“I still can’t believewe got to see the snow leopard,” Reiko said, the child-like excitement she’d felt over the brief moment sweeping through her again as she thought back on it. The zoo only had one currently, according to the sign in front of the ‘bigcat’ area, and she was notoriously anti-social. Which was to be expected of her breed.
Guerra chuckled and leaned close to her, his arm stretched out on the bench behind her. Technically, he wasn’t embracing her. But the decision was surely deliberate. Just as his choice to sit so close when there was room enough on the bench for him to spread out. When he spoke, he kept his voice pitched low, his head angled toward hers. He wasn’t talking for the two muscle-bound security guys who’d been trailing them to hear, or for the passersby. He was speaking just for her.
And he could probably see the little bumps that raised on her skin as his words washed over her. There was nothing she could do about the response.
“We can stay longer if you want. We’re not on a schedule, beautiful.” His lips lifted in the smile she was already becoming alarmingly familiar with. “I bet if we talked to the staff, we could find out when she’s more active. We could come back then, too. If you want.”
Heat bloomed across her face and Reiko shook her head. “That’s really not necessary.” She rolled her lips between her teeth. “I just thought it was amazing … to be so lucky as to get to see such a beautiful creature. Lots of people will never get that.” She would never have gotten that experience, either, if she hadn’t agreed to spend time with Guerra.
His expression only warmed and the arm that had held steadfastly over the bench finally lifted, his fingers grazing her outer shoulder in a light, lingering touch. “The luckiest one is me.”
Reiko’s eyes widened.
Something in his eyes heated as they held steady with hers. “I know you’re still trying to figure me out, to find your footing in this.” His fingers curved fully over her shoulder, though his grip remained loose and light. “Out of respect for that, I’m notgoing to kiss you right now.” He leaned in as her lungs froze and an edge roughened his voice when he spoke again—an edge she absolutely should not have found as thrilling as she did. “But know, for the record, this is the most restraint I’ve displayed in my entire fucking life.”
A fresh round of heat rolled over her.
It felt like no less than half the park had been staring at and openly ogling Guerra since they’d arrived some two hours earlier. Yet his attention had never swayed from her. She wasn’t even sure he’d taken much interest in the animals. Somehow, she had managed to accept at least one thing as true.
Santino Guerra’s interest in her was genuine. Whether it leaned more sexual or more romantic, whether he wanted someone on his arm for a purpose, a short-term goal, or was perhaps in a lonely phase—none of that was as clear. But he wasn’t faking his attraction.
She didn’t wholly know how to handle that notion. Except that, since he’d put it out there, a part of her kind of wished hewouldlean in. Close the distance. Kiss her.
It was a wild thought.
His eyes crinkled with amusement and his grin tipped up at one side. “Unless you want me to?”
Her heart leapt into a wild rhythm and Reiko was sure she had turned the color of a tomato. Since when was she anything other than annoyed by the concept of PDA? Probably since it was her, and specifically involving the man most likely to be mobbed by neglected housewives if he ever went anywhere without a security detail. Still, unexpected attraction aside, she was not at the making-out-in-public-like-college-kids stage.
Not that she’d ever had such a stage. But she’d witnessed it plenty.
Reiko licked her lips, already shaking her head before she found her voice. “I appreciate your—”
“Boss,” the man who’d been introduced in the car as Armando said, suddenly stepping out of wherever he’d been and into her peripheral vision. There was something like a note of warning in his tone that immediately raised the hairs on Reiko’s neck.
Guerra clicked his tongue, his smile falling away, and turned to look toward the man as his grip on Reiko’s shoulder tightened. He opened his mouth, but paused visibly before closing it again. His jaw flexed and Reiko felt a tension roll through him, as if gathering up only to be pushed away.
On instinct, she lowered her voice. “Is something the matter?”
He met her gaze again but his next smile was smaller. Tighter. “Sorry, beautiful. Just a small hiccup. You sit right here and keep resting your feet.”
She opened her mouth to question his words.
Anything she started to say was drowned out by the louder, angrier voice of another male calling his name.
Reiko immediately tensed. She knew Guerra was not a nobody. He was a wealthy business owner. Between his money and his professional success, he couldn’t not have enemies.
Guerra gave her shoulder a squeeze, tipping her briefly into him, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. His words practically vibrated through her. “Don’t worry, Reiko. This will only take a minute.” Then he released her, motioned Armando aside, and stepped from the bench.
Reiko pulled in a hard breath, as confused by her own intense concern as she was weighed down by the concern itself. She noted that Armando stayed nearer to her, though his eyes tracked his employer’s every step. And she remembered there was a second man, whose name she couldn’t recall. She’d have had to turn her head to look for him—to take her eyes from Guerra.
She chose to watch as Guerra strode up to the source of the angry shout.
The angry man was shorter, bulkier, and continuously flexing his fists at his sides like he wasn’t sure what to do with them. His light brown hair was buzzed around both sides of his head, leaving only the top thick enough to identify the coloring of. From his face, Reiko guessed he couldn’t be more than a year older than Guerra’s thirty-four.
Guerra tucked his hands into his pockets as if it were a casual conversation. They stood only a couple of feet away, on the main path, and passersby had scattered at the shouting or were giving them a wide berth, so his voice carried easily. “You aren’t interrupting my date to do something stupid, are you, Nico?”
His choice of words made Reiko’s heart beat faster.
