Page 42 of Born into Mayhem
“Is this your first time flying?”
I turn at the sound of Dario’s voice, noticing the way he’s studying my reaction. My ears pop and my stomach drops when the plane dips for a second before going even higher.
“Yeah,” I say, turning my eyes back to the window, watching as the lights beneath us grow smaller with each passing second. It’s bizarre to be so high up, to know that there’s nothing between us and the ground but a lot of open space, but it’s also exciting, and my adrenaline-loving body is eating this new experience up.
“I’d ask if you like it, but it’s obvious you do,” he says, reading my reaction easily enough.
I keep looking out the window, but soon we’re far enough away and there’s nothing beneath us but an ocean that I can’t see. When everyone around us starts unbuckling their lap belts and Marissa starts walking around to take drink orders, Dario stands and holds out a hand to me.
When I don’t immediately stand, he says, “We need to talk.”
“We do?”
His jaw ticks in the way it always does when he’s starting to lose patience with me, and when Marissa notices him and starts making a beeline in his direction, he says to me, “It’s about Italy. We need to go over the details.”
I look around him at Marissa’s eagereverythingand say, “You sure you wouldn’t rather wait here and have the flight attendant serve you?”
He doesn’t say anything, but I see the tiny smirk he’s trying to hide, and I curse my own inability to stay quiet. Now he thinks I’m jealous, and what’s worse is that I kind of am. There’s no way in hell Dominic would tolerate a flight attendant acting flirty around him, but Dario is single and so is his brother, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the flight attendants they hire serve a lot more than drinks on these long flights. The thought pisses me off, and I can’t help but imagine the man in front of me tangled up in bed with the gorgeous, leggy blonde who’s now standing before him.
Not wanting to see the interaction between them, I turn to thewindow again and put my feet up on the seat so I can wrap my arms around my legs and look at the darkness outside our plane.
“Can I help you with anything now, Mr. Alessi?” I hear her ask. Her sultry tone makes it obvious she’s offering more than to go and fetch him a drink.
I wait for his answer, wishing I was too far away to hear the words that I know are about to come out of his mouth. I remind myself that we never made any sort of commitment to one another, and that he’s made it clear that what we’re going to have is a one-time thing. Pretending that knowledge doesn’t break my heart a little bit, I lean forward to dig around in my backpack for my noise-cancelling headphones. Before I can find them, Dario wraps his large hand around my wrist and pulls me to standing.
“What the hell?” I ask, nearly losing my balance.
He catches me while Marissa glares at me like I’ve just stolen her good time right out from under her.
“I told you we need to talk,” he says, and then he turns to Marissa. “If I need anything, I’ll ask, okay?”
Not giving her a chance to respond. Dario pulls me past Sasha and Alessandro and towards the back of the plane. My brother gives me a look, and when I say, “I’m fine,” he nods and puts his headphones on before reclining his chair all the way back and getting comfortable. Alessandro just laughs and waves Marissa over for a drink. The other men at the front of the plane don’t pay us any attention at all, but my face still burns with embarrassment at being hauled away like a disobedient child.
When he pulls me into the room at the end of the plane, I’m momentarily surprised by how big it is. There’s a large bed, a small couch, a chair, and windows all around. A door to my right is open, revealing a bathroom that looks like it should belong in a fancy hotel instead of on an airplane.
“Damn,” I mutter. “Dominic likes to fly in style. No wonder my sister likes traveling with him so much.”
Dario shuts the door and turns to face me. I cross my arms over my chest, refusing to be intimidated.
“What?” I finally ask when he doesn’t say anything for several seconds.
“Why did you ignore my texts?”
“Seriously? This is what you brought me in here to talk about?” I move my hands to my hips. His eyes follow my movements, lingering on the space between my legs. The memory of him kissing me over my underwear is seared into me, and when his eyes meet mine again, whatever he sees in them has him taking a step towards me.
“You seemed a little jealous out there,” he says, stopping when he’s right in front of me.
“Of Marissa?” I ask, trying to not sound like I care. “You mean the woman who’s falling all over herself in an effort to fuck you?”
He gives me a half-smile and reaches out to run the pad of his finger along my jaw. “Does that bother you?”
“Of course it doesn’t.”
“No?” His thumb and forefinger pinch my chin, holding me in place as he leans closer. “What if I were to tell you that I’ve already fucked her?”
Rage thunders through me before I can stop it. It mixes with the hurt that I don’t want to admit is there and spills over and out of me, exposing me to Dario in a way that leaves me feeling naked and laid bare before him.
Cupping my face, he brings his mouth so it’s hovering over mine. “That right there tells me everything,streghetta mia.You try so hard to hide yourself from me, but I see the truth of how you feel. I’ve never fucked Marissa, and if you think for one second that I could ever look at another woman like the way that I look at you, then you don’t know me at all.”
