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“I took the afternoon off.”
Can I gape any harder? I think not. “Youtook the afternoon off? You never do that.”
He grins then, only a small one, but it transforms his serious features into an expression of utter beauty. My breath stutters and stalls in my throat.
“And yet here I am,” he says. “Playing hooky. With you.”
Is he trying to flirt?
I step forward, taking his hand when he stretches it out toward me. “I don’t understand, Rio. I thought… I mean, are there more people you want to show me off to? Where are they?”
He shakes his head. “Not today. Today it is you and me. I have some things to tell you, and your doctor was quite insistent I start letting you out for more fresh air and sunlight.”
“Oh. This is to help the baby. Of course.” The reason for this trip suddenly makes sense.
“No. Not just for the baby,mia cara.”
“Oh.” I must sound stupid, repeating the same word, but he’s thrown me off guard with his unexpected warmth and the casual look.
I don’t recognize this version of Rio Agosti. He isn’t acting at all like an unfeeling mob boss. He doesn’tlooklike a mob boss in that open-necked shirt and with his dark hair lifting in the slight breeze that drifts across the deck of the yacht.
“We have a skeleton crew on board today, and security, of course,” he says. “But other than that, we’ll be alone for the duration of our trip.”
“Okay.” It’s amazing how quickly I’ve become accustomed to the security tagalongs. This time round—post-betrayal, so to speak—I haven’t been given the opportunity to get out and about. But the presence of Rio’s security detail on board today is strangely comforting rather than confronting. “Do you still have Danelli in charge of—”
“Danelli is the bestconsiglierein the business. He is loyal to a tee, and I will likely always have him in charge of my security, Bianca.” He frowns slightly as if considering what he’s just said. “In charge ofoursecurity.”
Oursecurity? I like the sound of that.
“Good.” I mean it, too.
Danelli and his team may not have saved Francine and those of Rio’s staff who died, right here at the estate, but that was only because Rio’s second was with us in the club, shooting to kill and keeping Rio and me alive amidst the hail of bullets that surrounded us. No one, not even Danelli, is superhuman enough to be in two places at once. And, given what happened, I suspect he is unlikely to ever slip up again.
If he does, he knows Rio will kill him.
“So, we’re going on a trip today? Just you and me?” And our goons. And the team who sails the boat—the team who are even now scurrying about and readying to leave the dock. The vibration of the boat’s engine reaches up from beneath my feet. Just another day in Mafia land, where we are never really alone. “What’s the occasion, Rio?”
He is still holding my hand and, instead of answering immediately, he tugs to lead me up the stairs and onto the top deck. The sun is hot—I haven’t been outside for some time, and up in Cleveland, the heat felt different to this. Less intense. Or maybe it’s simply because my pregnancy is progressing, and I feel the heat more keenly now. Still, once atop the stairs, there’s a strong breeze blowing that breaks up the heat, and I cross to the railing and lift my chin, watching the passing scenery as the boat begins to head downriver.
Rio stands close—so close the heat from his body wraps around me like the hug of a weighted blanket.
“I wanted to spend time with you away from the estate,” he says, finally answering my earlier question. “You’ve caused me a lot of angst, Bianca, in trying to work out what to do with you without losing face among my people. We are a family now, and we need to decide how we deal with that from this point forward.”
I turn to face him, expecting he might step back a touch. But he doesn’t. He moves into my space, right up against my belly, and places his hands on the rail each side of me. I am cocooned in his embrace. I look up into his eyes and read desire simmering away in their depths.
The same desire I feel every time I think of him. Every time I see him. The attraction is obviously strong, but he’s still the head of a criminal organization, and his world is just as dangerous as it always was.
“You know why I ran. Don’t you?” I lay one hand on his chest. Beneath my palm, his heart beats fast, and mine speeds up to match. “Nothing’s changed, that I can see. I’m afraid for our child, Rio. Afraid of the violence that will likely color most of his or her life. It seems to be an inevitable thing in your world. And I don’t know how to reconcile that with the hopes and dreams I had for my future. How do we keep our baby safe?”
He covers my hand with his. “This is your world too,mia cara. I cannot promise that violence will not rear its ugly head. Likely it will. There is a possible war brewing, as you heard in that meeting. I suspect death is coming for more than one of the people in that conference room last night.”
I snatch my hand back from beneath his, and turn to face the water, away from him. Those watchful eyes are too deep, too complex. Too knowing.
“Why did you want me there? Was it truly just to show them all that I am back under your control? That you still own the Carlotti cartel as well as the Agosti one? They already know that, Rio. I didn’t need to be there.”
“That was part of it. But it was also because youaremine, and that means you are never getting away from this life. Even if you try. And so, Bianca, you need to understand the stakes, and to know the type of danger that may wait in the shadows. I kept you sequestered from everything last time. And I have kept you down in your…dungeon, as you call it, though I prefer to think of your suite as a safe space for you rather than a prison cell.
“But that situation cannot continue. You are my wife, and you are having my child, and I want the world to see us united as a family. I need you on my side. I cannot fight on two fronts at the same time—against you, and against nameless enemies in the outside world—because then I cannot focus on either. And that is what may get us all killed.”
