Page 3 of Charity's Redemption

I sounded pitiful, like a child begging for daddy’s attention.

But wasn’t that what I was doing?

“Yeah, we’ll talk.” He grabbed the bag of food from Justine and walked out the door.

I wanted to stop him.

To run up and hug him.

To thank him for not destroying me more than I already was.

To have his comforting, familiar arms around me. Or how about for not throwing my ass in prison like I swore he’d do if he heard even an inkling of what really happened between Josh and me or my criminal ways.

“Who wasthat?” Caroline asked as she stepped out from behind me.

“Thatwas my dad.”

All the apprehension I felt disappeared like a vacuum as he left the building. I could breathe again, like some invisible force escaped with him.

I turned and took Caroline’s cut hand into mine, then scanned the wound for any leftover pieces of glass that may have embedded in her skin, which reminded me of the coffee that still needed cleaning off the floor when she dropped the carafe before Allie came in.

“This looks good. The hands have so many nerve endings, making it a nasty place to cut. Make sure you keep it clean.”

“It hurts like a bitch,” she said.

I snickered as I recalled the time I’d told Luca that very same thing after slicing my finger with a knife, making me understand why it was such an effective form of torture.

“It’s not funny. It hurts.”

I removed the glee from my face, along with the dark thoughts, reveling in the familiarity of my troubled mind.

“Sorry. We’ve all done it at least once in our lives.” I sighed. “Why don’t you take the rest of the day and have a doctor look at it. I’ll take over from here.”

“Yeah?”

“Yep, it’s no problem.” I patted her on the shoulder, then picked up the rag that Justine placed to the side and soaked up the rest of the coffee while Caroline grabbed her coat and headed out the door.

Justine handled the front as I finished wiping up the floor, then stood and grimaced as my spine popped. Sometimes, I get the notion that life as an old person would be dreadful, considering all the injuries I’ve accumulated.

I imagined my hunched-over, wrinkly self sitting in a rocking chair full of scars and healed bones. Who knows, with my lifestyle, I may never make it to the rocking chair phase.

The thought quickly died out when the door chimed, and in walked Nico.

Butterflies erupted in my belly as I drank in the sight of him wearing a stellar black suit and tie with a crisp white shirt beneath. He made me feel like Cinderella even though I didn’t dress in rags and I wasn’t a slave to my evil mother.

Our gazes crashed into one another like a head-on collision going one hundred miles per hour. He gave me a lopsided smile, making my insides turn to mush as he sauntered behind the counter and enclosed me in his arms.

“Hi, beautiful.”

His lips came down on mine in a soft, sensual kiss. Nico’s warm amber scent left me melting on the inside, like a candle burned down to the wick as he cupped my cheeks and stared into my eyes.

“How’s your day?”

His presence drowned out the world around me, making my core ache with lewd fantasies of him and me on the display case. I didn’t care if we were in public, but he did.

Justine’s movement caught my attention as she leaned back from the register, looked Nico up and down and mouthed,oh my God.

“Well, hello to you, too.” I smiled. “My day has been a whirlwind. Yours?”

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