When he goes to close my door, my gaze drops. From the bulge in his pants, he’s not immune to my charms, which gives me a serious buzz.
The traffic is awful, as always, but Kane navigates it with ease. He seems remarkably relaxed considering it’s just the two of us. The other two guards stayed behind with Angelo, as he has a meeting, according to Kane.
“I’m surprised Angelo isn’t sending another team of armed men to keep me safe,” I remark. “Is he not worried I’ll jump out of the car at a traffic light?”
“Go ahead,” Kane says with his eyes on the road ahead. When we stop at a T-junction, I go to open the door to test him. Of course it’s locked.
“Good to know I’m trapped if we crash.”
“Don’t worry, kitten. The locks will automatically disengage in a collision.”
I scoff under my breath and stare out of the window as high-end stores and luxury office blocks turn into strip malls. The traffic thins out as we leave the central business district behind.
Because it’s a Friday night, there are more people around than usual. Patrons kicking back in busy bars spill out onto the sidewalk, laughing and drinking.
I wonder how Mack’s coping without me. Does he miss me? Doubtful.
My thoughts drift to Luka. It’s been a week since he left, and I haven’t heard from him. If I had a phone, I’d check out his social media, but I don’t, so my imagination fills in the gaps.
At least I have Felix.
“Fina will be over later,” Kane remarks out of nowhere. I haven’t seen her since the fun evening with Lorenzo.
“Oh?”
“Yeah. She has a surprise for you.”
When I turn to look at him, he winks, and I frown. Fina and I aren’t exactly close, even though I do genuinely like her, so what’s going on?
I mull it over for a few moments, but just as I’m about to quiz Kane further, I realize something’s wrong.
“What’s going on?”
He throws me a grim look before wrenching the steering wheel to the left. The car fishtails across the road, the tires screeching.My seatbelt cuts into my chest as I’m thrown against the door. My mouth opens in a silent scream.
“Hold on, Chiara,” Kane grunts. “Whatever happens next, don’t panic.”
Naturally, I panic.
44
Kane
Being in a car with Chiara is pure torture. Her sweet vanilla scent fills my nostrils, and I can barely breathe under the weight of want and need crushing my chest.
I could kill Angelo for forcing me to train her all week. Except that I know he’s right; while she’s not completely without skills, as my almost-broken nose from the night I ambushed her in a parking lot can attest, she lacks the experience Fina has.
Angelo’s sister might look like a mafia princess in Louboutin heels, but she’s more than capable of handing a man his ass when she needs to. Lorenzo is a misogynistic bastard. His daughter is little more than an asset to him, but he made sure Fina had self-defense training from being a kid. She’s also a crack shot.
Chiara knows how to nail a guy in the balls, but as she proved the night at the hotel, she’s easily triggered because of her previous bad experiences.
I’m hoping the moves I’ve been teaching her become instinctual, so if the worst happens, she’ll use them before panic sets in.
Despite how unfit she is, Chiara has worked hard all week. Thanks to the early starts, there are dark shadows beneath her eyes, and her complexion is grayer than I’d like. Even her smart mouth is silent for once as I drive us back to the mansion.
Perhaps what’s waiting for her back at the house will make her realize Angelo isn’t the monster she thinks he is.
Fina told Angelo about the dog Chiara lost before the wedding, and he’s had one of his guys looking into it. None of us expected Leon to find the damn dog, but, to our surprise, he tracked the mutt down.
