Page 80 of The Hitman

I roll my eyes at her. “You don’t even speak the language. Go home, tesora.”

“No,” she says again, like an obstinate child. She’s fucking beautiful. “Besides, I was taking lessons.”

I squint at her until I realize what she’s referring to, and my eyes go immediately to her lips. I miss the window for my response, and she knows it.

“Tell him to stop telling me to go home,” Zahra tells Salvo.

“Oh, no,” he says. “Please, pretend I’m not here. Continue.”

“Wow,” Zahra says, tilting her head to the left. We’re close enough that her curls brush my arm. “I like you,” she tells Salvo.

The man smiles in a way I’ve never seen him smile before. “That warms my heart,” he says. “Now, please, continue.”

“No,” I say. “There’s nothing else to talk about. Let’s go. I’m taking you to the airport.”

“No,” Zahra shoots back. “You can’t. I’m pregnant.”

My entire body freezes. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Ah, yes. She did tell me that. I believe her,” Salvo offers.

“We met four days ago.” I lean forward and whisper to her. “And we used a condom.”

She walks two steps forward and pushes her body against mine. It takes every bit of strength I have not to grab her. “On the train. Not in the shower,” she corrects, whispering the words back to me.

God, I wish she hadn’t whispered. Or said the word ‘shower.’ Or touched me. Or come here. “Cazzo,” I breathe.

“That means ‘fuck’,” Salvo offers helpfully.

Zahra smiles. “Oh, good to know,” she breathes against my lips.

“Zahra. Please.”

She licks her lips, and her tongue just brushes my mouth.

I groan.

“Please, what?”

“Yes,” Salvo interjects. “What exactly are you asking her?”

“You need to leave,” I tell her. “I’m not good for you.”

She smiles and places her hands on my chest.

I suck in a sharp breath. “My ex showed up in Milan,” she says.

“I’ll kill him.”

“You would, wouldn’t you?”

“You know I would.”

“I do. That’s why I decided to stay.”

“I told you—”

“You said,” she interjects, “that I deserve a man who deserves me.”

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