Page 49 of Contempt

Showing off his white teeth, he winked at Lucia, and bent down to sling an arm over her shoulder, and kiss her right on the top of her head.

The action was familiar.

God.

He still smelled the same.

Leather, musk, and man.

“Hey, babe, sorry I’m late,” he murmured against her hair. “We should head out of here, yeah? Don’t want to be late.”

Late for what?

What was he talking about?

Renzo didn’t give Lucia the chance to ask those things before he helped her up from the table, and gave Christian a grin. “Sorry to cut this short—next time, maybe? I’m Ren, by the way.”

Christian didn’t miss a beat. “Christian.”

Lucia was still wondering what just happened.

• • •

“What are you doing?” Lucia hissed as she tried to yank her arm from Renzo’s firm grasp. He held tight even as he led her out of the hotel. She didn’t actually want him to let her go—she liked the way his fingers felt curving around her arm, and keeping her close to him. But that was the problem … it left her confused and sad. “Let me—”

“Is that your guy?” he asked.

Lucia’s brow dipped as she looked the way he pointed. At the car waiting just beyond the front doors of the hotel, and the man standing next to the back passenger door. “How did you know that was my driver? Are you following me?”

Renzo glanced down at her, and arched a brow. “He’s driving a black car, is wearing a suit, and looked like he might come at me as soon as I dragged you out of the front doors. That all spells Marcello enforcer to me. No, I’m not fucking following you.”

But he wanted to.

She could hear it in his voice.

Lucia didn’t know what to think of that.

She glanced back at the man waiting by the car, and nodded. “Yeah, that’s my car.”

“Good, get in.” He didn’t exactly give her the chance to argue. Before she knew what happened, he was pushing her into the backseat, and leaning in the door. “Just smile, okay?”

“I don’t understand why you just came up like that and—”

“I don’t know what his angle is,” Renzo uttered.

“Who, Christian?”

Renzo nodded. “Yeah, him.”

“He’s a businessman from Italy. I met him at the gallery where I work.”

The laugh that came out of Renzo’s mouth could only be described as bitter. Nothing else would fit the bill. It kind of shocked Lucia how harsh it sounded, and yet, the contrast of how good he looked doing it was bad for her insides.

So fucking bad.

His gaze leveled on her again, quieting her instantly. “Christian Savino is a hell of a lot more than just a businessman from Italy, and that’s only a portion of my problem right now.”

He didn’t let her say anything else before he closed the car door. She watched, confused, as he said a couple of quick words to the enforcer outside of the car before rounding the back, and sliding in the other side.