Twisted Loyalties (The Camorra Chronicles 1)

I flushed. There would be no kissing. I had no intention of kissing anyone at the moment, least of all Fabiano. But a treacherous part of my body tingled with excitement at the idea. Sighing, I lowered the lipstick.

When six rolled around I was near trembling from nerves. Dad had luckily left the apartment ten minutes ago, so I didn’t have to worry about a confrontation between Fabiano and him.

The sound of a car pulling up made me risk a peek out of the window. Fabiano was already getting out, and a lump formed at the sight of him. He looked marvelous, not like someone who would date white trash like me. I didn’t kid myself into thinking I was anything else. A dress and nice shoes wouldn’t change that.

I grabbed my backpack and quickly left the apartment. I didn’t want him to catch a glimpse inside and see how little we had. I closed the door. Fabiano was already waiting at the bottom of the stairs, intense blue eyes scanning my body.

I descended the stairs slowly, my hand on the rail like an anchor. He was dressed in a white button down shirt that hugged his muscular form. His sleeves were rolled up again, revealing his strong tanned forearms and the tattoo of the Camorra. He’d left the upper two buttons of his shirt unbuttoned showing the hint of his perfect chest. Somehow knowing what was beneath his shirt, how he looked with only his fighting gear, made this even harder. When I reached the second to last step and was on eyelevel with him, a shiver passed through my body. He looked like he wanted to devour me. I thought of something sophisticated to say, anything that could stop him from giving me that hungry look.

“Hi,” was all I got out, and even that one word sounded hushed.

His mouth twitched and he slid his hand behind my back, his palm finding the same spot of naked skin where it had rested the last time. My body came alive with a tingling but I didn’t let it show. I needed to stay in control of this evening, and most of all: myself.

He led me toward his car and then we were off.

It was hard not to fidget as we drove in silence. He looked perfectly at ease as usual, long fingers curled loosely around the wheel. His hand was a darker shade of blond than usual – still wet from a shower? Don’t go there, Leona.

My nerves grew as the city lights thinned out and we left them behind completely eventually. “Where are we going?”

I hoped he couldn’t hear my tension. The stupid stories I’d read about the mafia came uninvited and I could almost see myself being buried under the desert sand. Not that the mafia had any interest in me.

He steered the car up a steep road, then stopped it on a plateau. “Here.”

I followed his gaze out of the windshield, and released a surprised breath, then leaned forward for a better view. We were overlooking Las Vegas from our spot. It was an incredible sight. Against the night sky, the colored flashing lights seemed even brighter, the promise of excitement and money. Despite the miles between the strip and me, I could almost taste the excitement, the endless opportunities. I wished that only once in my life I would be offered the opportunities so many people had.

It seemed like such a romantic location for a first date. I hadn’t pegged Fabiano as the romantic type and perhaps he wasn’t. Perhaps he’d wanted to take me somewhere remote, so we could be alone. My heart beat in my throat at the idea. His warm, musky scent filled the car, and my body reacted to it in a way I’d never experienced. He was watching me intently as I watched the Las Vegas skyline. I wished there was something I could say to break the tension but my mind was blank. He reached up and stroked a finger down my neck and further down along my spine, leaving goose bumps on his way. I could feel the sensation all the way down to my toes. I marveled at the gentleness of his touch when I could still remember how these same hands had broken his opponent’s bones with little effort. I wondered how the same hands would feel on other parts of my body. Stop it, Leona.

If I started thinking like that, it was only a small step to acting upon it.

“Let’s get out,” he said in a low voice that left my mouth dry and my nerves on edge. When he exited the car and closed the door, my breath whooshed out of me. I tried to steal myself for his closeness, but I knew the moment I got near him again, my body would be a melting pot of conflicting feelings.