Page 17 of Mafia Billionaire's Surprise Baby

However, when we last talked, I thought that maybe we had finally put a nail in that coffin. Sal made it clear he wanted more…

And I panicked.

I didn’t know if I didn’t want more. I didn’t know that I did.

I just knew that the sight of Sal, his hands around mine, asking me for something real…

It had scared the shit out of me.

So I told him that the timing wasn’t right.

That we needed space.

That I couldn’t be with him because I needed to be able to work as Elio’s replacement while he’s on paternity leave.

I had said that.

Then, the next day, Sal had been gone. Reassigned, as he and Elio put it, to do some spying on the Russians in Europe.

I thought that it had killed the attraction.

Unfortunately, after today, I don’t think the attraction between us is dead.

I think it might even be growing.

We’ve done a good job of dancing around this, Sal and I.

We’ve slept in the same bed.

We’ve changed, showered, done all of that in front of each other.

That was… necessity. Anxiety.

The need to be close to another human after a tragedy.

I won’t say that I’ve never thought about Sal naked before. Because I have. A lot.

But we’ve never…

I shut my eyes remembering the one time we got close.

I’ve always thought we kind of had embers burning between us.

Now I’m worried that they’re becoming flames.

After we get off the plane, Sal gently shepherds me to the location.

The bar where we’re meeting the Russians is one of my favorites. It overlooks both a canal and another busy restaurant, and I like the location because it’s relatively safe.

Relatively being a key word.

Sal ensures that we’re there early, another perk to having him near, and when we get to the bar, he walks in first before ushering me in.

The room is empty.

I sigh. “Can’t they at least have left us a bartender?”

“I think when the mob is involved, the wait staff tend to clear out,” he says in a dry voice.

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