Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“I do have something I want to show you, though. I’ll swing by around three and pick you up.”
My heart did a weird little flip-flop as I looked up at him. He was still willing to take me out? A wide smile broke out on my face. “Sounds good. Thank you.”
He nodded and headed out the door.
Later that afternoon, I sat in the passenger seat of a car I’d never seen before. Carmine drove steadily away from the city. West, I assumed, since the lake was long behind us. For a while, I just took in the sights. The city gave way to the suburbs. Then they gave way to forests interspaced with small towns.
It was rather pathetic how happy it made me to get out of the house, but there was no denying the fact.
But after a while, I realized that I was focusing on the view in part to delay the inevitable. So after a few more miles of psyching myself up, I took a deep breath. “I wanted to apologize. For what happened at the restaurant.”
Carmine drove on, not answering for another minute or two. “It’s all right.”
“No, it isn’t. I was really having a nice time with you. I just ... well, when that couple that was fighting was blocking the hallway, I should’ve asked them to move or pushed past them. I just didn’t really know how. I know that sounds dumb.”
“No, it doesn’t. It’s something I’ve thought about before.”
I frowned, looking over at him. “Thought about?”
“Yeah. What it’s like for people like you.”
“Stupid people?”
He grinned. “Small people. Small women, in fact. My whole life, when I walk anywhere, people scramble to get out of the way. It must be different when everyone’s bigger than you.”
His words surprised me. “Yeah, it is. I guess I hadn’t thought of it that way before.” I figured that if I couldn’t navigate a particular experience, it was because I was inexperienced or timid. I’d never thought that there were some situations in which things were effortless for a guy like Carmine even though they were difficult for me. “But I still should’ve done things differently.”
“Nobody’s perfect.”
“But you got hurt.”
He glanced over in surprise. “What?”
“When you got in the car ... afterward, you had blood on your shirt.”
“His blood,” Carmine pointed out, and I tried not to think about that too much.
“Massimo said that you or one of his men could’ve gotten hurt chasing after me. Like if someone had taken me.”
Carmine scoffed. “Not likely. My job can be dangerous at times, but you don’t have to worry about me, Leila. It’s the other guys you have to worry about. The worst that happens to me is that Jana has to clean blood stains out of my clothes.”
I nodded, looking out the window. We were on a twisty road that wound through the trees. Carmine was a competent, capable man, who could be every bit as scary as Massimo when he wanted to be—I had no doubt about that. But I did worry about him, because I cared about him.
“Where are we going?”
“We’re almost there.” Carmine took a right onto a small road that was hardly wider than one lane. The forest was all around us.
Perhaps it was because of the mention of violence, but my mind went to TV shows I’d seen about the mafia. “Kind of a bit alarming when a guy like you drives me out into the middle of the woods.”
Carmine said nothing, but his jaw tightened as he watched the road ahead of us. A strained silence filled the air, and I regretted my words. It’s just, on TV, when a mafia boss drove you out into the woods, only one of you was coming back. Not that I thought Carmine would ever hurt me. It was just a bad joke.
Apparently, he thought so too, because when he pulled the car over onto a clearing in the grass, he didn’t say anything.
“I was just joking,” I said quietly.
It took him a moment to answer. “I know. But I don’t ever want you to be afraid of me.”
“I’m not.”
His gaze was sad as he looked out through the windshield. “That’s my job, or at least part of it. To be a scary motherfucker. But I don’t want you to think that.”
“I don’t,” I assured him. Then I reached out and touched his arm. His massive, muscled arm. He was scary—to others. But not to me.
“Good.” He was silent for a minute longer, and then he let out a deep breath. “Want to know why we’re really out here?”
“I sure do.”
“Gentle. Gentle!” Carmine scolded as I turned the wheel sharply. The car lurched to the right, faster than I’d thought it would. “You’re supposed to be steering the car, not punishing it.”
“I’m trying.” I was, but I was also laughing. I’d never dreamed that I’d be behind the wheel of a car. I’d never dreamed that I could control something so big and powerful and make it do what I wanted.