I dropped the knife, and it clattered to the tile floor as a sob rattled his name from my lips.
Frankie didn’t make a move to me. He staggered in to the kitchen, his left side dragging against the counters. I couldn’t wait for him to make it to where I sat in the middle the kitchen, so I ran for him, and he grabbed me up in his arms.
I held on to him tightly, getting blood from my hands on his suit jacket but knowing he wouldn’t care. Frankie’s arms circled me, and we kissed with a desperation we hadn’t even known on our first night together. His hair was messy, and I ran my fingers through it, making it worse.
I never wanted to be away from this man. Never wanted to wonder where he was. Thinking a bullet ripped through his chest moments earlier made my hands claw all over his body, looking for any injuries.
Gun-shot wounds.
Bloody noses.
Jammed fingers.
Splinters.
“I’m okay,” Frankie said, picking up on my intentions.
Nothing. I didn’t find a single thing wrong with him.
It didn’t stop my pursuit. “I thought they shot you. You should be dead, Frankie,” I said in disbelief. I’d never seen a person tased in real life, but I didn’t think they came back so quickly.
Tears dripped from my eyes. I didn’t care that the man saw me. He wiped each one away with his thumbs and kissed me hard. “I love you, Shiloh, Cara Mia,” he said when he pulled away.
I kissed him again and then scoffed. Those words were way too soon, and he was caught up in the emotions of the situation.
“You don’t believe me?” he asked
I squeezed him harder, not wanting to answer. My curls fell over my eyes, blocking my view until he pushed the strands behind my ear.
“I’ll just have to show you repeatedly,” he said, standing more on his own.
“It’s too soon to say that,” I chastised him, even though he saved my life.
“It’s not too soon. I think I knew it the first night I saw you. That fire in your eyes. You fought off those men at the van, not wanting to get into it, but then jumped right into my vehicle. Even now, as you shake in my arms, I see the knife on the floor as evidence of how hard you fought. I waited too long to tell you and almost lost the chance. I’ll never wait again.”
“Well, yeah, I really didn’t want to be kidnapped.” Again.
Frankie leaned his head against my hair as if he was breathing in my shampoo and then tucked another piece of behind my ear. “You’ve seen the underbelly of this world yet you come out swinging.”
“Basically, you just said that you love me because I have a temper and will kill someone.”
He chuckled, moving strands of my hair back out of place. “No, I’m surrounded by mousy women in this town. They walk into danger because they do not understand how dark and desolate the world of crime really is. You’ve seen the worst of humanity and still choose to walk among the shadows. That is strength unlike any other.”
Well, when he put it that way.
I ignored the man on the floor in order to question Frankie about what happened with the two men who took him into the garage. The two of us stayed there until a husky voice pulled us apart and I remembered we weren’t technically alone.
“Vonnie, you’re okay,” I said, immediately upset with myself for forgetting she was here. I should’ve been racing to the living room to check on Big Tommy and Vonnie rather than making out with Frankie, but I breathed a sigh of relief as she tugged the big guy underneath her arm as if she supported half his weight.
Vonnie checked the kitchen, and the destruction lying on the floor a few feet away. I expected her to scream or run for the police, but she only shook her head and then kicked the knife away from the body, which hadn’t moved. “There’s blood everywhere in this kitchen. Maria is going to freak out.”
Frankie rested his head on my shoulder as if he prayed for divine grace. “Damage report,” he asked, and Big Tommy tried to answer, but I cut him off.
“Wait, how are you okay?”
The giant thumped his fist against his chest. “Kevlar.”
“Nobody gave me a bullet-proof vest,” Vonnie squealed, hitting Big Tommy in the stomach to test it out herself. Then she pulled her hand back and rubbed her knuckles.
