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“After I set a few ground rules, sweetie pie.”
“Are you calling me fat?”
Santino winks. “Stick your hand in my pants, sweet tart.”
“I’ll pass.”
Shrugging his colossal shoulders, Santino pulls the keys from the ignition. He turns toward me, extends a hand, and touches my chin. I slap at him. Again, like before, he’s on top of me. My lips pucker together between his grip as he straddles me. Tendrils of desire flush through me, and I’m desperate to fight them andhim.
Santino’s not focused on the hard erection speared between us as he grumbles, “I’ve had enough of you, Bella. I need to sleep.”
“Take a nap, then,” I snap.
“Not until we’re somewhere safe.”
A gasp catches in my throat. “Where exactly is that, Santino?”
“When I open the door, you keep your eyes to the ground, Gina. Don’t look around. Someone addresses you, you smile and say hello. Nothing more.”
“Whose life will you threaten if I don’t follow through? Tony’s still in New York.”
“Your life.”
Though my heart’s racing, I nod. Santino reaches over again to grab my purse, grabbing the envelope and taking the cash.
“Hey!”
“Can’t use my credit cards. I’ll reimburse . . . Get out.”
Fragments of the Santino I once knew rear his head for a fraction of a second. By the time I slink out of the truck, he’s at my side. He looks down at me, dark eyes ablaze as I wrap my shivering arms around myself.
When he takes off his flannel jacket and holds it out, I shove past the show of affection. I’m not being caught in that snare. I’ve tugged into his shirts right after he’s taken them off in the past. My arms snuggle around my waist as I marveled at the warmth, his scent. I’d rather freeze to death.
39
Santino
We purchase groceries with her money, and then we’re back on the road. With us being so near our final destination, I drive around in circles for a while. Not sure if I intended to throw Gina off or to contemplate my next move. She hasn’t said a single word to me.
After maneuvering the curves of a particularly windy hill, I let up on the gas. A half-broken, green gnome that, from first glance, looks like it might have fallen off a dump truck is a marker. The turnoff for the cabin has no other identifiers and only a one-way muddy road leading to it. The previous night’s snowfall half masks the tiny figurine. I slow and turn right onto a path immersed in snowy shrubbery.
Although the tiny cabin isn't too far from the main road, the pine trees thin out as the structure comes into view. I park near a small clearing of roots. I’m pulling off my jacket again and holding it out when Gina tosses open the door.
“It just snowed, Gina,” I growl.
Snubbing my peace offering, she slides out. “Am I the welcome mat? Seeing how you walked all over my—”
“Shut up,sweetness.”
“Hmmm . . .” Her teeth are instantly clattering. “Another var-variation of that annoying nickname, Mr. Morelli.”
“Not Satan?” I ask, shutting the driver’s door.
“Nope. That idiot has no new tricks after a few millennia. I don’t know you.”
“Get out.”
Her lips are chattering as she stands near the door. While I’m gathering a brown paper bag under my arm and then another, I examine how her nipples have grown rigid. With a raging erection in my jeans, I smile at her. “Thought you’d flee?”
