delivered.” Asher paused, then focused on her. “Kara, now is not the time to run.”
“Well, I’m not going to stay behind and fight. I won’t let everyone I care about get killed.”
Angelo stared at Asher a long moment, his expression unreadable before he nodded at Kara. “Let’s go, Kara. Asher, tell my family whatever you think they can safely hear…and tell them goodbye for me.”
This was it, Kara realized. They were really doing this. They were running away together. Normally she would feel a mixture of nerves and relief each time she moved, but now she felt sick… homesick for a house and a life she’d been too foolish to believe she could have.
“Kara come on.” Angelo urged her out of the house. “Colton, I need to borrow your car,” he said as the other private security specialist headed toward them as he stepped into the house.
“What?” Colton’s brows rose.
“We’ll leave it for you to find outside of town,” Angelo said.
“Ok—kay…” He tossed the keys to Angelo. “But—”
“Thanks Colton,” Angelo said as he caught the keys.
They walked outside to the black sedan that Colton had been driving the last week.
Angelo loaded their suitcases while Kara stood there, ankle-deep in snow, anxiously twirling the engagement ring on her finger.
This didn’t feel right. This was wrong. But running was only way she knew how to deal with danger.
Run! Her mother’s voice urged again.
Kara got in the passenger side while Angelo took the driver’s seat.
“Where are we headed?” he asked calmly.
“Arizona,” she said, thinking of how she’d finally get to see the Grand Canyon. “I recommend taking the country roads. There are less cameras at the intersections and less police. We’ll have to ditch our phones in a few miles.”
“Okay.” He didn’t question her. He put the car in drive and pulled out onto the icy streets. They reached Lakeshore Drive and fell into a heavy silence.