Page 8 of Runaway in the Mafia
He was the kind of handsome that made you rip your heart out and shove it under his shoes in the hope that he would look twice at you. He was all tousled, just out of bed, thick brown hair and a chiselled jaw. Adding tanned skin and a muscular body in a suit would have already been overboard. Then he had to have those eyes. Hazel bordering on green, and when he’d looked at me, he’d pulled me in. He’d made me forget that I had a brain. The heat of his fingers still burned in the valley between my breasts. A flame which... I glanced down...shit.There was a burn mark on my towel. His damn cigar had cut through and I hadn’t even noticed?
This was not good.
No.
Not going to happen.
Something had snapped in my brain. Because what I should have felt was fear. A man had been in my room. I should have been repulsed.
He was definitely all man. He’d had an upper lip half the size of his lower lip.
Not going there.
Surrounded with a sexy scruff. It hadn’t been too thick nor too thin. I wondered what it would—
No. I jumped off the bed.Control your vulgar thoughts, Ahana.
I didn’t have time for this. Getting my life back in order should be my only priority. It must have been the unexpected encounter. Yes. That was it. When was the last time I was so vulnerable before a man? The knot in my stomach strained with memories. A reminder of the exact reason I should stayaway from men. Betrayal and broken promises. Locked rooms and harsh words. Fear gushed into my bloodstream. Invaded my mind until my ears burned with my frantic heartbeat. Even worse was the physical pain.How could I still feel it?The stinging pain across my cheek, a thick tear on my knee, or the arm that never really recovered once it was broken. I would never, ever put myself in a vulnerable position before a man again. Soul sucking eyes or not. Because that man was nothing but trouble.
I stayedin my room for three hours. When Lia knocked for breakfast, I said I wasn’t hungry. My initial confusion had shifted into something else. A fear that I was vulnerable before him. Going out of my room while he was in the house wasn’t an option. He’d leave soon enough, and then it would be safe.
Coward.
It wasn’t cowardice. I was being smart.
It wasn’t like I sat still and thought about him or how his Adam’s apple had bobbed in his throat or his jaw had tightened when he’d pulled me close. I had worked. Added the final touches to my resume and written the accompanying letter to send with it. Then I did the biggest task on my mile long to-do list. Admittedly, the most rewarding one. I pressed send. One click was all it took. For the first time in my twenty-four years, I was applying for a job. Not purely because of a passion, but because of necessity. So the secrets could stay hidden and the lies could be perpetuated. Just until I could find a solution. There had to be one. I was sure of it.
It took the lack of breakfast and my stomach rumbling to pull me downstairs. I should have probably come earlier to help Ada.Being lazy wasn’t something I could indulge in. But I had a good excuse. Working on my resume. Not avoiding someone.
My bare footsteps were light as I neared the kitchen with voices filtering out. Sergio, Lia’s cousin, was here. So were Sara and Lara, his sisters. Not the coward in me, but the smart woman, leaned against the wall just before the open doorway and listened, but I didn’t hear the low, smooth voice that had made my stomach coil with an unfamiliar tension. After five minutes of listening, my shoulders straightened. The agitation I had been feeling for no reason vacated me. He had left.
I turned the corner and took two steps into the kitchen before I realised my mistake. With his back to me, he leaned on his fists on the table and stood across from Sergio. A flutter of nerves swirled in my stomach. His shoulders stiffened into a tight line as if he, too, felt my presence.
For a few awkward beats, I froze before I backtracked out of there.
“Ahana, where are you off to?”No. Don’t do that.Sergio ignored my silent plea. “Come in. You’ve not met Vitale yet, have you?”
Shit.The three girls seated at the end of the table tipped their heads in curiosity. Lia’s gaze was wary, which would have been a bad sign if I hadn’t already met her brother. Now that I had, I knew he was just a devil in a suit who apparently wanted to fuck me.
For a second, running away seemed like a good option. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t done before. But then it had been for a far worse cause than fearing soul sucking eyes. Still, I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that this man was going to mess with my already chaotic life.
Woman up, Ahana.
But my feet wouldn’t move. It was as if time itself decided to freeze and indulge. He turned in slow motion, like he’dheard my inner thoughts. With his hip resting on the table, he let his gaze drift over me before he brushed a smirk off his lips. Was he challenging me? My mood flipped. I bristled like a porcupine. Caution gave way to determination. I didn’t like anyone underestimating me.
I forced my feet to move, but my plastic smile and the hello on my lips froze when he said, “We’ve met.”
Shit.
His rough voice bubbled under my skin.Now, drop that towel and rock up to me,burned between us.
It took me a heartbeat to yank my gaze from his magnetic pull to beyond him. The insinuation in his words was heavy. It was reflected in the girls’ faces.No.I screamed internally. Externally, my eyes flickered back to him, and I roasted him under my glare.
Lia’s “oh” came together with Sara’s “how so?”
My mind clambered, trying to come up with something, anything, that I could use to rectify my reputation with this family while my insides silently burned hot.
He was completely unaffected. Ignored everyone as if we were the only ones in the room.
