Chapter Fourteen
(Cesare)
They were in a small office with two desks running the length of the back wall. Two windows, centered above each desk, overlooked the harbor.
He had no way of identifying how, but he knew without a doubt that this was Sabrina’s childhood bed. It suited her.
Her waders and purple Converse shoes lay on the floor. Cesare had removed them as carefully as he could before tucking Sabrina under the covers. He left her in the clothes she’d been wearing underneath the waders; a pair of black yoga pants and a faded grey t-shirt from the animal rescue.
A tall bookcase, filled with marine biology and various animal anatomy books, stood against the wall at the foot of her bed. Just past the bookcase was a door that led to the hallway.
Cesare gingerly straightened up and brushed a wayward lock of copper hair from Sabrina’s face.
He resisted the urge to kiss it and left the room instead, with Sabrina’s waders in hand.
He hung them up beside his own on the hook by the equipment closet.
The visual of the waders hanging beside each other on the wall gave him an odd sense of déjà vu.
Frowning, he locked the front door. Had it been unlocked all night as she worked alone?
He unplugged the phone at the reception desk with zero hesitancy and returned to the office down the hall, bagged breakfast in hand.
Cesare stood for a moment in the doorway of the office and looked at the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. He frowned. Neglecting her own rest and health was, of course, unacceptable, and they would work on that. Sabrina clearly needed someone to look after her; someone to take care of her.
Cesare used a warm hand towel to wipe something that smelled suspiciously of fish off her face. He found a hair comb in the top drawer of a desk, and gently combed her hair, taking no small amount of pleasure from the soft moan that left her pouty lips.
The brooding Italian watched Sabrina’s eyes flicker open a few times, as if to check it was still him running a comb through her hair.
She would then close her eyes with the softest damn smile he’d ever seen.
Her trust and submission touched something deep and visceral within him.
He wondered if she had ever let anyone else take care of her like this.
When he was done with the comb, he braided her hair back into a long, single braid.
The intimacy of the moment made his blood rush, and he flexed his hands at the need to ensure the woman currently sleeping in his arms was protected.
The depth at which he felt this urge was both new and staggering.
Cesare was fairly certain that if someone took a photo of him at this moment, his expression would look nothing short of devastated.
This girl was destroying him from the inside out with feelings. And they hadn’t even fucking kissed.
It was just after seven thirty. Returning to Sabrina, he used her face to unlock her phone and scrolled through her contacts until he found Marie.
Sabrina: This is Cesare. Sabrina was up all night with a new seal. She’s not going to work today. She’ll call once she’s awake and can talk.
Marie: Thank you for letting me know! Tell her when she wakes up to keep her ass in bed and go back to sleep.
Cesare sent a thumbs up, and then, like a jealous ass, he scrolled through her messages with Travis. To his satisfaction, there was nothing that wasn’t platonic. For Travis’s sake, this was good.
With a deep sigh, he set an alarm on his own phone to feed Freckles at 9 o’clock and sat down at the desk opposite the bed.
He opened one of the breakfast burritos and bit into it with relish, enjoying the view of the harbor below. Then, unable to resist temptation, he turned once again in the chair, leaning back as he took the opportunity to simply look at Sabrina; uninterrupted.
Cesare scoffed. If he knew what was good for him, he’d leave Kittery now and never come back. Go home and marry some Auntie’s niece’s Italian sister-in-law, give her some good Catholic babies, then find a girlfriend to fuck all of his frustrations out on.
Sabrina turned in her sleep, her hand reaching out as if looking for something in the bed. Her brow furrowed, and her lips moved into the saddest little pout. Unable to resist, Cesare reached out, gently taking her hand in his.
Sabrina took a ragged breath and released a shuddering little sigh, reminiscent of a toddler immediately soothed. Cesare watched as she curled up once more with a soft snore. It shouldn’t have been possible to be so damn adorable.
“You’re going to wreck my life.” Cesare whispered in the silence of the eclectic little room. “And I’m going to let you.” He all but confessed, placing a kiss on the back of her hand.
Eventually, Cesare reluctantly withdrew his hand from hers and dug his laptop out of its bag. He still had a few hours of case review in front of him.
The timer eventually went off, and he immediately silenced it. Freckles needed feeding again.
Cesare left the office and explored the kitchen.
In the distance, he heard the door chime from the reception area, and he moved silently to the edge of the kitchen.
Heavy footsteps came closer, and Cesare waited, unable to determine if it was friend or foe.
He concluded that he’d locked all the doors, so whoever this was, they likely had a key.
Cesare released the hand that had automatically gone to his sidearm, but kept it close as he announced casually, “In here!” He tried to sound as friendly as he could, but the newcomer still jumped in audible surprise.
Travis popped around the corner a moment later. “Hey. What’s up?” Travis asked, eyeing Cesare with suspicion.
“Good morning, Travis.” Cesare nodded, unwilling to justify anything to the boy who had left Sabrina to fend for herself.
“I came to feed the seal pup.” Travis said after a moment.
“Freckles.” Cesare nodded.
“Yeah.” Travis nodded. “I told Sabrina I could help with feedings at nine and eleven. Where is she?” He asked.
“Sleeping. She was up all night.” Cesare answered, satisfied to see a twinge of guilt flash across Travis’s face.
“Handling animals isn’t really my thing.” Travis grimaced. “I love Sabrina, and it’s a good cause, but my skill set is definitely public relations and photography. If you’re already here, would you mind doing the tube? I can make the milkshake no problem.”
Under normal circumstances, Cesare would have told Travis to grow a pair or fuck off; in legalese. But Travis was the only one awake who knew how to make the milkshake, and waking Sabrina up was not an option.
“Sounds good.” Cesare nodded, giving a reluctant nod. “I’ll get suited up.”
Travis left as soon as they finished feeding Freckles, mumbling something about going to see Marie at Society.
Cesare wondered if Travis was possibly filling in for Sabrina but didn’t care enough to ask. Cesare locked the door behind Travis, frowning at how loose the doorknob was. He did a second check on Freckles, who seemed to be happily napping, before walking back to the private office.
To his surprise, Sabrina was sitting up attempting to rub the sleep out of her eyes.
He leaned against the side of the doorway, watching as she reoriented herself to the room.
She frowned at the empty chair he had vacated.
Cesare waited silently until her sleep glazed eyes landed on him, and he took absolute pleasure in the way she softly lit up. For him.
“Hey.” She croaked out, followed by a rueful smile. She gave a slight shiver as she rubbed her arms. The movement drew his attention to her swaying breasts and he blinked at the sight of her sweet little nipples poking out from beneath the thin fabric of her shirt.
“Are you cold?” He asked, looking back up to her face.
“Maybe.” She gave a sheepish smile as she pulled the blankets closer to her.
He swallowed wordlessly, closing the door behind him just in case Travis and his keys decided to return before eleven.
“You stayed.” She smiled softly, lying back in bed and curling back into the covers of the bed.
“You fainted.” He frowned. “I was worried.”
She shrugged as she gave a wide yawn, stretching before curling up in a ball again. “I just closed my eyes is all.” She quipped.
Cesare gave her a pointed look, unamused. “Does that happen often?” He asked, walking towards the bed, unable to stay away from her.
“Only if I forget to eat or sleep. But usually I’m alone when it happens. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you.” She answered, flushing pink with embarrassment.
Cesare wanted to say, “You need to be fed. You need a bedtime. You need someone to tell you no. You need a daddy to tell people to leave you alone when they expect more of you than you should give.”
But Cesare didn’t want to scare her off, so he settled for, “You should eat something. I brought you breakfast burritos.”
Her beautiful eyes widened, and she nodded excitedly. “That sounds amazing.”
“Good.” Cesare nodded, standing up. “I’ll reheat them.”
Sabrina shook her head. “I don’t mind eating them cold. I’m not picky.”
“Sabrina.” His voice was low and guttural. “I’m not feeding you cold takeout.”
She blinked, eyes glossing over, and then blinked again. “Okay. Thank you.” She answered quietly.
He squeezed her hand before letting go. “The pleasure is mine. I’ll be back in a few minutes. In the meantime, I want you to rest and relax.” Cesare paused. “Can you do that for me until I return, tesoro?”
Sabrina nodded with flushed cheeks.
“Good girl.” He nodded and turned to leave the room.
“Cesare?” She called after him.
He turned back, meeting Sabrina’s gaze.
“What does ‘tesoro’ mean?” She asked curiously.
Cesare eyed her for a moment, his expression slightly guarded but tender. “It means treasure.” He answered.
Sabrina looked down at the blanket, her cheeks flushing pink once more. “I like that.”
Cesare stared for another moment before a roguish grin played at the edges of his lips. When Sabrina stubbornly kept her blushing gaze firmly fixed on the blanket, Cesare left the room with an amused grin.
Reaching the kitchen, he searched for plates used for people and not for animals, only to realize he didn’t know which was which. Frowning, he removed the burritos from their foil wrappers and placed them in the microwave on top of a small pile of paper towels. It would have to do.
A slight shuffling sound in the doorway had him turning his head to see Sabrina standing in the doorway. Cesare watched her hips sashay as she walked toward him, a mischievous smile tugging at her lips.
“Thought I told you to rest, Sabrina.” He spoke lightly, palms itching to spank her for her disobedience.
“I started to remember everything I needed to do.” She answered, biting her lip even as her eyes sparkled. “And there’s just one thing that really couldn’t wait.”
Sabrina took another step, closing the distance between them. Cesare’s hands automatically wrapped around her waist, his large hands gently kneading into the muscle of her hips.
Sabrina’s eyes fluttered shut with a soft sigh as she bowed her head and pressed her forehead against his chest.
“What do you need?” Cesare asked gruffly.
“I need you to kiss me, please.” She answered, lifting her head to meet his heated gaze.