Page 29 of Bite Marks

Vanessa stepped into Nunzio and placed her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to catch you off guard.” Nunzio ran his hands up her back and cradled her head in his hand as she looked up at him.

He was still naked and pressed against her. She realized that he was taking the moment seriously. His body was not reacting to her closeness. It was the first time neither was acting on lust alone.

It was tender. Gentle. Open.

“No,” she whispered. Vanessa backed away. “I don’t want this. I don’t want any of this.”

She turned and left Nunzio standing there, naked and dazed.

Vanessa slammed the door behind her and leaned against it briefly to collect herself. Her breath caught in her chest. A big part of her wanted to turn back and run into Nunzio’s arms. But the other part, the stronger part … the ice queen … dragged them both out of the hallway, down the stairs, and into the street.

Vanessa took the car keys out of her bag, her fingers shaking. She did not want Nunzio to follow her and didn’t know if he would, but she didn’t want to be caught out in the open. Her guard still wasn’t all the way up, and she would be damned if she let him see that part of her again.

Finally, she shoved the key into the lock, threw open her door, and tumbled into her driver’s seat.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” she said, trying to slide back into her anger.

Before she could have any other thoughts, she cranked the ignition, slammed on the gas, and shot out into the street, away from Nunzio and the mob and the life that killed her father.

Vanessa drove to her apartment but then realized if he came somewhere to find her, that would be the first place Nunzio would look. She turned her signal on, shifted lanes, and twisted the wheel to the right to avoid missing a turn. She gunned the engine and drove faster down the street, running from the ghost of her past.

Tears spilled down her cheeks.

She pulled up to the curb and parked haphazardly.

She lunged out of the car, afraid to let anyone see her. She ran into the art gallery and locked the door behind her. Vanessa made a beeline to her office. She kept clean outfits and other items for hygiene in her private bathroom. And whiskey. A big bottle of whiskey.

Vanessa turned the water on in her shower and let the hot water beat down on her. Her rust-colored hair hung down as she hung her head, creating a curtain of shade around her. She placed one hand on the wall for support. She thought about her favorite aunt, how she died only a few days after her uncle had passed. How much they loved one another. Her uncle’s death was the cause of her aunt’s death. Broken heart syndrome, doctors called it.

But before she slipped away, her aunt told Vanessa that her love for her uncle was worth every moment, even if it ended the way it did.

Vanessa wiped her wet hair away from her face. She thought about the last few months. The laughter, the talking, the sex. It was all incredible … and not fake. A guttural cry escaped her throat as she slid down the wall to the floor. Her arms wrapped around her knees, and she let the water rain over her. Her hands rubbed her face, and she cried. Tears for her aunt and uncle. Tears for her mom and dad. Tears for her love for Nunzio.

Maria was right. If Vanessa hadn’t wanted to be with him in the first place, she wouldn’t have done it. There was a spark, something there that would make time with Nunzio worth living. Even if they were ripped apart too soon.

Her mother’s pain was not her pain. She shouldn’t take it on for herself. But Vanessa had loved her father, and once he was gone, her mother was never the same … even to her daughter.

Vanessa had lived through that pain. The pain of losing a father and having her mother shut down all in the same day. Her mom had been physically present but emotionally detached. Vanessa now saw that she was behaving like her mom. And the only way to change that pattern was to take a different road.

Nunzio was smart, sweet, and caring, and he was different from the other men in that he did show his feelings. He put everything on the table. It may have started as just an idea for him, but Nunzio had fallen for her and stopped pretending long ago too. Her heart had chosen him. For better or worse, she would have to figure out the rest. Complications and all.

Vanessa stood. She washed away her tears and her pain. She stepped out of the shower feeling like a new person … or one in progress. Change and love were difficult, but if she could manage to open her heart to Nunzio, even with the difficulty that comes with it … she would be able to change that cycle that was set into motion so long ago by her family.

She sat and finished dressing with a shot of whiskey in her glass. Vanessa would have to give herself a little time and hoped that in a few days, Nunzio would be willing to talk with her after how she reacted at the first discussion. She lifted the crystal glass of dark liquid to her lips and took a sip.

Although it burned, rolling down her throat, it warmed her chest and released the last bit of tension from the burst of fear, anger, and sadness. She sat quietly and listened to the nothingness that settled around her.

The weight of her choice was not heavy on her shoulders. It added a lightness to her heart. And as she laid her head back against the chair, she inhaled a long clean breath. It was the first one she had all night.

Tears crested along the rim of her lids, but not from sadness. From being overwhelmed and pulling herself out of it with emotion, not from shutting it off. A shuttered breath escaped her lips. She had everything all wrong. Emotions didn’t make a person weak. They made a person stronger.

And, as a smile spilled over her face, a loudCRASH!came from behind her.

Vanessa whipped her head toward the noise just as more glass shattered beneath her.

FIFTEEN

NUNZIO

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