Page 16 of Passion and Revenge

I must look deranged, walking down the street wearing a face-splitting grin.

Saved, I text back.

A moment later, another text lights up my screen.

Vincent:Looking forward to tomorrow.

I type:Not as much as I—Wait, no, that sounds desperate. I erase the text and try something simpler.Likewise, I type before clicking send.

It’s only by sheer force of will that I don’t skip the rest of the way home. And thank goodness I manage to control my expression of delight because, by the time I barge into my apartment, I find my favorite person in the whole world seated at my kitchen table.

“Hello, Dad.” I smile fondly at him. “You know, one of these days, you’re going to walk right into something you don’t want to see if you keep breaking into my apartment like this.”

He raises an eyebrow at me. “You gave me a key.”

I walk forward and press a kiss to his cheek, then settle into the chair beside him. “What are you doing here?”

“Can’t a man pay his only child a visit?”

My mum died giving birth to me, and since then, it’s just been Dad and me. I love my father. He’s the best dad anyone could ever have. Unfortunately, his protectiveness over me can be…suffocating.

“At 7 a.m. on a Monday morning?”

“It’s nearly eight,” he grumbles. “Where have you been?”

“I went jogging and then for coffee at Chappelle’s.”

His brown eyes narrow. “Alone?”

I sigh. Here we go again. “Yes, Dad. Alone.”

The nature of his job and the fact that he still sees me as his six-year-old daughter makes him see danger lurking everywhere around me. Even when there isn’t.

“Si, I’ve told you not to go out alone. You don’t know what sort of creeps could be lying around in wait. If you’re not going to take your safety seriously, you’ll have to move back in with me.”

I snort. “Dad, I’m not moving back with you, ever. And also, I doubt anyone is stalking me and just waiting for me to lose my guard so they can throw me into the back of a van.”

“You don’t know that,” he barks. “You should have at least taken Catherina.”

At that, I throw my head back and let out a roar of laughter. “Kat doesn’t get out of hibernation till at least ten. Plus, I can’t keep bothering her every single time I have to step out of my house. It’s just jogging. I’ve been going on this route for over a year, and nothing has happened to me yet.”

“It takes just one time,” he points out. “If you had someone like Sal?—”

I stand up with a groan and head back to the front hallway to kick off my shoes. “Seriously? You’re still going on about him after all this time?”

“What’s wrong with me trying to steer my daughter in the right direction? Salvadore is a good person. He’s courageous, kind, dependable, caring, and honest. And best of all, he loves you. Those are all good and solid characteristics.”

“Yeah,” I mutter, glaring at him. “Good characteristics for a son-in-law. Not for someone I want to spend the rest of my life with. I’m not attracted to him.”

He follows after me as I pick strewn clothes off the floor and table before heading to my bedroom.

“He’s good-looking. I used to see women throwing themselves at him, and he never paid any of them any mind.”

I raise my eyes heavenward. “Good for him. But it still doesn’t change the fact that there’s no chemistry between us, and I’m not letting myself get into a relationship where I’m not itching to rip my partner’s clothes off his?—”

“Sienna D’Addario! Do not complete that sentence,” my father exclaims.

I look over my shoulder to see him looking horrified, and I can’t help my giggles. “Sorry, Papa.”

---