Page 70 of Chris

“Understand what, Chris?”

Her words were a whisper.

A caress.

“That you’re safe with me, Val—I’m not like him, and I won’t hurt you, or take from you when you don’t want to give it to me. I’m not a perfect man, but I am a good one.”

“I like to think I do understand that.”

Chris smiled. “But?”

“Life has taught me to be wary.”

Right.

He would be concerned otherwise.

“But I think I always knew anyway,” Valeria said, her tongue snaking out to wet the seam of her lips as she spoke. “You were soft and sweet with my daughter, and I saw it in how you treated me. So, I do get it, but—”

“Life,” he interjected.

“I have to be careful.”

“I want you to be.”

“Oh?”

He nodded. “And I also want you to trust me. This can’t work otherwise, Val.”

She let out a hard breath. “I’m not convinced it will work at all, if I’m being honest.”

“Why?”

“You see my life, don’t you?” A bitter laugh fell from her lips, and he instantly wanted to kiss it away. Somehow, he refrained, but it was hard. “Don’t blame me for thinking freedom is a dream I’ll never see come true, Chris.”

“Except it will, and it starts with tonight.”

“What does that mean?”

Chris chuckled. “Well, it means whatever you want. You run this show, sweetheart.”

Valeria gave him a sly smile. “Does that mean you’ll share all your secrets with me?”

“I don’t have many of those, but what do you want to know?”

A quick shake of her head answered his question, and she looked away. “I was kidding, I didn’t—”

“I have four siblings—all brothers,” Chris said. “We’re French-Italian Canadians, but only a couple of us can speak fluent French. All of us are fluent in Italian. My twin, well, this job was almost his, but he’s … married isn’t the right word, but he needed time off, and so I took the job for him instead.”

Valeria’s brow lifted. “A twin?”

“Identical, too.”

“Like … the same?”

Chris made a noise under his breath. “On the outside, yeah. Corrado. He’s always been my best friend, so I have to look out for him, that’s all.”

“Like taking this job?”