Motivational? Every fucking time.
“Yes, Boss.”
Reiko tilted her head up to him with an adorably arched brow. It was the fourth time she’d made the expression that day. He loved that she was letting herself be more expressive with him. “That seems dramatic. It just needs to be washed.”
Santino laced their fingers and guided them down the walking path. “You’ll learn, beautiful. I won’t take risks with your health.”
She didn’t argue, and instead her hand held tighter to his. By the time they reached the parking lot, she was leaning into him, as if seeking something from him.
Santino wasn’t sure if it was a sign her adrenaline was crashing or if she’d hit her head despite his best efforts, so he turned his gaze enough to catch Armando’s eye and jerked his chin toward the waiting SUV. They were still several paces back.
Armando, of course, held his position and sent the driver—doubling as security—running ahead. That was fine. It still got the job done. The back door was open and the supplies were laid out and waiting by the time the three of them reached the vehicle. Armando adjusted to cover their exposed flank without instruction.
Santino moved Reiko up, onto the seat, but positioned her at an angle so he could see her more clearly. He leaned close, staring in her widened eyes, and caught both of her hands in his. “How’s your head, beautiful? You’ve gone quiet on me. I need to know you don’t need a hospital.”
She blinked, then slowly shook her head. “I don’t. I’m fine.” She drew a breath, glanced past him as if she was hesitant to talk with people-statues nearby, and finally met his stare again. “That man … is he dead? Is it really okay that we just walked away?” She swallowed hard and squeezed tight to his hands. “He was … he sounded like he was blaming you”—she cut herself off, licked her lips the way she seemed to do when she was nervous, and tried again—“it’s not my place. It’s just hard not to be …curious.”
He smiled. The adrenaline had faded enough for her brain to process some of what had transpired, and she was trying to fit it all into her nice, neat boxes. Her instinct obviously recognized his predatory side, but she wasn’t truly aware of who or what he was. That had worked in his favor for getting his proverbial foot in the door, undoubtedly. But he refused to outright lie to her. If they were going to work, she needed to understand the gist of what he did. As well as trust that when he told her something, it was truth.
That didn’t mean he couldn’t ease her into it.
Santino released one of her hands to reach past her for the medical supplies. Her elbow scrape really wasn’t bad, thank fuck, but he could not tolerate the idea of her bleeding. So, this needed doing. “I’m so fucking proud of you, beautiful,” he said, keeping his voice quiet as he snapped on a pair of latex gloves before ripping open the little antiseptic wipe. He met her gaze again. “It takes about ten seconds to see you don’t like confrontation, which also means pushing for answers to something potentially dangerous is way past your comfort zone, right?” He gently pulled her arm forward and his smile widened when she offered no resistance.
“That’s”—she blew out a breath—“yes, that’s true.” She said it like it was something to be ashamed of.
He couldn’t wait to learn all the reasons he was going to slaughter Osamu Matsunaga. Possibly her brother, Hiroto, too.
Santino pushed those thoughts aside and began carefully cleaning the blood and bits of debris from her scraped elbow. She tensed at the sting but didn’t attempt to pull away. When he had that done, he swapped the wipe for a gauze pad that was larger than she needed but would cover the entire space thoroughly. As he worked, he said, “Before I address your questions, I’m going to tell you something, Reiko. Something you need to hear. And if, after, you still want me to answer any or all of the things you asked, I will.” He carefully rubbed his thumb over the tape that would start to peel off, anyway, in just a couple of hours. The stuff was always shit.
Reiko nodded when their eyes met again. She was listening.
Fuck, he wanted to kiss her. He wanted to climb into the SUV and sit her on his lap and kiss every underappreciated inch of her.
“Boss,” Armando said. His voice was nearly drowned out by the approaching siren, and Santino supposed that in itself was the point.
Santino bit back a sigh, grabbed up the supplies, and tossed them into the back to clean up later. “Let’s hit the road.” He motioned for Reiko to reposition, brought her hand to his lips for a passing moment of reassurance, then quickly rounded the SUV to climb in on the other side. They were in motion a minute later, and only then did he turn back toward Reiko.
She turned to face him simultaneously, her gaze expectant and steady. She wasn’t scared.
He knew the difference now, and if he could kill Nico all over again for putting that panic in her eyes earlier, he would. But he’d have to settle for whoever Nico had referred to with his final, taunting words.
In the meantime, Santino held Reiko’s gaze and kept his words quiet and calm. “The most important thing you need to understand,” he said, “is that I will never lie to you, Reiko.”
Her brow furrowed just a little.
“That means if you’re going to ask me questions, you need to be prepared for hard answers. I might use gentler words for you than I would for my men, but some content can only be softened so much.”
She pulled her arms in close to herself, not quite folding them around her body. Her fingers twitched in her lap as her lips bent in a frown. “So … if I don’t ask, you won’t tell me?”
Santino mulled the question over and adjusted in his seat to better face her, stretching his arm out across the seat backs in the process. “I’ll volunteer the things I can clearly see would be harmful if left unsaid, or which would put you at any disadvantages. You would always know a general sense of things. ButdetailsI would spare you, unless you asked or it was critical I included you.”
Her frown remained, her eyes taking on a thoughtful sheen for several seconds. Determination settled over her features then and she said, “Tell me two things.”
He fought the smile that wanted to pull at his lips and inclined his head.
“Have you lied to me yet?”
“No.”
