Dancer in Lingerie (Lingerie 13)

I knew I could trust her.

“Hey, what are you guys doing here?” I smiled from behind the counter, seeing Vanessa show off her small baby bump in her long-sleeved shirt. She wore a jacket on top, but it was open, revealing the slight extension. She was almost early in her second trimester, but she was showing so well because she had such a petite frame.

Griffin stayed behind her, always having her in front of him so he could keep an eye on her.

“We had a doctor’s appointment,” Vanessa said. “Griffin took the day off so he could take me.”

“Hope everything went well,” I said.

“Yeah, everything is great,” Vanessa said. “The baby is doing well. Just had a routine checkup. Nothing to worry about. So we wanted to see if you had time to get lunch.” Vanessa pretended our last conversation never happened, like I didn’t tell her I was sleeping with the most notorious criminal in southern Italy.

“I’m always free for lunch.” I grabbed my jacket and purse, and we left the shop to head to a bistro just a few blocks away. Vanessa was craving pasta, and since she got to choose whatever she wanted, that’s where we stopped.

The three of us sat together at a table and ordered.

Griffin wasn’t talkative, but then again, he never was. He wasn’t indifferent toward me or cold. He just didn’t have a lot to say.

“I can’t believe Carter and Mia are finally getting married,” Vanessa said. “She told me she picked up her dress.”

“Yeah, I picked up Luca while they were in Milan. It’s weird seeing my brother so grown up. He was such a selfish jerk before, and now he’s a whole new man. It took some time getting used to, but now I’ve finally come to accept it. He’s matured a lot.”

“Mia definitely made him into a better man,” Vanessa said. “A good woman will do that.” She glanced at Griffin.

He held her gaze with such intensity that he could burn the whole place down.

I looked away, feeling like I was intruding on something intimate.

“Anyway,” Vanessa said. “I’m excited for them. Seems like your parents really like Mia.”

“They do. She’s very sweet. I also think my parents are just relieved Carter found someone.”

Vanessa chuckled. “Come on, he’s not that bad.”

“We both know he can be a pain sometimes.”

“Sometimes,” she said. “But not often.”

The food arrived, and we ate quietly. Griffin still hadn’t said anything, but that wasn’t unusual for him.

I knew Vanessa was eager to talk about Bosco, but she wouldn’t mention it in front of her husband. I wasn’t stupid enough to admit it either.

After we finished eating, Griffin excused himself from the table. “I’ll be waiting outside. I know when I’m not wanted.” He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead before he stepped outside and stood near the window, wearing nothing but a t-shirt and jeans. The cold had no effect on him at all—a lot like Bosco.

Vanessa glanced at him through the window then turned back to me. “For a man, he’s highly intuitive.”

“Thanks for not telling him.”

“You know me. I can keep a secret. So…what’s going on with him? Did you end things?”

I was stuck even deeper than I was before. “No…”

“Oh no. What happened?”

“I don’t know… Every time I pull away, I get sucked back in. Just last night, I stormed out of his bedroom and demanded to leave. He typed in the security code so I could take the elevator…but then I went back to bed.”

She shook her head slightly. “Girl, you have it bad.”

“I don’t understand it. I know he’s not the right man for me…but I can’t leave.”

“The sex must be unbelievable.”

“It’s so good that I don’t think I could have sex with anyone else anyway.” The idea of meeting a new man and taking him back to my place sounded pointless. He would get off, and then I would touch myself after he left because he couldn’t get the job done. Then I would think about Bosco, missing him while my fingers worked my clit. “He told me one of the men at his casino stole a single chip, so he put him in the ring and made him fight some other guy to the death. He lost…and Bosco acts like this is perfectly normal.”

“It’s crazy.”

“It just terrifies me. He told me he would never hurt me…and I feel stupid for believing him.”

“He never has, right?” she asked.

“Never.” I never even suspected he might. Sometimes, he became angry, but the most he ever did was press me into a wall and kiss me so hard that I forgot why I was pissed in the first place. “We have this chemistry… I can’t explain it.”

“You don’t need to explain it.” She glanced at Griffin out the window, where he continued to stand there and survey the street as people came and went. “Trust me, I get it. But if you really don’t see a future with this guy, you have to get out now. It’s only going to get worse.”