I followed him where he was already setting the table and getting out the breakfast. I sat on the couch. Suspicious didn’t even begin to describe how I felt. I couldn’t let him know he was getting to me, though. “You know, my sister is the one who digs stalkers and creeps, not me. That shit sets my teeth on edge.”
“You think I stalked you?”
“How else you knew I loved pineapple croissants?”
“The same way I knew about the movie,” he said, as if saying, “duh.” “And I notice stuff about people I’m interested in. It’s part of the job.”
“People you’re interested in. Yourtargets.”
He lifted his head off the bakery bag and gazed at me, his hazel eyes piercing, sparkling with a yellow hue like an animal on a hunt. A coyote. I knew now why they called him that. Then he gave me a confirming nod.
A shiver ran through me under his unfaltering gaze and arrogant confession. He was proud of his predatory skills and why he used them. He wasn’t trying to hide his true nature from me. He didn’t bother to lie.
“You should eat.” He handed me the coffee and pushed the croissant plate toward me. “I’ll take the first bite so you know I didn’t poison it.”
He bit on the pastry and licked the yellow cream. For a moment, my entire focus was on his mouth. The way he ate and licked…and fucking kissed. God, that kiss, despite restrained—even inexperienced me knew he was holding back—was scorching hot and skilled and beautiful. It didn’t just melt my panties. It fried my brains.
Okay, maybe he wasn’t going to poison me, but he was going to kill me by turning me into a dumb blonde that would do any stupid shit he lured her in because she couldn’t see past how sexy he was.
I hate beautiful men.
“What’s your game, Coyote?”
He licked some more cream off his delicious lips and gave me a full animalistic grin. “What game, little kitten?”
His phone chimed, and so did mine. I knew Lina was calling me, and it wasn’t hard to guess who was calling him. His gaze lifted from the screen to my face, and his grin turned into a chuckle. “Daddy to the rescue.”
He took Tino’s call as I took Lina’s, his eyes never leaving my face. I barely listened to what she was saying. All I caught was that the car was on its way.
“Bene, come vuoi tu. Subito,” he drawled and hung up. “We’re going back to the mansion.”
“Yes. It’s for the best.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
My eyes narrowed as I tried to read through his poker face. I didn’t buy that he wasn’t upset or was okay with us leaving. Even if he realized he was making a mistake pursuing me because I’d never be ready to be with someone like him, he’d still settle the score. Men like him didn’t just admit defeat. “Is that so?”
“Absolutely. Are your bags packed?”
I just nodded, my mind running in circles. He seemed to have anticipated my demand to go back to my sister’s and liked it. A little bit too much.
“You should finish your breakfast then. We don’t wanna be late,” he said.
“So eager to go back, aren’t you? What are you planning, Domenico?”
He leaned forward, closer, so close that his breath landed on my mouth. His lower lip brushed over mine, and I gasped at the tiny friction, the delayed promise. Was he going to kiss me or was he teasing? When he brushed over me again, another gasp fled my chest, and my heart hammered. “Do you know what coyotes love to eat the most?”
Who the fuck cared? Must be something nasty like whatever shit brewing in his head to get back at me. I swallowed, my breath catching. “No.”
He swiped his lip across my jaw and up to my ear. Then he bit my earlobe, rocketing my heartbeat and sending a heavy throb between my legs. “They love to eat little kittens.”
CHAPTER 15
Nicky
“And then as soon as we arrived here, he winked at me, saying he’d see me soon, but first he needed a word with his capo.” I threw my hands in the air the moment I shut the nursery’s door. “I’m telling you he’s up to something awful like him!”
Lina put Nick in his crib, squeaking a toy in his face. “Calm down. From what you’ve told me, he didn’t give up on you yet. You still have a chance at winning him over.”
