Chapter 29
Savvy
My boobs ache. It could be the pregnancy, or it could be the amount of time I’ve been fantasizing about having Gabriel’s hands on them all day.
He’d spent three hours at the diner this morning drinking coffee and making phone calls. From what little I heard, the new distribution center broke ground. Other bits and pieces were of things I didn’t understand and probably shouldn’t.
On his way out, he left another hundred-dollar tip and stopped to kiss my cheek. Marie’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor, and my face almost burst into flames.
It had been sweet. Tender. Nothing like him, but exactly like him at the same time.
The oven beeps, signaling the lasagna I made is ready. As I pull it out, my phone rings from where I’m charging it on the counter.
“Hello?” I answer through the speakerphone.
“You’re having dinner with him?” Cassie all but yells through the phone. “What happened to worrying about your life?”
“You got my text.” I grab the bowl of salad from the fridge and bring it to the kitchen table. It’s small and will only fit us and the lasagna, but I’ve draped a tablecloth over it and a single candle as a centerpiece.
“Yes, I got it. The devil has come back down to Georgia.”
“Funny.” There’s a hard knock on the door. “He’s here. I gotta go.”
“Call me when he leaves!” she yells just before I end the call.
“Come in,” I call out and the door opens immediately.
“You don’t even check to see who it is?” He demands as soon as he’s inside. The door rattles when he closes it too hard.
He’s dressed casually in a pair of jeans that fit him like they were made specifically for him and a dark gray button-down with the sleeves rolled twice at the wrists. He’s trimmed his beard, and the warm spice of his aftershave easily fills the small space of my studio apartment.
“I knew it was you,” I say hooking my hand on my hip. “Who else would it be? I don’t think murderers knock.”
“They do if they want the person inside to open the door for them. Then they don’t have to chase them through the apartment and leave all of their DNA around.”
I deadpan. “It’s not normal that you know things like that.”
“Lock your doors.” He points at the bolt then flicks it. “These don’t work if you don’t use them.”
“You’re being bossy, and you’ve only been here three seconds.”
He pauses, like he’s contemplating changing course. I don’t want him to. I’ve missed this about him. It’s been nice the past few days with his willingness to go slow, and he’s shown more patience than I thought he could ever possess.
But I miss this part.
Maybe it’s the hormones.
“I told you, I’ll always keep you safe. Even from yourself.” He stalks toward me, eyeing the lasagna sitting on the table. “You cooked.”
“I did invite you to dinner.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t realize you could cook.” He half smiles.
“I know exactly two recipes. Lasagna and cheeseburger casserole. You don’t seem like a cheeseburger casserole kind of guy, though, so you get lasagna.”
“Is there wine?” he asks.
“Oh no. I forgot about wine.” I touch my stomach absently. “There’s a store on the corner—”
He waves it off. “I don’t need it.” He slides his hand around my waist, settling it on my hip. “It looks like you did a lot of work after your shift. You didn’t need to do all this.”
Desperately, I want to lean into him, to hug him to me, but I hold off. I’m supposed to be protecting myself. Once I tell him about the baby, who knows what might happen.
“It wasn’t hard,” I assure him. “Everything’s ready; we should eat before it gets cold.”
He settles me in my chair before taking his own seat, and when I try to serve the lasagna he brushes my hand away, taking over. I don’t mind. My hands are shaking anyway. I’d probably drop it on his lap.
This is silly. I was less nervous the night he barged into my locked room and demanded I bend over for a spanking.
A part of me wishes things were that simple again.
“You’re not touching your dinner.” He taps his fork on the edge of my plate.
“Sorry.” I pick up my fork, but my appetite is buried beneath my nerves.
More minutes tick by, and I’m pushing lasagna noodles from one side of my plate to the other. Heat runs up my neck, knowing his eyes are on me. He’s watching. The air is thick with his displeasure, but he’s holding it back.
“What’s going on with you?” I finally demand. My fork bangs against my plate as I drop it.
His left eyebrow lifts into a sharp arch. “What?”
“You. What the hell is going on with you? You show up after I’ve been gone for six weeks, and you don’t even try to force me to go home?”
I push up from my chair, suddenly too energized to sit still.
“You obviously checked out my apartment when I wasn’t here, which was very on brand for you, and then you buy the damn building—again totally you—but then you just…do nothing?” I wave my arms in the air. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
He chews his bite of lasagna, letting me continue uninterrupted.
“You haven’t even threatened to punish me for running away,” I say, barely able to keep from sounding like a spoiled brat.
He places his fork beside his plate and eases up from his chair to face off with me.
“Is that what you want?” he asks calmly, hooking his hands on his hips.
“I…I don’t know what I want.” I jam my hand into my hair and lean back against the counter. There’s not enough room in this damn apartment for both of us.
He strides to me, stopping only when the tips of his boots touch my toes.
“Yes, you do.” He brushes his knuckles across my cheek, and I lean into his touch.
“I never lied to you, Savannah. When I said you were mine forever, I meant it. You should have talked to me instead of jumping out of that car and running off like a little girl running away from home. But I should have known you’d need reassurance about the move, and I didn’t give that to you. ”
My stomach flutters, and for the first time in weeks it’s not morning sickness.
“You don’t want to punish me, then?” When I die, of mortification over my desires, I’m going to will my brain to science for it to be studied.
“I always want to punish you, Savvy. Even when you’ve done nothing wrong, I want to spread you over my lap and spank your sweet ass until it’s glowing red. Your pussy is always so wet for me after you’ve had a spanking.” His seductive grin slips.
“You went to great lengths not to be found. Do you know how many horrible things could have happened to you while you were running all over the place?” His jaw tightens. “You had Cassie lie for you, which is the same thing as you lying to me.”
“No, it’s not,” I can’t stop myself from saying, but I clamp my mouth shut when his eyebrow shoots up again.
“It is, and you knew I would see it that way.” He drags his fingertip along my jawline, then wraps his hand around my throat, pinning me to the cabinets. “Isn’t that true?”
“For a mobster, you have very weird hangups about the truth.”
His mouth kicks up to the side.
“I thought you didn’t want me to be a mobster anymore, or was that another lie I should add to the list?”
His voice dips, and my arousal soars.
“I don’t know what I want from you.”
He shakes his head and tsks his tongue. “Another lie. You really are racking them up. You know what you want; what you don’t know is if you can tell me. But you can. You can tell me anything, and it would only bring you closer to me.”
I bite the inside of my lip.
“So tell me, Savvy, what do you want from me right now? Do you want to sit down and finish dinner like a normal couple, or do you want me to take you over to that pull-out bed and punish you for being such a naughty girl over the past six weeks?”
I’m going to melt into a puddle at his feet. The coroner won’t know what to do with me.
“I’ve never been normal before,” I say, swallowing hard. His fingers tighten against my throat. “No sense in starting now.”
The grin that spreads across his lips soaks my panties. He’s never been hotter than when his arrogance meets his desire to control.
He leans into me, pressing his body flush with mine. His hard cock pushes into me and I have to bite my tongue to keep from whining.
A soft kiss to my cheek, then he bites down on my earlobe. “You were such a naughty girl, weren’t you? Now you’ll need to ask for your punishment.”
He kisses my cheek again, then my chin.
“Ask me to punish you.”