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I’ve just confessed to a shit ton right there.
“I will not say more than that about this. It’s not safe for you and for my family if I do. I’ve already told you more than I should, but it’s important for you to understand.”
Her lips flatten, but she nods.
“As for the hospital, if I’m shot or stabbed, you do not call an ambulance unless I will bleed to death. Not that you think I might. Not that you worry I might. I seriously have to be within an inch of my life ending before you get a hospital involved. Gunshots and knife wounds wind up with the police involved. Like I just said, we don’t want that. Auntie Carlotta is a general surgeon. Luca trained as a paramedic in college and keeps his certifications current. Maria is a radiologist, but she’s still completely capable of stitching me up. If you’re in doubt, you call my family. If I wind up on the way to the hospital, you call them. Don’t follow me there.”
“No. Absolutely not. I will think twice about sticking around for the cops. But if you’re going to the hospital, God help anyone who thinks they’re keeping me from you. You just said you have to be nearly dead to go to the hospital. If that’s true, then I will not leave you. Spank me. Edge me. Do whatever you want, but this I absolutely will not budge on. If you die, I will not spend the rest of my life wishing I’d said goodbye. That I trusted someone would heal you, and they didn’t. No.”
I believe her.
I reach across the table to a remote. I click a button and shades lower to block anyone from seeing into the conference room. I click another, and the blinds at the windows lower. I pull her onto my lap, and she curls up as though she’s not wearing a suit. She tucks her arms in between us. I feel her shuddering sigh. She’s my lioness again one moment, but she’s mypiccolinaanother. She will control any situation she has to, but this is one she doesn’t want to.
“I’m scaring you,cuore, and I don’t want to. But this is yet another thing we have to talk about. Knowing my favorite food or color can come later for us. I know we’re dating completely out of order.”
“Your favorite color is Kelly green.”
“How do you know that?”
She’s right.
“The throw blanket on your sofa is Kelly green. Your dish towels are that green and chocolate brown. Your bathroom rug is the same green with white. Your bath towels are closer to emerald and muted, but close enough. When you got dressed this morning, I saw three different ties with Kelly green in them.”
I kiss her, and I hope she can tell just how I feel about her. If I asked anyone but Carmine, and maybe Maria, what my favorite color is, none would know. Not even my aunts.
“And I know your favorite color is lavender because it’s your favorite scent.”
“You do?”
“Yes. Your dish soap and hand soap are lavender. You have lavender scented dryer sheets you must use in your laundry but also keep in your drawers. You have two lavender dresses; one’s long, and the other is short. You have a lavender winter scarf and hat set. And your bedding is closer to a royal purple, but close enough.”
It’s my turn to get a kiss that melts me. She cups my cheek, and her touch soothes the beast in me.
“Sinead.”
I exhale the word as we pull apart. What has she done to me?
“When this is over, I’m taking you on a vacation,piccolina. Anywhere you want to go. Just the two of us.” I frown. “For just the two of us, but I won’t travel with you without guards.”
She smiles and gives me a playful shake of her head.
“As long as they aren’t in bed with us, I’ll trust you to make whatever arrangements we need.”
“They won’t be in the bed, in the bath, in the shower, in the pool, in the ocean with us. No one is watching me make love to you.”
She watches me for a moment, a speculative look on her face before she leans back against me.
“What is it?”
“Nothing, Daddy.”
I won’t press her. If she doesn’t want to share her thoughts, then they’re hers to keep. I’d rather hear her call me that again, anyway. She knows because she obliges.
“It’s a good thing I think green and purple look good with each other, Daddy. If we’re really thinking about living together, then you’ll be seeing it in a few places.”
“I’m not thinking about it. I’ve thought about it. That’s what I want, but I’ll wait until you’re ready.”
“After living with Delaney, I didn’t look forward to having roommates in college. They weren’t bad, and that’s how I met Andrea. I want her to get to know you. But once I moved into a place on my own, I swore I wouldn’t live with anyone else until I got married. I’m willing to ease off on that rule. But my point is, I enjoy living on my own. I’ve never lived with a man before. You’re awfully special to get me to change that rule and to give up my solitude. I haven’t done it for anyone else.”
