I lowered myself onto my haunches and pulled off my sunglasses, letting them dangle from my fingers. “Why are you fucking with me?”
“Because I can.” She stared up at me defiantly, but as the seconds ticked by, the fire slowly faded from her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m just feeling like…my life is out of my control again.”
My anger faded with her confession. This was the last thing that I wanted. But I completely understood where she was coming from.
“Are you regretting what you told me earlier?”
“No,” she said, but she didn’t sound convinced. “If my only other option is going back to Ciro, I’d rather take my chances with you.”
“I’m not sure whether to feel flattered or insulted.”
“Same.”
“Why do you say that?”
Her eyes met mine for a brief second before they danced away, and in the oncoming darkness, I couldn’t read them.
“Sera?”
She gave me a forced smile. “Forget it. I’m getting cold. I think I am going to get out.”
I rose to my feet. “One moment, please.” Taking out my cell, I called in the order for all soldiers to make their way to the front of the house, where no wandering eyes would be able to see what was going on back here. Scanning the lake below, I didn’t see any of our boats in the immediate vicinity, so I walked over and fetched her towel from the chair, leaving my sunglasses in its place, and making sure no one was in the house before I held it open for her.
Sera swam over to the ladder and quickly climbed out and into the waiting towel. I couldn’t keep my eyes from traveling over her lush figure before I wrapped it around her, trapping her arms underneath. Then I pulled her against me, my breath leaving me on a deep sigh once she was safely in my embrace.
I thought she might pull away, but instead, she burrowed into my chest, soaking up my warmth. “Tell me about your family.” Her voice was muffled in my suit jacket.
I immediately tensed. “My family? You’ve met my family. Luca, Veda, and Tristan are my family.”
“Your wife and son,” she clarified. “I’d like to hear about them.”
The liquid heat that had been warming my blood the instant I felt her curves pressed against me froze in my veins. “It’s cold, Sera,” I said stiffly. “We should get inside.”
“I’m not cold when I’m with you,” she murmured. “And I want to stay out here for a while. I feel trapped in that house.”
“It’s only temporary,” I assured her.
“I know.” She sighed against me, and I pressed my lips to the top of her head. “So, tell me about your family.”
Knowing I wouldn’t get her off of the topic until I gave her something, I asked, “What do you want to know?”
“Everything. Where did you meet your wife? What was she like? What was your son like?”
“I met Alessandra when I was still in school. She was a year below me.”
“So you were high school sweethearts?”
“No. We didn’t start dating until I saw her again four years later. She started working at a store in our area.” A store I was sent to by Luigi to collect our “fee” in exchange for our protection. “We started planning our wedding just a few months after we started dating, even though both of our families advised against it. But we were young and foolish and thought love would conquer all.”
Sera leaned back to look up at me. “What was she like?”
I let my eyes travel over her perfect face. Not even the scratches from the tree bark could deter from it. “She was nothing at all like you,” I admitted. “Ale wasn’t from our world, and she didn’t understand it, though she tried. At least at first.” I paused, thinking back to when it all began to fall apart. “Over time, she started trying to convince me to leave. To get out. But I couldn’t. Luigi wouldn’t allow it. He needed me to stay with Luca.”
I didn’t tell her that I never actually tried to leave this life. It was the only life I knew. I wouldn’t know how to survive without the family, especially Luca and Tristan. “She became bitter and anxious. Scared to go out. She was convinced Luigi had it out for her.”
“Did he?”
That was a question I still asked myself. Back then, I’d told Alessandra she was being paranoid. That she was letting her imagination run away with her. But now? I honestly didn’t know. But that wasn’t something I needed her to worry about. “No,” I told Sera. “He barely knew her.” Not that that mattered. “But he didn’t trust her because she was an outsider, as he put it.”
