Page 233 of Cara & Gian: The Guzzi Duet

Gian tossed his Berretta aside the second he heard the police shout their warnings from behind the doors where he had just come. He shot Jenny a smile as he put his hands behind his head, and moved down to his knees on the floor.

This way, he was not a threat.

This way, it would be faster.

He really needed to see Cara.

“Gian!”

Gian turned at the familiar sound of Cara’s shout. Just in time, too. She barreled into him, her arms snaking tight enough to choke him, and then she pulled him closer still. Her kiss landed fast and hard against his mouth, taking his breath away.

Finally, he could feel.

He wanted to hug Cara, to bring her in closer, but all he managed to do was press his cuffed hands along the swell of her stomach. It was enough and the baby’s kick had his heart beating a little faster.

“Hey, it’s all right, mon ange,” Gian soothed in Cara’s ear. “All’s well, now.”

“What is this?” Cara demanded, pulling away to grab the cuffs. “They arrested you?”

The cop keeping watch on Gian near the back of the police cruiser gave a little shrug when Cara glared at him.

“Details,” Gian said, “nothing more. I had a gun on me and no papers for it, not to mention a license for a concealed weapon. It’s just details.”

“Gian, those details put you in jail for five fucking months last time!”

“Yeah, not so loud, Cara. And it was a little more than one gun last time, but it doesn’t make this look very fucking good on me at the moment.”

She frowned. “But you were the one who … who …”

“Came in and saved the day?”

“I mean, yeah!”

Gian sighed. “Just relax. You don’t need to be worrying so much that you worry my son right out. All right? Also, there’s a couple of EMTs here, so have you been checked over yet?”

“I’m fine,” Cara said, huffing.

She might have thought so.

Gian needed to be sure.

“Officer, could you have this woman checked—”

“Gian, stop it!”

He ignored Cara, and nodded toward her when the officer grinned. “I mean, if you wouldn’t mind. I’m not going anywhere, really.”

“I’ll escort her over, Mr. Guzzi.”

“You ass,” Cara muttered under her breath to Gian.

“Just get checked, love. And the baby—his heartbeat and whatnot. I’ll still be here, where the hell am I going to go?”

Cara’s narrowed gaze didn’t relent, but the officer was quick to urge her toward a waiting ambulance, fifty feet down the street. Gian took the second he had alone to breathe, and get whatever story he needed to tell straight in his brain. Not that it was going to help him on the legal side of things.

All too soon, the officer was back, without Cara.

“Well, Mr. Guzzi, it’s time to head down to the station.”