Dangerous Flames (Mafia Hearts) (13 page)

Gabrielle
pushed her black tangled mess of hair out of her face. “Mik,”
she called, trying to fight the butterflies that had taken flight
deep inside of her stomach.

“
Mm
hm,” he mumbled, not fully awake.

“
Get
up,” she ordered. Her arms crossed over her chest.

“
Come’ere.
It’s cold.” One of Mik’s hands gave half an attempt
to reach toward her. “I wanna keep you warm.”

Obviously
he was still in some sort of dream state since the cabin was very
warm. He must have turned up the temperature sometime in the night,
but at least she’d been able to sleep. Heat blasted from the
registers in each room, which woke her up earlier than necessary this
morning.

And
curling in bed with him would be nice. “Mik?” She walked
over to the bed, tempted to crawl beside him.

“
Fine,
Gabi. You’re going to hurt me in the end anyway.” He
pulled the blanket over himself. “Who cares if I love you?”

Her
mouth dropped open. It didn’t matter if he was asleep or not.
He really felt that way? Bullshit. He was the one playing the games.
One minute he couldn’t stand to be around her and the next he
was claiming to love her. “Mik, get your ass up. We’re
going to town.”

“
Wha—”
One eye opened but squinted as she threw open the curtains, sending
light from the cloud covered morning into the room.

“
We
are going to town.”

“
But…
did… shit,” he said, rubbing his hands over his eyes.
“How long have you been in here?”

She
yanked the string to the other set of blinds. “You aren’t
making much sense so quite mumbling. Get up and let’s go. Ten
minutes and we’re leaving no matter how you’re dressed.”

“
Gabi…”

She
paused inside the door. If he asked her to join him now that he had
totally woken up, she’d believe that the game playing had come
to an end. “Yes?”

“
Did
you—” He cut his words off.

“
Did
I what?”
Want
you to keep me warm last night? Yes. Tell me you love me like I love
you? Definitely? Sleep on the uncomfortable couch because you
wouldn’t bring me to the bed with you? For sure.

He
cleared his throat. “Sleep well?”

“
Sure,”
she snapped and passed through the door.
Why
did he have to do that? He had been sexy lying in the bed half-nude.
The very thought made her nipples tingle. She sighed as she slipped
her shoes on and went out the front door
.
I need to get a grip on my feelings before I blow this whole thing
.

The
porch didn’t creak as she walked outside as cabin porches were
supposed to. Her father definitely had great taste in real estate.
Gabrielle sucked in her breath and let the chill of the mountain air
engulfed her like a heavy curtain. The beautiful view was the only
thing that the place in common with ordinary cabins. The deep rolling
hills and cascade of trees looked like a shot a photographer would
take. A morning fog had just melting away everywhere except in the
cresses of the hills. No matter what happens a minute later, this was
worth all of it. Right here with Mik.

The
door behind her opened and then shut quickly behind Mik. She kept her
back to him as his fingers brushed against her shoulder. “Wow.
That is extraordinary scenery,” he said, his hot breath
tickling the bare skin between her ear and her neck.

“
I
know,” she said softly, not wanting to lose the contact with
him. “It’s too bad we won’t be staying here long.”
Disappointed flooded through her when he finally did break the
contact. Her body ached for him to return and give her so much more
of him.

“
Why?”
The simple question broke the serenity between them.

“
Don’t
worry. I’ll explain everything soon,” she said.

“
Okay.”

“
Yes.
By the way, no funny stuff,” she said, ice etched in her voice.
“I have two things in this pocket of my hoodie. The one thing
you need to worry about is the gun.”

He
gave a short chuckle as they walked down the stairs. “Whatever
you say, Gabi.”

****

It
seemed like everyone in the small town had decided to go for
groceries the same time as Mik and Gabi. The store was packed, making
it hard to maneuver around the tiny aisles while keeping track of
Mik. She glanced down at the items in their cart. Yes, she was going
overboard with the shopping, figuring they’d take some
non-perishable’s on their journey away from Nevada. And she
didn’t want to make another trip to town.

She
handed the woman behind the counter her credit card. The name tag
read, “Bernie”. Gabi smirked as the woman fluffed her
blonde hair and batted her eyes in Mik’s direction.

“
Debit,”
Gabi mumbled. She glanced over at Mik who thumbed through a tabloid
magazine. “And please hurry.”

“
It’s
wise of you to stock up,” Bernie said with a wide grin.

“
Why
do you say that?” Gabi’s hand froze over the enter button
on the card machine.
Does
she know? That’s stupid. How would this woman know what she’d
done?
She smiled sweetly and punched in her pin.

“
Oh
you must be a tourist! Well, honey, you picked the wrong time to
visit up here. There’s a storm coming in. Should be here within
a few hours.”

Gabi
shot Mik a worried glance. He eyed her back. Yes, he had heard but
didn’t say anything. He loaded bags into the cart and headed
toward the door. As soon as they got out of earshot of the cashier,
he asked, “Gabi, there is a storm coming?”

“
So
she says, but honestly, Mik, this is Nevada. It rarely snows here.”

“
It
rarely snows in Las Vegas but how often have you been out of the
city?” He shook his head. “Maybe we should go home. It’s
not too late. I’ll just deal with whatever issues are there.”

Gabi
grabbed the front of the cart, bringing it to a quick stop. She
whirled around to look him in the eye. “I’m calling the
shots here, not you. And we’re
not
going back. We can’t, Mik.” Worried about making a scene,
she let go of the cart, allowing him to push it out of the store. “We
need to get back to the cabin.”

“
This
storm sounds bad news, Gabi. If the storm is bad as that clerk made
it sound, this could get dangerous.” He tossed the bags into
the back of the SUV and closed the trunk. Once behind the wheel he
turned to her. “I understand you have a reason for us to be
here but this isn’t safe.”

“
Hey.”
She grabbed his hand in hers. “If I tell you why I have done
this will you promise to stay with me?”

Pulling
his hand away, he started the ignition and swerved around the cars
that were coming into the parking like a herd of cattle. He had to
brake a few times before they made it out onto the main road. “I
might be a bit mixed up with the directions. Is the cabin this way?”
he asked as he turned down one of the roads leading out of town.

She
nodded. “Do you need anything else?”

“
I’m
fine right now. We’re going back to the cabin and discussing
this like adults. We’ll make a plan
together
from there.”

“
Do
you want to stop for clothes?” She watched as they passed by a
clothing store. “There is our chance to get you something.”

He
reached over and patted her hand. The simple gesture shot sparks
through her like it had when he’d touched her on the porch that
morning. What a magnificent feeling. Her heart continued to flutter
even after he pulled his hand away.

“
Don’t
worry about it. You planned this out as best as you could.”

“
I
did,” she said softly, wishing he would put his hand back on
hers.

“
There
wasn’t any way for you to cover every base. You did what was
important. Knowing the probability of men’s clothing in the
cabin, you didn’t have to worry about that too.”

“
True,”
she said. This new side of Mik surprised her and she realized she
really didn’t know him as much as she wanted. If nothing else
happens from this experience, at least she’ll get the chance to
know the real Mik, the loving, intelligent Mik.
No,
Gabrielle, that can’t happen. He turned you down, remember?
At the thought, her face grew warm. She dropped her hand that had
been resting in the middle of them back into her lap. Her gaze turned
toward the window as the car started the trip up to higher ground.

“
I’m
fine with the clothes up in the cabin…”

“
But
it’s not too late to turn around.”

“
I’d
rather be stuck up in the cabin than in town. I didn’t see any
hotels. We’d end up sleeping in the car.”

She
glanced over at him and decided he was right. As hard as it was to
acknowledge, Mik was right. A small smile tickled her lips but faded
as they turned into the driveway as the first snowflake fluttered
against the windshield. “But this is Nevada,” she said
with a sigh.

“
And
it’s the mountains. It does snow here.” He let a small
chuckle but even that sounded as if it was laced with worry.

“
I’m
sorry I didn’t check the report. I was in a hurry to get out of
there.” Heat rushed over her cheeks.

He
shrugged.

She
stared up at the cabin, the very house that was supposed to provide a
safe place for them to stay long enough to grab some cash and make
plans while her father worked out the situation with the real killer
back in Las Vegas. Now they might be stuck here in the snow. The
positive side to the situation, she reminded herself, if they
couldn’t get out nobody could get in.

She
said, “I wonder if there’s firewood.”

“
Yeah,
I notice a small pile inside the cabin so I’m sure there’s
a storage shed somewhere around here.”

“
Very
observant.”

“
Just
something I do.” He pulled the SUV to a stop. “It was
part of my training.”

“
And
what exactly is that?” she asked. So he worked for her father
but what did he do exactly? She slid her gaze from his head down his
chest and then over his lap, trying to ignore the thought of the
package inside his pants that she’d love to claim.

Focus,
Gabrielle, she thought. Mafia Families have bookies, right? He
probably did something along those lines. He seemed like more of a
calm, paperwork sort of guy with a bodyguard to do the roughing-up
when the job turned sour.

“
I
can’t tell you.” His face flushed as he turned away from
her. “We need to get everything inside before the weather gets
worse.”

So
he had avoided her question? She shouldn’t be surprised one bit
but she was. He seemed to have loosened up a little bit. Now they’ve
just taken another step backward.

As
she pushed open the car door, a blanket of cold air wrapped around
her. She didn’t like the cold, especially the snow, not that
she had much experience with it. Seeing snow a handful of times were
too much for Gabrielle. At this point going somewhere tropical seemed
ideal.

She
joined him at the trunk of the SUV to help carry in the bags.

He
glanced over at her. “Go inside. You shouldn’t be out in
this cold.”

Mik’s
caring side warmed her heart. Stop, she said, catching herself from
getting all mushy over the guy she held captive. “I want to
help.”

“
Don’t
worry, I have these.” he hoisted a bag in each arm.

Why
did he have to be so difficult? It wasn’t like she’d
never carried in grocery sacks before. “I’m helping. All
of this was my doing and when it’s done I don’t want any
stories around about how you pampered me here. I’m not a
princess, you know.”

He
let out a groan before saying, “Gabi, there’s no need to
try to prove yourself to me. I know what you are and what you are
not.”

With
two bags in her arms, plus the house keys, she climbed the stairs
after him. “What do you mean by that?”