Page 18 of Marrying the Underboss

I wish I could carry her in, but she doesn’t need that right now. She needs her space and I’ll give it to her, for now.

Chapter Eleven

JENNIFER

There’ssomething different about Kane. He isn’t the same overbearing tyrant he was while on our trip. Over the past two and a half weeks he’s kept his distance from me. He usually spends most of the day on his computer trying to track down Jacob and doing whatever other work he has to do. Whenever I ask him how things are going, he tells me he hasn’t found him, leaving me feeling equally relieved and frustrated. I still haven’t talked to my dad, and I’m really starting to miss him.

Kane and I don’t talk much apart from surface level topics like ‘what would you like for dinner’ or ‘we’re out of milk,’ you know, basic roommate stuff. He’s dropped the whole ‘you’re going to wear my ring’ and ‘you’re my wife’ thing. I took the ring off the same night I got here and have never put it back on. It sits on my dresser, staring at me as I try to sleep, tempting me with things I know are bad for me. Kane, on the other hand, hasn’t taken his off. Secretly, I’m glad because it means there’s still hope for us. I’m just not sure how we could ever make it work.

Thankfully there’s a spare bedroom with a bed in it so we haven’t had to sleep together at night. That would have beenproblematic. We can’t seem to keep our hands to ourselves while in bed together.

He leaves me alone to do whatever I want during the day. Since the house is on a big piece of property, he doesn’t mind me taking walks through the woods as long as I stay close and don’t stay gone for more than an hour. I appreciate that he listened to what I said, but after living with him for a while, I’m wondering if I was right to push him away. Maybe he isn’t this big, bad mafia man I’ve been thinking he is.

I don’t know what to do with myself now that I’m not working. I can only clean and tidy things up so much around this place. A few days after we got here, I’d read through every book I brought along. I was bored and looked through the bookshelf in the living room. There weren’t any romance books, not that I expected there to be, but there were a few cookbooks. I started baking my butt off after that. I’ve made all kinds of breads, cookies, and cakes. Kane indulges my new hobby by making sure I have everything I need to keep myself busy. I also make us breakfast and dinner each day. He’s keeping me safe, the least I can do is cook for the man.

We’ve just finished eating breakfast, and Kane is on his computer. I’m about to pick up his plate when I notice him looking at the screen with a concerned look on his face.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, putting my hand on his shoulder without thinking.

His eyes soften as he looks up at me. “There’s a winter storm coming. It’s supposed to be one of the worst ones Utah has seen in a while.”

“Really? Should we be worried about anything?” I ask. I’ve never been through a winter storm in the country before. We get snow storms in Jersey, but our closest neighbor is a few miles away.

“Not really. We should be fine. Although, we could lose power for a few days.” He looks toward the fireplace and our small stack of wood. “I’m going to cut some more wood, just in case. If you put together a list of things we need, I’ll go pick it up this afternoon.”

I nod. “Sounds good. I can do that,” I say, taking his plate to the sink. “Is there anything else I can do?” I look over toward the dining room table expecting to find him still sitting there, but instead I bump into him. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

He shakes his head and gives me a genuine smile. “No worries.” He places his coffee mug in the sink and then stops. It looks like he wants to say something but in the end he doesn’t. He just shakes his head and walks to the back door. “I’m going to get started on that wood. This storm will be here before we know it.”

Then that’s it. He walks out of the kitchen and I’m left feeling, I don’t know, empty. If we could just be these two people living alone in the woods, we could have our happily ever after. But we aren’t these people. We have lives back in New Jersey. One I’m not sure I want to get back to. While I love my students, not living for the job has been nice. I feel more like myself than I have in the past four years since I began teaching. I could get used to this, and not just the not teaching part.

I finish cleaning up our breakfast dishes and watch through the window as he starts to chop wood into smaller pieces for the fireplace. I’m just finishing up and wiping the counter down when I glance out the window and see Kane has taken his shirt off. He’s standing there in his jeans and boots as he swings the ax into another piece of wood. His chest heaves with exertion, and a sheen of sweat glistens on his olive skin. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The man is stupid fine and I’m the idiot who said I didn’t want to be with him because he worked for my dad. At this moment, my reasoning doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Knowing I need to do something besides standing there and ogling the man, I turn around and get to work. Grabbing a notepad and a pen, I begin making a list of everything we’re out of and the things we’d need if we lost power. Next, I grab all of our dirty laundry, wanting to make sure it’s clean in case we can’t wash clothes for a few days. Looking back out the window, I see Kane is still at it and decide that he probably needs something to drink. I grab a bottle of water and walk outside to hand it to him.

Once he finishes chopping a piece of wood and he’s about to grab another piece, I hold out the water bottle. “Here, I thought you might be thirsty.”

He stares at me and takes the bottle without looking at it. “Thanks, you didn’t have to do that.”

“I know, but…” I shrug, watching him open the bottle and take several gulps of it. “Anyway, I’ve got the list together whenever you’re ready.”

He looks at the large pile of wood he’s cut then back at me. “I should be done with this in about fifteen minutes. Would you want to come with me to town? Maybe we could grab some lunch while we're there.”

“Yeah, that could be fun,” I smile. “Here, let me help you bring up the wood.”

He shakes his head. “I’ve got it. I’ll bring this up to the porch and stack it then get cleaned up. Go get ready, Angel. I’ll be in soon.”

He hasn’t called me Angel in weeks, and Lord, it does something crazy to my heart. I shouldn’t be encouraging this. I’m the one who pushed the guy away to start with. I can’t help how I feel, and the truth is, Kane makes me feel happy.

Kane takesme to an Italian restaurant called Il Tesoro. It’s small, but cozy and owned by a sweet Italian couple in their late fifties, possibly early sixties. The lunch rush has passed and we’re the only people in the place.

They bring us some crusty bread and take our drink order. We both end up ordering the house pasta dish that the wife, Rosa, tells us we’ll love. She’s absolutely right. When I take my first bite, I’m hooked. The creamy sauce and tender chicken pair perfectly with the homemade pasta they serve it over. As an Italian who’s eaten Italian food her whole life, this is as authentic as it gets.

“I could get used to this?” I sigh happily, looking around the beautiful restaurant situated on Main Street of this tiny mountain town.

Kane grins. “Yeah?”

I nod. “Small town life is quieter than the city. It’s slower. It’s nice to not be distracted by the hustle and bustle all around us, you know?”

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