Page 41 of Winter
She nodded, but then, to her surprise, she felt Raffaelo gently take her feet.
“They are blue,piccolo.”He smiled at her and, to her surprise, lifted them and put them under his arms. He winced a little at the cold. “Our mother taught us this is the best way—human body warmth.”
“He is right,” Tommaso said.
Inca leaned into him and felt a rush of love for both of the brothers.
“You never talk about your mother,” she said softly. “I would have liked to know her.”
Raffaelo smiled. “She would have liked you, I think. She was soft and sweet, like you.”
Inca felt Tommaso nod. “I agree. She passed a few months ago. I know we both miss her terribly.”
“Mama’s boys?”
They both laughed.
“Unashamedly,” Raffaelo said.
Her feet were getting warmer now, less painful, but he made no move to release them. They must have looked strange, the three of them, but Inca didn’t care—weirdly, this was the closest she had felt to them both.
Eventually though, Raffaelo let her go and Tommaso led her back to bed as she felt exhaustion take over. She fell into a dreamless sleep then, wrapped in the safety of Tommaso’s arms.
Raffaelo wentto his own room, but this time it was he who was haunted by dreams—dreams of Inca’s body, her full breasts and soft belly, her dusky skin and warm smile. In the dream, he found her in the snow again, but this time she held out her arms to him and he went into them as she wrapped her long legs around his waist, and his cock plunged deep into her hot, sweet cunt …
In the morning, Raffaelo got up, showered, dressed, and left the house before Tommaso and Inca woke. He honestly did not know what he would do if he saw her.
“Merda,”he thought as he steered his car towards the city. He really did not want to fall for his brother’s girlfriend. Anything but that.
Anything …
Scarlett leftNancy in charge of the Sakura and walked down to the ferry terminal. She’d decided earlier that day just to go, get off the peninsula, go to the city, and have fun. Things at home were too heavy right now; she was worried about Inca and the murders.
As she walked, she noticed Raffaelo in his car, driving towards the city road. She waved, but he seemed to look straight through her as he drove past. She shrugged and continued on. She liked Tommaso. He was charming; he was fun; and he was obviously crazy about Inca. But his brother was a mystery.
A sexy, sexy, mystery, Scarlett smirked to herself, and wondered if he was as enchanted with Inca as his brother. She suspected he might be. Her best friend had no idea of the effect she had on men.
None,she thought,utterly clueless.Scarlett was still grinning when she got to the ticket booth. Harve, the ticket master, took her money.
“How you doing, young ’un? Still single?”
Scarlett winked at him “Saving myself for you, Harve.” Harve’s son, Sal, a slinky-hipped blond sitting with his father in the booth, his long legs stretched out, feet on Harve’s desk, called out,
“Hey, what about me?”
Scarlett cocked her head to look past Harve and raised her eyebrows at the young man. “When I grow a penis, I’ll let you know.”
Harve choked on his coffee and guffawed. Sal grinned and shook his head.
“Don’t know what you’re missing, girl!” he called as she said goodbye to Harve. She turned and saluted him.
“I’ve seenUnhung Hero, Sal; I do know,” she shot back, which made Harve laugh even harder and clap his crestfallen son on the back. Scarlett waved at them both and walked up the gangway to the ferry. She headed straight for the front deck and leaned over the side. As it pulled away, she felt her spirits lift. An afternoon in the city’s best fashion shops—Nordstrom’s, she thought with a happy sigh—and an evening of music.
“God, I try and escape you for one day.”
She turned to see Knox walking towards her and smiled in delighted surprise. “Hey, you.” He was dressed in a dark green T-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers, casual, but she noticed the dark circles under his eyes and the slightly strained smile. Impulsively, she hugged him. He tensed for a moment, then returned the hug. Releasing him, she studied him.
“You look like you needed that. Rough few days, huh?”
