My hand was resting on the table and Ren put his over mine. I looked at his hand and noticed it was nice, strong and well-veined. His hand didn’t look like the hand of a man who wore a suit.
I looked back to him, shrugging off thoughts of his hand when he started speaking. “Dom’s been talkin’ about you a lot. I won’t repeat it and I’m sorry to have to tell you this because I know it’s gonna piss you off, but he’s made it pretty clear he’s moved on from Sissy and even more clear who he’d like to move on to.” At this news, my fingers curled in and fisted angrily under his and he twisted his hand so that our palms were facing and his fingers were laced in mine. I was hoping that Luke didn’t have cameras installed in Carmine’s because I was pretty certain if he saw Ren and I holding hands, especially like that, there’d be hell to pay and I’d be the one paying.
Ren kept talking. “He has some troubles with some not-so-good guys. Fucked with the business, fucked with the family. Vito’s pissed but he’s trying to sort it out because Dom’s family. In the meantime, Dom’s disappeared. They want Dom and are tryin’ to flush him out so I suspect that’s why they’ve gone after you. And today, finding Sissy available, her.”
I gently pulled my hand away and sat back, looking to the floor at the side of the table as I vowed quintuple-revenge against Dickhead Dom.
“You’ll be safe,” Ren was saying and I looked at him. Laid-back Ren was history, his eyes were sharp and he even looked angry. I’d seen a lot of Ren’s looks but this was a new one and, I had to admit, even if it made me a freak, it was hot. “I’ll assign Santo to you and Lucky to Sissy,” he finished.
I blinked at him as our family style meal was served (Ren let me pick, Chicken Montana with asparagus, sun dried tomatoes and Gorgonzola sauce, I’d let the healthy living mojo have the night off).
“What do you mean, assign –” I asked.
Ren interrupted me. “Bodyguards. Santo and Lucky will look after you two.”
Oh shit. This was not good.
“No, really, that isn’t necessary. I’m covered.”
Ren’s eyes caught mine. “By Stark?”
Hmm.
He seemed very interested, his eyes no longer angry but still sharp and very alert.
“Um… yeah,” I answered.
Ren went in for a direct hit. “You seein’ him?”
Well there we were, the moment of truth.
Was I seeing Luke Stark?
Was I seeing Luke Stark?
Crap.
“Kind of,” I hedged.
The tips of Ren’s lips went up slightly and I knew he found this amusing. “Stark doesn’t strike me as a guy who would ‘kind of’ be seein’ a woman like you.”
“What’s that mean?”
Why did I ask? Why, why, why?
“A man like that has a woman like you, there’s nothing ‘kind of’ about it.”
“Do you know Luke?”
“I know him. Not well, but I know him.”
“If you don’t know him well then how would you know? He might be perfectly happy with having a relationship that’s not exclusive. In fact, he might do it all the time.”
Just ask Sandra Whoever-She Was, she’d tell you, I thought but did not say.
“I bet he does, just not with a woman like you,” Ren said.
“What’s that mean?”
I did it again! Why?
He leaned toward me. “Ava, you should know Stark and me don’t get along. We don’t because we find ourselves on opposite sides of the fence a lot of the time. We also don’t get along because we’re a lot alike. Therefore I know a man like that doesn’t ‘kind of’ see a woman like you because I wouldn’t ‘kind of’ see a woman like you. A man like that gets hold of a woman like you, all ass, legs, hair and attitude, protecting a soft spot you can just about see but she won’t let you touch. Fuck,” his voice lowered in a sexy way, he leaned in further, his eyes got that hungry look again and I found I was having trouble breathing. “A man like that gets hold of a woman like you it automatically becomes exclusive.”
Holy cramoly.
I decided I didn’t want to know any more and started spooning up the Chicken Montana.
I also decided that, even though I couldn’t stay in my pretend happy place for very long, there were certain times I was going to go visit.
This was one of those times.
“Ava,” Ren called.
I looked at him.
He still had that hungry look but it had intensified. Chicken Montana slid off the spoon and plopped on the white paper as my belly did a plunge.
“Do you understand what I just said to you?” he asked softly.
“I’m in my pretend happy place,” I told him.
He leaned back and smiled and I had to admit it was hot.
It was also predatory.
I was so screwed.
*
For some reason when Ren and I left the restaurant and I told him he had to take me to Luke’s, Ren found this amusing.
Then discovering that Ren found this amusing, I found I needed cookies. Therefore I asked Ren to detour to King Soopers so we could buy cookies.