“Absolutely not,” Sasha objected, trailing after him.
He didn’t even turn around. He heard Nicoletta whispering. “They’re all like that. Trust me, if you’re considered family, and he wouldn’t bring you here or with the others if he didn’t, they’ll just take over your life.”
There was no bitterness in her voice that Giovanni could detect, but there was something he couldn’t put his finger on. He turned to look at her. She was looking away from him, down at the clothing she was carefully wrapping in tissue paper. There was a look on her face that made him want to go to her and comfort her. He couldn’t stop himself, even though he knew she would probably reject him the way she did all of them.
He strode right past Sasha and tipped Nicoletta’s chin. “Are you all right, sorellina? Tell me, and I’ll take care of it.”
For a moment, it looked as if Nicoletta blinked back tears, and his heart sank. She shook her head. “I’m good. Just working a lot lately.”
“Will training with us be too hard on you?” He kept his voice low. Gentle. He wasn’t certain how to handle her when she’d been stripped of everything. She’d lost her family, was in a nightmare world for far too long before they’d managed to rescue her and was uncomfortable with them because they knew far too much about her. Her body screamed at him not to touch her so he let go of her chin.
“I want to learn to defend myself,” she whispered back. “Don’t take that away from me.”
“We want you to learn. Nicoletta, if you’re worried about something, you can talk to me—or to Francesca. You do know that, right?”
She nodded and kept wrapping the clothes. He turned away from her, feeling as if he’d failed her. Surprisingly, Sasha didn’t say another word. She retreated to the other side of the boutique with Lucia and left him up front with Amo.
CHAPTER SIX
“She breaks my heart,” Sasha said. When Giovanni looked over at her, she clarified. “Nicoletta. She’s so young, but she isn’t. She’s as grown-up as I am, maybe more, and she shouldn’t be.”
He was driving the Aston Martin again, her very favorite. Well, at least she thought it would always be her favorite, even though she’d seen a dozen different cars his family drove and some of them looked extremely luxurious. He handled the car the way he did everything. He was absolutely confident and looked casual while he was doing it.
“She’s had a difficult time. Like you, she lost her parents too young. She was put in a bad situation, and Stefano was able to get the authorities to allow her to live with Lucia and Amo, but there were a lot of very cruel things that happened prior to her coming here. She’s finding her way, and we’re all looking out for her.”
“The alcohol?”
“Lucia was worried. Like I told you, we were pulling her out of parties all the time. Apparently after the talk Taviano had with her, Lucia says she’s been subdued, hasn’t gone out with those friends again and has really worked hard on her schoolwork. It’s only been a couple of days, so we’ll see.”
“How can she work two jobs and still go to school?”
“She has tutors. She doesn’t go to regular high school.”
“Where did she meet these friends of hers?”
“She works at the flower shop with Bruno Vitale. He’s been a thorn in our side for a long while. He just turned twenty-five and those are his friends, none of them from this neighborhood, and she’s been hanging out with them quite a bit. It’s been worrisome to everyone.”
Sasha nodded. “I can see why. She needs friends, though, Giovanni.” She knew she was talking about herself as well. Maybe she could befriend the girl, although Nicoletta didn’t seem too interested in her.
“We were tutored,” he said.
She hadn’t meant to put him on the defensive. “You have a very large family. There was no way you were going to get lonely. I understand loneliness a little better than you.”
“Don’t kid yourself, Sasha. Every one of my brothers, as well as my sister, experiences loneliness. Stefano has Francesca and Ricco has Mariko, so I’m betting they don’t, but when you search the world and you believe you’re never going to find the right partner, you’re lonely. It doesn’t matter how big your family is or how much money you have.”
She heard the sincerity in his voice and her heart clenched. “I suppose you’re right. I’ll see if I can befriend her. It would be nice for both of us. What did you mean by training?”
Giovanni shrugged, drawing her attention to how wide his shoulders were. As the car moved through the streets and the lights shone across them, throwing various shades of dark and light, he appeared to disappear as if the very shadows flowed through him.
“We work out together, martial arts, weapons training, that sort of thing, and we want Nicoletta to learn. We thought it would give her more confidence.” He flashed her a quick look. “You might be interested in something like that, not that you need more confidence.”
“I would be interested if I wasn’t already working sixteen hours a day. I visit Sandlin every spare minute I get. Which reminds me, we need to get to the argument where I tell you I’m going to pay you back for everything and I’m not staying at your home.”
He was silent for so long she thought he wasn’t going to respond. She caught him glancing in the rearview mirror several times, he texted with one hand, and then he turned off the main street she knew led to the Hendrick Center. Before she could ask him what he was doing he sent her a small grin that sent her stomach into a slow roll.
“Start arguing away, but the end result will be that you’re coming home with me. My house is so damn big we won’t be able to find each other, and in any case, I plan to act the perfect gentleman.”
She wanted to laugh at the pious tone. “Really? You’re not going to try to kiss me?” She touched her lips because just saying it, just thinking about it, put the taste of him in her mouth.
He turned down a narrow street and then again onto another one. He suddenly reversed and backed up right into the open door of a garage and killed the lights. He turned toward her, sliding his arm along the back of her seat. “Gentlemen kiss, Sasha.”
“What are we doing here?” Her heart was beating too fast, but she wasn’t certain if it was in anticipation or out of fear. Something was wrong and he wasn’t telling her.
“Some gentlemen are very good at kissing, but clearly you need to see for yourself.”
“We can’t just park and have a make-out session in a perfect stranger’s garage,” she pointed out, trying not to laugh. “Are you crazy?”
His fingers crept from the back of the seat to her shoulder. His palm slid under her curls to the nape of her neck, stroking featherlight caresses against her bare skin. Every nerve ending jumped to life.
Twin headlights lit up the narrow street as a car pulled into the lane, going slow. The lights illuminated the asphalt and brick, but failed to enter the tiny garage. Her heart was already pounding, but now, it accelerated even more.
“Are you trying to distract me? Is someone following us?” She edged closer to him, almost right on the middle console, not realizing until it was too late that she was playing right into his hands. The car went on by and she felt a little foolish.
His hand applied pressure, so that her head continued to bend toward his. Then his mouth was on hers and she forgot all about the fact that they were in a stranger’s garage hiding from someone possibly hunting them. Fire swept through her and she found herself wrapping her arms around his neck and giving herself up to the exquisite perfection of his mouth. His kiss.