Page 45 of Her UnBearable Protector

“You’ve always had it all, haven’t you?” Caprice tugged at Natale’s arm, pulling her back toward the worktable. “Just because you were born to the older brother. You got all the opportunities. You got to go to design school and-”

“I got into school on my own, Caprice. And the money to pay my tuition-”

“Was paid by the company.” She yanked Natale to the table, slamming her arm down onto the cold metal surface. “I know.”

“No,” Natale tried to pull her arm away again and felt a sudden tear track down her cheek, “you don’t. I paid for design school with the money I earned working for Durante, you were paid just like me.”

The ire in Caprice’s eyes flashed and Natale’s stomach twisted painfully in her middle. The couple of sips of coffee she’d managed to drink on the way to the workroom warred with the half a pretzel she’d gulped down from the corner vendor and she wished beyond reason that she’d brought Salvatore with her. She’d felt something was off when Caprice told her to go on her own, but it was her cousin asking her for her help and call it stupid, but that meant something to her.

“It was wasted on you, Natale. No one is going to take you seriously and after today when you don’t show up to your own show… well, I can imagine what Uncle will say when I just happen to have my own collection ready to show? A collection that will make the right impression on the fashion scene, instead of dragging us down.”

One last pull from Natale tried to set herself free, but Caprice wouldn’t let her go, instead, she laid Natale’s forearm flat on the table and then reached across the surface for a pair of wickedly sharp Gingher shears. “Don’t worry about what everyone will think, Natty. I typed up a sappy little goodbye letter on your computer. All this pressure… it was just too much for you.”

The flash of metal set Natale’s heart pounding, but it wasn’t the wicked glare on her cousin’s face that she saw in her mind’s eye. As Caprice struggled to hold her arm down on the table, Natale struggled just as much to free herself, and that brought Salvatore back to the center of her thoughts. She should have told him where she was going. Should have left him a note. To know that her blind faith in Caprice was likely going to get her killed made her feel like the kind of fool that her cousin said she was.

“Don’t, please.” She had to try. “This isn’t you.”

A bitter laugh seemed to bang off the walls. “You don’t know who the hell I am!”

Something hit the studio door and shook Caprice’s confidence, her first cut glanced across Natale’s wrist and caught in the buckle of her watch, the leather saving her skin from the worst of the scissor’s plunging point.

A second hit on the heavy metal door of the workroom made Caprice panic, a second swipe missed and glanced off the metal table with a screech of sound. She drew her arm back again, desperation widening her eyes until the whites nearly consumed them.

The door banged open against the wall and Natale nearly sagged in relief as Salvatore stepped into the room. Even with the bloodlust that darkened his eyes, his bear pushing forward with hunger, he seemed to be just a moment too far from her to do any good.

And yet, his presence brought a measure of calm to her in the center of her heart-pounding fear. Just as Caprice narrowed her eyes and started to bring the scissor down across her open arm, Natale lunged forward, and pressed her hand into the taut flesh of her cousin’s side and squeezed. The tiny hand-held taser flared to life and as the tiny explosions of light set off like fireworks in the soft layers of Caprice’s silk blouse, her hand froze around the shank of her shears, rattling the point in a frantic staccato rhythm as the pain arcing through her rolled her eyes back into her head.

For a moment, Natale worried how she’d free herself from Caprice’s vice-like grip, and then she wasn’t worrying any more. Salvatore pushed between them, knocking Caprice to the floor, her scissors skidding in the direction of Valerio’s feet.

“Tesoro,” the sound of Salvatore’s voice sent shivers through her body and her hand relaxed, letting the taser fall from her fingers, “I was so afraid.”

She touched him, open palms gliding over his chest and then his shoulders and then his upper arms until her fingers grasped his biceps and she felt his muscles twitch in response to her touch. “I’m sorry I left without telling you.”

A growl rolled out from between his lips and she tilted her head back to look into eyes and saw the wild bear gazing back at her. She didn’t feel fear, nor did she shrink back when the voice that clawed its way from his throat was more growl than speech. “Never again.”

She shook her head. “No, Salvatore, never again.”

His hand cradled her face at first, his fingertips skirting over her skin at her temples, then drawing down over her cheeks until his hands cupped under her chin.

Natale watched his face descend toward hers and she blinked back the tears that came with the mind-numbing relief. The rough scratch of his callused hands against her skin brought her back to the night before when those same hands held her beneath him as he drove into her body. His lips smoothed over hers in a trembling caress, and she pulled him forward until she stole his breath, swallowing it straight from his mouth.

He touched her forearm and she hissed into his mouth. Salvatore leaned back. “Let Valerio look at your arm.”

She looked down and groaned at the uneven slashes across her skin. “I’m never going to be able to wear sleeveless outfits again.” Then she laughed and worried that the brothers would think she’d lost her mind. She waved off Salvatore’s concern. “Sorry, I’m still trying to wrap my mind around what just happened.”

Valerio stepped up at that moment, taking her arm in his hand. “You’re in shock. It’s not going to make sense for a while. After I bandage you up, again,” he gave her a grin and a wink, turning a deaf ear to his brother’s possessive growl. “I suggest you let him take you back to your apartment and get some rest.”

Salvatore shook his head. “I’ll make sure she gets a moment, but I’ll take her to the venue once you’re done.”

Turning toward his brother, Valerio narrowed his gaze at him. “She should rest.”

“No,” Natale pulled Valerio’s attention back to her, “he’s right. That’s where I need to be. I’m already late.” She could tell by the hard set of his jaw that he wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t going to argue.

“Then we need to take care of your arm so you can ignore all of my sage advice.”

The door swung open and Uberto stalked in, his acute sense of sight taking in the scene before him. He took one look at Caprice laying on the floor and the small black device on the floor before he gave her a fang-baring grin. “You may not know how to follow the rules, but at least you think on your feet.”

Salvatore gave his brother a cold look. “You gave her the taser?”

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