The Sacrificial Lamb (19 page)

“Already?”

He nodded and extended his wrist so she could see the time.

“Oh, I didn’t realize so much time had passed,” she said in an amazed tone.

To be honest, he was surprised as well. Their first day alone together was already almost a third over. Domenic had a sinking feeling that their time together would be short, and he would be left as confused about Alex as before. He got the distinct impression she was struggling with what to make of him as well. Domenic didn’t fit into the stereotypical mobster profile she had so carefully crafted, and she was trying to reconcile her notions with the reality he presented. She didn’t seem to be having an easy time of it.

Perhaps it would have been easier if he just came out and told her the circumstances behind why he had joined the Liseni. The lies were so ingrained, however, he didn’t feel he could confide in her quite yet. Alex had offered to make lunch, and he watched as she put some sandwiches together. Besides Bianca and his mother, he had never lived with a woman before, so this was a new experience for him. She had an unconscious grace that that kept his attention.

“Is something wrong?” Alex asked as she placed a plate in front of him.

“Hmm? No, I was just thinking of something.” Domenic made a dismissive motion with his hand.

“You seem to do that a lot.”

“What can I say, I’m a pensive man.” He shrugged and took a bite of his sandwich.

“Do you think we have enough food to keep us two weeks?”

“No. If we’re careful, it will last about ten days.”

“Then what?”

“Then I have to go to a store nearby and pick up more provisions.”

“Oh,” Alex said, looking worried. “Won’t that be dangerous?”

“Possibly, but only for me. You will be here, safe.”

“Safe, how? I’ll be alone!”

“Relax. There is a room downstairs where you’ll stay.”

Alex’s panicked look was replaced by confusion. “Downstairs?” She looked around the small cabin as if she had missed a staircase leading somewhere. Domenic tried not to smile at her expression.

“There’s hidden passageway that leads under the house to a protected room. It’s in my bedroom.”

“Oh,” she said, and then her cheeks stained a pretty pink. He wondered if she was blushing due to embarrassment or the mention of his bedroom. He hoped it was the latter.

“I’ll show you everything closer to the time I have to leave.”

After that, both of them lapsed into their own thoughts and ate in silence. Every once in a while, his eyes would wander over Alex’s face and watch as she ate. She took small, precise bites, and her tongue would peek out occasionally to catch some mayonnaise left behind. Domenic shifted in his chair as he thought he’d like to be the one licking her mouth.

Sometimes their eyes would meet across the table, and he wanted to launch the thing out of the way so he could grab hold of her and kiss her. Domenic recalled when they’d kissed in the warehouse, and a surge of heat coiled in his belly. He wanted to see if her lips were as soft as he remembered. His tongue darted out to wet his lips in anticipation of the action.

Alex glanced at him while he was thinking about what it would be like to explore her whole body with his tongue, and her eyes widened at his expression. She looked a little like a small animal that knew it had been spotted by a predator. Domenic coughed and averted his eyes, reaching for his drink. What he would have given for some hard liquor, instead of the juice that was in the glass.

Reaching across the table, Alex picked up his empty plate and took it with hers to the sink. She turned on the water and started washing them. Domenic got up and stood behind her.

“You don’t need to clean up after me.”

“I know. It’s no big deal. Go sit down. I’ll be there in a minute.” She turned her head to smile at him.

Being this close to Alex was a bad idea. When she moved, her hair gave off the faint sweet scent of shampoo. It was the same fragrance that had brought on his fantasy from the night before. Domenic could see the pulse point under her ear, and wanted nothing more than to be able to sweep her hair back and place his mouth there.

“Really, Domenic. It’s fine,” Alex insisted, and he had no choice but to leave the kitchen, dazed.

This whole situation was madness. He hadn’t had to work for pussy in years. There was always a plethora of women at his beck and call, if he had any wants or needs. Of course he didn’t take advantage of that fact, but it made life easier when he had an itch to scratch. Domenic didn’t think Alex was impervious to his charms, but the fact that she wasn’t throwing herself at him made him want her like he hadn’t wanted anyone before. And it didn’t help that they were cooped up in this tiny cabin together.

From where he sat, he could see Alex in the kitchen, drying and putting away the plates and glasses. It was a very domestic picture, and for a moment, he let himself covet a life such as this. Domenic pictured what it would be like to have a normal job, a pretty wife—
Alex
, his mind whispered—and maybe a baby or two running around. To live in a house in the suburbs, drive a minivan, and have a dog.

Okay, maybe not the minivan.

The chances of any of that coming true were little to none. Funny, he’d never mourned the loss of that life before, but now he wondered if he was missing out on something after all. With Russell’s news that Domenic would become an uncle, hr started to realize that perhaps he missed having his own family after all. He wanted to be able to meet and hold his future niece or nephew. If he was honest with himself, he wanted to hold a child of his own someday as well.

He got up off the couch and walked toward the door. Disabling the alarm, he opened it and stepped outside. Domenic stood there, breathing deeply, and pushed his hair back and off his forehead. His whole world had shifted within the span of a week, and the reason for this radical change was walking out the door right now.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked in a frightened voice as she scanned the open area where the cottage stood.

Domenic expelled the breath he had been holding, “Nothing. Everything’s fine. I thought I forgot something in the car.” More lies. He was so sick of lying.

“Okay…”

Alex glanced over at the shed where the car was and then back at him. She could tell he wasn’t being honest, it was written all over her face, and the fact that she could see right through him made Domenic uneasy. Besides Russell and Bianca, people tended to believe whatever he told them. Why was she proving to be immune to all his wiles?

“Are you coming back inside?”

“In a minute.” Domenic smiled reassuringly, and she turned to go back in.

If there was one thing he hated, it was feeling out of control. Going from wanting to bed the girl, to wanting to marry her, all in a span of five seconds, terrified him. The fact that it had been a fantasy didn’t seem to matter. Up until that point, he hadn’t realized just how deep in shit he
was
. How had she managed to get his head so twisted around that he had absconded with her right out from under Carlo’s nose? She hadn’t even been a willing seductress.

There were other ways Domenic could have saved her without risking everything he had worked for all these years. He should have told Russell where Alex was. It would have been out of his hands if the police became involved. He could have stayed with his own agenda, but he hadn’t been able to do it. Fear that Alex would fall into the hands of someone on the Liseni payroll had been too great. No, instead he had left one man dead and another unconscious as he played the hero.

Now they were on the run. Domenic knew he would pay the price for this, no matter what happened. Whether it was at the hands of the Liseni or a higher authority remained to be seen.

He looked back toward the cabin, thinking of the lone heart that beat in there right now, and couldn’t bring himself to regret what he had done. Because of him, that heart was still beating, and while it didn’t belong to him, he couldn’t suppress the wish that it did.

Domenic pulled himself back together and went inside. Alex was sitting on the couch, waiting for him with a book in her lap. She remained quiet and didn’t press him for answers. She must have known that he wasn’t in the mood for mindless chatter. After a while, hearing the pages turn attracted his attention, and he looked over at what she was reading.

“
Catcher in the Rye
?” he asked curiously.

“I hope you don’t mind. I looked through the hutch and found a few books in there.”

“No, I don’t mind. You don’t need to ask permission for anything.”

“I was kind of surprised to find this here.”

“It belonged to my mother,” he said softly.

“She liked to read?”

“Very much so.” Domenic smiled to himself. His mother had always had her nose in one book or another. He was surprised to see one of her favorites here and assumed she had given them to his father to stash at the cabin so she’d have something to read if need be.

Alex glanced up and held his gaze for a moment. “Tell me about her, your mother.”

“She was the strongest, most loving and caring woman you could ever meet. She was smart too. She always put Bianca and me above all else, especially after my father’s death.”

“Bianca is your sister?”

“Yes.”

“Younger or older?”

“Almost three years younger.”

Alex was quiet for a few moments. “How did your parents die?”

“My father was murdered.” Alex stifled a gasp, and Domenic smiled without humor. “Hazardous job. And my mother couldn’t survive without him—she just wasted away right before my eyes. She tried to keep it together for Bianca and me, but her depression got the better of her. Her immune system started to fail, and she picked up a fatal case of pneumonia.”

“Oh, no, I’m sorry Domenic.” Alex reached forward and placed her hand over his.

Domenic turned his hand palm up and watched as her fingers interlaced with his. It was a small gesture, but it soothed him.

“Your mother must have loved your father very much.”

“She did, and he loved her just as much. They had a fairy-tale kind of love,” he said fondly. “My father said he saw my mother walking down the street one day and was smitten when she smiled at him. He found out who she was and where she lived, showed up at her door with a bouquet of flowers, and proposed to her.”

“Really?” Alex said in a wondrous voice. “What did your mother
say?”

“She said yes. They eloped a month later and had me a year after that.”

“Wow, that’s kind of a cool story.”

“It is. When I was young, I used to wonder if I’d find a love like that.” Domenic looked into Alex’s eyes, and her breath caught in her throat. His hand tightened around hers, and they seemed suspended in time for endless seconds.

“Maybe someday you will.” Alex dropped her eyes and the moment was broken. She cleared her throat and gently extracted her hand from his. Domenic closed his fist, trying to retain the connection they had shared.

There were a few awkward moments as both tried to ignore the palpable tension that had risen up between them. Alex was looking everywhere but at Domenic, and he ran his hands through his hair in nervous agitation. A distraction was needed, and he fastened on the first thing available.

“Rematch?” he asked, pointing to the Scrabble board. Alex smiled faintly and nodded her head.

Within a few minutes the teasing banter returned, and Domenic breathed a sigh of relief. They played a couple of games before it was time for dinner. Afterward he dug though the books in the hutch, and Alex and he read in companionable silence. It wasn’t the most riveting of things to do, but it was comfortable. It was so different from what he would be doing back in Chicago that he enjoyed the change.

Alex went to bed early, and he stayed out in the living room, thinking about love at first sight.

A
LEX
T
OLD
D
OMENIC
she was exhausted and went to hide in her bedroom. It was an excuse. She wasn’t tired at all. Once in her little sanctuary, she threw herself on the bed and covered her head with the pillow.