“What?Sweetheart?”
“Or babe, sweetie, darling, none of it.”Her face turned pink.
“What should I call you?”
“Ellie.Just Ellie.”
I shook my head.“No can do.You’re a hell of a lot more to me than just Ellie.”
Her mouth fell open.Slowly, she sank behind the arm of the couch.
I stood up and picked her up off the floor and sat down on the couch with her ugly sack of a costume and everything.
“You’re going to be too hot to sleep in this.”Already, I could feel her warmth through the fur.
The silence that stretched thin was uncomfortable.
“Ellie?”
“I get cold.”
Right.Venice.The first night.
I tugged the blanket free and tried to get it to cover us both.
“I’m not sleeping out here.”
“Shh.”I was tired of arguing with her.
“I mean it, Ringo, I only came out to ask your opinion of that…”
“Threat?”
She squirmed until she could face me.“Will he do it?”
Since he’d already killed once, I doubted she was safe.But if I said that, she’d freak out.“I think he’s an idiot.”
“Is that yourprofessionalopinion?”
“Sweetheart, you don’t want my professional opinion.”
She blinked at me.“Yes, I think I do.”
I swallowed.This close, I could smell her shampoo.And her warm skin.“I think Don Manca’s right.”
Her eyes went a little wider.I nodded because we both couldn’t say a whole hell of a lot if she was being followed like she thought she was.
“Scooch.”
“What?”I asked.
“Give me some room.”She wiggled free and then unzipped her costume.Underneath she had a lightweight cotton shirt that drooped off her shoulder, and thin pajama bottoms that were soft as hell.I knew that because she slid over me and stretched out on the couch, giving me the outside and stealing the inside.“Now cover me up.”
Her ass wiggled against my leg.I rolled until I was stretched out against her.She was small enough to fit against me, but her couch wasn’t long or wide enough to fit both of us.“This isn’t going to work.”
I stood up and collected her, blanket and all, and carried her into her bedroom.She’d turned down her covers, so I laid her down and flipped the rest of them back so I could crawl in beside her.“No funny business.This is… me being a professional only, okay?”
“I don’t?—”
