AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Here,” Adam holds out a to-go coffee cup from the place in town.
I look from the cup to him and back again, “No thanks.”
“Come on, Reynolds, it's a peace offering.”
“Why? Is it poisoned?” I take the cup and lift the lid, smelling it. Adam just shrugs and his shrewd eyes narrow on the cup in my hand. I take it as a challenge of course, and bring the scalding liquid to my lips. I take a drink and watch as some of his bravado slips. I’m never one to back down from a challenge and he knows it.
We fall into silence again, each of us doing our own assessment of the shipment moving closer, and watching the crew already on deck. I think Adam might be giving up on the silence and move away right as he turns to face me completely. “Why have you been at that restaurant in town?”
I arch my brow, “I didn’t know you were keeping tabs on me the last few days. I thought you just ran and hid until the smoke blew over.”
At my words his body tenses and I know I stuck a nerve. Adam ran the other night after doing something shady, and he knows it. Dimitri couldn’t even reach him because he was so far off the grid. He showed no backbone, and no loyalty, both of which are admired the most in this line of work, and in the life he lives.
“What I think is shady is that instead of fleeing from the scene you stuck around to talk to the owners and the cops. In fact, you looked pretty comfortable around them, especially the chief.”
I scoff at his words and roll my eyes. Angling my body towards his, I move into Adam’s space, “You’re right. I didn’t act like a criminal after doing something criminal so there would be no heat on us. Running, like a little bitch, would have sent the wrong message. Don’t you think so? Dimitri sure seemed to agree with me when he asked where you were.”
Anger and murder rage in Adam’s eyes, and if he wasn’t being paid attention to right now, I know he would have no problem holding his gun to me and throwing my body into the water. Satisfied to have hit a nerve, I turn and descend further down the dock. The cargo ship is getting closer, and I want to see exactly what it is that Dimitri is smuggling this time.
“Next time you want to make nice with the locals, you should remember that it’s their lives you’re stealing from, and that you’re lying to them. I’d sure hate for something worse than a crushed in window to happen to any of them. We have a job to do.”
Somehow I manage to keep my spine straight instead of letting him know exactly how much his words affected me. For some reason Roman’s face flashes in my mind. I must be going crazy to think of any type of attachments when I’m already too deep undercover as it is.
“Worry about yourself, Adam.”
* * *
I fell into bed right as the sun was peeking over the trees and dawn was rising. After being up all night helping with the shipment, I felt fried, and I still had to call in the info to my captain so he knows we’re on the right track. I laid down for a few hours, just enough not to look like an exhausted mess before getting up again to make it to Mohagen’s. I gave my word to help, and I will be there.
Roman is already inside when I arrive, and he lets me in. I don’t miss the way his eyes crinkle in the corners when he smiles at me, or the easy way he’s carrying himself now that most of the damage has been taken care of, and the window is replaced. He looks carefree, and it’s a good look for him. I feel my stomach swoop when his dark eyes move over my face while I listen to him talk about his sisters’ latest antics to get ready for Calzone day. Our time together is easy. It’s a vast improvement from when we first met and I could feel the disdain dripping off of him. I don’t take it personally, now that I know about his family, the restaurant, the history that is here in the building he thought I had ruined by being stupid. Now as I swipe the last coat of the dark, mahogany paint over the leg of the booth one last time, I feel sad that the time is over.
“You look lost,” Roman’s head tilts, his eyes assessing. “What's on your mind.”
I laugh and try to shake myself out of the melancholia. “Just, this went really fast.” I point to the projects, “The booth I mean.”
He nods as if agreeing, his hand running along his jaw. “It did. It will be weird not to see you every day.”
Our eyes catch and I feel a line of tension run between us. My heart races with the way he’s looking at me right now. I can almost feel the pain that I know is coming with the absence of him in my life. It’s probably ridiculous considering how we met, and that in such a short time Roman has become the man I think about constantly. My eyes drop from his with the realization, and all the reasons nothing would work between us floods my heart. I bite my bottom lip to keep tears from forming in my eyes.
“Yeah, it will be weird,” I manage to say with my voice barely above a whisper.
I feel his body move closer to mine, his hand running down my arm to my hand, where he takes my fingers with his, lacing them gently together, “So how about I get your calzone order so you can pick it up after work on Wednesday. Let me feed you, and then on Friday night I take you out on that date?”
Fire runs through my veins from the grip he has on my hands, to the way his body barely brushes against mine with every word he says. The ghost touches leave a heat in their wake that has my heart pounding, my thighs clenching, and leaves my brain scrambled. I want this. I want a normal date, with a normal man, who wants to make me food, and take care of me. My head falls back and once again his brown eyes feast on mine.
“I like that plan,” I tell him and my lips tip up in a smile. He gives me a smirk of his own and pulls out his phone.
“What do you like to eat?”
ChapterSeven
Roman
“Santa Stuffer Calzone, a White Margarita Christmas calzone, and a pepperoni pizza,” I announce to the table while setting their food in front of them. I love watching their reactions to the Christmas themed designs in their crust, and fun themed names of the island. Calzone Day went off without any issues. My mom was surprised how great the booth looked. Many people today have commented that you can’t even tell a car ran into the window a week ago.
If only they knew how much work we’d had to accomplish between then and now. Or how much work Becca and I did on all her available time. Just thinking about her brings a smile to my lips and a burst of energy hits my chest. I can’t wait to see her this evening. She took me up on my offer to grab a calzone on her way home after work, she said. I feel bad because in our time together I don’t think I asked about what her work is. Something I plan to rectify on our date this weekend.
My sisters and my mom know something is up with me, as Rumor has mentioned a few times I keep grinning, and its freaking her out. For so long all I have worried about is the restaurant and my family. It feels good to have someone new to think about, and to have plans that don’t involve a schedule of picking out produce. Sure, Becca entered my life in a pretty unconventional way, but who was I to disrupt fate? And I do believe meeting her was fate, and with a little bit of magic that this island and its Christmas theme wields. All I have to do these days is think of her, and my heart rate speeds up. Glancing down at my phone again I see a confirmation text from her that she will be here in an hour to get her dinner. She added a smiley face emoji, and one that looks like its drooling. I can’t help the small laugh that bursts from my mouth.
