Page 49 of Triggered By Love
“No, I don’t think so, but I can check. Why didn’t you go after it?”
“More concerned with you, babe.” He pulled her toward the muscle car. “How did I know you weren’t lying in a pool of blood?”
Avery shivered, despite the balmy evening. The last time she was in a pool of blood was Brando’s blood.
“Oh, crap,” Jason said. He drew her into his arms and rubbed her shoulders. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”
“No, you didn’t. It’s okay. I can’t dwell on it forever.”
“You sure you’re okay?” He kissed the top of her head. “I need to watch what I say.”
“No, you don’t. Never watch what you say,” she replied. “That’s what my family does all the time. Watch what they say, and it drives me crazy. Like they’re tiptoeing around me all the time.”
“Hey, they love you.” He opened the passenger door and helped her in. “Now, about that cozy little hole in the wall? You like Italian?”
“Love Italian.”
“Great. Because I’m half.”
Chapter Seventeen
Gino’s was indeeda hole in the wall. It was farther upstate on the crossroads in the woods squeezed between a gas station and a motel catering to fishermen and hunters.
“I’m impressed,” Avery said when she stepped out onto the gravel parking area.
“You should be underwhelmed.” Jason draped his arm over her shoulder. “But it’s safe here.”
She felt secure when he touched her, holding her close to him. After that scare in the orchard, she needed to have that closeness. Jason’s solid muscular body was like a shield, and the way he touched her, guiding her while alert and scouting the surroundings, let her know she was important to him.
“Do you come here often?” She noted the clapboard building and the rusty cars parked nearby. Hunter-green curtains were parted over the diner’s window, and the hand-painted script needed a touchup.
Jason nudged her toward the red-painted door hidden underneath an awning. “Only when I have a woman I want to impress.”
He could be impressing women every week, or he was being sarcastic. She’d reserve judgment after seeing how familiar the staff was with him.
They entered the dimly lit interior, and Jason was immediately bear-hugged by a huge man with a thick white handlebar mustache.
“Jase, you in trouble or something?” The man squeezed all the air from Jason’s lungs, or so it appeared.
“Always,” he replied after the bear let go.
The bear man turned to Avery with a friendly grin. “Bella, molta bella.”
She liked him immediately. He had that magnetic, yet warm personality of someone who was sincere and comfortable with his own skin.
“This is Avery Cockburn,” Jason said by way of introduction. “Avery, my uncle, Gino Zanetti.”
“Pleased to meet you,” she said.
Gino opened his arms for a hug, and Avery was happy to give him one. “My dear Avery, welcome to the world-famous Gino’s Pizzeria. As you can see, my nephew thinks highly of you.”
“Does he come here often?” she asked as sweetly as she could, hooking a glance at Jason who looked like he’d swallowed a prune.
“Never seen him with a beautiful woman.” Gino let her go and crossed his heart.
Yeah, right. His uncle was covering for him, but why did she care? She took Jason’s hand and walked by the walls laden with old black-and-white photos of Gino taken with famous boxers and other celebrities.
“I bet he says that to all the women,” she said while Gino grabbed the menus and led them to a corner table.
