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RYAN
“I’m concerned about your head.” Natalia worriedly brushed her fingers at my temple as I drove.
Stupidly, I flinched at the contact, and she pulled her hand away. She’d grabbed a few Band-Aids from my first aid kit once we left the garage and covered the open wound on my bloody forehead. My little nurse. “I’m okay.”
I wouldn’t be okay if Mom was awake when we returned, though. I didn’t need her seeing the stains on my shirt and trying to lie my way out of it. The welt on my head would make it clear those were blood stains not red wine. I also needed to clean the side of my truck that had blood smeared on it from when I’d slammed someone’s face against the window.
“I thought you couldn’t hit your head again. Are you certain you’ll be okay?”
You’re not going to let this go, are you? I shot her a quick look, clutching the wheel a bit too firmly, anger still coursing through me at the fact we’d been jumped by those punk-ass kids. She could’ve been hurt. “I promise I’ll be fine. But Enzo . . . what’s his deal?” There was more to his story. There had to be. She hadn’t wanted the police showing up with Enzo there and that screamed red flag in my book.
Natalia fidgeted with the hem of her short black dress and I fought to keep my attention on the road.
Between Natalia, the adrenaline from the fight, and my anger at those assholes, I was wound tight and needed a release of some kind soon.
I reached over and set my palm on her hand, needing her to at least stop touching her dress and legs. We didn’t need to add an accident to our list of crazy shit that happened tonight.
As it was, I was on the verge of doing the one crazy thing I knew would release all the pent-up energy—pull over, shift my seat back as far as it’d go, and haul Natalia onto my lap.
“Tell me,” I hissed, nervous at the idea Natalia possibly had a criminal cooking in her kitchen.
“Back in New York . . . um . . .”
“If you tell me his family is mafia, I will pull this truck over. So help me,” I warned, and let go of her hand.
“Fine, I won’t tell you anything.” There was a touch of defiance in her tone. “And who I hang out with isn’t your business, by the way.”
Damnit.
I wanted to pull over all right. And kiss that sassy mouth of hers.
My free hand tightened on my leg as I considered what to do with this new information. I had to deal with the fact my brother was in a mess, and now Natalia had someone with possible ties to the mafia as her head chef. I could only handle so much.
“How?” I barked out. “How in the hell did you become friends with someone like him? You’re as pure as pure can be.”
“Pure, huh?”
I felt her eyes drilling through me, and when I glanced at her, her arms were defiantly folded across her chest. So sassy.
“Yes, pure. Innocent.” I faced the road again. “Sweet when you’re not being a brat.”
“Brat? Really? You’re the one who has been a notorious jackass to me over the years, or have you forgotten? Maybe Enzo’s background is unique, but he’s never been an asshole to me for no damn reason.”
I swerved onto the shoulder of the highway, causing Natalia to grab the oh-shit handle, and parked. She was breathing hard as I unbuckled and faced her.
It was taking all of my restraint not to reach for her right then and there.
“The only way I could survive being around you in the last decade was by being an asshole,” I shared, my tone dropping low with her green eyes on me. “Don’t you get it?”
She studied me, fire in her gaze. She was ready to fight. “No, I don’t,” she returned, the tremble in her tone betraying the attitude she was fighting to maintain.
I closed my eyes and tried to rein in the words and emotions I’d been holding back for years.
Fuck it.
Expelling a hard breath through my nose, I opened my eyes and fixed her with a hard stare. “Then allow me to spell it out for you. The only way I could refrain from taking you over my knee, and swatting that ass for having a smart mouth, was to be a jerk,” I revealed. “I had to act like I hated you, otherwise, we would’ve fucked so damn hard, your pussy would have been swollen for days,” I growled out the messy truth.
“That confident I would have been up for that, huh?” she shot back with her typical defiant flair.
