Pregnancy Of Passion

They discussed the details of the breakin and how she and Salvatore had ended up locked in the vault. Her boss’s exclamations were replaced by the cool authority voiced by the local police. They took Salvatore’s statement via the intercom box while Elisa chewed on her lower lip in worry.

‘Ask them about the inventory,” Elisa told Salvatore.

Salvatore pressed the button. ‘Elisa wishes to speak to di Adamo.”

He moved out of the way, allowing her to ask for herself.

She pressed the button and spoke into the small box, all the while hoping Salvatore had been right. ‘signor di Adamo, I did not have the opportunity to put the trays in the vault before the breakin.”

‘Inoticed this.” His voice was quizzical, but not unduly worried.

‘So, they, um… didn’t take anything?” She’d been derelict in her duty to her boss and would be devastated to discover her neglect had resulted in his loss.

‘They must have been after the crown jewels.”

‘That’s what Salvatore thought.”

She looked at the opposite wall without seeing it, lost in thought.

’You’II have to take the rest of the jewelry home with you. I don’t think that’s safe.” She turned to Salvatore. He was the security expert and had insisted on forcing himself into her life. He could make himself useful now.

‘What shall we do?”

‘Let me speak ” She stepped back satisfied as the two men made arrangements for one of Salvatore’s operatives to come and take possession of the jewelry.

She spoke briefly again with her boss before he left the store, promising to be back when the vault’s timed lock opened in the morning.

Returning to the storage cupboard she perused the contents with more interest than the first time around. Now that she knew the inventory was safe and di Adamo was not worried about her and Salvatore she could consider dinner with more equanimity. Besides she was hungry.

A round of cheese hung from a hook on the ceiling of the cupboard and she pulled it down. She also withdrew two bottles of mineral water with twist tops, a tin of tuna crackers and some small jars: olives sundries tomatoes under oil and carrots under vinegar.

Stacking them together on the floor she arranged the contents of the cupboard so she could pull one of the shelves out to use as a table. Thankfully, di Adamo had also included paper plates utensils and napkins in his emergency store and she and Salvatore would not be reduced to serving with their fingers.

She arranged the crackers tuna and cheese on two plates and put the small jars between them so b0th she and Salvatore could reach what they wanted. He hadn’t said anything as she prepared the food, but he popped the tops off b0th bottles of mineral water and opened the other jars with quick precision.

He sat down on one side of the makeshift table while she gingerly settled on the floor on the other. ‘This is a far cry from what I intended our dinner to be tonight, cara.”

Remembering his dinner reservation she couldn’t decide if reliving memories would have been worse or better than their enforced intimacy. ‘We haven’t got much choice.”

Salvatore shrugged making the exposed muscles of his chest ripple in a very distracting way.

OK, so it was warm, but buttoning up his shirt would not kill him.

‘What do you know about my father’s heart condition?” she asked as she sliced a thin sliver of cheese and put it on a cracker with one of the olives cut in half.

Salvatore sighed, as if his mind had been elsewhere.

‘lt is not serious if he follows the doctor’s recommendations and avoids stress.”

Like that caused by worrying about his daughter’s safety. She got the message without Salvatore having to spell it out.

‘What happened?”

‘He had a small episode a couple of months ago and ended up taking an emergency visit to the hospital. The doctor said that while the episode itself was not that serious, it was a harbinger of things to come if he did not change his lifestyle.”

‘And did he?”

Again the shrug and she wanted to just yell at him to button up his darn shirt.