Page 64 of Twisted Knight

“I’ve been down only a couple of minutes. I wanted to see Cassie, but she is sleeping, and Lord knows she needs it.”

I nodded, looking at her braid and already seeing myself wrapping it around my hand once we’re in the cabin and— My dick twitched in my pants. Fuck, it was going to be a long drive up for sure.

She gave me a little smile, her green eyes darkening with both amusement and desire. Yep, she knew what I was thinking and she was enjoying it… My little minx.

“Let’s go before I do something that will delay us greatly,” I huffed, grabbing her suitcase and opening the door.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” she called after me.

“It’s not.” I opened the trunk and put our luggage in. “I just want to make sure we get to our destination first because I'm not sure that once I start, I'll be able to stop.”

I didn’t miss how she pressed her thighs together and how her nipples appeared under her thin shirt. This woman was going to be the death of me, and it was a death I'd welcome with a smile.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked curiously once we were settled in the car. “Not that it really matters,” she added quickly.

I threw her a side-glance; she could not be serious. “How can it not matter? What if I took you to a dump in the middle of the woods?”

She shrugged. “We’ll be together.”

Fuck, here she was, slaying me again. I could feel my heart expand in my chest to the point of pain. There was no denying it; I was insanely in love with this woman.

I could not speak for a few minutes. The new inflow of emotions was still so difficult for me to process. I could fully understand Luca's addiction to Cassie. This rush of feelings, this sense of belonging, this purpose… it was beyond addicting.

“Luca owns a cabin in the mountains about two hours up Ridge Point. We rarely use it because, as you can imagine, we can’t go in the middle of nowhere often.”

“No, but I'm glad we get to do it.”

I reached over and grabbed her hand before bringing it to my lips for a quick kiss. “Me too, Dolcetta, me too.”

We’d been driving for about an hour when my phone rang, and I cursed myself for not listening to Luca and turning it off.

I glanced at the screen. ‘Genovese.’In your dreams I'll pick up this call. I pressed the reject button. He knew I was taking India away. Fuck.

“You know you can get it. I understand,” she said gently. “I don’t mind.”

“You don’t but I do.” I shook my head. “This weekend is about you and me. Luca said for us to be successful, our relationship needs to be put first every once in a while, and this is one of those times.” I turned off my phone for good measure. “Whatever it is, Luca can deal with it.”

“Yourworkis important.”

I didn't miss how she stumbled on the word. It was difficult for her to wrap her head around my way of living—how could it not—but she was willing to try, and that was all that mattered.

“You’re much more important. You’re saving me, India. Just like Cassie saved Luca.”

She turned a little on her seat to look at me. “Cassie didn’t save Luca, and I’m not saving you. Luca saved himself because of his love for Cassie. She was there by his side, loving him even when it was hard to, being his light when he needed it, but she didn’t save him. He did.” She let out a little laugh. “You’re giving me a lot of credit and God knows I love you for it.”

I threw her a little startled look. “Did you just say you loved me?

Her skin turned crimson as she widened her eyes at the realization of her words. “No…” she said, somehow dejected.

I shrugged. “Ah, that’s too bad.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to say that I loved you too.”

“Oh.” She looked out the window silently for a little while and I would have paid to know what was going through her head.

She started to laugh all of a sudden.

---