Page 12 of Replay
“Not sure,” I say with a frown. “Depends how everything turns out, I guess.”
He nods thoughtfully. “Did you enjoy living back in Dundonald?”
“Christ, no,” I reply quickly and take a nervous sip. “I mean, I didn’t mind seeing my family on a regular basis, but I hated my job there. And unless I wanted to drive to Glasgow every day, there wasn’t much opportunity for anything better. Plus, my friends there are all married and having bairns, so it just never felt like a good fit. Things have changed too much for me, I guess.”
I turn to find Santino’s deep, soulful eyes on me, and the intensity of them causes me to inhale sharply. He always had the most direct gaze I’d ever encountered. The rest of the world just magically disappears when he stares at me like he is right now.
“Things have changed around here as well,” he says softly, his voice guttural and full of something I’m not sure I want to decipher.
A heaviness descends between us. As he exhales, the cool wind of his breath hits my bare shoulder and travels all the way down my body, causing a ripple of liquid heat between my legs. This moment right here feels dangerous and full of wicked possibility.
It’s high time for me to go.
“It was nice bumping into you, Sonny.” I move to walk away, but Santino steps out to stop me.
His hand gently touches my forearm, and the contact feels like a thousand pins and needles erupting all over my flesh. “So that’s it then?” he asks, his face full of question.
“What else did you expect?” Licking my lips, I try to ignore the jitters vibrating in my nervous system as I force myself to look up at him. I’m trying to come off cool and confident, but his square jaw is peppered with dark, freshly shaved stubble, and I have a horrifying urge to feel it slide across my breasts.
His eyes search mine. “I thought maybe you and I could catch up. Have dinner or something?”
“No dates, remember?” I respond jokingly, feeling desperate to get away from him and the incessant flashbacks in my stupid head. “That was rule number two, wasn’t it?”
Santino jerks back as if I’ve just slapped him. “Tilly, that’s not at all what I meant.”
“You didn’t hope this could be a wee reunion for the two of us?” Lifting my brows, I hit him with a forced smile. “There was no moment when you thought we could get drunk and be each other’s late-night booty calls again?”
“Christ, no,” he exclaims, his eyes filling with horror.
Even though I didn’t want him to want me in the first place, his rejection wounds me.Iwant not to want him, and the fact he causes my body to inwardly convulse right now is really fucking inconvenient. I swallow nervously and try to think of something to say, but my bravado is faltering.
He must see my discomfort because he steps closer and says softly, “I just thought we could catch up as two old friends.”
“We weren’t truly friends, though, were we?” I reply crisply, my eyes darting over to my brother who looks like he’s going to come tearing over here any second. “We were party mates at best. Let’s not make it more than it was.”
A deep grumble comes from Santino’s chest, and I swear he visibly grows as he glowers down at me. “I was trying to be a friend at the end.”
Chills rush down my body as memories of my past try to trickle in with his words. But these are memories I want nothing to do with anymore. They are memories I’ve blocked out. And for good reason.
I inhale a cleansing breath and step closer to him, my eyes narrowed with determination. “You may think you were, Santino, but that wasn’t what I needed back then. Which is why it’s best if we keep the past in the past and steer clear of each other while I’m here.”
He blinks back at me in confusion as his eyes rove over my entire face, inspecting it for some sort of clue. When his gaze dips to my lips, I feel my chin rise ever so slightly like our mouths are two magnets pulling towards each other. Flutters erupt in my belly that I haven’t felt in ages, and all of it, every single tiny tickle, pisses me off.
I’m stronger than this.
His voice is low when he replies, “Take care, Trouble.”
Santino pulls back, and I take the opportunity to quickly walk away as fast as this dress will allow me. Even if Santino thinks he was trying to be a friend in my past, that doesn’t mean he’s someone I can trust with my present.
The auction portion of the evening begins, and I feel complete and utter relief when I see that our table is far, far away from Santino. I need space.And perhaps a cold shower. What the hell was that back at the bar? Sexual tension? A quarrel? Both? Either way, I need to stay firm in my decision to stay far, far away from him. Getting mixed up with Santino and everything he represents as one of London’s premier manwhores isn’t at all what I need in life.
I do my best to ignore all thoughts of Santino and focus on the announcer as he lists off the auction items up for bid. Looking around this lot, it’s obvious this group has a lot of money because the bidding ratchets up to a price point that has my jaw nearly hitting the floor. Santino fits right in, I’m sure.
Mac and I didn’t grow up wealthy by any means, but his career as a footballer definitely changed his financial status. Thankfully, he didn’t turn into an insufferable arsehole like so many other footballers I see out there and start buying ridiculous cars and private jets. In fact, the craziest thing Mac did after his first big break was pay off my parents’ home. He also paid the rent on my flat back in Dundonald when I moved home five years ago. I didn’t want him to because the Scottish pride runs deep in me as well, but I wasn’t exactly in a position to argue, and I bloody love the bastard for not taking no for an answer.
My finances are a bit more stable now, thanks in large part to the inheritance I received from my grandad, Fergus. Before he passed, he sold off the bed and breakfast property he owned, leaving him with a tidy sum to pass on to all of us. Although, in all honesty, I think I would have rather had the bed and breakfast than the money. I have fond memories of being there with my grandparents when I was wee. Life was so much simpler then.
But Granddad’s money made it easy for me to leave my job in Dundonald to help out Freya and Mac, so it’s kind of special that he’s still an important part of our lives, even from the grave.
