“I have.”
I swallowed hard. “Do they…protect you?”
“They keep an eye out, but for the most part, I make my own way. I asked one thing of them, Mariposa. That they give me time—that means a few different things. They keep an eye out. They tell me when someone that’s not supposed to come close does from time to time. I needed to secure time to set things in motion, and that’s what they’ve done for me. But when the time comes to collect dues, it’ll be my enemies and me. No one else.”
“I really don’t understand.” His words made me nervous. I knew he was into bad dealings from the moment I saw him outside of the restaurant. Each time I was near him, something around him alerted me to the fact that he was powerful, in control, and there were people who wanted to test those hard lines.
He had never hidden anything from me, but I knew there was more. The heart, as he had called it during the meeting, and all of the veins that led to it. When was he going to share them? My life was on the line. So was his. And that made me nervous. More than it should have. The thought of never seeing him again did wicked things to my thoughts and feelings.
Keely and her brothers, the Faustis, all of Capo’s family, they all felt like veins in mybody. Capo. He felt like my heart.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Where did that come from?
“You will,” he said. “In time.”
I couldn’t understand the look on his face. Either he had gone deep enough to see the thoughts I’d just had, or he was close to discovering them. Even though it wasn’t love, it had to do with matters of the heart. He couldn’t find out, or he might terminate the deal on grounds that love, or anything close to it, was never supposed to be a part of our deal.
“Time to pay up.” He squeezed my thigh, bringing my attention back to him.
My eyes found his. I’d been staring at the tattoo on his hand. “If words have a price, take my money,” I barely got out.
“Have you ever liked a boy?”
“You mean like a crush?”
“Whatever you kids call it these days.”
Despite my sudden fear, I smiled to hide my earlier thoughts and the feelings they left behind. “No.”Lie.
“Have you ever been in love, Mariposa?”
I squeezed the sheets, and then pulled the covers up to hide my breasts, or maybe my heart. “That’s two questions.”
He shrugged. “Since your words costniente, I might as well go for broke, since they cost me so much. Tell me if you’ve ever been in love.”
“Love wasn’t created for girls like me.”Avoiding a lie.
He was right. Words were not free, and mine had cost meil tutto. Everything.I had never been so broke in my entire life.
The breathwhooshedout of me when Capo suddenly flipped me on my back, his body hovering over mine. When I’d thought of him as a wave sweeping me out to his ocean? Yeah, I’d hit the mark. Half of the time, he could steal my breath without even touching me. Luckily, he hadn’t slammed into a metaphorical rock yet.
“Game over, Mariposa.” His eyes were intense on mine. After a few heartbeats, he said, “You trust me.”
That took me for a wild turn. “What? Are you in my head now, Capo?” His chest barely touched my breasts, and a soft, whimpering sound came from my mouth.
“More than words, Mariposa,” he said. “Learn what it means to speak to me without words.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant, exactly, but my head was getting too clouded by him to figure it out. I looked at my wrist pinned in his grip. “I do. Trust you.”
“You do. I had my hand over your mouth earlier and you didn't even notice.”
Shit.I hadn't.
“You trust me,” he said again.
Something told me his statement had nothing to do with my feelings, but something more...sexual. I was thankful for the turn. Maybe he wouldn’t see how broke my words had made me while he was busy with other…things.
“I do,” I said again, pushing my hips up to meet his erection.
