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“I’m not laughing at you, Red. I’m just happy.”
That’s even weirder. I don’t quite know what to do with a happy mobster eating lunch in my bookstore.
I sit down at my desk after I shut my door. I’ll still be able to hear the bell if someone comes in and I can see on the cameras if there’s any movement in the store if I do miss the bell.
I can see the two men standing in the middle of the store talking and the fact that both of them look damn serious has me sitting up straight.
I’m not sure exactly what they’re saying and I’ve got no audio so I won’t be able to hear what they’re saying. But I sure as heck wish I could.
Instead I take a big bite out of my sandwich and stare at my mother’s picture on my desk. “Well, Mom. What do you think about this? I know I should be very nervous about this guy and you know how I feel about guys in general.”
I’ve never been with a man. Never even tried. There are too many guys who take advantage of women and I’m not willing to put myself through that.
Not to mention the ones that fate takes away from you. Those ones hurt the most. There’s no time to say good-bye, there’s no time to brace yourself for what’s to come. It’s just done.
I see Damian leave and Benito goes to the door and locks it and I sit up straight, staring at the screen and watching him walk through the store, grabbing the bag of food and heading towards the back where I’m sitting.
I finish my last bite and toss the garbage in the trash can, straightening my skirt and fluffing my hair and then grimacing when I realize what I’m doing.
I frown as he appears in the doorway, large and menacing and yet somehow I’m just not afraid of him. Perhaps it’s the twinkle in his dark eyes, the smirk on his firm lips.
Perhaps it’s the way my belly flips when his eyes roam down my body and he licks his lips.
I don’t really know. But what I do know is that I really shouldn’t be back here with him alone with the door locked.
It’s dang dangerous. I stand up and start to walk around him in the doorway and he drops his bag to the desk. “Where are you going, Red?”
“I’m done. I’m just gonna go open the door and get back to work.”
He grabs my arm and I suck in a gasp of air, my body melting at the first touch of his fingers on my skin. It burns, it brands me.
“You’ve only been back here for ten minutes, don’t you usually take a longer lunch that that, Red? Are you afraid to be alone with me?”
I jerk back at my arm and huff, “No! Absolutely not! I’m just anxious to get back to work.”
“It’s still your lunch break and that’s what the timer on the door says. So why don’t you sit down and rest for a few minutes?”
I back away from him since he’s still blocking the doorway and he’s freaking huge.
“Fine.” I back up and round my desk to sit down in my chair. He sits down across from me and grunts as he opens the bag and pulls out his hamburger, taking a huge bite.
“Was there something in particular that you wanted to talk about, Benito?”
He growls and puts his burger down, wiping off his hands. “I love it when you say my name, Red. It’s sexy as hell.”
I roll my eyes. “There is nothing sexy about saying someone’s name.”
“Really, Scarlett? Nothing at all?”
As soon as he says my name, I feel a tremble in my thighs and straight up into my belly. Fire burns across my body and flashes across my skin.
“No, nothing,” I answer breathlessly and he grins and stands to stalk around the desk towards me. I stand up and move away, darting around the desk and keeping the large surface between the two of us.
He wags a finger at me like I’m a naughty child. “I think you’re lying, sweetheart. You shouldn’t sully that pretty mouth of yours with such tall tales.”
I put my hands on the desk and bounce on the balls of my feet. “I’m not lying. I’m telling the truth. I don’t feel anything.”
He growls like a tiger and then grins at me. “So why are you running away from me? Are you scared?”
