He’d dropped her off and come straight here.
If she didn’t arrive soon, he wasn’t going to be held responsible for putting that fucker in the ground. Arika belonged to him, no one else.
At the sound of her keys turning in the door, he waited. She entered seconds later, and he found he was able to relax. Not a hair was out of place and she didn’t look like she’d been ravished either.
“You really need to stop breaking into my apartment,” she said.
“It’s not breaking in if I have a spare key.”
She slammed her door closed, and he raised a brow as she locked each bolt until she was secure in her apartment. It was ridiculous to think of the number of bolts on the door keeping her safe. All he needed to do to get inside was throw his weight against the door and he’d be in.
He didn’t tell her that because he had an idea that she already knew it.
“You’ve got to stop doing this,” she said, turning back to face him.
“Doing what?”
“This. It’s not fair. You told me it was too dangerous to be part of your life and yet here you are, watching me. Waiting for me. We had sex in a restaurant bathroom, Vincenzo. Doesn’t that clue you in to the fact that we need to be careful? That we have to stop doing this?” She pressed her fingers to her head, looking so confused. “I don’t even know what you want from me anymore.”
He saw the sadness in her eyes as he watched her. She put her bag to one side, and he thought she’d come and sit with him. She went straight for the kitchen. Getting to his feet, he walked the few steps that would take him to her kitchen. Her apartment was so small.
“You need to make a decision,” she said, filling a kettle with water.
“This life is not easy.”
She put the kettle on the stove. “I get that it’s not easy, but you’re bringing me into it each time you come to visit and I can’t deny you.”
“Why not?”
“Don’t do that, Vincenzo. You know why.”
“Maybe I’d like to hear it.”
“You want to hear it, fine? Because I happen to like you. That regardless of how we met, when you touch me, I can’t think straight. I don’t want to think straight. All I want is to be with you. I’ve never been the kind of woman that would go on a date while screwing another guy on that date. I don’t want to be that person. But I can’t seem to help myself with you.”
“Then what do you want, Arika?”
“I want you to make a decision. To either be part of my life and accept that you can’t seem to stay away from me too, or leave.” Her chest was heaving with every single indrawn breath.
She looked positively stunning.
“I don’t know what to do anymore,” she said. “I … I want you. I’m not going to turn you down. I enjoy what you do to me, and I also like spending time with you. When you were taking care of me, those few weeks were amazing. This isn’t because of who you are either. I’m not asking for a lifetime.”
“And what if I was?”
“What do you mean?”
“In the mafia, there is no escaping or getting out of it clause. If you’re in then you’re in for life. That’s what I can offer you.”
“I just want you, Vincenzo. Not your title or anything else. I just want you. I don’t care about what you do. I like you. I know I shouldn’t because you’re a bad guy, but you’re a bad guy to them, not to me. You’ve never hurt me, and I know you never will.”
He rounded the counter and stood right in front of her. Tucking some hair behind her ear, he tilted her head back and stared into her eyes.
“I’ve never cared about anyone or anything. I bring death to everything I touch, but with you, that didn’t happen. I didn’t kill you. I protected you. I helped you. I don’t want to kill you or to stop seeing you. I’ve tried that. I’ve tried to stay away, and I can’t. I know to be the better man that I should walk away. Never see you again, but I can’t do that. I want you more than anything else in the world, Arika, and for that reason, I’m going to do the selfish thing, and keep you.”
With that, he slammed his lips down on hers.
She gasped, moaning as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Reaching past her, he turned the stove off, and then lifted her up in his arms, carrying her to her bedroom. The small apartment space only required a few steps to get to every single location.