“How’d that work out for you?”
He winces. “Not that fucking well.”
We stare at each other as the car takes us around a block, the city lights flooding in and out of the tinted windows, illuminating the angles of his face before sending him back into shadow.
I fiddle with the collar of his shirt. “You never asked me if I wanted to go.”
I feel his chest rise and fall with the heaviness of his breath. “What would you have said if I had?”
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “I don’t think I understood my own feelings until I was being kicked out of the safe house by your brother.”
“You weren’t being kicked out,” he growls, his hand dropping to my thigh and giving me a gentle squeeze.
“Yes, I was. Lucky told me I had to go to the airport on your orders. You ghosted me.”
He works his jaw for a moment, his fingers gliding higher. “I didn’t ghost you.”
“Oh really? What do you call fucking me and then sending me off to the airport without a word?”
“Stupidity.” His fingers move closer to my pussy. “A mistake.” He skims his thumb directly over my clit. “The worst thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
I feel the jolt of that touch all the way to my toes, but I’m not going to be distracted. Not until I know where we stand. I grab his hand.
“Why?”
He laces his fingers through mine. “Because it put you in the crosshairs of those Bratva bastards. I’m going to ask you again, and I need you to tell me the truth,tesoro. Did those motherfuckers hurt you in any way?”
“My body is sore from the accident, but that’s all.”
“I want to kill them for what they did to you. I should, by all rights.”
I hear the vehemence in his voice, and I know he’s telling me the truth.
I shake my head. “No. I don’t want that.”
Streetlights flicker over his face. “You know it’s the way of things for me. My world isn’t like yours.”
“I know.”
“Does that scare you?”
I know what he’s asking me. At least, I think I do. Part of me is too afraid to believe it.
“A little,” I admit. “But if there’s anything I’ve learned in my life, it’s not to allow fear to rule me.”
Light floods his face once more as we make a traffic stop. His expression is harsh and hard and intense.
“You want to do this?”
“Do what?” I trail my fingers along his neck, feeling nervous.
I’ve never stepped out of my comfort zone like this before. But then, I’ve never felt this way about anyone else.
“Be with me,” he says. “Do you want to be with me? Because if you do, I’m not going to let you go. I’m going to hold on to you so fucking tight,tesoro. But I don’t live in your world, and I never will. This part of me won’t ever change. I need you to understand that and want me anyway. Because if you don’t, then this car is taking you to the airport, and I’ll get you the first flight out of here I can.”
I stare at him, and I can barely breathe at the thought of leaving. That’s how I know I need to stay. That’s how I know I love him.
“You can try to take me to the airport, but I’m not getting out. You’ll have to drag me, kicking and screaming, all the way to the ticket counter. We’ll both probably get arrested and be put on the no-fly list. Is that what you really want?”
