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I mustered up a nod and plastered on a familiar smile. Although grinning wasn’t what I wanted to do. “Okay.” I turned on my heels and headed back to the kitchen.
“Wait!” Giancarlo’s heavy footfalls were right behind me. “Ash, I said wait.” His hand wrapped around my arm and pulled me to a stop.
I didn’t dare look back at him. I felt so heavy it was impossible to keep up the fake smile.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
I tugged at his hold, and he released me. The heaviness plaguing me only increased. Breathing was becoming a burden with the tightness in my rib cage. I didn’t want him to let me go either. Fuck, my brain and heart were at war. One knew what it wanted, and the other had no fucking clue.
“Look, about what you heard.” Giancarlo took a step back.
I took a peek at him. Watching a big terrifying mobster teeter on the balls of his feet and rub the back of his neck as he tried to talk to me was almost comical. For a split second, all the heaviness lifted, and laughter bubbled free.
Why in the hell is he so nervous? If any of us should be a nervous wreck, it’s me.
I grabbed his hand and moved into the kitchen. “One second, let me put this all away.”
“What is this?”
I stared at the table full of the food I’d ordered. It had been cold by the time I’d made the long as-hell track back home, but warming up shit didn’t take a rocket scientist.
Shrugging, I grabbed a few of the plates. “Nothing.”
Giancarlo was next to me in a second, taking the plates from my hands and placing them back on the table. “It’s not nothing. You got me food too?”
“I figured you’d be hungry after... exerting so much energy.”
“And you’re okay with how…I exerted the energy?”
“I’m not not okay with it.” That was the best answer I could give. “Either way, it doesn’t matter what I think. I’m yours until I’ve paid you back.”
My heart fluttered. The most ridiculous thought flickered through my mind.
I never want to pay him back. I want to be Giancarlo Vitale’s forever.
It wouldn’t happen in a million years. However, it was now added to a long list of daydreams.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Giancarlo asked.
He grabbed me and pulled our bodies close together. His dark gaze bore into me.
“I’m not leaving.”
Giancarlo’s hold eased slowly until, finally, he took a step back. Instantly my body missed the heat that radiated off of him.
“Let’s eat.” Giancarlo rounded the table and plopped down in his seat. He grabbed his plate, cutting into the steak without hesitation. The first moan of happiness made the tiny ball of knots untie in the pit of my stomach.
“But you already did.” I pointed at the plate he left at the edge of the table.
“Oh, that I stole from Enzo’s house.”
I shook my head and sat across from him. He was digging in as if he was starving. “Why?”
“It will drive him crazy.”
Why rested on the tip of my tongue again, but I swallowed it back. It was who Giancarlo was as a person.
