I sit up, alert and on edge, but I hear the water running in the bathroom. How the hell does he keep sneaking out of bed without me noticing? I’ve never been a deep sleeper. I usually wake at the slightest sound. But with my greatest enemy in my bed, I’m dead to the world.
I wonder if he drugged me somehow, but then I remember the nightmare, the same one as always, watching my father die. Cesario Clemenza turning on me as well?—
And the sex.
I remember the sex, too. The feel of him. The taste of him…
And the aftermath. I look around the room, and yep, there it is. That washcloth, balled up and dry now, lying next to the wall.
Trying to outrun memories before they can take hold, I get up and open the bathroom door. He’s there in the shower, just finishing up as I come in, since he turns off the water a second later and opens the door to look at me, slicking back the wet hair from his face. “All yours,” he says.
I can’t pick the tone. He doesn’t sound as cold as he sometimes does, but he sure as hell doesn’t sound as open and vulnerable as he did last night when I was?—
“Thanks,” I say gruffly. “I’ll just be a minute.”
He slides past me, but his arm brushes mine, and I’m very, very aware that we’re both naked. So is my dick, which starts to perk up hopefully, so I lean into the shower and start the cold tap. I find myself trying not to watch him dry off, but whyshouldn’tI watch? It’s my bathroom.
And he’s my property.
He feels a little less mine than he did yesterday, somehow. And a whole lot less than when I hauled him down to the basement to punish him.
Once he’s back down there, everything will go back to how it should be.
I step into the cold water and try not to gasp too obviously at the shock of it, then lean out to close the glass door behind me, but he catches it with a foot.
“We should call Lorenzo,” he says, tucking the towel around his waist.
I’m too busy worrying that he’s going to see my hard-on and get the wrong idea to argue about it now. “Sure. Fine. Whatever.”
When I get out of the shower, he’s bundled up in my robe again, and now Iknowhe’s doing it on purpose. “Take it off,” I order. His eyebrows go up, but he shrugs it off. And then he just stands there buck naked. “What are you waiting for? Get dressed.”
“I have no clean clothes in here,” he says patiently. “Which is why I took the robe.”
I’m tempted to tell him he can strut around naked in front of his preciousLorenzo. But then I find my sense. “Whatever.” I ball up the robe and throw it into his chest. He catches it, swaying slightly on his feet. “I’ll get Rosa to run some laundry later.”
He puts it back on without comment. I head into my walk-in closet, where I catch sight of one of my old suits.
Okay, I see his point. That suit is not the kind of thing I’d wear these days. I got it back before I was really making any money. “I’ll get Rosa to call Benedetti over,” I say loudly so he can hear.
“I’m sure he’ll be intrigued,” says a voice from much closer than I expected. I don’t jump, but I turn fast. He’s leaning up against the door frame, my robe slipping down one shoulder, and he has a slight smile. “Another emergency call-out so soon.”
I’m standing there with one hand on my cheap suit. I have to force myself to keep moving, keep sorting through the clothes, instead of going over to him and yanking the robe right off him.
“I bet he’ll be happy to seeyouagain,” I grunt as I slide a hand through my shirts. “And for Christ’s sake, restrain yourself from ordering the most expensive fucking fabric he has this time.”
“Why? It’s not like you can’t afford it.” When I glance his way, he’s smiling a little more. “You need to learn to dress for the man you are, Dami, not the man you once were.”
I shake my head. “I got no time to worry about fashion. I’ve got a job to do, and I do it well.”
“Yes,” he agrees softly. “You must do it very well to be living so large.”
I can’t read his tone, but when I look over again, he’s disappeared, back to the bedroom. I pull on my clothes, and then fish out the door key from the underwear I kicked off in the bed last night.
Neither of us has mentioned it, that fumble in the dark. It was so erotic at the time, but I can barely believe it happened now.
I pause while unlocking the door and look over my shoulder at him. “Let’s get this straight, Clemenza. If I could keep you naked and caged, hell, plugged every day, I’d do it. But the nurse said to keep you warm. So I’m gonna keep you warm, make sure you get real healthy again. When we’ve sorted out this Uncle Tony shit and found whoever is hunting your line, you know what happens.”
“Oh, yes. I know what will happen.”
