Dangerous Flames (Mafia Hearts) (12 page)

“
I’m
getting the last suitcase,” he said. Tired and pissed.

“
Mik,
wait,” she said, but he didn’t turn back.

Just
play along with her game, he told himself. With him in another room,
she’d have time to slip his gun out of the suitcase and hide it
somewhere else. Fine. She seemed to be the only person who knew what
was going on. He would have to take her word on the fact that she’d
tell him at some point, but obviously, her lips were zipped right
now.

He
had to get the image of her lips out of his mind before he pictured
what else she could do with her mouth. Or maybe how sweet they
probably tasted?
If
she is trying to torture me, she is doing one hell of a job without
the gun.
Being with her at the family dinners were torture enough but alone
for who knows how long? He looked around at the darkness looming from
the surrounding woods. Out here in no-where?
It’s
going to take every ounce of strength to keep my hands off her.
But he didn’t want to keep his hands off of her.

He
glanced back at the door, expecting her to show up at any second with
the gun. If the night air hadn’t turned so cold, he would’ve
liked to hang outside for a minute to clear his head, but the chills
dug deeper in him, motivating him to grab the suitcase from the trunk
and hurry back to the cabin.

Finding
her sitting cross-legged on the bed made her even harder to ignore.
Her pose wasn’t intentional sexy but Gabrielle looked
irresistible with the t-shirt and sweats she’d hurried into.
Her hair had been carelessly thrown into a ponytail with little
tendrils hanging down around her face. She was simply gorgeous. Any
bad feeling he held moments ago washed right out of him.

“
So,”
he said, hopping on the bed next to her. “What are the sleeping
arraignments? It has to be past midnight by now.”

“
Last
time I looked it was twelve-thirty.” She stifled a yawn.

“
Tired?”
he asked.

His
tried to keep his eyes on her face, or the floor in front of him.
Anywhere but focused on the rest of her body. Just looking at her
shot desire through him like a bullet going through a pistol chamber.
The curve of her breasts underneath the white fabric, the way her
nipples puckered through her bra, and slimness of the shirt and baggy
pants accentuated her figure.

“
Very.
It’s been a long day and I didn’t sleep last night.”

“
You
need to rest. I swear to you that I won’t try to leave.”
His fingers were only an inch from her leg. One small move would give
him the opportunity to slip his hand over her thigh.

Glancing
down at him, she asked, “And why should I believe you?”

“
Because
I haven’t tried to get away yet,” he said and then to
lighten the tension his statement seemed to bring on, he added,
“Where do you want me to sleep?”

“
I
thought there would be more beds then this one. I was wrong.”

He
wanted to touch her so bad but she’d pulled away from him
earlier and probably would do the same now. He lay back against the
soft comforter, wishing he could curl up underneath it with her. It
just wasn’t possible. “I’ll sleep on the couch out
there or the floor in here. Whatever you want.” Or in bed with
you as long as you were willing.

“
I
couldn’t ask you to sleep out there. I made you come here. The
bed is big enough…”

“
No.”
Damn it all to hell. Why didn’t he have the control over the
harsh words that exploded from his mouth at every opportunity? He
wanted her so bad that he ached. He wanted to sleep with her so bad
but not out of guilt. He needed her to
want
him there.

She
flinched at his tone. “Okay, fine.” She jumped and
grabbed the extra blanket that had been folded across the end of the
bed. Snatching a pillow from the bed, she spun around and stomped out
of the room.

He
sighed and leaned back onto the remaining pile of pillows. She
shouldn’t be sleeping on the couch but by the looks of things,
that’s what she intended to do. Gabrielle deserved to sleep in
the warm bed, he thought as he drug himself from the bed to follow
her into the living room. She had already curled up underneath the
blanket on the couch.

Her
hand snatched the gun resting on the back of the couch. “What
do you want?”

“
For
you to sleep in the bed.” Mik stood with his hands crossed over
his chest. Why did she have to constantly have that stupid gun and be
so goddamned stubborn? He leaned against the bedroom doorframe.

Staring
up at him with her big dark eyes, she said, “I don’t want
to.”

“
You
are going to,” he demanded.

“
I’m
the one with the gun. Leave me alone or I
will
shoot you.”

With
the way she was acting tonight, she probably would. He let out a
frustrated laugh before turning his back to her. “I’m
taking a shower then.”

“
I
don’t care what you do. Just go away, Mik.”

She
forced him to come here but now she was telling him to go away? He
laughed. What was wrong with that woman? He let out a sigh as he
walked into the bedroom to rummage through a closet in hopes finding
some sort of clean clothing.

“
Yuck,”
he mumbled as he went through the clothes on the hangers. Anything
worth wearing hadn’t been left here, that was for sure. Musty
smelling flannel shirts and jeans hung nicely in the closet, neither
of which he ever wore. A box at the bottom held more clothes, all
looked to be from the men’s department. He pulled a pair of
sweat pants and a t-shirt from one of the boxes. He shook each
article of clothing out to double check that they were free of
insects.

As
he passed through the living room, he glanced over at Gabi who
huddled under the blanket, barely visible on the couch. He wanted to
scoop her up and deliver her to the bed. At least their body heat
would add some warmth since the chill still hung in the air like a
damp blanket.

He
forced himself to take the necessary steps to walk past the couch. If
could get himself in the sharing, maybe he’d muster up the
required motivation to leave her alone for the rest of the night.
Mikolas needed to take one minute at a time to get through this
situation.

He
undressed as fast as possible. With each body part came uncovered,
more goosebumps popped up on his bare skin. Damn it’s cold, he
thought as he pushed open the bathroom door. Longing for the warmth
of the shower, he hurried over to the tub, twisted the knob, and
waited for the chill to disappear.

Mik
held high hopes for the shower. He hoped the water washed all of the
uncertain feelings away from him. Maybe the water even held the power
to wash away the temptation to pull Gabrielle into his arms and carry
her to the bed where he would make love to her all night long.

By
the time he finished in the shower, the only thing that had left was
the chill that had swept through him earlier. The feelings continued
to nag at him even as he dried off and frowned at the tasteless
clothes he was forced to wear. After drying the floor and hanging the
towel onto the bar, he swung open the bathroom door, leaving the
bathroom light on in case Gabi needed to find her way there during
what was left of the night. Mikolas didn’t want her stumbling
through the house in the dark.

She
shouldn’t even be sleeping in the living room alone. Temptation
to invite her to bed bit at him, made his brain all fuzzy, and his
dick yearn for her sexy body. Revealing his feelings or having the
sexual contact were the least of his worries. Had she found out who
he was and that was the reason why she pushed him away? She might
think she has an idea about the Mafia, but she really didn’t
grasp the reality of the ruthlessness the men in the Family had. They
didn’t care who they rough up or killed. She knew for sure he
had connections but he wanted his role in it all to stay hidden. He
didn’t want her to find out about his secret. He couldn’t
picture her falling in love with a murderer.

He
paused by the couch. She still lay curled up in the blanket but this
time she didn’t hold the gun but slept. After tucking the
blanket tighter around her body, he found the thermostat on the wall
and pushed the up arrow to increase the heat. He paused to glance
back at her one more time, fighting more urges to drag her to bed. He
sighed, feeling the weight of his loneliness in his chest as he went
to bed
alone,
hoping the nightmares stayed away while they were at the cabin.

Chapter Seven

Enrico
shuffled into the kitchen, the very place he knew his wife would be.
Just as expected, Maura stood at the counter chopping some type of
green vegetable on the wood cutting board.

“
Oh,
my lovely woman, what are you making now?” He cupped her chin,
turned her face toward him, and then kissed her on the top of her
head. She turned to kiss him on the lips. Just a gentle peck at first
but he put his hand to the back of her head to take the intimacy to a
deeper level. After a moment, he pulled back from her. “What
did you say you’re making?”

She
looked up at him and offered a smile. “A spinach and ricotta
tart.”

He
put his hand to his chest. “Yummm. A woman after my heart.”

“
I
already stole that from you a long time ago.”

“
Is
that right?”

“
Has
Gabrielle called lately?”

“
I
don’t have the time to tell you about it right now. The guys
and I are headed up to the vault.” He grabbed a banana from
the fruit bowl.

Her
smile quickly dropped into frown. “Why? You know I don’t
like you going there.”

“
Listen,”
His tone hardened like it did when talking to one of his employees,
“I’m only going for the day. Trip there and trip back.
Nothing more. I need to go up there before the storm hits hard.”

“
What
storm?” She’d returned to cooking, but her back had gone
rod-stiff. Not surprising. He managed to piss off his wife often. It
came with the Mafia lifestyle.

He
shrugged. “Vegas might be a little colder. Don’t worry so
much, Maura.” The aroma from the food she had boiling on the
stove made his stomach rumble. “Worrying causes wrinkles.
You’re too pretty for that.”

“
Have
a biscuit. There in the bowl over there.” She pointed to the
container that had a paper towel covering the opening. “It
might be nice right now but a storm is going to hit. It’s not
safe up there.” Not for her husband or her daughter.

He
waved his hand in the air while grabbing a giant biscuit with the
other. “I have to make sure everything is secure up there,
Maura.”

“
When
are you going to use a bank like normal people?”

He
ran his hand through the few strands of hair he had left on the top
of his head. “Maura,” he snapped. “I’m not
like normal people. I don’t feel right about having a bank keep
that amount of money. Besides, if something happened to me—“

“
Nothing
is going to happen to you. Right, Enrico?”

“
If
something does, the government won’t be able to seize the
money. You’ll be able to get it and disappear.”

She
crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from him. “Don’t
talk like that.”

“
It’s
the facts, Maura. You have to face them, eh?”

She
shook her head and lifted her hands to her face as she was trying to
wipe away tears before he noticed them.

“
We
can talk if I get back before you leave on your vacation.”

“
Fine.”
She turned back to her breakfast preparations.

****

He
sprawled out with his lean back in full display probably just to
tease her. The thin fabric of the black sweatpants hugged his toned
butt and she wanted to touch him. She reached toward him but caught
herself before she made contact with the bare flesh of his shoulder.

His
face turned toward her but his eyes remained shut. A piece of dark
hair hung down over his forehead. She had never seen him look as
peaceful as he did that moment. A slight smile formed on his lips,
suggesting a happy dream had taken place during the night. Had the
dream been about her?