Her boss also told her to take all the time she needs when we popped into the pub to rearrange a handful of shifts that didn’t correspond with her mother’s new treatment plan. He might have been fearful of my warning glare, but that doesn’t alter the facts.
Valentina is lying to me.
Lying is usually punishable by death. Valentina won’t suffer the same consequences.
Doesn’t make my frustration any less, though.
“You don’t need to work.”
“I can’t pay you back if I don’t work.” My knuckles crack when the unease in her expression places my anger on a very steep cliff. “I also can’t just sit here while you—” She bites back the remainder of her reply, but I hear it anyway.While you do everything.
Not wanting to push our exchange anywhere close to how I usually conduct an interrogation, I tread carefully. “What’s going on,dolcezza?”
Her eyes glisten, and for a second, her armor cracks. “I need to make sure I can still stand on my own.” Angrily, she brushes a tear off her cheek. “And that I can survive without you.”
Her admission guts me. She doesn’t have to consider a life without me in it. I’ll carry the world on my shoulders for her if she asks.
But then I remember I can’t control her.
I can only support her.
So instead of pushing, I nod. “Fine.” My voice is rough and low. “We always have a driver on standby. He’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”
The relief that blisters across her beautiful face is painful to watch. Turmoil replaces her relief when she grabs her bag and brushes her lips against mine. She whispers, “Bye,” like she’s leaving forever, before she disappears into the hallway.
I reach for my jacket two seconds later. The chase won’t be as exciting since Valentina’s fear is genuine this time, but I’ll never skip an opportunity to catch her.
Valentina is already at the car when I catch her. “I’ve got it, Marco.”
After dipping his chin, the driver stops rounding the hood to open Valentina’s door.
When I open the door for her, Valentina’s lips part as if she wants to argue, but not a word spills from her plump mouth. Maybeshe knows better. Or perhaps she knows even with the chase being short, it will have the same result.
She ran, and I caught her.
That will only ever end one way.
After assisting Valentina into the back seat, I slide in behind her and close the door. The scent of her rapidly building arousal fills the SUV’s cab when I jab the button above our heads.
The privacy partition hums until the driver’s head disappears behind tinted glass.
Privacy.
Control.
Just the two of us.
I yank at my tie when the heat blooming from Valentina becomes too stifling to ignore as she finally returns my gaze.
“I didn’t run from you.” Her tone is steady like she’s laying down a truth that can’t be bent. “You gave me permission to leave.”
“Semantics.”
“Giovanni…” There’s no conviction in her husky delivery of my name. No power. This isexactlywhat she wanted. She wanted me to chase her. Now I merely need to work out why.
“What happened between last night and this morning that made you believe you need to ponder a world without me in it?”
She shifts her gaze to the scenery whizzing past her window. “Nothing.”
