AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He chuckles and saunters across the threshold.
While I close the front door behind him again, he walks over to one of the counters in the kitchen side of my combined kitchen and living room. After placing the box on the wooden surface, he opens it and starts pulling out various kitchen items.
A rectangular food container made of glass, one bowl, two small plates, one large plate, and one mug.
Whatever I had been expecting him to have in that box,thathad certainly not been it.
I stare at him. “Uhm…”
Not exactly my most eloquent response ever, but I’m so genuinely stunned by his actions that it’s the only thing that makes it out of my mouth.
“To replace what Kaden broke when he searched through your kitchen the other week,” Rico says as he turns back around to face me.
My gaze shifts from his sincere face to the kitchenware on the counter, and another wave of incredulous surprise pulses through me. Because he’s right. Those six items are exactly the ones that Kaden broke. My brows furrow in confusion. Did Rico actually pay attention to that?
Rico apparently misinterprets my frown, because he draws a hand through his hair and blows out a long sigh while a deeply apologetic expression settles on his features. “Look, I’m sorry.”
Now my eyebrows almost climb into my hairline instead.
A brief smile blows across his face at my shocked expression. Then the seriousness returns again as he holds my gaze with sincere eyes. “I really am sorry. I was so convinced, so sure, that you were… someone else. Someone from my past. But I realize now that you’re not her.” He grimaces apologetically. “Which means that I have put you through an absolute hell for no reason.”
Both disbelief and victory clang inside my soul. I did it. I have finally convinced him that I’m just some random girl that he has never met before.
That hesitation from earlier snakes through my chest again.
Ihaveconvinced him, haven’t I? Or is this just a trick? A lie to get me to lower my guard? I study his face. He looks so damn genuine. So sincere. But then again, he has been in hiding for the past six years, so he’s probably an excellent liar.
Regardless, it doesn’t really matter, because I still need to play along. So I shoot him a pointed look that is mixed with just a bit of grudging amusement in order to soften it. “Yeah, you did.”
“And I’m really sorry about that.”
I just nod, acknowledging the apology but not accepting it.
“Let me make it up to you,” he says.
Amusement pulls at the corner of my lips as I arch an eyebrow at him. “By letting me handcuffyouto a tree in the middle of a dark forest?”
He laughs.
And gods damn it all, but I actually like that sound.
Blocking out the warmth that rippled through me at hearing that incredible laugh, I instead just continue watching him with one eyebrow raised.
“No,” he replies, smiling at me. “I was actually thinking you might let me take you out to dinner.”
Yet again, this dangerous man manages to shock me enough that I just stare at him in stunned silence. Take me out to dinner? No one has ever taken me out to dinner before.
Not that it matters. Because Rico is just a mark. One that I need to fool at all costs.
Since I don’t want to risk spending more time with him than I absolutely have to, I wince and give him an apologetic smile. “No, that’s alright. I accept your apology, but I don’t think we should—”
“Please.”
I blink.
“Please, let me take you out to dinner.”
Remaining silent, I study his face for a few seconds. “You don’t saypleasea lot, do you?”
