I was so lost in the sensation that I didn’t realize we’d come to a stop until the engine cut out.
Slightly startled, I jumped in my seat, causing Sasha’s fingers to twitch. But instead of pulling away, he only gripped me tighter.
“I’ve got you.”
Those words were said with absolute certainty, and I forced myself to peek at him in the darkened cabin.
“You really believe that, don’t you?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” he challenged.
I didn’t have an answer to that. At least not one that he would understand.
For most of my life, I’d been treated like property, an asset to be used for my family’s gain—a way for them to obtain even more power and strength in the underworld they ruled. The only compassion I had ever been shown was when Gio took over as Don and declared that I wouldn’t have to marry if I didn’t want to. My father had been pissed but bit his tongue, knowing betterthan to go against the family—one where Gio now sat in charge, regardless of his much younger age.
My silence spoke volumes, and Sasha didn’t press the issue. Unfolding his tall, lean form from the driver’s seat, he opened my door, extending a hand to help me exit.
Those fingers wrapped around mine had heat flooding my veins despite the chill of the November evening.
Once I was standing at my full height, his lips brushed against my ear. “I’ve been dying for a little taste of Italian.”
Jesus. If he kept dropping sexual innuendoes in that husky tone, I wasn’t going to last the night.
My panties were absolutely ruined.
Chapter 9
Gemma
“Okay, tell me yoursecret. How did you pull off timing the flower deliveries so perfectly? How did you know when they died to send fresh ones the next day?”
A smirk crept onto Sasha’s face from across the intimate booth, lit by a candle in a bulbous wine bottle. Colorful wax drips decorated the outside of the glass.
“That’s easy, Kitten. I had the florist send me a single flower from your specific arrangements. When it began to wilt, I ordered more.”
Was this guy for real? He’d meticulously thought it through, planning ahead and making sure that I would never go a day without fresh flowers.
His grin grew so wide I could practically see his molars.
“Do you ever stop smiling?” The question was out of my mouth before I could stop it, natural curiosity winning out over manners.
Sasha’s booming laughter had several patrons turning their heads to stare, and I fought the urge to hide beneath the table.
The calloused pad of a thumb brushed over my knuckles. “Are you allergic to seeing people’s teeth?”
My resulting eye roll couldn’t be stopped.
“No,” I said like a sullen teenager.
“Why don’t you ask me what you really want to know, then?” Those blue eyes held a hint of challenge. “I’m an open book. I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
Fuck it.
“How can you be so happy all the time?”
Lifting one shoulder, Sasha replied, “Easy. I’ve already lived through the worst day of my life.”
That was not at all the answer I’d been expecting.
