Page 32 of Need Him Like Oxygen

“What are you doing?” I asked, managing to think through the desire starting to overtake me.

“Taking you to bed,” he murmured, his voice a soft caress teasing across overly sensitive skin.

“Okay,” I agreed, snuggling in, every part of me deciding that Dav taking me to bed was the best idea in the world.

CHAPTER NINE

Dav

Renzo’s place was pretty packed by the time I got there, the music in full swing, everyone already holding plates and drinks.

I immediately sank into the crowd, getting my own food and eating, so I didn’t stick out too much.

Even as I fell into conversations with men and women I hadn’t seen or spoken to in weeks, though, all I could seem to do was think about Cinna.

In my apartment.

In my bed.

She almost looked completely back to normal these days. Her bruising had gone from coalescing, violent shades of mulberry and indigo to bright yellow and green with just a hint of something darker in the center. The swelling was completely gone, leaving her ridiculously gorgeous face with no lasting damage.

Really, it was just her wrist and her ribs holding her back at this point.

Well, that and her own trepidation.

We hadn’t talked about it. Any time I tried to bring up the attack and the people responsible for it, she clammed up, tensed, rushed to change the topic.

The thing was, something was different with Cinna because of that attack, because of those bastards and what they’d done to her.

For the first time in her career, it seemed like the violence had not only impacted her physically, but mentally as well.

She tried to hide it.

And maybe no one else but me would have picked up on it.

But she was jumpy.

I’d once seen this woman not even flinch when a bottle flew at the wall beside her head and shattered.

Now? She nearly jumped out of her fucking skin when the intercom buzzed or there was a knock at the door. Hell, once a damn pigeon landed on the sill outside of the window, and she jerked so fast and hard that she’d jarred her ribs enough to bring tears to her eyes.

This attack had changed her.

I imagined that was the only real reason she was still in my apartment rather than back at her own. She wasn’t mentally ready to leave yet.

I mean, sure, her ribs were still bothering her. But not enough that she couldn’t go back to most of her daily life duties without an issue.

She just wasn’t emotionally ready to go yet.

Not that I was complaining.

Clearly, since all I could fucking think about was her even when I was supposed to be enjoying my time with all my fellow capos and my boss.

“Looking for someone?” I asked as Rico’s gaze slid over the crowd, brows furrowed.

“Where the fuck is Cinna?” he asked, making my stomach tense. Not just lying to the boss then, it seemed.

“I saw her on my way here,” I told him, the partial lie slipping easily from between my lips. “Looked like she was in the middle of something.” At this point, that was likely eating the dinner I’d picked up for her. “Dunno if she’s gonna be here tonight.”

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