Logically, I knew he was right.
But sometimes my mind liked to kick up worst-case scenarios until they became a tornado that swept me up with it. And there was nothing I could do but try to hold on until the winds lost their strength and dropped me down, dizzy and exhausted.
Surprisingly, tears didn’t come.
And, well, I was a cryer.
Old people eating alone at restaurants? Tears. Videos of kids getting the puppy they always wanted? Tears. Anger? Tears. Frustration? Tears. Joy? Tears. I was a tear-producing machine. I never ran dry. Until right then when I had a real, legitimate reason to be blubbering.
I sucked in a deep breath, breathing in Perish’s cologne, feeling almost dizzy with it as that thrumming sensation moved through me again.
I needed to step away.
To put that shield up between us that had always been there. The absolute last thing I needed in my life at the moment was to have confusing feelings about a club member who was completely off-limits.
Did I do that, though?
Nope. Of course not.
I leaned deeper into him.
I bit back a little moan as his arms instinctively tightened around me.
God, I missed this.
I wasn’t even sure I’d ever had this. But that base, primal part of me had been craving exactly this without ever realizing it: feeling safe and protected in a strong man’s arms. Knowing that so long as I stayed just like this, nothing bad could ever happen to me.
Then, as I leaned into that comfort, Perish had to go ahead and let one of his hands drift up to gently knead the back of my neck, working loose knots I swear I’d been born with.
And, well, after that initial tenderness faded, it feltgood. Good enough that a little, well, moan escaped me.
I was close enough to Perish to feel the way his breath caught at the sound, to notice that his arm around my waist almost seemed to shake with… what? The urge to release me? Or, dare I even think it, touch me?
Before I could find out which it might be, though, someone was clearing their throat.
We broke apart like guilty teenagers caught necking on the living room couch when we thought our parents were asleep.Notspeaking from experience here. I’d never been bold enough to sneak a boy into my house. But Layna had stories.
We turned in unison to find not just Matteo Grassi standing there, as we might expect, but his older brother Luca as well.
He’d likely just been waiting for all the cops to clear out before he showed up.
I was a little surprised at myself that I thought the questioning portion of the night was over. This was mob territory. Of course the boss of the family would want to talk to us.
I was finding it impossible to find words as I was currently dying of embarrassment for getting caught in a club member’s arms. Even if I knew there was no way the Grassi brothers could know what kind of wicked, raunchy fantasies my mind was cooking up. Including one that may or may not have included one of those vibrators in the box of unneeded party favors near the door.
Luckily, Perish wasn’t so afflicted.
“Tell me you got them on the cameras.”
“We caught the car,” Luca confirmed. “But no plates and no faces.”
“Cops were pissed as fuck that you claimed there were no cameras,” Perish said.
“We’re not in the habit of letting the law handle our problems for us,” Luca said with a shrug.
Perish nodded at that. “You have any idea who this was? Fallon is gonna have questions. Not to mention her old man,” he said with a nod toward me.
Oh, God.
