There were quite a few, but I wasn’t comfortable saying that. He’d never looked at me that way before, like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to strangle me or fuck me.
“I honestly have no clue who you’re talking about,” I breathed out.
He nostrils flared again, and he pushed himself closer to me. I could feel his erection jabbing me in the stomach, and I closed my eyes for a second, taking another deep breath.
“Tigran.”
My eyes flew open at the name. “Tigran,” I repeated.
“Tell me who is Tigran to you.”
His tone made me rush to answer, but I wasn’t sure why. I’d never caved to anyone who demanded anything of me before. But his intensity was making my heart race and do naughty things to my lady bits. “He was my uncle by marriage. My sister, Lucila, is married to his nephew, my brother-in-law, Brio. Most people in New York know him as Lilo. Last name Valentino. Why? What does Tigran have to do with anything?”
He searched my eyes, like he was digging for a lost secret, and once found, had to decide if it was fake or not. I tried to be as earnest as possible because I was telling the truth.
“He was your uncle by marriage.” He put emphasis on the wordwas.
“He…um…he was killed. By…well, I think your family, for sleeping with Rosaria Caffi.”
“What makes you think it was my family?”
“I was with him before he was murdered. I forgot my phone at his place, and when I went back to get it, I found him on the bathroom floor. His heart had been stolen and a picture of Rosaria had been left in its place. It’s tucked away in one of my blazers if you need to see proof. It’s hardened and stained with his blood, but you can still tell it’s her. It was a private picture he took.”
“You dream of him.” His words were hard, possessive…jealous even?
I looked away from him and my eyes burned with unshed tears. “No,” I whispered. “I mean, I do, but they’re nightmares. Especially after the drugs…the ones I was given the night of the event. I’ve never had anything like it before, the way it pulls me inside things I want to run from. Finding Tigran on the floor, someone I knew and respected…the blood. I wade through it sometimes, like it’s a sea, and then I’m drowning.Ung—”
Naz pulled me so hard to his chest that I lost my breath. He kissed me all over the face, like he’d done the night before, and then held me out some.
“Get dressed.” His eyes gazed into mine. “I will take you wherever you want to go,uccellino selvatico.”
He left me in the kitchen, a roar echoing from down the hallway from his throat. He was going for his bedroom, I thought. I stood there, staring after him, dazed and confused.
“What the fuck just happened?” I whispered.
“I know what just happened.”
I jumped at the voice. I’d totally forgotten Beni was in the kitchen with us.
“Fill me in,” I barely got out, looking at him.
He scrunched up his nose like he’d smelled something bad and threw his napkin on the table in a dramatic way. “You have awoken the slumbering lion inside of him. The sleepy beast.”
“I…did whatnow?”
“Just as I said. You know all about my family,supposedly, but have you not heard of this?”
“Awaking the slumbering lion?”
“Sì,” he said impatiently. “You have awoken the dormant lion inside of Nazzareno. We all have them inside of us, but it takes the right match to wake them up. This is when we truly learn what it is to balance two sides of who we are—the romantic and the ruthless. Our family is known to revere women, creatures much smaller than us, and when our mighty spirits and knees fall at their feet…it brings out our protective natures.”
“Hence…”
“Awaking the lion within.”
It was not absurd at all, especially since I could sense how serious this was, but I had to keep the laughter in my chest from bubbling up and exploding out my mouth. It was pure nerves and an overwhelming sense of…warmth and freezing cold. It had the same effect as blood that was too hot rushing underneath skin that was too cold.
I wasn’t sure what to do with this…news, and I shivered from the war raging within.
