Page 37 of The Hunted
Silva couldn’t suppress her eye roll even if she wanted to. She might not have any of Amra’s fancy degrees, but she spent a lot of her time watching people and how they reacted to one another. It didn’t take a genius here to figure out what her problem was with Santino.
“Tell me something,” Silva started, knowing it was probably better to keep her mouth shut, but that had never stopped her before, and she wasn’t going to start now. “I don’t have all your fancy degrees or anything, but I was a bartender ages ago and that’s practically the same thing.” It wasn’t, but it was fun watching Amra’s hands flex and her eyes narrow.
“Have you dealt with your feelings for this Santino fellow yet? Or is this little outing a way for you to deal with all those pent up emotions you seem to have no outlet for?” Her smile was all teeth, and she could see the smoke coming out of Amra’s ears. “One would assume with your fancy degrees you’d have better tools to deal with your attraction to someone who doesn’t want you the way you want them.”
It was a shot in the dark, but she was pretty confident in her assessment of the woman. No one bitched about someone that much without it meaning something more than hate. She’d seen it enough in the letters she received for her column. Women and men complaining about a person they interacted with and not once was the complaint based on the person’s inability to do something. Amra never complained about Santino’s inability to do his job. It was always about his personal life.
Amra set her beer down and leveled a look at Silva. She opened up her mouth, and Silva couldn’t wait for the analysis she was sure was coming, but it never did. Instead, she felt a shiver down her back that sent goosebumps across her flesh.
She was being watched.
She turned toward the door, but there was no one there. She wasn’t one to keep her back toward the door but Amra had insisted on their sitting positions.
Another red flag, she was sure of it.
Her gaze swept the bar, and her lips pulled back into a wide smile when she collided with a pair of familiar dark eyes. Dressed in denim and a black shirt that stretched across his chest. He took up so much space and yet she was afraid he’d disappear if she blinked.
“Excuse me,” she murmured, barely remembering her manners. She stood on shaky legs, and her heart pounded in her chest as she walked toward him. Maybe it was her being petty, but she couldn’t wait to see the look on Amra’s face when she realized the man she’d been bad mouthing most of the night was someone she knew well. But the closer her feet got to him, the more she knew this was only about her and him.
He smiled, his eyes alight with amusement as he met her halfway. His gaze took her in, and she watched his hands clench at his sides, still unsure if he should reach out and touch her, even though they already shared their first kiss. “Princess,” he murmured, and she hated how much she was starting to enjoy that pet name coming off his lips.
“Santino Alvarez,” she hummed. “Still stalking me I see.” She took a step forward, closing the space between them. Her fingers curled into his shirt, and she angled her head up toward him. “I’m going to have to report you to your supervisor.” She fought to keep the smile off her face.
“I think you’re the one stalking me, Silva Hunt.” His hand wrapped around her waist, pulling her toward his body. “Can I kiss you?” he whispered, leaning in. She nodded, not trusting there wouldn’t be desperation bleeding into her voice.
The press of his lips against her own made her body sigh in contentment. It felt like she waited her entire life for his touch, and while the kiss was gentle in nature—less scorching of the earth than their first one—it still set a fire off in her body. She felt like she was caught in a storm with thunder and lightning thrashing around them.
Maybe the storm had been them.
Santino growled low in his throat as he nipped at her lips. She let him take his time, pulling the air from her body as he tasted his name off her lips.
She sighed into the kiss, sad when he slowly pulled away. He rested his head against her own. She could feel his heart beating under her palm. It was as wild and erratic as her own breathing.
Silva had no clue what this was brewing between them. How could her body melt for someone she hardly knew? Sure she understood chemistry, but she was never physically attracted to someone until after she got to know them. Santino seemed to have the opposite effect on her and it unnerved her, which was why her other hand was moving before she weighed the pros and cons of pickpocketing him again. He made her feel off-kilter, and this somehow steadied her.
Santino’s dark chuckle made her body shudder. “Here goes my little thief, back at it again.” His big palm wrapped around her wrist as he pulled back. “You really aren’t as good as you think you are. I don’t understand why you continue to try. I guess it’s adorable.”
He plucked his wallet out of her hand and brought her palm toward his lips, pressing a kiss there before he intertwined their hands together. “Should I be worried you lifted your friend’s wallet?”
She rolled her eyes, annoyed yet again that he thwarted her plans. “No, I like her,” she grumbled, which made Santino chuckle.
“And what about the other one?” His tone had grown curious but there was something hidden under his question she couldn’t quite read. Was he hoping that she stole from Amra?
“I’m not dignifying that with an answer.” She tried to pull away but stopped when his grip on her tightened. He kept his gaze on her and his fingertips slowly peeled from around her waist, but she stepped back into his hold and she saw him visibly relax. “You guys are agents. I’d like to not end my night in cuffs.”
She gasped when she realized what she said, leaving herself wide open for the innuendo that was written all over his face. “Don’t,” she warned. “Don’t even think about adding it to our little wager either.”
Santino’s smile widened, “I wasn’t going to. I mean, I was thinking about it, but I won’t say anything.” His gaze shifted behind her. “I think your friend is waiting.”
Her gaze found his friend, or coworker. He was the same one from the gym whose wrist she tried to break when he touched her. “I think yours is too,” she whispered.
They were silent for a moment, both stuck in their own world before they spoke at the same time. “We should leave.”
Silva chuckled and slowly took a step back just as Santino’s friend came up behind him. “I remember you.” He spoke with a tight smile on his face as he clapped Santino on the shoulder hard enough she could hear him grit his teeth.
“I’m keeping my hands to myself tonight.” His palms were up by his face. “Don’t want to offend you or anything.”
Silva’s eye twitched. She really didn’t like him and wondered if Santino hung out with him out of necessity. A product of working a shit ton of hours with someone is they kind of become your friend by default, and maybe he didn’t know how to get rid of him.
