Page 201 of SINS & Riley
One more lie and I’ll break. It’ll be over.
A sadistic side of me wants desperately to test that trust. So I do. “Did you ask for a paternity test?”
“Paternity test?” His brow arches. “Should I?” His tone is light, teasing.
He laughs it off and?—
Ugh. I can’t tell if I imagined it, or if he’s just screwing with my head. Either way, for the sake of my sanity, and my blood pressure, I let it drop.
His lips graze my ear as we lie in the dark. “The wheels in your head are keeping me up.”
Damn him. He always reads me like an open book, while I read him like a rocket science manual.
A sigh slips out, shaky. “How are we supposed to live a normal life?” My voice cracks, frustration bleeding through. “Go to movies, visit bookstores… And the Keenans?—”
“Shh.” He rolls me onto my back, his mouth crushing over mine, silencing me with a kiss. The command is soft, but it sears through me anyway.
“I’m taking care of it.”
I break for air, muttering against his lips, “How very mafia-don, don’t-worry-your-pretty-little-head of you.”
He pulls back just enough to smirk, eyes darkening. “Relax, little woman. Big, bad man’s got this.”
I snort. “Do you?”
His lips ghost mine. “Do you trust me to always take care of you—and our little girl?” he whispers.
Without thinking I say, “Yes.”
“Then trust me with this.”
We kiss, and everything else burns away until there’s only heat and breath and us.
I feel like I’ve been around the world and back with him, and yet a small, stubborn part of me still wonders if I truly know Dante D’Angelo at all.
71
DANTE
For twenty minutes, they make us wait in a room that smells like stale whiskey and piss.
Which is fifteen minutes longer than I planned on spending here.
No windows.
Green carpet discolored and stained.
And a crucifix crooked on the wall.
Keenan territory.
The door creaks open. An elderly man with gums where teeth should be jerks his head. “They’ll see you now.”
I don’t bother pretending I’m relaxed. This is their turf. Where we’re at their mercy.
So yeah, walking in was probably stupid.
But there’s only one way to get Riley out of the line of fire, and that’s to have me step into it.
