Page 36 of Sicilian Savior

Just run to the market. Pick up some groceries. Who the hell did I think we were? The Joneses? Christ. I may have been retired for a few years, but I was really off my game thinking that shit was a good idea. At least I was still alert enough that I’d picked Mario out of a crowd before he’d gotten any closer. And I’d managed to silence him before there was any risk he’d blown our cover.

Mission accomplished.

I glanced over at Lucia, who stared straight ahead. I’d also apparently accomplished another mission—totally and completely terrifying her.

Real smooth. Let’s stab two guys to death in front of her and gun down a bunch more. That’ll really impress her.

We stood side by side for a minute, then I broke the prolonged silence. “I’m really sorry about today. You shouldn’t have had to see all that... you know... blood and stuff.”

Instead of answering me, her face turned a soft shade of green before she bolted into the villa.

“Great,” I mumbled.

Any chance I had with Lucia after all of this was over, I’d gone and blown it completely. It was one thing that she knew I used to kill people but seeing it up close and personal was another thing entirely.

I stood in the driveway trying to get my head back into a good space and trying to process the entire fucked up day. From the moment I’d seen her this morning, it’d been torture. I’d spent the entire day trying not to look at her with what I was certain were the biggest damn puppy-dog eyes any man had ever sported. The harder I’d tried to ignore my feelings, the more awkward I’d become, and I know she’d noticed it by this point. I was a trained operative and could see the concern on her face at my behavior. But what was I supposed to say?

Sorry, I can’t talk to you like a normal person because I’m too busy trying to remind myself I can’t take advantage of you and shove my tongue down your throat like I want.

Nope. Instead, just puppy dog eyes when she wasn’t looking and awkward behavior when she was. Fan-fucking-tastic. I hoped Wes hadn’t been hacking into the security cameras and watching this unfold, or he’d certainly never stop teasing me for the longing glances that went Lucia’s way every time she turned her back. He probably had been, though. Just sitting on his couch eating popcorn and writing down one-liners to zing me with about how pathetic I’d suddenly become.

I stifled my groan and headed into the villa to shower and change, then get going on damage control.

Lucia came down an hour later, her heavenly scent announcing her presence before she came into the kitchen.

“You doing okay?” I asked as I poured a glass of wine.

“Yeah. Sorry I took off. I just... when you said ‘blood,’ I saw visions of the fight again. Vivid visions. I don’t do well with blood.”

“You’d never last a day in my line of work,” I joked.

Her eyes widened. “I didn’t even last a minute.”

“You get used to it.” I pushed a glass of wine toward her. “Wine helps.”

“White tonight. Good idea. The red might remind me of—”

“I know. I was thinking.” I tapped the side of my head with a smile.

The gesture made her laugh, the sound causing me to sigh. I realized how pathetic I looked again and stiffened up, glancing up at the camera I’d planted in the kitchen.

Not this time if you’re watching, Pretty Boy. No ammo for you.

Continuing to force my eyes away from Lucia, I walked over to the fridge. “I know we didn’t get to bring back the fancy groceries we’d picked up, so we don’t have a ton of choices tonight. If you’re not up to cooking after everything that happened, I can just whip up some scrambled eggs. They may be burnt when I’m done, but usually, they’re still edible.” I peeked over my shoulder. “Well, kinda edible.”

“No. I can cook. I like it. It relaxes me,” she answered, moving past me to the fridge.

“Only if you want to.” I stepped out of her way, keeping my distance so her smell wouldn’t cause me to moan.

I didn’t make it far enough away. Fuck.

“There’s enough stuff in here that I can whip something together, but tomorrow you’ll have to go back out to shop if I’m feeding four of us.” She arched an eyebrow. “Without me.”

“Uh, yeah. That’s a given.” I chuckled. “You just make me a list, and one of us will pick it up. And I’m putting cannoli at the top of the list. I’m still so pissed we had to ditch those.”

“Deal. Why don’t you go sit out by the vineyard, and I’ll bring dinner out there? We can eat outside tonight. It’s beautiful out.”

“Only if you’re sure you don’t want help.”